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To weld or not to weld, that is the question.

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23K views 112 replies 24 participants last post by  sbadaro  
#1 ·
With due credit to Shakespeare, I face the dilemma of having to choose between cutting open and having to weld the deceptively perfect outer sills to get to the rust left behind by presvious owner, or to liberally spray-in the hidden inner sills and get as much waxoyl vapour into the crevasses as I can and pray that the decision doesn't come back to bite me in a coupe of years or so.
Recommendations (actions, procedures, materials)?


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#79 ·
The strip down continues... Surprise :
38 mufler from Mazda on 50 to 38 to 50 tubes...
Cut and tape wires all over the place...
Clogged (completely clogged) heater hose...
Who opened up this can of worms?!
On the positive side, the metal is not nearly as bad as the wiring loom and the hatchet work of 4 decades of Jordan's "finest"... This is going to take a while...


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#82 ·
Well, first month pretty much all gone towards stripping...
Godwilling, tomorrow will go towards the make-shift rotisserie, a bit of sandblasting (yes, baking soda belongs in the kitchen, no more), then off to cutting and welding and some POR 15 trial and error...

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#86 ·
Major milestone with a disclaimer, finally up on the spit roast, buttttttt... The man child who did the car unsupervised in 2015 must have found it better to tic a couple of tiny weld points to hold the rear bumper than to use the bolts that the car came with from the factory... What do they know... Guess what... The useless weld point still carrying two tons of unnecessary filler and primer broke right off...
Luckily it did as soon as we tried to get it off the lift, so there it will stay untill we get the wheels and suspension off... Justifiable homicide runs through my mind... I pray the current shop will do a better job...
Anyway, we're on the first day Fitr holiday (Ramadn breakfast if you care to know), so hopefully will get a short break from Aziza's nasty surprises...


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C
#90 ·
If you can....

.. just buy full OE or repro panels where you can and have them replace the complete piece as it was fitted by Pininfarina. Drill out the original spot welds an rosette well in the new piece. Trust me, you will save a fortune in hourly labor charges as they don’t need to pfaff about cutting, clean, forming and patching stuff.
 
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#92 ·
Sure enough... Right /passenger side is even worse off than the driver's side... [emoji35][emoji34][emoji2959]...
I mean why be difficult when you can be a total bxxch...
I tried used both POR15 and Zinc "pre-primer" spray on the inner panels and neither have a chance of sticking to the surface during welding, so... I give in... Old school wins and cut and weld is still the only real way to deal with rust.
I haven't quite completely given up on chemicals though, and I plan to douze the Spider's inners with 2k epoxy primer before I'm done... Been an expensive lesson thank you very much [emoji856]...


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#93 ·
It looks like you made the right decision, Samer!
 
C
#95 ·
They’re all rusty like that in the inside.. only those that have been fixed properly will be rust free and safe. You’re doing a great job, make sure to get inside every nook and cranny!

On the upside, I did the whole heart attack/divorce/redundancy thing too.. life gets better ;)
 

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#97 ·
Still far from done but a major milestone was crossed yesterday evening.
Background, I had commissioned two relatively "decent" old geezers from Syria to do the body work and ultimately paint the poor girl. Syria was under various levels of embargo and import restrictions for decades and boasted really world class craftsmen gifted in the art of "making things work again".
The painter worked out of a large unfrequented shop run by a couple of local jordanian loosers which I thought would be perfect for a long-term project like this one. When they ran out of tools and materials I would buy it, borrow it, source it and move along. What I didn't count on is that painter would fight with the shop owners and that the two dumb and dumber brain surgeons would ask me to "move the car" which I promptly did (using no less than a forklift... Another long story) , but they then decide to hold the drivetrain & suspension hostage unless I come out with a king's ransome of $300!
Well, three weeks later, my buddy Firas (where the spider resides now) managed to negotiate the "ransome" down to $70 and retrieve the rest of the car (I hope... I don't put it behind dumb & dumber to have "kept" some screws and nuts and bolts as souvenir).
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157618864710680&id=629975679
Anyway, on the up-side, man I've never seen a spider this shiny [emoji2]


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#100 ·
Off to Budapest in the morning for a couple of weeks. Stopped by the (new) garage to check-up on her, and she now has a full coat of 2k epoxy primer... I like the rat-rod look of clear coat over bare metal, but I figure the old girl has seen enough rust to cover one lifetime and then some. Nero (AR 817) is what it'll be... Or Rosso Pompieri (AR122) ... Or is it Blu Pervinca (AR357)... [emoji848]


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C
#102 ·
Fantastic!

It’s amazing how a coat of epoxy primer changes things, you know you’re on the way back up now. It just gets better from here

Colour is subjective, personal.. but whatever the heck you do - PLEASE NOT RED!!


Look at the current colour Alfa colours, ask your GF/other half
I’m going AR Misano blue pearl (as found on the new Stelvio/Giulia QF)

No way I’m going back to Pininfarina red. There are more red Alfa’s now than left the factory :)

(Enjoy Budapest, beautiful city)
 
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#104 ·
The spider project pretty much skipped over August. I was busy discovering American muscle [emoji123] in Vienna (of all places) and the true shades of green in Slovenia, and the body guy decided to take a sabatical for as long as I am away...
But the last two days have been... Well, you judge :


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