All Sealed Up Jun 14, 2006
We installed a door seal over the weekend. This one seal took well over two hours as it’s quite tricky to get pushed into position. The door seals are inserted in a series of steel channels that are screwed to the car with small screws. This is a common source of rust.
We treated and painted the channels and then secured them using stainless screws instead of mild steel pieces (which would rust again). The seals were purchased from International Auto Parts and in a few minutes time we figured out a pretty easy way to install them. We held the inner lip in the channel and then pressed the outer lip into the channel with a plastic burnishing tool that we had in our tool box. We’ve heard of people using disposeable plastic knives and paint stirrers to do the same thing.
Now, the problem is that our door doesn’t close all the way. This is a common problem with new seals as they take some time to compress so that the door can close. Since our car isn’t going very far anytime soon, this isn’t really a problem. Next up, we’ll tackle the other side and start assembling the interior with new door panels.
Later we figured out we had installed them wrong, so we reinstalled the door seals, getting them positioned correctly. The door takes quite a slam to close, but this is very typical of new seals on a GTV.
Also, we started working on the interior panels of our GTV. Even though we are going to be installing a roll cage, we still wanted to use the correct quarter panels and door panels for a nice, classic and finished appearance. We’re using some new panels from International Auto Parts that are slightly less expensive than their normal panel and they’re only available in black. They look good to us!
Removing the Alfa's Engine Jun 19, 2006
This weekend, we removed the engine from our Alfa. This was done for several reasons. The engine needs a complete rebuild, as the cylinder head cracked, allowing oil and anti-freeze to mix in the block. The engine compartment also needs new paint. It looks pretty scruffy in comparison to the rest of the shell.
Removing an Alfa engine is pretty simple because only a few specialized tools are needed. We used a hoist to lift the engine out and an engine stand to keep it off the floor. Otherwise, just a selection of 10, 13, 17 and 19mm wrenches and sockets got the job done. We had the engine unhooked from the car and out of the body within four hours, including the time it took to borrow a trailer to pick up the engine hoist. You have to love the simplicity of classic cars.
Racing Parts Are on the Way, and We Get Cleaning Jul 11, 2006
Once again we’re struck by how backwards this project has become. Since the prior owner had so much expensive and nice paint work done, we have to make the rest look at least as nice. This, of course, means that we need to disassemble much of the car to get it that way.
We’ve got a few cool parts on their way to us for our Alfa project.
For seating, we’ll be using one Nurburgring seat from GTS Classics. The passenger seat will actually be a good used black vinyl GTV seat that we sourced from Al Taylor Sports Cars.
Our car will see some track use, so we have a bolt-in race rollbar on the way from Autopower. The bar will feature a diagonal brace and a full harness bar for driver and passenger harness mounting.
Meanwhile, we need to start cleaning and painting the underside of the car while the drivetrain is out.
Once again we’re struck by how backwards this project has become. Since the prior owner had so much expensive and nice paint work done, we have to make the rest look at least as nice. This, of course, means that we need to disassemble most of the car to get it that way. We stripped out the engine compartment, the wiring and the dashboard this weekend. We are getting ready to move it to the body shop (or our other shop garage?) to get the engine bay painted. The dashboard came out pretty easily, and we’ll be trying an inexpensive way to fix the cracks to create a new not-quite-stock-but-cool texture for the dashpad.
Next up, we’ll pressure wash the engine compartment and undercarriage. We’ll be seam sealing and undercoating the underside of the floor pans, as they are still bare primer after being replaced under the previous owner’s watch. This project is so ass-backwards that it makes things challenging to say the least.
Meanwhile, we’ve sourced the parts that we need for our engine rebuild from International Auto Parts including high compression pistons, new bearings, gaskets and even a new set of performance cams. We’ll start working on the engine parallel to our work on the chassis so we minimize the total project’s time frame.
Cleaning, Coating and Sealing the Alfa Jul 17, 2006
This Saturday, we pressure washed the engine, the transmission and the undercarriage of our Alfa. This was followed by the messy task of using Rust Bullet Paint on the entire underside of the newly welded floor pans as well as seam sealer and undercoating.
The previous body work guys neglected to take care of this crucial task. And with the engine, driveshaft and exhaust out of the car, it’s the best time to do it.
Pulling the GTV Head Jul 20, 2006
We removed the cylinder head from our Alfa’s engine last night so we could take it and our new head to an Alfa guru. Inside the engine there was quite a lot of emulsified oil, but no rust damage to speak of. We’ll be cleaning it out, popping in new pistons, liners and bearings before it’s buttoned back up.
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