And So It Begins....

[SanRemo78]

Thanks Eric, Peter is sending me a spare pressed one so i'll have 2 pairs to have powder coated. I've stripped two pairs of adjustable ones down and cleaned one pair up to paint so far. I think I'll do the other pair that way too and not powder coat as that would clog threads and cutting them again would destroy the integrity of the surface bond and lead to corrosion again. Plus I'm not sure what the pitch thread is and buying two more taps to clean them up doesn't appeal! Know my luck I'd run the left hand thread down the right hand end....

I think I'll need to order two more pairs of bush kits from Mark for the adjustable ones.... Good to have options though!

Guy

[SanRemo78]

Nest question - front wishbone, I've removed the inner bushes ready to get them shot blasted and powder coated and poly bushed with Mark's kit when it all comes back. But, have I left part of the bush in situ and does it need to come out or should it remain in place for the poly bushes?
Cheers
Guy

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

According to Mark’s site you leave the metal part of the old bush in as the bushes supplied are just PU, no metal outer unlike the originals. This should be no great hardship as those outers are usually ‘welded’ in place…..

Peter

[SanRemo78]

Not a view I was expecting to see today....

[WestonE]

The braces are good to see. They are taking no chances.

[SanRemo78]

Geoff is a professional - I trust him 110% with anything car related, he's saved the Stratos once already!

I'm not certain how he's attached the back yet, he was lacking about the for fuel tank mounting bolts, the chassis there is rock solid fortunately.  I think he's planning on some serious time on it over the next two to three week, And I've just jinxed that...

Off to see it on Tuesday I think!

Guy

[SanRemo78]

Work is progressing on the nearside quarter. The paint stripping uncovered a horrible patch repair buried in filler as you can see. The cill was perforated underneath B post which was opened up and the inner membrane replaced and is now fully repaired. The inner arch to outer arch panel wasn't pretty either as you can see... Both have now been repaired and Geoff is moving on to the next grot spot.

[SanRemo78]

And the next Grot Spot is a biggie. The nearside rear suspension turret. The top of this is mint but the bottom where it attaches to the lower chassis member, well, like a lot, it wasn't really attached by anything other than a few layers of crusty oxide.... The lower outer skin was tapped to see how bad it was and it was bad so surgery started. Open it up and see how bad it really is..

[SanRemo78]

And keep going....

The inner chassis member was sound, th grot was working it's way in from between the inner skin and the base of the turret. With the rot cut out a new inner skin was shaped and fitted and then the lower half of the turret reconstructed in the correct gauge steel to the original pattern.

Proper job.

[SanRemo78]

And a big box of special bolts, brackets and doodads dropped off this morning for plating! Hope to get them back the week after next and drop the next lot off for zinc plating!

[WestonE]

This inner rear turret area is almost a standard Beta repair because of that recess section note being properly sealed helping rust eat away inside to out. I had this one done on mine as well.

[SanRemo78]

My precious 

[WestonE]

Got to love shinny plated bits. I have done this at the full crate of nuts bolts and every thing else I had been hording for years. It took days to sort it out, but has been fantastic in building the Beta Spyder and fixing the Monte.

Just never do it on 12.9 blacked fastenings like cam bolts or sprung dome washers. They become brittle leading to expensive failures. I still threw away many shiny bits that failed the fit to use test.

Eric
PS it seemed to cost the same for a crate full as a small box of bits.   

[SanRemo78]

The second batch of plated bits collected today and pretty happy with the result. The only failure was the boot latch mechanism which didn't plate for some reason, I'll have to find out why on the next visit but I have a spare one just in case!

I was assured that the plating process wouldn't damage the plastic/nylon bushes in the wiper rack so didn't bother to remove the rivets and they were right, it all survived. So, next job is to finish dismantling and cleaning the steering rack then reassemble with new bushes assuming there's no discernible wear or damage (or plateable parts!) and put the wiper rack back together once I've found the bag of related bits. It won't be far from the bench!

Guy

[SanRemo78]

More progress. The left rear turret and inner arches were completed today, all that remains is tidying up excess weld inside the car and Geoff can move onto the other side. Last job on this side was cutting out the rear jacking point which was sitting on a sunken sill as the welded edge was rotten/missing. Inside the box section it's all solid and a decision has been made to construct an internal tower to further strengthen this area before it's closed off once more. We might revisit the front ones before he's done.

[SanRemo78]

Nearside done now bar filling in the aerial hole! The rear suspension turret and box sections are as good as new, the outer inner arch has been cut out and the corrosion underneath removed and all rebuild with repairs to the lip of the arch as necessary. The sill on that side is back to full strength and the floorpan corrosion dealt with, jacking point straightened and the two lift points cut out, strengthen and reinstated. A small dent in the sill has also been fixed. Work has started on the offside rear arch and turret. Now Geoff knows the issues I'm hoping the repairs will be easier for him. Once that's done it's the sill on that side, stitch in the new rear panel and flip it back over so the roof can be worked on. And that will be the shell done. Minor bonnet repairs plus doors and botlid and it'll be ready to be dipped again ready for .... paint!

So I thought I'd better get on with some bits... The steering rack is now done except for the new bracket for the shock absorber and oil. That ought to be finished in the next couple of weeks once the bracket is welded, plated and painted.

The fuel tank has been in the garden shed since last Summer. It was drained of 20 litres of stale fuel and force vented for 30 minutes by attaching the filler pipe to the exhaust of the Alfa 159. Nothing left in there. So, dragged it out of the shed to assess what it needs. The bottom of the tank was covered in underseal and rust proofing spray. It had suffered a bit over the years and failed where it had been scraped so needed looking at. It started looking like this...

[SanRemo78]

And after a lot of scraping with a body filler spreader and treatment of the remaining paint with Nitromors to soften it up, more scraping and then a few hours with a wire brush this was the result...

[SanRemo78]

Next week I might be able to spend some time working on the top surface. Which doesn't have any underseal or much rustproofing fluid on it and isn't nearly as pretty... I'm pretty sure that it'll be sound though, there are no pinholes in it. Yet. But it's possible that some wire brushing and paint removal may identify any areas of concern.. The welded flange around the middle of the tank is sound so I'm reasonably confident it's okay. The inside of the tank is showing surface corrosion unsurprisingly. There's a lot of dust coming out of it at the moment so that'll get hoovered out. Next test will be to block the inlet pipe and all the fuel lines and pressurise the tank to see if there's any evidence of leaks, find them and fix them before treating the inside of the tank with POR15 tank sealer to effectively put an internal surface in the tank onto a rust free surface. And then POR15 semi gloss black paint to the outside surfaces, fit the new sender and seal and put it on the shelf ready to be refitted.

Progress continues!

[WestonE]

Well done!

[peteracs]

Looking good you should be well on this year with getting it back together

Peter