Classic Alfa Forums

Looking like a great day out

And now the real fun begins . Never thought I'd have a sud in my garage. In fact a sud and a 33 at the same time

Philip, nice to see your work where it should be, doing what it was built for.

JB, sud will look nice when finished. I do like the five spokes.
Is the running gear standard or 33 ?

Evening
All sud . Can't believe how lite it is. Lifted the back end to move it over I'll get cracking tomorrow

Morning
Finished the sud last week . Was a bit of mission. Had issues with the paint . But got there in the end Back on the trailer ready to go home

Looks very nice JB.
Another gem on the road to re-birth.

Cheers Keith

As I said before .it's provisionally sold. I've now seen some of his cars I think covers it. He's got a lotus cortina that I'll be doing the engine bay at some point.so he can sell it. Then just keep his mainly Italian fleet will try and get photos the next time I'm there

Nice Job JB,

once youve had a bit more practice you could come and work up north!


Well sadly i haven't had much Italian stock to work on, or anything remotely interesting really, so this TWR kitted XJS is the closest its been for a while

she's a big girl to get straight but we're getting there!

Cheers shrew

Nice rare car there

Always had a soft spot for most of the big cats. Lines look nice and straight Shrew, what colour will it be ?
I did this XJ12 a few years ago and would love to see it finished. The owner was having a "killer" 6.0 lt conversion built for it.
Painted it a Ferrari colour, loved it.

Some of the original TWR builds used a 6.0litre, so i suspect that's what they'd be replicating?

The owner if this xjs seems to believe this is a TWR car, but i doubt it very much. Softop, wrong wheels, stock engine i reckon, auto, stock interior, it all sounds wrong to me, but what do i know, its a Shaguar!

Its going into its original colour, i've not heard or seen the code yet, but its a kind of champagne bronze?

you can just see some part of the fibreglass bumper in the original colur in the background of picture 1.




I had a break from it today, and started on a TVR Chimera 400, which is a tad more up my street


Original number plate, N400 BHP,and 27k miles from new!

The downside is it is a 3 stage pearl rosso red, flippin nightmare

Now, who in their right mind thought this is a good design!!

Idiots, what possible gains are there besides it not rusting, but feel free to crack at will, stupid design.

And whose idea is that drain plug, WTF were you thinking when you designed that, numpties!!!

GRRR.....
What you are looking at here is a plastic sump, yes plastic! Not only that for a genius idea but why not have a plastic plug with a feeble way of undoing it, just needs rotating 90 degrees and it's out!

Oh dear, we seem to have had the plugs falling out after services, "hmnn, didn't see that coming" ?? WHAT!! "I know, lets put an R pin it in to stop it falling out" Problem solved!!! Can you believe what these cars are coming up with nowadays?

Not an uncommon car, a 2016 Ford Galaxy diesel.....which just happens to be a unit shared with Peugeot & Citroen so how many of these are out there waiting to fail


Feckin modern cars, I HATE them.

Roll on the time when I can weld rust full time....

Hi Kev. Have you seen the newer VW plastic drainplugs - coarsest thread you've ever seen and tightened with a tiny T-bar.

Haven't had that pleasure yet mate, another stupid one to look forward to then!

I wonder how many of those plastic sumps get replaced after having been jacked up on???

Like you say Kev, these modern cars are barking mad.
Stupid kids from university with a degree in "I will just change a design to justify my job".
Don't get me started on feckin' day lamps and driving lamps that flash on and off with the turn of the steering wheel, and electric hand brakes !!
Sorry, this was your rant mate!!

Don't forget electric power steering!!!

...Or solenoid door latches!!!

Oh bugger !! lets go back to a cave and rub sticks together.

Have to laugh, just ordered my NAD tickets and my new printer doesn't want to work................ technology....

Alfasixnut wrote:I wonder how many of those plastic sumps get replaced after having been jacked up on???

All of them hopefully.

A list of pointless things,

Lights that come on automatically............can you not see it's getting dark?
Wipers that come on automatically...........can you not see it's raining?
Auto handbrake, stop start, binging noise to say you've left the key in/not put your seatbelt on/anything else you know you've done.
All of the above is just plain annoying, one step away from the self driving car.

Stupidest of all is the designers changing things for the sake of it, like plastic composite inner wings!

Wonder if in 15 years time they will all be falling apart with stress cracks....

Will plastic sump plugs be able to survive the cycle of heating and then freezing when the engine is off during cold weather for long, before they crack?
As for modern technology. My 156 2.4 Jtd tried make me swerve into oncoming traffic the other day. I was driving along a straight road when the front off side brake came on, followed by braking on other wheels in a random sequence. The vehicle stability electronics decided the car was in a skid and was trying to help me gain control when infact it was doing the opposite. Looking at other Alfa forms, apparently a fault sensor in the steering can cause this. Does anyone want to buy a cheap 156 ? Ideal if you want to get rid of your wife. I have bought a 2004 MX5 1.8 to replace it and I love it.

"I have bought a 2004 MX5 1.8 to replace it and I love it.[/quote]

I have a 99 1.6 MX 5 (120K miles from new) and an 04 1.8 S-VT MX5 (SH 50k miles) both great cars!

Forgot about one of my real bugbears with a lot of Manufacturers now, no spare wheel!!

I've heard all the arguments that it saves weight (often replaced by useless puncture seal kits and a compressor to allow the tyre to be attempted to be blown back up, doesn't matter that you could be inflating a dangerously run-flat tyre that could explode when you drive again..), saves MPG? Really? I'd love to know how many more miles to a tank the extra weight of a spare and jack takes up?
I hated space savers when they first appeared but the advantage is at least you can keep going once fitted without having to wait for a recovery truck (amazing how many cars turn up EACH WEEK with a flat and no spare on the back of a flatbed, that's saved the planet hasn't it) and it had a good side effect of bringing it to the drivers attention that they'd not had the spare fixed instead of it just being thrown in the boot.


So with all that, I won't have a car that has no spare, an electric handbrake, auto lights & wipers.
If that means I stay in old bangers so be it.

Whilst I'm ranting....

Alfa.
What are you thinking making the Giulia Auto only?
I'm sure it is a very good gearbox, also sure I'd eventually get used to it. But I won't have one, even when I can afford one
Just because there is a trend towards them at the moment it doesn't mean you have to follow like sheep.
Thought Alfa were meant to be something different? Not more of the same.


Rant over

There are a collection of 36 Windcutter 16 ton steel mineral wagons on the Great Central Railway and some are at Quorn Station looking a bit neglected. Well I had a spare few minutes so I thought that I would "Paint my Wagon!"



I will be working my way along the rake painting just the sides that are seen from the passing trains - then I will do the ends and other sides.

Just seen that xj12above Keith, very nice. Always liked jags and the xjc.

What's the latest on that xjs shrew ?

Train painting, gotta love the scale of those things

Well, yesterday I started fixing the brakes of my car.

KevJTD wrote:Train painting, gotta love the scale of those things

and yesterday I got a bit more done! But I do feel guilty cluttering up the CAF with this railway stuff....

They look a lot smarter with a lick of paint.

rsimond, welcome to the forum.

What car are you doing the brakes on?

all transport related stuff mate