Classic Alfa Forums

Looking good Kev.
I bet you ache after crawling around inside there mate rubbing it down , and it gets hot in a confined space

you're not kidding mate, it's the worst isn't it

if you knelt down on the back seat platform there is a sharp upwards ridge that cuts into your shins, twisting sideways or leaning in through the windows was the only option.

glad that bit is done, the wings and doors will seem like a doddle

only a morning today to get some red on, this afternoon I had a nice ride out collecting Johns' 205

so once a few little marks had been tidied up with some stopper the rest of the primer got a smooth down with a 320 pad, no need to get too carried away on these sections.

the red was actually a bit fiddly to get into all the awkward bits on the front panel but happily it seems I didn't miss any bits
then onto the rear section of the car where there is a lot more visible metal than nowadays, the rear side bin looks pink but it's just the heaters' reflection
see

Very nice

The heater adds some nice mood lighting, I've noticed

Nice colour choice Rob,

Well applied Kev

Colour looks great

Smashin

with rob's help we got the suspension back on the little Imp ready for it's sabbatical outside for a couple of weeks, first time out in daylight for some time
I did the kingpins yesterday, not too hard but time consuming....luckily we were quiet enough at work

all suspension parts have been cleaned and painted, complete with lowering springs.
the little Imp won't see much else done now for a while whilst pauls' 33 comes for some new paint.

Great to see the Imp looking sound again Kev.
Sits nice on it's suspension.

That's the first time I have ever seen the Imp swing axle front suspension. Hinge line located right in the middle to minimise camber gain in bump, not a bad compromise, especially with the majority of the vehicle mass over the back axle...

Looks good back on it's wheels. Knowing the prodigious rate at which you work, it won't be long before it is back on the road

The front axle pivot is exceptionally well located Lauren being almost touching, trouble is they mounted a Kingpin arrangement at the hub end rather than an upright and ball joint so unfortunately it does suffer greatly with camber change on bump, albeit reduced to a minimum by the length and location of the inner arm mount. Front suspension is like a coilover unit which pivots on the bottom arm, if they'd have made it bolt to the hub and have a ball joint it'd have been so much better.

Hoping it'll have some paint all over it by end of April, next few weeks will be taken up on the 33 that's coming. also for some red paint.

After that the refit shouldn't take so long, as long as Rob gets stuck in. should be out and about this Summer.

Very impressed especially as a few years ago that car would have so easily been scrapped by your average man .

But then on CAF your not average are you. !

so true chap

you guys are very kind, much appreciated.

truth is it really should have been scrapped, only the bloody mindiness that gets me through it, not wanting to concede defeat. once we'd started it was a case of just getting stuck in.

the fruits of that hard work though will soon be riding around with Rob aboard, but don't ask me to do another lad.......

i know how you feel kev . Anyone else would have scrapped the 33. But that I'd not an option
Looking forward to seeing the work you do on the 33 you've got coming in

sometimes takes us fools to keep the underdog alive mate doesn't it, long before the value was there in restoring and keeping them running.

your 33 will be something very special and personal to you when you get it done, a great sense of satisfaction i'm sure.

the 33 that is coming tomorrow shouldn't be too bad a job really, Paul has done most of the hard work already. I get the relative luxury of just having it to prime & paint

Cheers kev hopefully it will be
Result with 33 .Prime and paint . Your have done by dinner time

yes, got next week off work to do it mate so will be highly disappointed if it's not all painted & flatted/polished by the end of the week.

Look forward to seeing it finished. Another 33 back on the road

Not as much as I am looking forward to seeing it with fresh red paint John, but then I have to put it all back together, can't wait.

nothing done on the Imp today, apart from it getting a new home for the next few weeks

for more progress for me, but to pauls' 33 follow it on his thread here....

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1190&p=19067#p19067

nothing much to add on this thread for a little while....

well, as promised. nothing much done on the little imp while the 33 came for some fresh red paint.

with that gone and all the remaining plastics painted and packed away yesterday afternoon the little Imp could once again return to the workshop.

an issue that the car has had since day 1 is the drivers door which had some flex at the hinge area which allowed some droop and very poor fit, with the door off it was plain to see why it was flexing!
the bottom hinge was also starting to pull away so both got cleaned up and welded up, I may well add a strengthening bar in too for a belt and braces repair
with a 1mm spacer plate made up to bring the bottom hinge out a little the alignment and shut is very good now

there was some big dents in the door too which mostly popped out but had left some nasty creases in the swage line, they have come out pretty well now and will require very minimal filler, not being able to get a hammer to the back of them stopped it getting any better but it's more than acceptable now
i'll aim to be making swift progress on it now as it really does need to get going, only a little thing so once the doors are repaired it shouldn't take too long to get all red.....

doors are off now with the thoughts that the holes would spread and need some welding....

drivers side first
managed to weld it all up without taking the edge returns off as they were surprisingly good..
passenger side one wasn't quite so bad but the bottom edge nearest the rear was too bad to leave on so a folded return was included in that repair plate
a few other bits done today so now the welding is finally (hopefully) done then sanding can commence on the next visit...

doors all welded up now, underside on both needed some repairing

outer surfaces all sanded down
drivers side dent on swage line came out pretty decent, whole skin was caved in so pleased with the minimal damage left over, besides what I caused welding the bottom up!

undersides sanded too then I seam sealed the bottom lip with some PU sealer
in-between repairing the doors I started to sand the drivers rear quarter which has had multiple repairs so needs plenty of shaping, coming along though
there will unfortunately be a fair amount of filler needed to get back to something like a decent shape, not everybody's cup of tea but needs must

doors are finally fully sanded down, frames were a PITA to do, I hate the fiddly bits greasy hinges weren't any better either

ready for some etch..
primed up
inner face needs quite a bit of paint as a lot is on show once done, I'll have to come up with a better way of doing it for the paint

Those doors look good.

I think you need a medal for saving the imp, but Rob will no doubt love driving it.

Tim

nothing exciting to have reported over the last few weeks, been busy sanding and straightening stuff out but it's much of the same so didn't bore you all with updates

have got to a point now though that the majority of the car is ready for priming.

I've scheduled a couple of days off work in a few weeks to be able to get the paint on, moving out of the little unit at the end of the month so it needs to be done!

so with just the bonnet, boot and rear panel to sort I set about the rear panel this afternoon.

always knew it would need some welding, just hoped it wouldn't need too much
a few fresh-air pimples
bottom lip was still relatively solid but heavily pitted
whilst at it though best to chop it off and make a new bottom lip
plug welded the underside edge to the central reinforcement section, rest got overlapped seam weld

outer skin got a full width repair panel made up
should fit about here...
plugged to bottom edge, seamed to top fold. pretty decently thick metal on original and repair section so could be a bit bold on long welds
ground back
and some red oxide sprayed inside to protect the seams, it'll get filled with waxoyl after paint to help stop rust coming back, must remember to cut some drain holes in...

each end just needs a smaller panel making up then it should be ready to fit

More excellent progress, well done

Are you moving into larger premises, or giving up the workshop altogether?