Classic Alfa Forums

Loving it Kev, when are the wheels going on ??

Funny you should mention the wheels mate...we were thinking about them again this afternoon.
The rears we will probably fit as is with a bit of polishing to the dish hoping that will sort them.
The fronts I dropped off with Shrew last year, well I went round to borrow his turning machine to polish the lip myself but after realising it'd be a few hours rather than a half hour or so I left them there, hoping Rob may go over and do them...
May suggest it again to Rob seeing as he has a few days off soon.

Rear end has sat down nicely now the engine is in, the Monte Carlo spec rally springs we fitted have dropped it nicely. Front still sits too high but until we get the fuel tank and all the gubbins in the front end and the right wheels on we won't know if it's too high.

Are you doing anything to improve the cooling system? If I recall Imps did have a tendency to overheat occasionally.

We plan on fitting a small electric fan to the front of the radiator mate so we can have additional cooling when/if needed.
They do seem to have an overheating issue when in trafic due to the raditor being in the hot engien bay without much cooling airflow. Does have an engine driven Rad fan though, a new water pump will go on too so shouldn't be too bad....
Some owners fit a bigger expansion tank Rob say, higher up to keep airlocks at bay. We may do the same.

I saw the imp today for the first time since I originally saw it as bought. Back then it looked more rust than metal.

Can't believe the transformation, looked great with its shiny red paint, badges and Rob has started trimming the interior.

Well done Kev and Rob, and old car saved for years to come and it will look perfect with the wide minilights fitted.

Cheers Tim.....kind words as always, very much appreciated

As you mention the wheels....

I spent a few hours down at Shrews today to polish the lips on the rims, the fronts were powder coated so that was a tough start, luckily for me Shrew did that bit for me, cheers again mate

The rears have a wider dish as they are 7x13's, front's are only 5x12 so we ground a bit of the powder away to create a lip. Centres I will paint in a metallic colour of some sort, Rob is making that choice....think he has bought some grey metallic, similar to the anthracite ones I think, we'll find out when it's on!

Shrew made a start for me, leaving me the easier part to make it shiny
The lip then went through varyingly finer grades of paper down to scotchbrite pads then metal polish, here's a before and after on the rears which had been lacquered which was now getting stains under it
The full set all done, ready for a bit of work on the painted bits..

Looking good Kev. Are they really going to fit under the arches?

Yes mate, rears we've already tried. Have actually got a set of 4 of the 7" ones but they wouldn't go on the front!

Broke the habit of not working on a Sunday to do these, but was actually quite enjoyable. Shrews' machine set up takes all the hard work out of it

Those wheels look great . Well done guys

Spent most of my tea breaks this week sanding and sorting the wheels, stayed on tonight to spray them with Peugeot steel grey metallic basecoat and lacquer.
Thanks to Keith for putting my mind at ease when I got myself all confused, not used to lacquering stuff, cheers mate
A late finish, got away about half 9 instead of half 5, but at least they will sit toasting in the customers toilet with a nice warm heat on them all night, must remember to take them out in the morning when I open up!
Hoping they have come out OK....

Ah, wondered why your car was at the front of the garage and all the lights were on when I went by at 7ish last night. Nearly popped in but my tea was calling as I had missed lunch.
Perfect colour to contrast the red too and will no doubt look great on the car.

Ha - good use of the customer bog, my brother used to wait for the parents to go out and then spray his stuff in front of the gas fire in the 'living' room

Yes, a rare late Friday night at work mate....all to no avail
Not happy with the results so will go in tomorrow afternoon to try and redo them.

Sorry to hear that Kev.
Dare I ask what you are not happy with?

basecoat looks a bit shadowy mate...all I can describe it as? not sure if it's in the base or the lacquer, i'm used to just using straight colours..
i'll post some before and (hopefully) after pix tomorrow..

Could be not enough air or fan not wide enough. Did you get strips ? Metallic can be a pain . Plus to much clear can drag the flake and mess up how it should look lay. Or was you to keen . And not let it flash off between coats?

Think I made the amateur mistake with the basecoat JB, laying it on too thick on the spoke areas so I could get good coverage on all angles, only to overdo it! Looks like the base simply ran off the spokes onto the flat areas in a lava flow situation!

In these pics it's the different shades where the spokes meet the flat face that was the issue.
So today off I went back to work armed with a couple of fresh cans of paint and lacquer determined to make a better job of it..

They seem to have gone on OK but the morning will tell for sure, but confident they are OK.
This after they've had some baking time so should be solid enough not to start the volcano effect again!
I bought 32 stainless steel cap bolts which I can cut the threads off then bond into the holes in the rear wheels for the fake split rim effect...

They look good to me . Small areas you need to work fast . Plus have you got a small touch up gun . My weapon of choice is devilbiss Sri pro . I use for all blends smart repairs and alloys . But for the time being . Get a fast mover touch up gun . There about £15 and spray great. I've bought a few over the years . Basically a throw away gun .
Talking of paint . I had a bit of a play today with some paint which maybe going on the 33 .
Test panel no flash just painted with loads of clear. Need to see what it looks like in the sun. With flash

I haven't any small spray guns JB, one thing I do mean to get hold of.
These wheels were only done with aerosols as I haven't yet got around to sorting any painting space at the units yet.
When I get things in order I'd like to play around with things a bit more.
Like the different colour flecs in that paint mate

Spray cans . That now makes sense .
This is the item number for the touch up gun 222531105091. You won't believe the price

As for the black . It's not a great photo. The Metallic red is already in it. As opposed to laying it over the top of the base . It's a Jag colour . I mite get the guys to add a bit more red . But I want it to look black until the sun hits it .

Thought about getting one of those little guns for jobs like this, guessing you don't get so much overspray if can use such low pressures, so handy for small jobs.
At that price rude not to!

I used to close the fan right down . It was like an airbrush. Just be careful when cleaning them as the rubber seals don't like thinners . Other than that . great guns . Under a tenner is crazy .

One ordered right now mate

Good man

They came out good Kev.
Sorry you had trouble first time. Did you notice the shadowing before the lacquer went on or after?
You did well using a can as well. As you know, cans give just pressurised paint with no air so makes control tricky.
Nice choice of colour.

JB, have you looked at Alfa's Etna black ? Seen it on Mitos and that pops well in the sun.

Trying to think back mate I think it was in the basecoat, I concentrated so much on getting coverage over all sides of each spoke that I ended up putting loads on, then didn't have enough left over to go over the face section!
Either that or the heavy handed use of lacquer to get a shine led to it sliding down the spokes and pooling, as JB suggests.
Either is a distinct possibility.

As long as the customers toilets look after them and bake them overnight I'll be happy, as will Rob!
The shadowing wasn't terrible but as you know, when you know something is there you know it's there and can't help but notice it. Other people would have seen it and made comments, which always makes you cringe and wish you'd made more effort when the chance was there!
All's well in the end...

Well the wheels are finally done, apart from the polished sections needing another polish where they got marked with me scotching the painted bits, Rob can do that - get him used to doing them!

32 stainless bolts were cut down and threads ground flat to create just the stainless heads which I then bonded in place.

Quote a nice sparkle to them raelly.

Just needs Rob to decide if he spends £260 on Yokohama which look nice and will be better, or £160 on Nankangs which aren't a matched tread set and won't be as good....

They look really nice Kev. I can not believe you got that finish with cans.
I suppose Rob's query is whether he can find the extra £25 a corner on top of the £160 he has to find.

have you looked at Kumho's ?

What about Toyo??

Rsfruitbat