Smokey - New Alfa Giulia Spider 101 - not quite concours
Discussion
Picked up my new 1963 Giulia Spider today.. Some of you may be familiar with some of the story..
When I initially saw the car I was scared off by the state it was in.. But by then it had snagged me so after initially refusing it I went back and reached a deal with the seller who is also a mate. He has bought a Sprint and so need to sell this one. The car runs very well and has throughout its life been restored rather badly. My plan is just to keep it running while making it more solid, I just hope there is enough metal there to do that!
I picked it up from Camden and had to drive back to Putney in West London. On the way back I was starting to feel comfortable with the car.. Appreciating the slick gear change and soaking up the details when Smokey decided to do the inevitable. I was cruising on the A40, it had got to three lanes without the emergency one... And suddenly all power cut out.. Followed by wisps of smoke in the cabin which quickly developed into clouds ... I managed to cost the car towards an exit and luckily just before it stopped rolling I got it off the lanes and onto the beginning of the slip road. I had visions of doom and rang my friend who was suitably shocked and started heading my way. In the meantime I traced the smoke to the battery, it looked like short somewhere but initially I could not see where... Till I looked more closely at the battery itself and found it was the metal securing strap that had moved over the positive and then shorted with the ground.. Luckily she started again and the return journey from that point was relatively uneventful.. Will post pics soon..
Edited by jackpe on Friday 7th March 14:13
Few more updates.. i.e Problems -
-The headlight switch came off in my hand the other night and now the lights will not turn off, i even disconnected the wires on the back but still no joy.. any ideas how it would do this? i.e stay on with wires disconnected from switch? they were working fine before. I have ordered a new switch but suspect they still won't work now.. Maybe the relay has given up the ghost?
-The fuel gauge does not work either, tested send unit and it works fine. For some bizarre reason the reserve light comes on though, no matter what reading the sender is giving.. when on full or empty or even with all wires disconnected.. or earthed. Any ideas how it could do this? I will trace wiring to see what is happening..
One small triumph is that I managed to get the hood folded out of the way the other night, the guy who sold it to me had never figured out how and just used a tonneau cover. It helped that the battery was removed from where it was previously placed (behind the seat.. a PO very far back cut the loom..so batt was temporarily located behind seat). But just to show me he was not totally playing ball Smokey dropped on of the front hood clips on my head while I was doing this. Just a nut that needed tightening.
As I brimmed the tank some petrol came through the top into the well around the sender. The gasket for the sender arrived today, theoretically, replacing that will be another small triumph tonight when I fit it. But in practice I have no doubt it won't work out. Either:
-Fuel tank is from another car so gasket too small
-gasket too big
-sender and gasket will fall into tank as mounting gives way
-garage burned down overnight and no car left
Also got a replacement length of cable for the batt so it can go in the boot. I am certain i will be unable to fit this and in attempting to I will break either:
-One of the seat backs
-Bootlid
-Battery will fall right through the boot floor
I'm exaggerating of course but so far Smokey has done his best to impede any of my clumsy attempts at fixing things, so I am sure there is plenty more to come. Was looking at it last night though, just after burning a finger trying to weld a work table together.. love it. The car, not the table.
-The headlight switch came off in my hand the other night and now the lights will not turn off, i even disconnected the wires on the back but still no joy.. any ideas how it would do this? i.e stay on with wires disconnected from switch? they were working fine before. I have ordered a new switch but suspect they still won't work now.. Maybe the relay has given up the ghost?
-The fuel gauge does not work either, tested send unit and it works fine. For some bizarre reason the reserve light comes on though, no matter what reading the sender is giving.. when on full or empty or even with all wires disconnected.. or earthed. Any ideas how it could do this? I will trace wiring to see what is happening..
One small triumph is that I managed to get the hood folded out of the way the other night, the guy who sold it to me had never figured out how and just used a tonneau cover. It helped that the battery was removed from where it was previously placed (behind the seat.. a PO very far back cut the loom..so batt was temporarily located behind seat). But just to show me he was not totally playing ball Smokey dropped on of the front hood clips on my head while I was doing this. Just a nut that needed tightening.
As I brimmed the tank some petrol came through the top into the well around the sender. The gasket for the sender arrived today, theoretically, replacing that will be another small triumph tonight when I fit it. But in practice I have no doubt it won't work out. Either:
-Fuel tank is from another car so gasket too small
-gasket too big
-sender and gasket will fall into tank as mounting gives way
-garage burned down overnight and no car left
Also got a replacement length of cable for the batt so it can go in the boot. I am certain i will be unable to fit this and in attempting to I will break either:
-One of the seat backs
-Bootlid
-Battery will fall right through the boot floor
I'm exaggerating of course but so far Smokey has done his best to impede any of my clumsy attempts at fixing things, so I am sure there is plenty more to come. Was looking at it last night though, just after burning a finger trying to weld a work table together.. love it. The car, not the table.
Been away for a while and busy but here is a quick update and some more pics. Car is solid underneath but the boot skin, floors and rear inner arch skins will all need replacing at some point, all have been repeatedly, badly patched and the boot floor even has a riveted repair.. at the same time the sills should be done. Car drives really well, absolutely love it! It makes my Porsche 964 feel rather numb by comparison. I never thought I would say that. Have moved the battery to the boot from behind the seat, it was surprisingly hard to find a battery lead long enough to run the length of the car! I now need to reinforce the boot floor where the battery will sit and then make up a battery tray. I don't want to take the fuel tank out so that removes the option of welding in new metal so I am going to rivet in another patch. This will also be easy to take out when I redo the whole floor. Other priorities are patching up the roof a little to keep it going, it is very tatty with lots of holes but better than nothing for now. I've repaired the MGB seats as best as possible and replaced the diaphragms so they are much better, will just have to recolor the white bits showing the repairs. Also still to do:
-Fit the rear axle retaining straps
-Patch passenger and driver floor
-Find a proper air filter.. anyone know what should go here? this was made up by PO but leaks air. Would like something that looks similar. Weber twin choke carb. 40 I think..?
-Check timing and valve clearances
-Fix fuel gauge
-Adjust doors - Don't shut properly
-Try to improve paint.. with polish and by redoing some of the worse patches
-Get wheels painted
-Waxoil and underseal as much as possible to slow down any corrosion
USE THE CAR!!
Interior
Engine
Edited by jackpe on Friday 7th March 14:04
Edited by jackpe on Friday 7th March 14:06
Moved batt to the boot. The section where it sits was particularly bodged :
so to be on the save side I made a reinforcing panel. Then a tray, then riveted the whole lot in. Not pretty but pretty solid and should last for a couple of years till I replace the whole boot floor..
]
so to be on the save side I made a reinforcing panel. Then a tray, then riveted the whole lot in. Not pretty but pretty solid and should last for a couple of years till I replace the whole boot floor..
]Edited by jackpe on Friday 7th March 14:11
I’ve been pretty busy over the last few weeks but I’m not sure the that you could really tell by looking at the car..
Firstly I fixed the driver’s door. The fit was awful with the back end of the door being way too low and hitting the bodywork as it was shut:
also the leading edge was fouling:
There is next to no adjustment in the hinges and these doors were not original to the car, hence the fit issues. I cut some slots in the hinges and then made up some spacers. I also had to adjust the rear edge of the door somewhat with some light tapping with a metalwork hammer. Believe it or not all the fiddling took close to 12 hours.. but finally the fit is pretty much as good as can be expected and the doors now shut with incredibly satisfying precision! Then had to respray the affected sections and of course it turned out that it is not an exact match. Kind of suits the car’s mongrel status.
The seats were in a pretty bad sate, the diaphragms were totally shot and the passenger seat in particular had several huge tears.
This is the passenger seat that was by far the worse of the two. Diaphragms were changed and rips were fixed by laying material under the rip and then using leather putty to keep it all together. Leather was then fed extensively and I then recoloured that parts that needed it. Now all the previous rips just look like creases in the leather, which I like as it has kept the old character. Very pleased with result:
The paintwork is unbelievably shoddy but one of the worse parts was the dash with terrible orange peel, paint reaction and several big runs:
Since I had the seats out and was fiddling with the gauges I thought I might as well repaint. I got some matching paint (which it turned out is not quite the same..) and removed all the trim.. You can’t really tell from the pic but the dash now looks much better!
Also, the car came with a very, very worn dash pad which was not fitted as it looked too far gone to save with cuts, creases and the foam backing completely gone:
I used a hairdryer to make it pliable and straightened it as much as possible, then cut our some foam shapes from an old yoga mat (!) which was just the right thickness and recreated a foam backing. Pics to follow.
Also needing to be fixed was the fuel gauge. I tested the sender and isolated the problem to the gauge itself. I pulled this out of the pod but could not see any obvious issues, with the needle swinging pretty smoothly.
Ordered a second had but untested unit and it works! The reserve light is faulty but I’m pretty sure that is at the sender end. I can live without one for now.
Passenger foot well is pretty crummy as well. A patch has been badly welded on top of the sill plate and the floor itself is holed on another patch where it joins the footwell. I’ve cleaned it up thoroughly, will treat with rust killer and then weld a patch on top to keep the strength in there. No point in cutting out all the bad metal as it will all need replacing soon anyhow. A patch will last 3 years and by then I intend to get car stripped fully and rebuilt.
Firstly I fixed the driver’s door. The fit was awful with the back end of the door being way too low and hitting the bodywork as it was shut:
also the leading edge was fouling:
There is next to no adjustment in the hinges and these doors were not original to the car, hence the fit issues. I cut some slots in the hinges and then made up some spacers. I also had to adjust the rear edge of the door somewhat with some light tapping with a metalwork hammer. Believe it or not all the fiddling took close to 12 hours.. but finally the fit is pretty much as good as can be expected and the doors now shut with incredibly satisfying precision! Then had to respray the affected sections and of course it turned out that it is not an exact match. Kind of suits the car’s mongrel status.
The seats were in a pretty bad sate, the diaphragms were totally shot and the passenger seat in particular had several huge tears.
This is the passenger seat that was by far the worse of the two. Diaphragms were changed and rips were fixed by laying material under the rip and then using leather putty to keep it all together. Leather was then fed extensively and I then recoloured that parts that needed it. Now all the previous rips just look like creases in the leather, which I like as it has kept the old character. Very pleased with result:
The paintwork is unbelievably shoddy but one of the worse parts was the dash with terrible orange peel, paint reaction and several big runs:
Since I had the seats out and was fiddling with the gauges I thought I might as well repaint. I got some matching paint (which it turned out is not quite the same..) and removed all the trim.. You can’t really tell from the pic but the dash now looks much better!
Also, the car came with a very, very worn dash pad which was not fitted as it looked too far gone to save with cuts, creases and the foam backing completely gone:
I used a hairdryer to make it pliable and straightened it as much as possible, then cut our some foam shapes from an old yoga mat (!) which was just the right thickness and recreated a foam backing. Pics to follow.
Also needing to be fixed was the fuel gauge. I tested the sender and isolated the problem to the gauge itself. I pulled this out of the pod but could not see any obvious issues, with the needle swinging pretty smoothly.
Ordered a second had but untested unit and it works! The reserve light is faulty but I’m pretty sure that is at the sender end. I can live without one for now.
Passenger foot well is pretty crummy as well. A patch has been badly welded on top of the sill plate and the floor itself is holed on another patch where it joins the footwell. I’ve cleaned it up thoroughly, will treat with rust killer and then weld a patch on top to keep the strength in there. No point in cutting out all the bad metal as it will all need replacing soon anyhow. A patch will last 3 years and by then I intend to get car stripped fully and rebuilt.
A quick update on where I am with Smokey, hope to be on the road in a couple of weeks max:
Am going for a new hood as soon as the stuff below is done. Don't want to be caught out in the rain without a reasonably watertight covering. I'm afraid it would dissolve and I want to keep all my bodging as pristine as possible
Done so far:
Fix Hood mechanism
Leaking fuel tank seal
Light switch replaced
Remove heater assembly from engine bay
New Seat diaphragms
Seat repair
Battery relocation to boot
Make up Battery tray
Secure wiring
Paint Dash
Restore Dash top pad
New Dash clamp bead
Fit original mirror to go with Dash pad
Boot holes
Footwell patch
Wheel well skin, rear right hand side
Fuel gauge fix
Windscreen rubber ends fixed in place
Right hand light wiring
Front wheel arch guards
Door gaps
Still to do:
Fit rear suspension limit straps and bump stops
Redo left hand headlight wiring
Underseal any exposed chassis bits
Front nr plate –more secure mounting
Hood replacement
Wheel refurb
Remove redundant Exhaust strap
Check Engine timing
Check Valve Clearances
General Service
Wheel arch repaint
Sill top repaint
Paint polish and tidy on worst bits
Foot well patch:
Rear driver’s side wheel arch skin looking very rough. Outer sill was replaced and the end capping too but wheel arch skin is rotten.
Can’t replace whole thing as 1. They are not available (I think?) and 2. It would have to be welded to wheel arch and thus require repaint. So just cut out the rotten front section, as the top is better, this is a patch I made:
Welded in and sprayed with Zinc primer. Will weld up remaining gaps then cover in stone chip paint.
Also there was a gap where I believe the front splash guards should go in the arches, so just made up a plastic panel and siliconed that in place, just to keep it all watertight..
Then painted stone chip over the whole area:
The dash pad also looked like it had a bead that clamped it in place. Not sure what this looks like on original cars but on mine I bought some aluminium bead and bent it to fit, will paint black at some point but for now the raw finish will do:
Finally got to drive Smoky last night!! I have to say that this little car is really very impressive. It just feels so right to drive. All the controls are so tactile, the engine makes a lovely little rasp, the gear change is delightful.. Driving my 964 or Clio afterwards just feels totally wrong and alien. Generally goes really well albeit with some noises from the rear suspension that need investigating. May just be the silencer rattling around or touching.
Am going for a new hood as soon as the stuff below is done. Don't want to be caught out in the rain without a reasonably watertight covering. I'm afraid it would dissolve and I want to keep all my bodging as pristine as possible
Done so far:
Fix Hood mechanism
Leaking fuel tank seal
Light switch replaced
Remove heater assembly from engine bay
New Seat diaphragms
Seat repair
Battery relocation to boot
Make up Battery tray
Secure wiring
Paint Dash
Restore Dash top pad
New Dash clamp bead
Fit original mirror to go with Dash pad
Boot holes
Footwell patch
Wheel well skin, rear right hand side
Fuel gauge fix
Windscreen rubber ends fixed in place
Right hand light wiring
Front wheel arch guards
Door gaps
Still to do:
Fit rear suspension limit straps and bump stops
Redo left hand headlight wiring
Underseal any exposed chassis bits
Front nr plate –more secure mounting
Hood replacement
Wheel refurb
Remove redundant Exhaust strap
Check Engine timing
Check Valve Clearances
General Service
Wheel arch repaint
Sill top repaint
Paint polish and tidy on worst bits
Foot well patch:
Rear driver’s side wheel arch skin looking very rough. Outer sill was replaced and the end capping too but wheel arch skin is rotten.
Can’t replace whole thing as 1. They are not available (I think?) and 2. It would have to be welded to wheel arch and thus require repaint. So just cut out the rotten front section, as the top is better, this is a patch I made:
Welded in and sprayed with Zinc primer. Will weld up remaining gaps then cover in stone chip paint.
Also there was a gap where I believe the front splash guards should go in the arches, so just made up a plastic panel and siliconed that in place, just to keep it all watertight..
Then painted stone chip over the whole area:
The dash pad also looked like it had a bead that clamped it in place. Not sure what this looks like on original cars but on mine I bought some aluminium bead and bent it to fit, will paint black at some point but for now the raw finish will do:
Finally got to drive Smoky last night!! I have to say that this little car is really very impressive. It just feels so right to drive. All the controls are so tactile, the engine makes a lovely little rasp, the gear change is delightful.. Driving my 964 or Clio afterwards just feels totally wrong and alien. Generally goes really well albeit with some noises from the rear suspension that need investigating. May just be the silencer rattling around or touching.
Decided to go for the gunmetal. the pics just don't do it justice, car looks a lot better than with the silver.
Also, my discs are shot and need a reskim or replacement, does anyone know what the minimum thickness is supposed to be?
And are the front discs in common with other cars, Classic Alfa have them but at £240 plus VAT.. was hoping to find them cheaper of just go for the skim option..
Also, my discs are shot and need a reskim or replacement, does anyone know what the minimum thickness is supposed to be?
And are the front discs in common with other cars, Classic Alfa have them but at £240 plus VAT.. was hoping to find them cheaper of just go for the skim option..
So my garage has come up for sale and I want to buy it.. one option is for me to sell Smokey to help towards the funds but I am very reluctant after all the work done. She's just passed an MOT but the clutch is now making weird noises so will need replacing though not yet slipping, plus it looks like the rad has developed a small leak though i need to look into this further. This may be a godsend as getting those things fixed up will force me to wait a while before I make the decision on whether to sell up or not. You guys have got a fair idea of the car from the thread, if i do sell up what should I be asking? I got it for a good price but obviously I'd want to sell it for what it is worth.
Hello Guys,
I am just replacing the clutch and whilst there saw the gearbox mount was toast so replaced that too. After that will put her up for sale in the usual places. As you can see from this thread this is a usable car as it is and is structurally sound, however it is scruffy and has had rough and ready repairs in the past. I have sprayed rust inhibitor in all the cavities and cut out and patched any obvious rust. Either to be used as is or for a full resto. It is an original Alfa supplied right hand drive car, not a conversion so very rare. I have the paperwork from Alfa to prove that. I am looking for £17,950. You are welcome to come and view and drive as soon as clutch is back in, probably in around a week.
PM me if you want to know more.
Jack
I am just replacing the clutch and whilst there saw the gearbox mount was toast so replaced that too. After that will put her up for sale in the usual places. As you can see from this thread this is a usable car as it is and is structurally sound, however it is scruffy and has had rough and ready repairs in the past. I have sprayed rust inhibitor in all the cavities and cut out and patched any obvious rust. Either to be used as is or for a full resto. It is an original Alfa supplied right hand drive car, not a conversion so very rare. I have the paperwork from Alfa to prove that. I am looking for £17,950. You are welcome to come and view and drive as soon as clutch is back in, probably in around a week.
PM me if you want to know more.
Jack
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