Conaero's Spider Rebuild

Paint that's a foot deep!

drewf said:

Paint that's a foot deep!

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Looks worth it though

C

Looking good

Splendid job. Looks superb.

Spent my day off yesterday doing a few more jobs.

Did the tricky job of refitting the freshly painted sill trims. It all went well as I invested in new fixings. It took about 4hrs as I had to bash out the sills on both sides, stonechip and paint where the car had been jacked on the lower seam and crushed it.

While it was up on the ramp I went round the rest of the underside with the stonechip covering any brown bits but thankfully there wasn't anything to worry about.

Fitted the front undertray.

Next, I need to replace the fan belt and fit the new arch trip section that covers the belt.

I have a blowing exhaust as one of the flexi pipes has gone, some more work here.

Worst part of the car now is corroded rear suspention. I'll take it out, blast/powder coat/polybush and refit plus the front pads and discs need doing, as do the calipers and wheels.

Plenty to be getting on with and the spanners are a bit cold right now.

A day well spent by the sounds of things Matt

Yesterday fitted a few more bits with the text assistance and pics from Allan, just the door cards to go but there is no rush, I have months.

My first outing for the Spider will be Brooklands Auto Italia late next April, so time to rip the suspension out and powder coat it all.

Conaero said:

Yesterday fitted a few more bits with the text assistance and pics from Allan, just the door cards to go but there is no rush, I have months.

My first outing for the Spider will be Brooklands Auto Italia late next April, so time to rip the suspension out and powder coat it all.

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Glad to be of assistance. April is a tentative timescale for ours too. Just got to get to work with the T cut!

Cheers Allan. They are pretty easy to work on and any interior jobs are a doddle as you can drop the roof and walk about inside the car

Did a bit more today. The roof procedure kept stopping mid way. I found out that if you don't get the roof deck aligned correctly it stalls the roof.

Fitted the Flaps to the top of the B posts and that was it really. Just the door cards to go now on the respray reassembly side of things, then on to the exhaust/brakes/suspension.

Update: the roof flaps on top of the B post on the drivers side, a bit didn't come back from the bodyshop and assumed lost but they have found it now, phew.

Bodyshop are quiet so I asked them how much to do the wheels (tyres off) and the calipers (faded)

£50 a wheel and £20 a caliper, bargain, have ordered the decals off Ebay, will drop them off shortly.

Sounding good Matt, excellent progress

UPDATE:

It's been a while so I thought I would give you a bit if an update.

The car is fully reassembled after its respray so attentions have turned to the final bit that has been in desperate need of overhaul, suspention and brakes.

Brakes:
The calipers are very similar to the Brembo's on the 3200/4200/GS. Now the car has only done 25k miles but the brakes are in a right old state.

Stripping them down revealed heavy rusting and pads that are disintegrating. Also one of the Pistons was sticking and both the front caliper pipes were corroded and snapped.

New Mintex discs up front and new Mintex pads all round, front caliper rebuild kit, calipers are being stripped and re painted with new Alfa Romeo script logos then bake lacquer. Finished off with new front pipes. Rear discs and handbrake is all good.

Suspention:
Again, corrosion is the biggest issue. Front struts have been removed, springs shot blasted and powder coated, new shock gaiters, repaint and reassemble. The shocks and bushes are all good.

Rears:
Disassembled, springs, doglegs and spring pans shot blasted and powder coated, replaced the bump stop and mounting cups as they had rusted through. Wire brush and paint then reassemble.

That's it for now, some pics:

Jeez... Those bumps stops were stopping nothing, were they?

I could almost hear the bump stops thinking about the car going over bumps! Will need to check mine one the dings are straightened.

What happens with the rear bump stops is they rust, then when they impact they collapse and touch the spring, then you get a constant squeak squeak at low speed.

An incredible amount of corrosion, is it down to poor materials in the manufacturing process or where the car has lived in it's lifetime I wonder? Still, it's going to be better than new when you've finished with it Matt

LincsOSCA said:

An incredible amount of corrosion, is it down to poor materials in the manufacturing process or where the car has lived in it's lifetime I wonder? Still, it's going to be better than new when you've finished with it Matt

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It's down to cr@p parts. The rear bump stop cups are thin cheap, poorly painted parts. 10 years and they never stood a chance. Bump stops £16 each, cups £26 each, gaiters £8 each, caliper rebuild kit £60, it all adds up!

When I sell the car someone will get an absolute bargain! What started as a recommissioning turned into a restoration.

The list so far:
Total repaint, all parts removed and done with loving care.
Engine rebuild, inc inlet pipes rechromed, total engine strip down, cambelt and repaint.
Interior drivers seat rebuild.
Brakes overhaul.
Suspention overhaul.
New rad.
New AC.
Oil lines and rad recon.
Trim recon, wheels and mirrors.
Ragazzon exhaust.

Wow thats unreal Matt certainly dont miss working on that kind of mess anymore for sure.
Will be nice when all done.

Conaero said:

It's down to cr@p parts. The rear bump stop cups are thin cheap, porely painted parts. 10 years and they never stood a chance. Bump stops £16 each, cups £26 each, gaiters £8 each, caliper rebuild kit £60, it all adds up!

When I sell the car someone will get an absolute bargain! What started as a recommissioning turned into a restoration.

The list so far:
Total repaint, all parts removed and done with loving care.
Engine rebuild, inc inlet pipes rechromed, total engine strip down, cambelt and repaint.
Interior drivers seat rebuild.
Brakes overhaul.
Suspention overhaul.
New rad.
New AC.
Oil lines and rad recon.
Trim recon, wheels and mirrors.
Ragazzon exhaust.

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Indeed Matt but what a great car it's going to be.

I'd love to buy a car from you someday, I will be keeping an eye on what you buy next for sure

Who did you use for parts? I will need to be ordering stuff soon,(ish.)