Auto Italia Sportiva

Many, and I mean many, hours of work and Giulia Sprint Speciale 381173 is, I am happy to say is… on its way to redemption.  All the rust has been replaced, all the floors are done, and we are finishing our way around the outside metal.

The driver side outer skin is almost done but I wanted to share a few photos of our headway. The photos with the various shape template gauges are used as a guide in order to evaluate how much curve and how much hand planishing work is required. It is also a guide to ensure correct symmetry on both sides of the car.

We are about to move to the other side of the car starting Tuesday. By the end of month 3 we will have completed a total of 580 hours of work including cleaning, sand blasting, metal fabrication, welding, and hand planishing.

After that, we have the front lower valance to replace and a few miscellaneous parts. That said, we are on tract to complete all the work at about the 700 hours as originally estimated.

Although we have a shop full of tools the preponderance of the work has been completed with these few tools and the Oxy-acetylene torch.

Unlike other Alfa models, the SS still remains a magnet for rust. Why? If you look here on this particular area of the vehicle, you will notice this complex and encapsulated area will trap debris that eventually absorbs moisture leading to a deterioration of the metal.

All the work was checked with a preformed gauge in order to see how much additional work will be required. Hand planishing is a long and laborious process, but the end results are astonishing and will significantly reduce the amount final body work required.

Here is another view of the virtual finished hand planishing work.

Many  people assume that metal fabrication requires  special purpose tools, but that assumption is wrong. What is required is a person that has an understanding of the behavior of metal.  One of the very first things I did was to get  a hold of David Gardiners videos. http://www.metalshapingzone.com/ I can’t tell you how many times I have watched his videos  where I pick up something new every time.

Work on the SS continues at an incredible pace and now that the undercarriage
is completely cleaned of rust, tart, fiber glass as well as paint.  All the
rusted body parts have been removed and new parts have been fabricated.

We don’t get to use our English Wheel often, but this time it worked like a charm to contour the outer sills.

Restoration on Sprint Speciale 381173 started on December 28th, 2012 and as of today we have logged 280 hrs. So, what has been done in 280 hrs?

Removing everything from the car except suspension.  Paint stripping, bondo, fiber glass, undercoating, and sand blasting.  Metal fabrication of floors, door frames, sills, jack point boxes, crick boxes and floor pans Welding, lots of welding

We should be done with all the floors and sills except the outer rockers this upcoming week.  We are also replacing both inner rear rusty fender wheel wells and installing these once we replace all the damaged rear fenders with new metal followed with hand planishing.

The SS doors where in a complete state of disrepair and new frames had to be made along with 3 quarters of the door skin on one door and about 1 quarter of the other door.

Below are photos of the most recent progress on the front and rear floor pan.

We opted to preserve as much as the original seat rail support as possible.

When we replaced the inner sills support section we punched and flared the holes
for added strength.  Originally the inner supports on the SS where solid flat
sheet of metal.

The extensive metal repair process has begun.