Our very own "barn find"...

[Evan Bottcher]

I did not do much research locally, so I can't comment too much on how much I might have saved but I don't expect it to be massive.  I wasn't going to rebuild the loom myself.  I decided to have Lionel to do the loom for a few reasons, but mostly because he is an active member and contributor to the AlfaBB, demonstrated very nice work, had lots of recommendations, and was very happy to answer lots of questions over email.

There isn't a lot of careful reasoning that's gone into the restoration process - some things I've invested in on a whim.  I have a few parts with Franjo in Slovenia.  The postage was expensive, but the work he is doing is fantastic and I really enjoy his email updates with great quality photos.

[Evan Bottcher]

Example.  I now have some NOS GTV tail light housings, but I had already sent my originals to Franjo, and could use some spares.  He had not ever re-chromed the plastic bodies on these tail lights, but we decided to have a go anyway.  It is apparently difficult to get the chrome plating to stick on the plastic, so I knew ahead of time that this might not work perfectly.

Photos show the original peeling chrome, and the result of chemical stripping of the original chrome.

[Evan Bottcher]

Show here is the result of polishing the plastic to remove all clouding and pitting.

[Evan Bottcher]

And here is the result of the chrome plating.  Unfortunately the plating did not stick perfectly in one spot on the housing... so not a perfect restoration but I knew it was possible.  This spot will be painted and polished so as not to be visible, and these tail light housings will be good spares put away for the future.

Great fun to watch the detailed photos come in as Franjo does his work!

[David Mills]

More hijacking of Evan's thread but on the subject of wiring, I would add that I have had some very helpful correspondence with Lionel but also visited to two Melbourne wiring makers who seem very good.  These are Vintage Wiring Harness in Ringwood and Classic Wiring Looms in Mount Evelyn.  The latter recently made a very good loom for a 1900 CSS faithful to the original black cotton covered wire with paint dipped coloured ends!!

Cheeers Dave

[Davidm1600]

Hey guys I don't doubt for a second re how good Lionel's work is, as his response was great and yes for sure I appreciate the amount of work that goes into restoring/building a loom from scratch.  I too have seen many recommendations for his work on the BB.  I would be perfectly happy for him to do similar for me, if I could afford it but I can't at this time.  The alternatives such as suggested by David could be worth following up, at least the postage wouldn't be so much of an issue.

Likewise I also have been in touch previously with Franjo and if/when i can afford it, I would be most interested in getting him to work on specific aspects of my projects, but again these will have to wait.

My bloody house restoration project is perpetually keeping me poor and unable to work on my cars.  Frustrating, but I know it will get better one day.

[alfagtv58]

And here is the result of the chrome plating.  Unfortunately the plating did not stick perfectly in one spot on the housing... so not a perfect restoration but I knew it was possible.  This spot will be painted and polished so as not to be visible, and these tail light housings will be good spares put away for the future.

Great fun to watch the detailed photos come in as Franjo does his work!

Evan,

I love the fact that you have been a pioneer and gone to this effort with a question mark over the end result.  This is the sort of thing that can pay dividends for the rest of us with a restoration in progress.  Well done.

They look fantastic by the way!

In regards to the wiring loom, does onyone know if Lionel can do a loom to incorporate a twin spark engine, or is it just 'as it was, so shall it be now'?

Phil

[Evan Bottcher]

In regards to the wiring loom, does onyone know if Lionel can do a loom to incorporate a twin spark engine, or is it just 'as it was, so shall it be now'?

Lionel has added relays for the 105 headlights, so he can make modifications if required - however he did replicate most of my original loom.  I guess the only concern would be the length of run for the wiring?

Suggest you ask him: http://www.classicwiring.com/contact.html

[pancho]

Phil / Evan - when I asked if Lionel could assist with my loom he advised he could do whatever I needed however he would need a sample loom to make it from. So that would mean me grafting my TS requirements onto my original GTV loom. However I'll be doing things a little differently now with my wiring.

[Sportscar Nut]

Wow Evan, Franjo's work is very very impressive.

I was once told (??) that the metallic chrome over plastic that Alfa did on the 1750's was an extremely intricate process back in the 1960's. They had to build up the plastic with something like 5 different coats before the chrome could be applied. Apparently Rolls Royce was the only other manufacturer to chrome plastic moulds back in the 1960's.

Car is looking great.

PS Finished the 105 interior finally (after 3 years) but did not bring to Spettacolo. Really happy with end result.

Paul

[Evan Bottcher]

Picked up a pair of NOS interior light / grab handles which are very tasty indeed – I've never seen these come up NOS before.  Many thanks to Pancho (http://www.ar10537.com/).

Things have gone slow on this project, but not stopped completely.  I'm cleaning up the diff/axle housings and going to collect the engine and gearbox as soon as I can.  Any spare time I have is meant to go to shitbox preparation anyway

[pancho]

Hey Evan - yeah I've never seen them NOS before either - first set.

Was great to catch up again. Shitbox rally - oh yeah, that will be awesome.

Remember to let me know how you go with the stainless polishing.

[Evan Bottcher]

Spending a fair bit of time in the garage trying to clean the alloy diff casing.  Bloody stubborn baked on grease and also some hard baked on stuff that won't budge.  I've tried kero and a scotch-brite (thanks Colin), paint stripper (thanks Gary), and acetone.  Best success is kero and muscle.  Haven't tried alloy wheel cleaner yet, will give that a go next.

I tried reading this thread: http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=8386.15 but after having my head filled with kero and paint stripper fumes I just can't understand Neil's advice.

[Evan Bottcher]

Okay - so I'm still trying to get this diff housing clean, and it's becoming a bit of an obsession.  The underside and sides are actually very clean, it's just the top as shown in this photo.  The brown stains are not caked grease, they are really hard and seem etched into the surface.  They definitely don't dissolve in degreaser/kero/paintstripper like all the rest of the muck on the diff did.  Tried some alloy wheel cleaner tonight (alkaline) and that may have had a little effect but very little actual result.  Using lots of brushing/scrubbing/scotchbrite to assist.

Any tips, or do I just have to persevere a little bit each night?

[pancho]

Maguires mag wheel cleaner with scotch pads or stainless steel wool hasn't shifted it?

I have a dremel you can borrow - not sure which attachment you'd need but the offer is there.