Evening all - my first time posting here so please be gentle!
I've played around with cars for years, having lightly modified a R53 Mini, a E220 convertible Merc, Porsches, etc but I've never attempted a rebuild.
I've been looking at Copart for ages thinking that many of the written off cars look like an easy job to get back on the road. I've liked the V6 GTV for a few years having owned a few Alfa's in my time, and they do seem to be on the rise price wise.
I came across a Cat N car in January and put on a few bids which were eventually accepted. Looked like fairly minor front end suspension damage:
Copart pics:
I then happened to google the reg number and came across a thread on the car on an Alfa forum. Basically the car was side swiped whilst parked and the insurance company was quoted in excess of 4K to repair so it was written off.......some pics from the alfa forum:
Looked a bit worse than I had thought - bonnet, door, bumper all potentially broken and maybe bent subframe? By then however it was too late as I won the car!
It turned up on a low loader and I was disappointed - a lot of work to do. The side of the body work was scuffed and scratched, the bonnet was snapped in the corner, the wheel was beyond repair and the suspension was knackered!
I set to work
First job - make it driveable.....
I found a replacement wheel and ordered new suspension arms, driveshaft joints, droplines and tie rods.......bithc of a job but it all went back together!
DIY paint!
I then looked at the bodywork.....took everything off and started again:
At this stage it was looking bad......however, good news - the bumper simply had come away from its mountings and was fine. I glued the bonnet (these are fibreglass) and it looked ok.
I then machine polished the whole car to within an inch of its life. Started with claybar, then wet sanded all the lacquer with 2000 grit and set about refining and polishing. To my amazement, the passenger side was almost perfect - all the scuffs and scrapes came out and they look great.
I then swapped my 17 inch teledials for a lovely set of 18 inch "Blacklines" known as such as they are from an Alfa GT Coupe Blackline addition. The needed 5mm spacers but look the business!
I then managed to source a Cup style rear spoiler - in the wrong colour. Out came the rattle can from Halfords and it looks pretty decent! Also fitted a front lower splitter as the original was missing.
So this brings us up to date!
Next plans are to have the bonnet and passenger door resprayed as they still need work and detail the engine bay!
Pics from the weekend!
I've played around with cars for years, having lightly modified a R53 Mini, a E220 convertible Merc, Porsches, etc but I've never attempted a rebuild.
I've been looking at Copart for ages thinking that many of the written off cars look like an easy job to get back on the road. I've liked the V6 GTV for a few years having owned a few Alfa's in my time, and they do seem to be on the rise price wise.
I came across a Cat N car in January and put on a few bids which were eventually accepted. Looked like fairly minor front end suspension damage:
Copart pics:
I then happened to google the reg number and came across a thread on the car on an Alfa forum. Basically the car was side swiped whilst parked and the insurance company was quoted in excess of 4K to repair so it was written off.......some pics from the alfa forum:
Looked a bit worse than I had thought - bonnet, door, bumper all potentially broken and maybe bent subframe? By then however it was too late as I won the car!
It turned up on a low loader and I was disappointed - a lot of work to do. The side of the body work was scuffed and scratched, the bonnet was snapped in the corner, the wheel was beyond repair and the suspension was knackered!
I set to work
First job - make it driveable.....
I found a replacement wheel and ordered new suspension arms, driveshaft joints, droplines and tie rods.......bithc of a job but it all went back together!
DIY paint!
I then looked at the bodywork.....took everything off and started again:
At this stage it was looking bad......however, good news - the bumper simply had come away from its mountings and was fine. I glued the bonnet (these are fibreglass) and it looked ok.
I then machine polished the whole car to within an inch of its life. Started with claybar, then wet sanded all the lacquer with 2000 grit and set about refining and polishing. To my amazement, the passenger side was almost perfect - all the scuffs and scrapes came out and they look great.
I then swapped my 17 inch teledials for a lovely set of 18 inch "Blacklines" known as such as they are from an Alfa GT Coupe Blackline addition. The needed 5mm spacers but look the business!
I then managed to source a Cup style rear spoiler - in the wrong colour. Out came the rattle can from Halfords and it looks pretty decent! Also fitted a front lower splitter as the original was missing.
So this brings us up to date!
Next plans are to have the bonnet and passenger door resprayed as they still need work and detail the engine bay!
Pics from the weekend!
