ALFAGTV6.COM

junglejustice · Post by **junglejustice** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:56 am

BTW - Jes' rebuild of his 3.7 is now moving forward pretty hard and fast too! Sad story that one - but what can one say (you just have to move forward!)

His car was torn-down to nothing (like mine), sand-blasted (his cage was already done), primered and then the interior trunk and engine bay-areas were painted in the final colour. His is white, mine is more of a grey with a mild metallic in it! (Almost the colour of an RSR suspension coil-spring!)

The two cars staged next to each-other (in their current dark primer livery), look kind-o serious!

junglejustice · Post by **junglejustice** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:08 am

What you learn real quick doing something like this, is to ignore people's negativity! There's constructive input and then there is cynicism and unnecessary criticism driven either by blatant jealousy or by that particular individual's desire to just get a rise out of you!

I like to think that I have learned how to ignore the latter! There are arseholes on public car forums such as this, who's days are simply just not complete unless they can fuckitup for somebody else. I will never understand people like that. You just have to power through it and understand that people like that are in the minority and inherently pretty lonely - they have their own demons to battle with!

For the most part I have made some good friends within the Alfa community in general, as well as here and on the other Alfa forum!

junglejustice · Post by **junglejustice** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:44 am

So, I just noticed that despite my best efforts to sort the pictures in some form of chronological order, I had a visit from the fuckupfairy again (despite his busy schedule...)

There are shots of the tear-down stages (original red paint still visible), following re-assembly shots (painted gray interior and charcoal outside primer...)

Any way - cest la vie - the one shot on page 1 of this thread (body on scales), shows the raw chassis weight at roughly 690 pounds (just over 300 kilos.) This is not bad considering that I still had the stock fuel-filter and pump installed, the rear doors still had all 4 pieces of glass in it, the steering column, the shifter and the hand-brake were all still in there, as well as the upper control-arms and the 4 power-door lock solenoids!

This next shot on the scales (below) comes LONG after the roll-cage was completed, body primed and the interior painted, the motor installed, seat, harness, radiator, dash, fuel-cell, battery and oil etc - all in.

Basically still to go was the DeDion and tranny, drive-shaft, brakes, wheels, side-shafts and windshield (as far as real heavy stuff was concerned...) Lighter stuff still to go included the carbon fiber trunk and hood (less than 20 pounds total), as well as the custom fiberglass fenders and the front & rear fiberglass EVO bumpers!

At 1510 pounds (just under 690 kilos) I also had coolant, fuel and fuel-lines/pumps and filters to go, as well as small things such as the door-handles and plexi-glass/lexan windows...

junglejustice · Post by **junglejustice** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:22 am

The wait between the initial start-up and when I can drive it is the hardest - mentally. On Jes' 3.7 (when we started it up the first time), we were basically able to go and drive it around the block (rough as it was) soon after we started it!

With this thing, I have had to wait and wait on some things beyond start-up and it is driving me nuts (like Barry was asking in another thread - I can't wait - and now winter is upon us and track-days are getting thin here in the Pacific Northwest...) I swore at the start of all of this that I was going to get it drive-ready before start-up, but it never seems to work out that way!

Shit - I wanted it ready at the start of summer (that was TWO YEARS AGO!!!)

Any way - good things come to those who wait I hear. I'm waiting...

rz · Post by rz » Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:36 am

nice looking project here

i like to see changing old piles of rust into monstercars

junglejustice · Post by **junglejustice** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:39 am

Thanks RZ - Other than welding and paint, I am proud to say that I have done all of the work myself. It helps though (like I said before), to have guys to ask questions of who know what they are doing, as well as the many good and bad examples of other projects to look at that come through there...

I had help with a few brackets here and there, but overall I powered through even the portion that has always been my weakest area - WIRING! The Painless kit has it all colour-coded and labeled every 6 inches, but still - you stare that bundle of wire in the face every day and ay some point you realize that you just HAVE to figure it out!

Intimidated by relays - no more; dumb around a kill-switch - a thing of the past; reluctant to pick up a ohm-meter - now my best friend...

My welding still looks like bird-shit though (and holds just about as-well!)

junglejustice · Post by **junglejustice** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:11 am

Budget has really been the biggest obstacle! It's like watching a scale and adding things - each time I bolt something to the car I can watch the weight (and the dollars) go up - right along with it!

At roughly 650 pounds torn-down it was mostly labour (and the cost of the roller) - for a shop to do it all for you we're looking at about 10 bucks a pound up to that point! Then you add a roll-cage, sand-blasting, primer and interior paint - ready to assemble - and now I was in to the raw chassis somewhere around 23 US dollars per pound! At 1,510 pounds in to the rebuild, I was somewhere around 27 dollars per pound (the shiny shit ads up real quick!) Looking at it now, at a final weight of around 2,200 pounds one could be in for around 32 dollars per pound (for a turn-key project build to this spec!)

Having access to the resources that I have and doing most of the build yourself, I'd say it will still be every dime of 25 bucks a pound to repeat it!

It's funny, just the tear-down took me several weeks. Day 1 is great - motor out, seats out and you think: "I'll be driving it real soon!") Then comes the details - removing every little bracket and nut and bolt and piece of trim - same is happening on the back-end here with the assembly of all of the little things that I mentioned earlier! VERY time-consuming! I am also nuts about sand-blasting and powder-coating (or at the very least blasting and repainting EVERY little thing...) I HATE working under or around a dirty, oily car! My street car is next on my shit-list!

Any way, just the raw chassis - completely stripped-down - everything glass, copper, plastic, rubber or aluminium removed - the steel shell only and then the roll-cage built, various brackets and frames (such as for the radiator and the fuel-cell) welded in, the thing partially sand-blasted, then cleaned, primed and the interior, engine-bay and trunk-areas painted - 15K USD - not a dime less!

Shop-rates here are 65 to 70 on the low-end and 85 to 95 dollars a hour on average for this type of work (it can go as high as 110 for the specialized stuff!) There's storage and the use of soft-goods, tools etc - consulting/advice etc that all plays in to those numbers.

junglejustice · Post by **junglejustice** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:43 am

Short-term-completion list (at least to take a maiden voyage);
1) Finish conversion of the shifter and re-install.
2) Get custom drive-shaft back and install.
3) Complete the front brake caliper brackets and install.
4) Install pedal-box and dual masters.
5) Run brake lines, fill and bleed the brakes.
6) Install rear bumper.
7) Modify DeDion for negative camber and rear-toe.
Eight) Install side-shafts.
9) Mount wheels and do alignment.
10) Install throttle-cable.
11) Install steering-wheel & shift-knob.
12) Get side-dump exhaust installed.
13) Bungee-cord the doors and drive!

Mid-term finishing list;
a) Custom body work - front & rear fender-flares, hood and trunk.
b) Install fire-system.
c) Final paint-stage.
d) Install various body-trim pieces.
e) Install windshield.
f) Install Plexi/Lexan windows.
g) Have custom graphics done.
h) Add passenger seat.
i) Clean-up and re-spray under-coating.

Winter sorting list;
I) Remove DeDion and powder-coat.
II) Swap transaxle.
III) Swap brakes.
IV) Upgrade fuel-system to dual pumps, dual pick-ups & dual coarse filters.
V) Install new wheels and tires
VI) Deal with whatever broke during the two stages above!

junglejustice · Post by **junglejustice** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:16 am

Few last shots - gotta run! (Crate just arrived from Ron Simons that I must go and clear through customs - inventory for Group 2...!)

kevin · Post by **kevin** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 12:28 pm

Well done JJ. Sure you will get criticism but the bottom line is you have started a mammoth project and completed it. Very few can say that. It is easy to criticise from the armchair but you gotta take it and dont get worked up about, just let every one have there own opinion.
Now for my comment.... I am running pretty much identical sump to you and it really needs a sump guard. Few years back I saw the TT (24v 156)gtv116 wack the sump on speed bump and oil drained out as the car entered the pitts at kyalami. Maybe you do have one but I have not seen your video.

junglejustice · Post by **junglejustice** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:20 pm

Hey Kevin, thanks for the words...

Yeah, I should probably invest in one and then again, it is still much higher than the exhaust down-pipes (and still not the lowest point on the car!)

Good insurance though in an agricultural excursion!

Any way - some more shots...

junglejustice · Post by **junglejustice** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:25 pm

Bad news on the carbon fiber drive-shaft is that it is still 1,500 bucks including the CVs at each end and the custom adapter-plates to go along with it!

The good news is that Christmas is coming! Anybody...?

junglejustice · Post by **junglejustice** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:31 pm

The under-coating has to get cleaned up and re-done too!

junglejustice · Post by **junglejustice** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:38 pm

A few pieces of the under-pinnings are temporary! The DeDion is back in (for the car to go on the alignment rack - where we'll cut and weld-modify the rear for negative camber and toe-in - in-car!)

After that it'll come back out for sand-blasting and powder-coating when the new TA goes back in!

I installed my interim 3.55:1 LSD while I wait for the nice new lightened and reconditioned unit (all cleaned up too...)

junglejustice · Post by **junglejustice** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:48 pm

...and a few more...