Separation Anxiety (Post # 72)

It's hard to believe that the restoration of The Alfatross began almost two years ago.  Knowing what I know now, it's even harder to believe that I ever thought it could be done in just one year!  With 2015 fast approaching it's time for updates from the guys who are working on The Alfatross' sub-assemblies. Here are their latest reports: 

The Chassis and Body (Tim Marinos at Vintage Autocraft)

The Alfatross at Vintage Autocraft.  Tim Marinos

"Zagato built beautiful car bodies but was not well known for exceptional fit and finish.  I heard a restorer tell his customer, 'The great thing is it’s a Zagato' and in the same breath, 'The difficult thing is that it’s a Zagato.' 

"The good news is, it's a Zagato.  The bad news is . . . . " 

The hood skin minus its steel framework.  Tim Marinos.

With the vast majority of the underbody repairs to The Alfatross complete, we now focus on fitting the body components. One of the more tedious aspects of the restoration process is repairing past “sins” or issues such as poor build quality, poor repair methods, and existing damage and decay. This requires repairing and fitting up virtually every part pertaining to the body: all open and shut panels, window mechanisms, latches, trim, bright work etc. Rubber seals must be sourced, fitted and modified or made if an original style is not available. 

The hood skin with frame reattached.  Tim Marinos.

Every screw hole must be checked, re-welded if needed and sized for the correct hardware. During final assembly is not the time to deal with stripped out 2.9 mm trim screw holes! The extra effort spent at this stage returns in spades down the home stretch in terms of time and stress.

We must always be aware of the need to maintain a balance between fixing poor build quality issues and over-restoring. I always go back to the intent of the builder and take it to the highest level which is evident that they could achieve over all. This is the course we are following with The Alfatross."

The Engine (DeWayne Samuels, Samuels Speed Technologies)

The water pump housing.  DeWayne Samuels.

The shaft, bearing, impeller, seal and spring after
restoration.  DeWayne Samuels.

"Supplied water pump assembly was disassembled and initially cleaned and inspected. The housing had very bad corrosion creating porosity and pitting requiring chemical and glass bead abrasion to clean the metal enabling the surface to be ground to clean metal and prepared for welding. 











Various areas, especially at the radiator coolant supply hose bib, required multiple weld passes with shaping and re-welding to restructure the unit's integrity and restore the housing's original shape. 

Corrosion on the hose bib required building up and
grinding back into shape.  DeWayne Samuels.

Water pump restored and ready for installation.
DeWayne Samuels.

Once the porosity and corrosion problems were corrected; the entire internal surface in contact with coolant was coated with a protective sealant. The mating surface in contact with the engine block was machined flat as it too had porosity and corrosion problems. The new bearing assembly was modified to accept the fan pulley and machined to the proper length for the Zagato setup. 







The new bearing assembly was then pressed into the housing along with anew carbon dynamic seal assembly.  The coolant impeller was pressed into place with attention given to proper seal spring compression height and impeller clearance with the housing vortex seat. The unit is now ready to accept the fan pulley and awaits installation."

The Interior (Derrick Dunbar, Paul Russell and Company)

Body color overspray on the vinyl trim of the back seat
panel.  Derrick Dunbar.

"I am sending you three photographs of the material that came off the back panel of your rear backrest.  If you look closely you will it has some overspray residue on the vinyl edges where it wraps around the back panel.  This is evidence that the body was sprayed while in the car at the factory. Because the restoration calls for replacement of this piece of vinyl, we can either duplicate the overspray to preserve the way it was done at the factory, or leave it clean. Let me know what you want us to do".    

The back seat backrest panel.  Derrick Dunbar

One of the black vinyl quilting panels that cover the fire-
wall.  Derrick Dunbar.

  

The front seat backs and frames being reupholstered.
Derrick Dunbar.

The black quilting is your original that has been cleaned and dyed,  and the red wooden reinforcements on the underside of the parcel shelf are also originals.  If anything can be salvaged I like to retain it."

Everything Else (Me, Steward for The Alfatross)

When the body and chassis come back to Santa Fe I need to be ready to install all the other components except the upholstery.   Many of them are compete, but there is still plenty left to do.   Jeff Kramer, The Alfatross' chief Web scrounger, recently sent me a link to an ebay ad by Luma di Mazzotti Gianluca for a complete original Alfa 1900 radiator, thermostat, shutter and linkage assembly.  I didn't really need the radiator or shutter, but the thermostat and its intricate linkage alone were worth the purchase. Incredibly, it arrived less than a week later!

The radiator from The Alfatross (right) dwarfs the one
just received from Italy.

I was surprised to discover that the radiator and shutter were shorter than the Alfatross', although the other dimensions were the same.  It made me wonder if Alfa supplied different radiator types for different engines, or whether different body shapes required lower radiator height.

The shutters are sized proportionately.

The wiring harness laid out for testing.  Front of the car is at the top.

One of the other facets of the restoration I'm working on now is the wiring harness.  I had the original duplicated years ago by YnZ's Yesterday's Parts, but until now it had never been laid out.  My intent is to test each circuit and each electrical component to make sure they are functional before installing the harness in the car.  Although the harness and components are relatively simple, there are plenty of opportunities to get wires crossed.  Fortunately, YnZ numbered each wire and supplied 4 pages of notes on what they connect to based on the labels I attached when I removed the original harness and on their years of experience with this sort of thing.  I also had 9 pages of schematics sent to me decades ago by Berge Bergesen, another 1900 Z owner and notes by Peter Marshall on how to improve the exterior lighting system.

Things get a little complicated in the vicinity of the dashboard.

Separation Anxiety

I have to admit to being anxious about how long this restoration is taking.  I am well aware that The Alfatross is not the only car these guys (even me!) are working on, or even their highest priority (except for me!).  Over the 45 years I have been taking care of The Alfatross my experience with contractors has ranged from utter frustration with charlatans to mild amusement over some of the citations from The Book of Excuses I have been offered, to a sense of awe at the knowledge and competence demonstrated by the true professionals.  

If I ever do this again I will definitely establish agreements with anyone I contract with for when their part of the job will be finished.  If a potential contractor cannot or will not do that I will look elsewhere. 

Because of a Nail . . . . (Post # 71)

Because of a nail the shoe was lost, 

Because of the shoe the horse was lost, 

Because of the horse the knight was lost,

Because of the knight the battle was lost 

And because of the battle the kingdom was lost!

The Alfatross in 1969.  The trim ring is missing
from the passenger side headlight.

Chassis 01848 missing trim ring and headlight
lens. www.alfa1900.com.

What do nails, horses, knights, battles, and kingdoms have to do with the Alfatross? Well . . . read on!

The Alfatross was missing the trim ring around the passenger's side headlight when I bought it. OK, big deal, part missing, add it to the list! All I have to do is find another one . . .  or so I thought!

Beautiful car, but where is the trim ring
around the headlight? Michael Marciano.

The culprits: three simple spring steel clips susceptible to
breaking.  

It turned out that finding a replacement trim ring was not as difficult as determining WHY the original was lost in the first place. Headlight trim rings don't just fall off, even during competition or when being chased at high speed by the Polizia.  I noticed that at least a couple of The Alfatross' brethren were also missing their trim rings, so there seemed to be a pattern.  

There is always a reason, but it isn't always obvious. This time it was!  After cleaning the headlight buckets it was apparent that the one on the passenger side was missing two of the three clips that hold the trim ring to the bucket. And the driver side was missing one too.  

In my imagination I could see the series of events leading up to the loss of the trim rings: First, the headlight bulb burns out. The ring has to come off before the lens can be removed.  The person doing the work can't see what is holding the ring on or how to get it off (it isn't intuitive!) and breaks one or more of the clips before finally getting the ring off.  Now there is nothing to hold it in place, so either it isn't replaced, or it is jury rigged and falls off later. 

The exploded view diagram of the Carello headlight assembly for The Alfatross (top).  No. 14 in the diagram, "chiavistello" is the clip, or "latch" that holds the trim ring to the bucket, three per bucket.  Lose two and the ring will not hold!  Peter Marshall.

Looking at the headlight parts catalog sheet Peter Marshall send me years ago I made a feeble attempt to find replacement clips on line using the part number and description. It didn't take long to conclude that there probably isn't a stash of chiavistello "latches" left anywhere on earth so I better get busy making my own.  

I removed one of the three surviving clips still in good condition and took its dimensions. The problem was going to be finding spring steel of the right gauge to duplicate the example.  Shaping, drilling and bending it and would be easy (I thought!).

The nail that lost the shoe!  The 35 mm long, 
24 gauge, spring steel clip.  Try finding this 
on ebay!

The spring steel donor: a 
common paint scraper that 
just happens to be 24 gauge.

Cutting the spring steel blank with an abrasive wheel on
a Dremel tool.  Given the small size of the blank, sawing 
was impractical. 

I tried a number of pieces of scrap metal and saw blades before Jeff Kramer handed me a common paint scraper and said "Why don't you try this?" The blade turned out to be exactly the right gauge and large enough to make 5 or 6 blanks to allow for experimentation.  

Heating the spring steel blank with a MAPP gas torch 
in preparation for bending.

Finishing a new retainer clip on the sanding wheel.  The 
pointed tip must have exactly the right shape or it will be
difficult (impossible?) to get the trim ring off again!

I won't elaborate on all the things that can go wrong when you're cutting, shaping, drilling, heating, bending and grinding pieces of spring steel that are about an inch and a half long, but rest assured that Jeff and I discovered them all.  

One of the fabricated clips (top) with the original example.

This exercise is a good example of why car restoration is so time- and labor-consuming and hence so costly.  The materials in this case cost virtually nothing, but it took days of labor to restore critical parts that may never be seen again.

. . . and all because a tiny piece of steel--about the size of a small horseshoe nail--was lost .  . . .

Two for the Road (Post # 70)

The Alfatross in  about 1964 when it belonged to Pat 
Braden.  Note that the driving light on the passenger's side 
is completely different from the Marschal 640 fog light on 
the driver's side.  Pat Braden.

From the first time I saw The Alfatross I wondered if the driving and fog lights mounted in the horizontal grilles on either side of the central grille were "right". They looked too big for the grille openings and they were the type of light that is supposed to be attached using the threaded lug at the bottom of the case.  I assumed they were substitutions for whatever was supposed to be there and resolved to replace them with the "right" fixtures one day. My confusion deepened years later when I received this photo from former owner Pat Braden, taken in about 1964, I noticed that the Alfatross' driving light was completely different from the one on the car when I bought it.  So what is The Alfatross supposed to have? 

Screw holes in the rim of car 01947 (ex-Kelly) are all that 
is left of its grille lights.  Tim Marinos.

When good photos of The Alfatross' siblings started showing up on the Internet I noticed there is a lot of variation with respect to manufacturer, type, and size of the driving and fog lights.  This could be due in equal parts to what the cars were originally provided with or, due to their highly vulnerable location, the need for replacement due to rock damage.  

Note the way the lights are recessed into the grilles of  
chassis 01844.  Can't make out the manufacturer in this
photo.

Most lights seem to be Marschals, but the models vary.  Some have one fog and one driving light while others have two driving lights or even two fog lights. Although the dimensions of the grille openings appear to be constant, some lights appear to be smaller in diameter and recessed entirely inside the grille.  

Chassis 01915 in the 1955 Mille Miglia.  Note the additional
driving light attached to the central grille. Michele 
Marchiano

Period photos are hard to come by, and have not been much help.  Most are insufficiently sharp to distinguish makes and models of the driving and fog lights.  Occasionally the lenses are even taped over! But it is apparent that they protrude slightly from the grilles and it is possible to make out the Marschal crest on top of the light bezels.  In other words, they look just like the lights on The Alfatross!

Chassis 01954  is fitted with twin Marschal fog lights, but 
not the same type as The Alfatross.  Note the characteristic
Marschal shield on the lens, raised lens cone in the center 
of the lens, and pronounced chrome hood.  

Chassis 10593 (ex-Zagato) seems to be equipped with twin Marschal fog lights exactly like those of The Alfatross with the Marschal crest attached to the top of the chrome bezel ring and the clamp protrusion at the bottom of the ring.  

Chassis 10279 also is equipped with Marschal 640 fog lights, but these are different from The Alfatross', lacking the Marschal crest and clamp .

In period photo of an early 1900 Zagato taken during the 1954 Campione d'Italia Concours d'Elegance.  Photo resolution isn't good enough to identify the exact type of lights used.  Michele Marchiano.

Chassis 01845 in "as found" condition with the lens broken
on the passenger's side.  Can't make out the model,
but it does not seem to be a Marschal product. Octane.

 

The Alfatross' original Marschal 640 lens (right) is
chipped and cracked.  The NOS lens and reflector are  now
mounted in the original case (left)

My research reveals that Marschal products were and are present on a number of The Alfatross' siblings. When I bought The Alfatross it was wearing a 642 Marschal driving light and a 640 fog light. I have chosen to restore them. The cases were a little rusty, but could be re-chromed. The real problems were the reflectors and lenses. 

The original lens for the Marschal 640 fog light (right) 
with its NOS replacement from France via e-bay.

Are my lights "original equipment"?  There is evidence to suggest that they are: The mounting lugs on the bottoms of the cases had been removed so the lights could be affixed to the grilles in a somewhat slap-dash, non-adjustable manner by two screws passing through the sides of the grille opening and into the cases. There are only two screw holes in the grille, and they match perfectly the holes in the sides of the light cases. There is no evidence of modifications to install any other type of light, the first photo in this posting notwithstanding. 

The original reflector for the Marshcal 640 fog light
(right) with the NOS reflector that will be used to replace it.

I was lucky enough to locate a NOS Marschal 642 in 2003.  It donated its lens and reflector to the original Marschal case and bezel.  More recently, I acquired a somewhat used Marschal 640 fog light in France through e-bay.  The case was in bad shape, but all I needed was its lens and reflector, both of which were in almost perfect condition. Even with international shipping it cost me only about 1/10 of what the NOS driving light did 11 years ago!  E-bay rules!

Four States of Separation: Shifting Gears in New Mexico (Post # 69)

Gear Fear

One of the potential big-dollar expenses associated with restoring The Alfatross was the transmission.  You can't just take a 1955 Alfa Romeo 5-speed transmission to AAMCO and ask them to check the seals, bearings, synchros, and gears.  I was afraid there might be bad news inside the box because it was hard to shift back in 1970 or '71 when I last drove it.  The ever-resourceful Jeff Kramer recommended I take it to Gordon Self of Gordon's Imports in Albuquerque. Gordon is ASE certified for Alfa, Ferrari and other European imports.

The Alfatross' 5-speed transmission, now with new front
and rear seals, fresh oil. and a clean bill of health for the
bearings, synchros, and gears.

   
Gordon looked it over skeptically, ran the shifter through the gears, scratched his head, and said "It's been a long time since I've seen one of these!"  It looked pretty good on the outside, anyway.  But even if the gears and synchronizers were good it would still probably need seals front and rear at a minimum.  

Gordon Self  in his shop with the Alfatross' transmission.  As
you can see, racing is his thing!

Gordon called a few days later to say that he had opened up and found the synchros, gears, and bearings to be fine.  It did need seals, though, and finding new ones might take a while!  He was also a little concerned about the condition of the cap at the end of the driveshaft rubber "donut"mount and asked me to send down the front section of the propeller shaft to make sure the would engage properly.

The shift bracket welded to the frame had
torn loose.

If everything was fine inside the box, why was I having shifting problems?  I discovered the most likely reason when I was soda blasting the bottom of the chassis.  A bracket designed to anchor part of the clutch linkage had peeled away from the frame member making it impossible to totally disengage the clutch.  That problem was rectified during the chassis repairs.

50 years ago to the month, V. Pat Braden, The Alfatross'
5th owner, scratched  his initials (VPB) and date (10-64) 
inside the bell housing,  probably during a clutch 
replacement.

Carchaeology

An interesting aside: I know when the last clutch change took place: October 1964, 50 years ago to the month, because Pat Braden, a former owner, scratched his initials and the date on the inside of the bell housing! 

Max Jax

Optimistically looking ahead into the not-too-distant-future when The Alfatross' body and chassis return home from Tennessee, I have been shopping around for some kind of hydraulic lift to help with installation of the engine, running gear, brakes, suspension, wiring harness, etc.  I favored a two-post lift because it would make access to the suspension, wheels and brakes easier.  I had been putting off buying and installing a lift for a long time. The Shed has 11 ft ceilings, so height is not a problem, and there is plenty of space, but not so much that plunking a permanent lift down in the middle of it wouldn't create problems when reconfiguration of the space was necessary.  I discovered this site on the Web, http://www.maxjaxusa.com/, watched the set-up video, and was sold.

Installing the MaxJax.  The hardest part was deciding
where to set it up and how far apart to set the columns to
fit a variety of vehicles.

I placed my order and the unit arrived before the end of the week--all 800 lbs of it.  I was surprised and delighted at how easy it was for one person to unpack, assemble, and install it.  I did the assembly on a leisurely Sunday afternoon and the installation in less than 6 hours.  If I had to do it again it wouldn't take half that long.  

Each of the lift columns bolts to the floor using 5 special
wedge anchors.  All you need is two masonry bits and a
good hammer drill.

The MaxJax unit lifts to 48", handles up to 10,000 lbs, and breaks down into two columns and a cart-mounted hydraulic pump.  The whole thing can be removed and wheeled out of the way into a corner in a few minutes--just what I needed!

Four States of Separation: Getting Shafted in Arizona (Post # 68)

Camshafted, that is.  DeWayne Samuels of Samuels Speed Technologies sent the following description of engine work accomplished and on-going, along with an invoice.  Even with all this work going on, the costs associated with the camshafts, valve springs, and exhaust valves accounted for more than half the bill!

Looking to see plating and metal finishing work anytime (mostly carb parts and fasteners), cams well underway.  We are using Crower – way less money than the Italians and way faster delivery, plus I prefer their profile design with USA gasoline vs Italian design on EU gas.  Continuing on carbs, still missing some broken parts that should have been here by now. Finishing oil system prep work.  Exhaust valves are done, starting in on water pump.  Right in the middle of preparations for refinish on externals (intake manifold, covers etc.).  I have one more bid due any minute on valve springs.  Roger and I decided to rework the spring seat area in the cylinder head thus allowing .150” additional height in the spring package, making the spring development more feasible.  The Italians only think they can come up with stock pressure springs but they are too weak to start  with and I have not been able to get anyone to commit to supplying anything (I've been sourcing springs since your engine first got here). I found some Ferrari inner springs with spacers but the spring rate pressure is off - which is as important or more so than the seat pressure.  Piston valve relief area profiling is under way. When finished we will perform a static balance prior to the dynamic balance of the assembly.  

The oil sump after crack repair, etching, and
priming.  DeWayne Samuels.

Glyptol internal finish  for sump.  DeWayne Samuels.

Blued and black oxided engine fasteners.
DeWayne Samuels.

Some of  my fellow gearheads at the Car Table are skeptical that a little 4-cylinder, 2 liter engine should or could need this level of work.  The question they ask most often starts with  "Does it really need . . . ?"  I was nervous about the route the engine work was taking, but in for a penny, in for a pound.  At least things were happening!  Lurking in my memory was the eight years the engine languished in a certain shop in St. Louis while the proprietor was writing the definitive Book of Excuses (more on that later!).





On the other hand, it has slowly dawned on me that few of The Alfatross' brethren have their original engines.  Even some that have correct 1308 engines don't have their original 1308 engines.  The explanation is simple: most of these cars were raced.  Racing is the best way to wear out or blow up an engine fast.  What do you do when your engine is shot but the rest of the car is still good?  You find another engine that will fit and plug it in, of course!

Crower cams--worth their weight in unobtainium!
DeWayne Samuels.

Not that The Alfatross' engine was in great shape when I got it.  It had been rode hard and put away wet many times. Adjustable parts like valves were adjusted to their limits and beyond.  It was overdue for major work.  DeWayne's approach has been to assess the condition of all parts  from an engineering perspective, restore whenever possible and replace when restoration was not a viable option.  Fortunately, with the exception of the oil dipstick, the only parts that needed replacement were internal, and most of them were things that are routinely replaced in a race engine anyway.

The two Solex 40 PII carbs disassembled, cleaned, repaired, and refinished.  DeWayne Samuels.

One of the Solex 40 PII carbs before restoration.  

The only question at this stage is when will the engine be finished and run-tested on a dynamometer? As soon as Tim finishes the body The Alfatross will come back to Santa Fe for installation of virtually everything except the interior.  That would be the perfect time to fit the engine so that we have not only a rolling chassis, but one that is self-propelled!

After Restoration. DeWayne Samuels.