1985 Alfa Romeo GTV6 (my first Alfa)

Great to see progress.

Is the Alfa going with us when we relocated across the pond?

m4ff3w wrote: Great to see progress. Is the Alfa going with us when we relocated across the pond?

That's not even a question

I was hoping to keep the means of paint removal "mechanical" and I'm considering media blasting but I've been seeing lots of recommendations for a wheel like This. I'm thinking I might give that a try. (Unless someone here says otherwise)

Good times

I used a parts store version before to clean rust and paint from a table saw. Was not impressed. Mine went on a drill though.

Stick with sanding. That disc will put lots of scratches and may heat and distort the metal.

Don49 wrote: Stick with sanding. That disc will put lots of scratches and may heat and distort the metal.

Truth. I tried something like this on an angle grinder, and while it removes material fast, it doesn't make any effort to keep flat things flat, and un-flat things un-flat.

A box of PSA sanding disks close at hand, and a high willingness to replace them frequently (even though there is still some grit left!) wins the day here. I'm exceedingly cheap, and it is really hard for me to throw out things like abrasives - I'm constantly having this conversation with myself: "it might not have enough life for this job, but maybe I'll use it on another job?" Hence the pile of mostly-dead abrasives in my shop.

ha! I have the same problem. "I dunno, this 50 grit is feeling more like 220..." (fires sander back up without changing disc)

Well, back at it with the sander it is!

(just once, I'd like a quick, cheap, way of doing things without significant risks or drawbacks)

Good times

I have used similar abrasive wheels, work ok on a small area, where you want to remove old material. But not idea for removing paint on larger areas. If you want to keep large areas flat or true, a wheel like that will leave the surface wavy or not flat. A air powered long sander might be a better option.

Got back yesterday!

I went at it all morning (well... 20 or so minutes since I woke up a little late) and am JUST starting to get through the top layer with the 120 grit.

I tried to get a picture of the jaw-breaker-like layers of paint, and that was the best I could do (around the sun roof).

I'm going to snag some 80-grit on my way home today, but I honestly don't think it's going to cover ground much quicker than the 120-grit I'm using now. Judging by this morning's progress, if I keep at it at my current rate I should be done by about Christmas 2112. I was thinking about going with Duster's "knotted wire whip on an angle grinder" option... (unless someone says otherwise).

Good times

I stopped by the body supply shop yesterday and played Q and A with the guy at the counter (super helpful guys there, by the way. If they had a coffee pot and a beer tap I'd never leave). I told him about my problem (I have three layers of paint, the third is thicker than the first two combined, and 120-grit is taking FOREVER). I asked about the wire whip as a solution and he said "drip rails and small areas, sure. But for the large flat areas I might want to stick with sanding. Maybe move down to 80 or even 40 grit"

So I did.

The 40-grit came with a warning from him: "Kind of like sanding with the edge of the DA sander, sanding with 40-grit is something that they tell you not to do in school but there's a time and a place for it and this sounds like it. If you hit metal with this you're going to need to sand back over it or lay a thick coat of build up primer to cover the scratches this is going to leave."

Duly noted

I went at it for about 20 minutes (For the record, I woke up on time today but I've deemed wednesdays "weld practice wednesdays" and I wanted to stay on task as long as possible ) and was just STARTING to get through that top layer of paint.

You can see a coat of proper Alfa Red under the crap orange peel and its associated primer there)

In the end, I was able to get about 1/3 of the roof to that layer (apparently the paint in Slovakia is much thicker and stronger than the stuff around here)

I've decided that as far as the 40-grit is concerned, I'm going to use it to eat the top layer and the Alfa Red underneath. Going one layer per panel at a time, I'll stop when I get to the original dark color (having a car painted like a jaw breaker has its benefits I guess). When I get to the dark color I'll switch to 80-grit to try to even everything out and smooth any scratches from the 40 that might have gotten through. Then I'll work down in stages from there until I get to bare metal. Free edges I'll work with a wire whip, and I'm going to have to see what I can do with the edges that but up against window trim etc when I get to them... Right now I'm thinking they'll just have to be block and hand sanded

Wish me luck!

Good times.

Glad you stepped up the grit! That looks like real progress.

In Soviet Russia the metal doesn't get the paint, the paint gets some metal.

Nice progress!

Thanks! I'll admit, I still don't want 40grit anywhere near the metal but dang if it isn't working like a champ!

In the spirit of progress, I finished the top layer of the roof today (one pad, the whole way):

That second picture was a failed attempt to show you guys my pink garage floor.

After I finished eating the top layer off, I decided to blow the dust off of everything with my spray nozzle (it threw up a TON of dust). I decided my neighbors and the environment probably wouldn't like it if I just blew all this stuff out onto the street so I got my broom and I swept up an entire dust-pan full of paint (not exaggerating, and that's just the ROOF!). I was wearing my respirator the whole time but noticed that I was beginning to feel a bit nauseous...

I've some experience working in confined spaces and I decided I might be experiencing the effects of low oxygen because of all the stuff kicked up in the air so I wrapped up work in a bit of a hurry.

After about an hour of fresh air (I had my window rolled down a little on the morning commute) all the feelings of nausea went away, so I think that kind of confirms what I was thinking before. Now I'm thinking it might be time to change filters on my respirator, open more doors (I always work with one bay open), or maybe not spray the surfaces with compressed air anymore / only spray AFTER I've already swept the floor...

Either way, its something i should probably keep an eye on.

Good times

Flight Service wrote: In Soviet Russia the metal doesn't get the paint, the paint gets some metal.

Maybe that's why they went to the 7.62x39... The .223 cant get through their paint!

The kid and I have a date in the garage tomorrow morning, and given how I was feeling yesterday I didn't want to kick up a bunch more dust today. I decided I'd play with a few things in the engine bay and just tinker with a few things that have been on the back of my mind.

The first was the auxillary injector fuel line (look aft of the throttle body in this old picture. see that big loop? I don't like it)

So I cut it short and clamped it tight:

The next was a long length of fuel line running from the firewall around the back of the plenum and to the front of the fuel rail that was unsupported.

Lucky for me that tab on the plenum was the perfect place for a clamp. I just had to drill out the hole a bit to fit

That of course made me not like where the fuel line was hitting near the back of the fuel rail, so I'll add an adel clamp there too (just need to find another bolt and nut first)

so yeah. that was a neat way to kick around and pretend to be productive

Good times

I used to get excited when boxes of new parts arrived at my door step. Now I get excited when I throw the boxes that held my old parts away

I just read through your project thread in one sitting. Wow, what a story. I'm impressed at the time and love you've put into this car! I'll be watching from here on, keep up the good work!

BlueInGreen44 wrote: I just read through your project thread in one sitting. Wow, what a story. I'm impressed at the time and love you've put into this car! I'll be watching from here on, keep up the good work!

Thanks man! (And, um, if you see me doing something dumb please don't be afraid to speak up. I'm kind of making this up as I go at this point )

Cheers!

Well, the Satur-dates with the kiddo are becoming a regular "thing". I asked him what he wanted to work on and he said "hoses". That fuel line I clamped up had a little slack, so what better place to tinker?

And then we played Star Wars with the welding mask. that extension and a few deep sets made a good blaster

I'm also preparing the youngest Hungarling for action. I figure the more hands I have on this project the better.

Good times

I Sanded the sides and edges of the roof this morning. Not much to take a picture of but I thought I'd try to show you guys just how thick this paint is (or at least the amount of dust it creates)

When I left off, there was just that little edge of paint that ran around the roof. It's about 2-inches wide at its absolute widest

This is just from sanding the top layer of paint off the area above the windshield

Good times

(I'll be on vacation from Tuesday to about Friday and may not do much posting here, but I promise progress will continue. We're not actually going anywhere or anything )

I got tired of all that dust was turning my engine bay pink, so i covered it with a sheet. (I know, exciting right? )

The front bumper had support brackets on either side's fenders. I'm not quite sure what my plans are for the front air dam / bumper setup on this are but I DO know these won't be needed and I know they're in the way.

So I removed them

The driver's side is the boogered one. It REALLY didn't want to let go. the passenger's side came off with no more than a sneeze

As I'm getting ready to move from the roof to the sides, I'm starting to think about how I'm going to go about dealing with all these trim areas I can't really get sand paper in:

I'm thinking I'm going to try a siphon soda blaster I saw made on a cafe bike forum some time back (I had a '77 CB750): http://caferacersunited.com/how-to-make-your-own-soda-blaster-for-a-few-bucks/

The recipe called for 7/16 hose, but lowes had everything but. So I just grabbed everything they had and called it macaroni (total cost to me = nil, so I'm not complaining) What I dont use here, I'll use for home brew stuff.

Between the soda blaster and the t-fitting I've been meaning to finish, it made for a decent saturdate with the kid. I picked up 50lbs of abrasive soda today from China-freight. We'll see how she does. Worst case, I'm out $35 for the cost of the soda

And then it was session after session (4, I think) of scrubbing the car with scotch brite and wax/grease remover. This thing must have been one of those "if it aint leaking it's out" type of jobs, because the front, rear, and the rockers were all CAKED in oil and dirt. Between that and the soap/water wash I was averaging one side per day.

That front shot is AFTER I cleaned a good handful of gunk out back in my younger/more impatient years I probably would have pressed forward with it the way it is (I got it off of all the surfaces I intend to paint), but the older me wants a better buffer zone so I don't accidentally smear grease on something important.

All in all, it's looking like it's going to be another week of scrubbing stuff

To keep me from getting burned out, I went and started installing the engine wire harness (not the one I fixed up).

It's pretty dirty so I'm cleaning it up a bit as I install it with an SOS pad and a cloth rag/water. So far it's doing a good job of giving me something to do when I need a break from scrubbing oil off the undersides