Re: Not another bl**dy Alfa ! ... ?!!
Posted: Sat May 20, 2017 2:21 pm
.
I've been spending time since my last posting removing all non-original/unnecessary parts.
The rear end was very 'cluttered' with numerous stickers, an ugly rear number plate, GB plate, etc :
- so I set about removing all these & switching to a rectangular rear number plate:
Similarly, at the front, additional driving lights had been fitted which were removed along with the associated wiring & auxillary switch panel :
One of my pet hates is non-original wiring where cables have taken their 'feed' by hacking into the existing loom rather than running new wires back to the fusebox (or some other suitable junction)...
Numerous hours were spent laying on my back under the dash removing surplus wiring, tracing the routing of non-original cables & re-routing, replacing incorrect connectors, etc - here's some of the mess of wiring I removed &/or replaced:
Next my attention turned to the dash - as mentioned in an earlier post, the previous owner had covered the dash in black vinyl so I set about removing this... one of the attractive features of the early 'boat-tail' Spiders is the lovely simple (body colour) painted metal dash.
This is how it was when I got the car (previous owner's photo):
Firstly I removed the unsightly modern radio/CD player, knee pads, glovebox lid, etc & then warmed small sections of the dash with a hot air gun before peeling back the vinyl.
Once the bulk of the vinyl had been removed, I cleaned off any remaining glue residue with white spirit & assessed the results.
On the plus side, the original green paint on the dash was, in the main, still present & in good condition.
On the negative side, as is often the case with older 'classics', the dash had been cut (or more correctly, 'butchered') in order to fit a modern (DIN) stereo...
Unfortunately for some reason, whoever covered the dash had also 'keyed' the glovebox lid & the small rh section of the metal dash
These 2 sections will obviously need repainting.
I may at some stage reverse the enlarged radio hole in the dash by letting in new metal & repainting but as a temporary measure I purchased a cheap black blanking plate off ebay & attached a Factory radio delete plate :
Next job was to remove the later (S4) seats & re-install the original 1969 originals.
Before:
This shows the overall view of the interior - much better !!
.
I've been spending time since my last posting removing all non-original/unnecessary parts.
The rear end was very 'cluttered' with numerous stickers, an ugly rear number plate, GB plate, etc :
- so I set about removing all these & switching to a rectangular rear number plate:
Similarly, at the front, additional driving lights had been fitted which were removed along with the associated wiring & auxillary switch panel :
One of my pet hates is non-original wiring where cables have taken their 'feed' by hacking into the existing loom rather than running new wires back to the fusebox (or some other suitable junction)...
Numerous hours were spent laying on my back under the dash removing surplus wiring, tracing the routing of non-original cables & re-routing, replacing incorrect connectors, etc - here's some of the mess of wiring I removed &/or replaced:
Next my attention turned to the dash - as mentioned in an earlier post, the previous owner had covered the dash in black vinyl so I set about removing this... one of the attractive features of the early 'boat-tail' Spiders is the lovely simple (body colour) painted metal dash.
This is how it was when I got the car (previous owner's photo):
Firstly I removed the unsightly modern radio/CD player, knee pads, glovebox lid, etc & then warmed small sections of the dash with a hot air gun before peeling back the vinyl.
Once the bulk of the vinyl had been removed, I cleaned off any remaining glue residue with white spirit & assessed the results.
On the plus side, the original green paint on the dash was, in the main, still present & in good condition.
On the negative side, as is often the case with older 'classics', the dash had been cut (or more correctly, 'butchered') in order to fit a modern (DIN) stereo...
Unfortunately for some reason, whoever covered the dash had also 'keyed' the glovebox lid & the small rh section of the metal dash
These 2 sections will obviously need repainting.
I may at some stage reverse the enlarged radio hole in the dash by letting in new metal & repainting but as a temporary measure I purchased a cheap black blanking plate off ebay & attached a Factory radio delete plate :
Next job was to remove the later (S4) seats & re-install the original 1969 originals.
Before:
This shows the overall view of the interior - much better !!
.