DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Thanks for all the positive comments ...

Wow!!!

Funnily enough there's an article in the latest 'Octane' magazine about the discovery of the prototype Coda Tronca Giulietta SZ - fitted with similar coloured seats/interior ...

One of the things about the car that had always bothered me slightly was the lack of security - when it had been 'refigured' as a competition car by the previous owner, he had removed the ignition switch (replacing it with a dash-mounted battery cut-off switch & a push-button starter switch) & the only keys included with the original parts were a couple for the glovebox lock ( which had been omitted along with the glovebox lid/door).







Although I had the original ignition switch/key it was very worn & the key only worked intermittently, so the sensible option was to source a replacement switch.

Most of the Alfa parts specialists in the UK & Europe stocked a suitable switch but I found it cheaper to source one direct from a Bosch parts dealer in Germany.









So the push-button starter switch was removed





the starter/ignition circuit re-routed & the new ignition switch fitted





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Next job was to achieve a lockable driver's door - cars from the '50's & '60's often only had an external key-operated door lock on the driver's side - & boot.

This meant re-keying the locks to match the existing glovebox lock - luckily this is often just a case of dismantling the locks & switching the tumblers around until the key operates all of the tumblers correctly when inserted






With the the boot lock (above) I ended up having to leave out one of the tumblers - but the lock is only meant to deter passing opportunists ...


With the door & boot locks re-assembled/greased & refitted I hopefully now have a more secure/useable car ...


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The (red) harnesses were sent off to Sue at FDTS for modification & re-webbing in black & I took the opportunity of upgrading the passenger harness to match the driver's one (3in rather than 2in webbing) - thanks to DDKer Keith Fellowes who responded to my 'wanted' ad.





The finishing touch for the harnesses prior to installation was to add some Alfa Romeo badges to the quick-release buckles.







Another aspect of the car that I couldn't get used to was the dash-mounted rearview mirror:






- so I decided to replace it with a suitable period-looking mirror suspended from the the roll-cage.

I sourced a chrome ex-MGB interior mirror & mounted it to the cage cross beam above the windscreen using a stainless steel exhaust clamp ...







Much better !


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Nice touches!

Since the forum seems to be very 'quiet' at the moment I thought I'd update this thread - hope people don't mind.

Jobs over the winter have centred around making the car more 'usable'.

Aspects of the car I wanted to improve were:

- dash gauges (due to 50+ years of fading/yellowing they were difficult to read - especially at night)

- heating (lack of a heater - combined with the minimal ventilation provided by the door windows - made demisting/clearing the windscreen very slow/difficult)

- door windows (the limited degree of opening allowed by the previous owner's 'home-made' horizontally sliding widows caused several problems)

so I set about trying to address these areas.

Unlike the gauges in an early Porsche which have crimped-on bezels, the Veglia instruments in the Giulietta have half a dozen 'tabs' which are folded over at the back to hold the chrome rim in place meaning that they are much easier to remove/replace.

Also, rather than being painted or silk-screen printed directly onto the gauge face, the numerals in the Guilietta instruments are embossed & painted onto the reverse side of a separate clear plastic insert - which are readily available - so replacement is a simple/straightforward task.

This is the speedo before refurbishment showing just how faded/yellow the figures have become:




- & here's a comparison of the old vs new plastic inserts:



- & the 'refreshed' speedo ready to go back in the dash:




I didn't want the gauges to look 'over restored' - just easier to read - so didn't do anything more other than cleaning the bezel & glass.

The same process was carried out on the rev counter & triple gauge:






In addition I decided to uprate the gauge lighting - from the original 2w - to 5w halogen bulbs &, at the same time, replaced all of the inset warning lights with the correspondingly-coloured LED's.




The result of this work being that the gauges are much easier to read & I can actually see what speed I'm doing - & perhaps more importantly, what revs the engine is doing ...

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Next I turned my attention to installing a heating system.

I had some of the original parts needed - the heater matrix (which goes inside the car under the dash)



& the water shut-off valve (which mounts to the bulkhead in the engine compartment)



- but it wouldn't be a straightforward installation for a few reasons:

- the main heavy duty battery cables leading to/from the dash-mounted battery cut-off switch pass through the holes in the bulkhead which would originally have been used for the heater inlet/outlet hoses

- the area under the o/s/f wing in which the air ducting for the heater would originally have been sited had been modified to provide a cold air supply from the front grille directly to the Weber carburettors


First tasks were to fit the heater matrix & water shut-off valve - both straightforward.

Rather than drilling any additional holes in the bulkhead, I decided to run the supply & return hoses for the heater along the back of the engine compartment & through the fresh air vent on the n/s then behind the dash to the heater unit.

So I ordered a few 'generic' parts via ebay - heater hose, 13mm brass hose connector (for inlet manifold water take-off), pre-formed 45 deg hose elbow, T-piece hose connector, hose clips,etc & connected up all of the 'plumbing'

- from the water shut-off valve:



- along the bulkhead:



- & up through the fresh air vent:




Once the return hose had been installed, I made up a 'blanking cap' to seal around the 2 hoses as they passed through the fresh air vent:



- & the 45 deg elbow fitted (after shortening the 'legs'):




I'd always disliked the previous owner's installed top radiator hose which had made use of 2 separate 'chopped' hose ends connected via a length of copper tube so ordered a suitably sized black silicone 45 deg 'reducer elbow' hose.



However, I dislike the glossy surface finish typically found on silicone hoses so I set about 'de-glossing' it using fine wire wool & talcum powder ...



- & trial-fitted:



- next step was to fill/bleed/test the cooling system ...

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Making the car more comfortable..a familiar theme in my garage too.
Gauge design is just so Italian.
Makes the Porsche design utterly boring!

You are lucky to have such a short list.

Nice work, thanks for posting. It is quiet...

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Next job was to do something about the door windows ...

It was one of the aspects of the car that had always bugged me - the previous owner (a well-known Italian amateur racer/hillclimber) had built the car to Veloce Lightweight FIA specs &, as part of this process, had fabricated some aluminium-framed horizontally-sliding plastic door windows - 'vaguely' along the lines of those originally fitted to early Veloce Lightweights.

The problem was that the size of the opening created when either front or rear pane was fully extended was too small to be of any practical use - other than to adjust the external mirror - & provided minimal ventilation in hot weather. In addition, the shape of the (home-made) aluminium frame didn't exactly match the door frame resulting in an uneven gap between the frame & the surrounding bodywork.







Since all other windows (apart from the windscreen) were 'plastic,' I didn't want to add unnecessary weight by installing the original glass along with the (very heavy) winding mechanisms, so decided to install some vertical sliding one-piece plastic door windows.

I ordered a pair of 5mm thick Lexan (polycarbonate) windows from Plastics 4 Performance & then set about removing the existing door windows/aluminium frames. I also dug out the original door glass.

One problem that immediately became apparent was that the original non-Veloce LWT models featured 'frameless' door windows so there was nothing above the doortop to support the 'glass' in the 'up' position.

Here is a picture of one of the original door glass windows:





A pair of vertical 'guide' channels bolt into the door & the metal 'skis' at the bottom front & rear of the glass slide up & down in these channels.









- so I would need to fabricate something similar...

I found some suitably-sized thick-walled aluminium U-channel that was a relatively snug fit inside the steel guide channels so ordered a metre.







I cut a couple of short (approx 6in as per the original 'skis') lengths & attached them to the bottom of the driver's side plastic window using some steel corner plates/csk machine screws:









After trial-fitting the steel guide channels & plastic window another problem surfaced...

Even though the position of the steel guide channels was infinitely adjustable (forwards/backwards & inwards/outwards at each end) there didn't seem to be any combination of settings that didn't result in the 'skis' binding at some point - plus, when the window was fully 'up' it was very 'floppy'.

I decided that what was needed was a 'stiffener' across the width of the window to stop it flexing so I ordered a length of flat aluminium bar (40mm wide by 6mm thick):




This was cut to length then drilled & attached to the bottom of the window using stainless steel machine screws:




Another quick trial fit showed that this had solved the binding problem & significantly reduced the 'floppiness' in the raised position.

Next stage would be to sort the best method of raising/lowering the window ...

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Great stuff, love these type of jobs being documented

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I opted for a leather strap to raise/'position' the window (similar to the set-up I'd used in my 356) combined with some sort of 'handle' at the top of the window for lowering it.

A quick search on ebay turned up a selection of potentially suitable leather straps so I ordered a pair of 25mm wide in dark green.

Again, I didn't want to drill any additional holes in the inner door sheet metal so decided to use one of the existing unused holes (originally for attaching the winding mechanisms) for a stud to 'lock' the strap in a given position:





The strap was cut to length, suitable holes punched at the lower end, then attached to the bottom of the window (through the aluminium stiffener plate) using machine screws:






I then fitted a s/s M4 machine screw to 'position' the window strap:







Next task was to provide some form of seal on the inside/outside of the window to prevent it rattling & to stop (rain) water from running down inside the door.

I decided to use the original type of 'fuzzy' seal so ordered some directly from Elvezio Esposito in Italy (cheaper than buying in the UK ):



There is an inner & outer aluminium trim that fits to the top of the door & the 'fuzzy' seals are attached to those.

They were already drilled so I used some flat-head hollow rivets (in the existing holes) to hold the seals in place (leaving a gap in the centre of the inner seal to allow clearance for the leather strap):







After fitting the seals another trial fitting of the window indicated a much improved 'feel' when lowering/raising the window - & I was quite happy with the fit too:





All that remained now was to decide on a 'handle' to assist in lowering the window & to refit the inner trim panel ...

I looked at various handle options - I wanted something light & simple - so eventually went for a small knurled stainless steel knob.

After removing/drilling/refitting the window (& removing the protective film) I attached the knob:



- & refitted the trim panel:




I'm quite pleased with the way it's turned out :




- just need to do the other side now ...

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Flat glass!
Nice DIY rather than cheque writing for parts and labour somewhere.
Didn't realise/remember the car was ex hill climb and still had it's cage.