With the oldest GTV6 nearing 40 years in service, a forum to document projects and restoration seems sensible.
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KevinR
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by KevinR »

Work started to clean the entire casing with soft wire brushes. I could have had it vapour blasted but I thought I would give it two hours and see progress as I really did not want to strip it totally and possibly get blast grit into bearings etc. Depending on type grit or ice soda or dry ice it's not an issue but I'm not familiar with the guys who do this in the UK.
Depending on type of blasting you also get tiny holes in the soft casings which is perfect to trap grease ! Probably not an issue if you going to paint the casing. At this stage I'm thinking to get it smooth and spray it With ACF 50 every season to keep the natural factory finish.
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KevinR
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by KevinR »

After two hours all was done and a wash down with brake cleaner it looked pretty good. Now time to strip down the box and check what needs to be done.
Can see their is a big difference now to the pics of the gearbox casing on bottom of page 4 :)
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75evo
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by 75evo »

Simply fantastic!

By the way do you have an air compressor? The baking soda blaster also works well and just washes off. Cheaper than media and much easier on the aluminium than sand.
KevinR
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by KevinR »

Thanks Z, I do have baby compressor and probably should have given it ago with baking soda but it took so quick with the soft brush as gearbox was still in such good condition. Should get my synchro ( extra ones) and synchro rings this week from Highwood Alfa.
KevinR
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by KevinR »

Jumping around quite a bit with putting parts back. When a whole section is ready it's great to fit it all together. Earlier on in post I made marks on the torsion bars and torsion bar brace. This made life super simple putting it all back with trolley jacks under each lower A arm to get the the positioning correct. First fitted lower A arms and fitted shocks 1 turn from hardest setting. Must say I still prefer the Bilsteins but I had spare new set of these already.
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KevinR
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by KevinR »

Torsion bars are prepared with usual copper grease. I marked the splines with tipex to make it clearer as light not great under car. I also cut small grooves into back of bar incase the power project coating went a bit wayward !
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KevinR
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by KevinR »

I have been waiting for a swivel head socket spanner to arrive so I can tighten up ( install ) steering rack. I ended up cutting it down as well.
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KevinR
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by KevinR »

Found an easier solution for the bed in hose on my fuel pipe. I used to put a spring on outside but I found it used to cut in, even tried it on inside . This came up on carbuidersolutions website and it works pretty :- gates unicoil . See pics below
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KevinR
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by KevinR »

Always seams a painful task of cleaning up sill trim clips. Good thing is these are available from ebspares and Highwood Alfa if you're broken or missing any. ( costly ! £3 each !)
Kevin Strapp at Ak classics in SA had a clever way of using two types of sill trim clips locally sourced with modifications. It's is crazy to pay R36 a clip in SA. Luckily mine were all still good.
You can always judge if a car has been restored carefully by the finishing off of these clips or a modified clip. Worst thing you see is guys just screw straight into the body which then rusts.
Removing the clips you have to be careful and if you have not done it before you just use a pair of pliers and rotate it 45degees.
Sometimes body shops forget to put back the square holes after putting in new sills which is a pain as you then have to work on fresh paintwork .
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KevinR
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by KevinR »

Sills done ! A lot of paint shops ( panel beaters , body shops ) often forget to check all the drain holes are clean on the sill and when fitting new steel panels close the drains in with filler.
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bteoh
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by bteoh »

Good Job Kevin :)
I find the plastic sills on my cars shrink and there is a gap between the various joints. It is the harsh Australian sun that tends to do it. Do yours fair better? Probably the UK models don't have that problem but wasn't sure about the South African ones.
KevinR
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by KevinR »

Thank Bteoh, I also thought the gaps due to shrinkage ( sun UV) was a Southern Hemisphere thing but most UK cars are also like that. You can get new side trim from EB spares at £285 ex vat. Mine will do just fine even with gap. Rather put extra money into mechanical things at this stage.
Talking about trim .. How's the Gta trim fitting ?
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bteoh
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by bteoh »

Hey Kevin,
That's exactly how mine looks too. Apparently they can be heat stretched to correct but wasn't too sure what companies can do that. It is the same problem with the front and rear plastic bumpers that warp a little in the sun.
Not sure what my brother has done with the GTA side skirt trim but I suspect he has kept it as a spare.
Is that red SA GTV6 that is currently for sale by Alex Jupe yours?
KevinR
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by KevinR »

Hi bteoh, it’s a customers car and a very good one. Mine is still100% original with zero mods or sunroof. Are you interested in it? Drop me an email I’m there today .
bteoh
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Re: SA GTV6 2.5 restoration and few minor mods !

Post by bteoh »

Hey Kevin, I didn't think you would sell yours as I believe it was pristine :)
I was looking for one a few years back but bought a step nose 105 instead. Great to see your minor resto going well. Keep up with posting lots of pics.
Cheers
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