With the oldest GTV6 nearing 40 years in service, a forum to document projects and restoration seems sensible.
mikekath@iafrica.com
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

Post by mikekath@iafrica.com »

Final cleanup of the Chassis
Once all the paintwork and grime was removed, I cleaned the whole chassis down with a product called Evaporust - it works excellently and is a water-based product (no acid).
This removed the flash rust that was in places and also provided an easy to remove protective "coating" to prevent and slow any further flash rust before the paintshop would paint the car.
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mikekath@iafrica.com
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

Post by mikekath@iafrica.com »

Some more pics after cleaning and before taking to the Paint Shop
I thought it turned out very well!!
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mikekath@iafrica.com
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

Post by mikekath@iafrica.com »

Highlighting some of the USUAL culprit spots where rust damage was quite severe and the panels would have to be replaced or repaired

Front left behind the wheel arch
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Back left before the rear wheel arch
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Left rear sill under the tail lights
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Front right behind the wheel arch
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The usual front window sill on the right hand side
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KevinR
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

Post by KevinR »

This definitely has to be the most extreme restoration done by the owner on this forum. How long did it take you to take all the paint off ? Those rust spots are typical of SA cars, the usual high dust content from all the mines, farming etc finds itself into the cavities in the sills and blocks them. Leave this saturated and blocked for 25 plus years it will corrode. Those areas around the windscreen seem to be poor paint protection as you see when you take the windscreens out their is only primer in places.
I have seen the guys using flexible windscreen sealant between the glass and rubber to stop the water ingress but not between the rubber and steel frame. The rear valance corrodes from the bad seal on the tailights then the water gets under the seam sealer between the boot floor and rear valance. This i only see on SÅ cars. You need to rake all that seam sealer out. I added small drain hole but was small enough under carpet not to get exhaust gases in. New foam seals around tailights help problem.
Please keep us updated for December reading !
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

Post by mikekath@iafrica.com »

Thanks Kevin for all the insights! The tips to help ensure a more robust future for the chassis is much appreciated!
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

Post by mikekath@iafrica.com »

OFF TO THE PANEL BEATERS
Chosing a panel beater to do the work was not easy. It became apparent very soon that most do not actually like to do project work as the quick insurance jobs are much more lucrative.
I eventually settled on RAPID MOTORS in Selby, Johannesburg.
They apparently did a lot of alfa work in the 90's and on, and they also undertook to do the metal work properly (no putty!!).
They had also in recent times sprayed a lot of Junior's for another Alfa Guru in JHB called Graham Coleman.
A guy in the shop called Peter was an old timer who would do all the body work repairs.
Simon was noted as the best person to do the spraying.
I will comment more on my view on Rapid motors at the end of the posts on the repair and paint section

Car on 6m trailer to get there. Loaded it diagonally from the rotisserie and then slid it to centre.
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Close up on trailer with tie downs
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Car off the trailer and on the rotisserie again. The shop found this really useful as they could move it around easily and rotate it when they were working on it. Made the hard to reach places easier to get to.
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You will see on this close up green round stickers on the car. I labelled every area or defect that I wanted fixed with a catalogue key and detailed description so they they knew what was to be done. I think this freaked them out a bit!!
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

Post by mikekath@iafrica.com »

REPAIR WORK AT THE SHOP

The pictures in the posts that follow were from many weeks of viewing the car as progress was made. I tried to get there are least once a week to check on progress and take pictures.

Repairs to the window sill, you can see original condition in earlier posts
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Repairs to the arch on front left side. You will see that flash rust started appearing and this prompted them to prime the car earlier before repairs were completed and then continue piecemeal.
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mikekath@iafrica.com
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

Post by mikekath@iafrica.com »

REPAIR WORK AT THE SHOP # 2

Underneath of the front of the car "skids" (not sure what these are called?? :lol: ) repaired well with steel and lead.
Green stickers with catalogue key number visible in places
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Holes in the boot of the car welded closed and smoothed. This was from the tow bar system in the car :shock:
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KevinR
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

Post by KevinR »

Coming on nicely. The usual rust spots on the GTV6 except the one under the left rear tail light is common to SA cars as the factory put seam sealer between the rear valence and boot floor behind the battery well. When the taillights leaked water from perished seals it just got trapped and found its way under it. I was looking at a left hand drive GTV shell a few days ago and zero rust there . Don't forget to put drain holes and inject cavity protection ( not wax) into the chassis rails under neath that you replaced. Good thing is SA cars don't rot from inside out in all the other areas like the UK cars from the cold, damp and salty roads and a bonus their is no sunroof ( all uk cars fitted) to start another rust factory. I'm still not sure why they fitted sunroofs in uk cars as this lowered roof height by an inch with an already lmted head room on standard seats combined with two long raking glass screens . Today there are no spares for the sunroofs and you would be lucky they don't scratch the paint when opening them.
Once again a brilliant job !
Mike I'm in SA next week hope to catch up.
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

Post by mikekath@iafrica.com »

Thanks for the feedback Kevin! It would be awesome to see you in SA if you can make some time. I think I am fairly close to your family home.
Your guidence on progress and next steps would be very useful for me at this stage of the project!
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

Post by KevinR »

Get the coffee brewing ! Will what’s app you on Thursday.
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

Post by KevinR »

Hey Mike , I’m looking forward to some updates as it’s been a very interesting well fought journey to get the car finished !
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

Post by mikekath@iafrica.com »

RESPRAY
After Rapid motors has effected the metal repair work, they started on the spraying.
I had left my rotisserie with them - this assisted a lot in moving the car around and minimizing handling damage.
They initially did a primer whilst they were still doing final repairs. Then Sikaflex all the panel joins in the car. The whole car then received a black light coat - this apparently allows seeing any imperfections in the bodywork.
Finally another primer, then into the spray booth.
Some pics of the ancillary bits and pieces included.
Then back home on a trailer with no wheels!!
I picked up a few blemish areas so the car had to go back again for some touch ups, and then once again back home - this time with wheels.
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mikekath@iafrica.com
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

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mikekath@iafrica.com
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Re: South Africa - 1982 GTV6 2.5 Restoration (50/100)

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