Alfa Romeo Restoration Spider

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The restauration of the Spider Veloce from 1985 of Brock Brinkerhoff from Alabaster.

DAY 6

I didn't get started on the car itself until after noon - I went and bought some new tools and had to straighten out the garage, so at least I have an excuse.

* So here is where I left her Tuesday night when she bit me - This will also give you an idea of my shop - This is half of it.
* I started on the spare tire well. My plan to this point has been to work on the rear end, so this area had to go. I used a plasma cutter for some of the cuts.
* Going around the well proved to be a challenge because it is spot welded in some strange places. For example, it is welded to the lip that rolls down from the rear valance. An interesting section proved to be the area directly behind the wheel well - This is where 4 layers of steel come together to form a sort of frame rail.
* In this picture, you can see where the front of the well is spot welded to a trailing member from the center section.

* .....
* Once the well was out, I went back to the wheel well and continued the cut that almost took my finger off - My welding gloves seemed like they could stay on during this part.
* And then the problem became the top cut. Since the wheel well is flush with the top body section, this was tight to say the least.
* I decided to cut a little lower in hopes that I could get the main section out of the way and by doing so, would have more room for the tools to finish the top cut.

* After I got the main section out of the way, it left a gaping hole!
* Then I was able to cleanly finish the top section. I am really pleased with how it came out!
* Here's what the section looks like from the front.
* Here is part of the scrap pile from today.

* And here is a pretty convincing picture - This is only a 275, but a 315 is less then 2" wider. Also, note the travel is still about 4" for the suspension.
* The 17x275 looks very cool stuffed up in there.

DAY 7

Today I set out to work more on the rear, but to also start looking at what needed to be done with the floor. As I mentioned before, I am going to build a new frame using 4" round as the main rails, but today was a turning point for this concept.

As I removed sheetmetal, it appeared that it might be better done if I back-halfed the car. Since it's a unitized body, this would, at first, seem to be a bad idea. But the more I got into the car the more I realized that the existing design lends itself not only to this concept, but to new frame rails overall.

The reason for this is Alfa's placement on the doorsill frame rails. These are fully boxed members that seemingly carry most of the weight of the car. As a matter of fact, the rear frame sections and front frame sections tie into the side frame via a cross member in the middle of the "frame". However - this cross-member is very weak and I can now see why the structure itself does not provide much torsional strength.

With these things in mind, I decided to alter my plans slightly and back-half the car. In the process, I am basically going to convert the car to a body-on-frame from a unibody.

The rear section will be tied into the main frame rails using a boxed section around the new fuel cell. This will make it stronger (and lighter) then the original. It will also resist flexing due to the triangulation I plan for that section.
Stick with me here - This is where things get interesting.

* Here is a rough picture I drew out to give myself some ideas - I'll draft this later, but for now this will show what I'm thinking - The top of the page is a top view, while a side view is directly below it (the rear-end will be a narrowed 4 link with a panhard bar).
* The drivers side wheel well prior to any cutting. Because of all the sheetmetal, it's hard to see the real structure.
* The limit straps on the drivers side. I had cut them when removing the rear-end.
* Taken from the passenger wheel well, this shows the section that is over the rear-end (with the right side already cut out).

* My friend Travis came by today to help out - Here he is getting into the wheel well.
* The wheel well ties in at the top of the cross section, so I opted to cut this one like the passenger side - Cut it low to get the section out. At this point, I had alreay planned to remove the ENTIRE section, so I wasn't concerned with the middle cut.
* Once the cuts had been made, I cut the rear trailing member from the spare tire well to the gas tank area.
* Once the rear was cut, I cut from within the passenger compartment all the way across the car. Then I cut the top remaining piece.

* I threw the 275 back up in the well to see if I had enough clearence now.
* Here's a mock-up with 275's.
* After the rear section, it was on to the floorpan.
* I was very careful to not cut any cross members (yet). I need these for now to hold the car up (Travis doing the cutting).

* In order to get the floorpans done, and to make room for the new smallblock, I trimmed out the firewall.
* .....
* The rough cut across the firewall.
* Time to remove the front section on the transmission tunnel. Since I'll be building mine from aluminum (as with the whole floor), and since I'll need more room for the new transmission, it had to go.

* And now, for the final picture which shows why I did all of this - If you look at the door sill and the boxed section that it is made of, you'll see that it extends all the way to the rear wheel well - PERFECTLY straight! Nothing in the way of doing a new cross member to a new frame running down the middle of the new chassis.

This week I am sourcing the new tubing for the frame (4" .120 1020 DOM). I have laid out the design and it won't be difficult to fabricate. Stay tuned - most of the tear-down is done.

UPDATE

Grunt Work
I got a lot done today – Unfortunately, it wasn’t any of the fun build-type of work – It was the run-around-and-source-parts work.

Frame
I’ve spent some time designing the frame. I partially modeled it off of the Cobra replica that I built. I did this because that chassis was designed for 2,000-2,600lbs and it handled extremely well with very little flex. Since I have the specs on dimensions and materials, this car will be similar.
After I drafted up a more formal drawing for the frame, I started making a cut list. Although it won’t be extremely complicated, it should work nicely. I plan on doing the fabrication this weekend so stay tuned for pictures.
I also went to the "Metal Supermarket" today, and yes, that’s the real name. They sell anything metal - all in lengths cut to order. The guys there were fantastic and really helped me out. They answered all of my questions and we got my order together.
Since the 4” round .120” that I’ll be using for the main rails is uncommon, they had to order it. But, by order it, they mean that they’ll have it tomorrow. You have to love service like that. I ended up leaving my precise cut list with them (I had diagrammed everything before going down there). They will call me tomorrow when everything is ready as a package.

Rear End
Then I went looking for my new rear-end. I wanted a Ford 8.8 with disc brakes, locking differential and 5-lug mustang pattern. With the cars I’ve built in the past I used the same salvage yard by my house. The manager has always been super helpful locating parts for me and he did it again. He’s got a rear end matching the above in a late model Explorer. I’ve purchased it rotor to rotor – The entire thing. This will give be the strong rear along with good brakes that I’m looking for.

Wheels & Tires
Since I finally got both in via UPS, I took them down to the tire shop I always deal with and dropped them off while I made the trip to the Metal store. They mounted balanced and cussed me some more – Their machine didn’t like doing the 315’s much In the end, everything worked out fine.

I came home (after logging probably 200 miles today) and mocked up the rear (not the final position, but close).