First Paint Job - 72 Alfa Romeo GT in Naples, Italy!

Show off your work! Anything from final results to full start-to-finish project journals.



Settled In
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 1:02 pm
Location: Naples
Country:
Italy
PostPosted: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:10 pm
'68 Coronet R/T wrote:It may be available locally. Autozone, Home Depot and Walmart carry it here but I would imagine you have similar outlets over there?


Yeah, I'm familiar with it. Have had much more luck with the spray bomb version.

Anyway, I've sort of looked for it here, but it make such a mess, I'm not sure if I want to use it again. And no one will have the same brand, so it's a lot of trial and error finding the one that works.

Thanks

Scott
72 Alfa Romeo GT 1300, Amaranth Red/Tan
66 Fairlane GT Convt, 428, 4 sp, Black/Black/Red
68 GTO Convt, Owner Built 455/TH400, Nordic Blue/White/Parchment
71 Javelin Road Race Project, Owner Built 401, T-10, 9"



Settled In
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 1:02 pm
Location: Naples
Country:
Italy
PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2016 3:02 pm
Doors are off. Was able to do this myself since they're pretty light. Doors themselves are in very nice condition; no rust or repairs evident.

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All the suspension is off but the majority of it needs to be cleaned and inspected.

Took off the panels at the rear of the front wheel wells. One is in need of repair. Can't believe how much dirt was behind them. Found an old rusty wrench back there, too. Given the amount of crud back there, surprised that this area did not rot significantly. Having said that, there is some rust on the driver's side at the front of the rocker that will need some attention.
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Trunk lid is off. It's pretty rough.

Spare tire well has some rot that will need to be fixed.

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Area under the windshield wiper transmission will need some work. Not going to be easy forming new metal to replace what's rotted.

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Tried to do a bit of paint removal by scraping with a razor blade. It was easy enough to get the paint off but not the tan primer. Under the primer is a coat of bondo - pretty thick in places.

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Interior is all out, of course. Front floor pans will need some patching.

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Engine compartment needs a good cleaning before I start with the paint removal.

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72 Alfa Romeo GT 1300, Amaranth Red/Tan
66 Fairlane GT Convt, 428, 4 sp, Black/Black/Red
68 GTO Convt, Owner Built 455/TH400, Nordic Blue/White/Parchment
71 Javelin Road Race Project, Owner Built 401, T-10, 9"



Settled In
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 1:02 pm
Location: Naples
Country:
Italy
PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 12:48 am
Paint removal will be with razor blade and heat gun. Should only take a few hours to get rid of 90% of the paint. Rest will have to be done by hand, with stripper, or media blasting.

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Just heat up a small area with the heat gun and it scrapes right off in big strips.

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I have some Picklex on order to treat the bare metal for now. Need to source some epoxy primer locally.

Got the tar scraped off the floorboards. Several hours worth of work with the heat gun and a scraper. Using dry ice to freeze it would have been easier, but by the time I figured out how to say "dry ice" in Italian and figure out where to buy it locally, I would have been done.

About halfway done in this picture. I need to get after the caulking/seam sealer with a wire brush on an angle grinder. I also need to finish getting the tar residue off the floors - I'll use diesel or some sort of solvent to get down to bare metal.
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Floors look pretty good under the tar, but I did uncover a few areas that may need some attention. Wouldn't have found these if I hadn't removed the tar.

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Just for sh*ts and giggles, I weighed most of the tar that I removed. Came to 20 lbs. Not earth shattering, but a step in the right direction.

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Need to get the undercoating scraped off the bottom, too. Plan at this point is to patch the floors instead of replace them entirely but will make final decision after I get it all undercoating off.
72 Alfa Romeo GT 1300, Amaranth Red/Tan
66 Fairlane GT Convt, 428, 4 sp, Black/Black/Red
68 GTO Convt, Owner Built 455/TH400, Nordic Blue/White/Parchment
71 Javelin Road Race Project, Owner Built 401, T-10, 9"



Settled In
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 1:02 pm
Location: Naples
Country:
Italy
PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 12:53 am
More progress. Got about 1/3 of the car stripped down to the metal.

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This is the worst spot on the passenger side rocker! Hooray! Driver’s side is the same. Rockers are notorious for rusting out on these cars and it did have some bubbling in the paint here.

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Not such good news on the quarters. Both have been replaced and they were brazed in.. Passenger side has some accident damage, too -- bondo was 1/4 and thicker in places. Will need some hammer and dolly work. What would y’all do about the shoddy looking brazing? Cut the quarters off and re-attach? I’m assuming the bronze melts at a lower temperature than steel, but can I melt it out like lead without warping the panels?

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I'll end up using all sorts of paint removal methods by the time I'm done -- paint stripper spray/liquid (found some at the local box store; works ok), sandpaper on DA grinder, media blasting, etc. However, I'll strip the majority of the paint with heat gun and razor blade. Very easy to clean up.

Thanks

Scott
72 Alfa Romeo GT 1300, Amaranth Red/Tan
66 Fairlane GT Convt, 428, 4 sp, Black/Black/Red
68 GTO Convt, Owner Built 455/TH400, Nordic Blue/White/Parchment
71 Javelin Road Race Project, Owner Built 401, T-10, 9"



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Posts: 216
Joined: Mon Mar 11, 2013 1:50 am

Country:
Australia
PostPosted: Tue Feb 16, 2016 4:32 pm
always love seeing new ways of clean stripping things

the heat gun and razor blade works ridiculously well nice job!

and yeah no mess that is what I like most. I dont want the dust going everywhere and becoming a long term hazard.

I dislike paint stripper the ones here anyway are designed to be washed off with water- but the problem is that paint pigment even when solid is still toxic to aquatic life so you're left with a total mess

youve given me a new way to try ! thanks



Settled In
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 1:02 pm
Location: Naples
Country:
Italy
PostPosted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 8:09 am
Did a bit more investigating. Certainly appears that both quarters have been replaced. Looking from the inside of the car, the driver's quarter has an Alfa Romeo sticker on it, and it's slathered with grease of some sort. No sticker that I can see on the passenger side, but it's slathered with grease, too.

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Passenger side here -- cleaned it up a little bit with a Roloc on my angle grinder. You can't easily see the seam here, when you feel underneath, you can tell the panels were lapped, not butted.
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This is the driver's side - that's the base of the C pillar. As you can see, it rotted completely through in the spot where the new quarter was brazed.
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And this is a blurry shot taken from in the trunk -- that's the underside of the brazing on the passenger quarter. As you can see, it's nice and rusty.

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Given the rust showing in the last picture, I'm inclined to get rid of all of the brazing. Since it's lap welded, I could potentially cut it on one side of the brazing and then try to remove the brazed lapped portion from the panel. However, I'm not ready to attempt a fix quite yet. I'll completely strip the trunk, figure out if I'm going to keep the rear panel or not, and come up with a plan.

Thanks!

Scott
72 Alfa Romeo GT 1300, Amaranth Red/Tan
66 Fairlane GT Convt, 428, 4 sp, Black/Black/Red
68 GTO Convt, Owner Built 455/TH400, Nordic Blue/White/Parchment
71 Javelin Road Race Project, Owner Built 401, T-10, 9"



Non-Lurker
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2016 11:52 am
Location: Torre del greco- Napoli
Country:
Italy
PostPosted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 12:17 pm
Hi there!
Im reading the forum from time to time since i love painting and restoration things altough i never did any, saving money and buying tools little by little now.
Then i read this post and saw you are living in Naples (i m10 minutes far by car) and you are doing amazing things on this little alfa.
In my town there s a guy who was was selling a similar model from 74' green color.
Just wanted to say Keep this amazing job up!!
Regards
Driving
Kawasaki z1 '73
Fiat 600 trasformabile 2nd sr.
Ducati 748
Under project:
Honda 750 four k2
Kawasaki 1000 r Elr
Fiat 600 1st sr



Settled In
Posts: 29
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2013 1:02 pm
Location: Naples
Country:
Italy
PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2016 11:52 pm
TonyKawa wrote:Hi there!
Im reading the forum from time to time since i love painting and restoration things altough i never did any, saving money and buying tools little by little now.
Then i read this post and saw you are living in Naples (i m10 minutes far by car) and you are doing amazing things on this little alfa.
In my town there s a guy who was was selling a similar model from 74' green color.
Just wanted to say Keep this amazing job up!!
Regards


Hey Tony -

Sorry for the delayed reply. I've been away from the site for a while. Need to post some updated pics. Glad to hear that you're local. I'll send you a pm.

Ciao,

Scott
72 Alfa Romeo GT 1300, Amaranth Red/Tan
66 Fairlane GT Convt, 428, 4 sp, Black/Black/Red
68 GTO Convt, Owner Built 455/TH400, Nordic Blue/White/Parchment
71 Javelin Road Race Project, Owner Built 401, T-10, 9"



Non-Lurker
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2016 11:52 am
Location: Torre del greco- Napoli
Country:
Italy
PostPosted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 5:29 am
bulletpruf wrote:
TonyKawa wrote:Hi there!
Im reading the forum from time to time since i love painting and restoration things altough i never did any, saving money and buying tools little by little now.
Then i read this post and saw you are living in Naples (i m10 minutes far by car) and you are doing amazing things on this little alfa.
In my town there s a guy who was was selling a similar model from 74' green color.
Just wanted to say Keep this amazing job up!!
Regards


Hey Tony -

Sorry for the delayed reply. I've been away from the site for a while. Need to post some updated pics. Glad to hear that you're local. I'll send you a pm.

Ciao,

Scott


Ciao Scott Don't worry i ve been busy for a while too and just now reading the quote.
Keep up the post the Alfa romeo deserves it !!
:bighug:
Driving
Kawasaki z1 '73
Fiat 600 trasformabile 2nd sr.
Ducati 748
Under project:
Honda 750 four k2
Kawasaki 1000 r Elr
Fiat 600 1st sr
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