The Portuguese Aurelia B12 .....and so the journey begins..........

[Parisien]

Finally, we begin the strip down, deep cleansing and no doubt much poking and prodding.

Tomorrow evening will see us spending a few hours to start things off, then hoping to get a timetable going to last us over the next number of months before we take it for some/lots of bodywork, will up-date the forum as I go along.


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[Parisien]

Couple of evenings work done, knew the sills were shot and front floor pans. Some areas look a bit better than we thought. A bit concerned about what might lie behind the two secured front rubber bulkhead mats! Discovered the original colour though.

We intend to do some more next week, remove wings, brace door apertures, removed all other items and then stick on a rotisserie in September.

Will stick up a few pics as we go along


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[B20B24]

Good luck and fingers crossed, Frank!

Interested to see the pics....

Clive

[Parisien]

Thanks Clive......need to be a bit cold hearted over this, if its too difficult/expensive to do overall, still prepared to break it, but fingers Xed!


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[the.cern]

I sincerely hope you never get near the 'break it' option !!! Be brave (and maybe a little foolhardy!).

From my experience it is essential that you check the integrity of the elements of the car to which you propose to attach the rotisserie (in my case, the bumper mounting brackets). All four needed repair (significant repair in the case of the front ones) before we considered them acceptable to take the loads.

Good luck with it all and please keep us informed.

                             Andy

[Parisien]

Andy,

Thank you for your sage advice and considered opinion.

The only real thing that will hold me back is if the guys who I approach to do the welding either baulk at it or I don't get a good vibe from them

Yes...we realise we will have to be careful as bumper mounts are corroded/absent, but hes the resourceful type my man whose over seeing all of this.

Thanks!


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[Parisien]

God bless the guy who invented the heat gun....eh Andy?!

Did a few more hours this evening removed the hardened bitumen type material on the foot wells.

Back down on Monday...trying to get it done on dryer evenings as its still outside until it gets garaged in about a fortnights time



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[chriswgawne]

It would be interesting to seem some pictures when convenient. It would be terribly sad if you didnt proceed with the restoration after the saga of getting the car to the UK. Imagine the satisfaction of bringing it back to life although I have always thought the Aurelia saloon bodies had more hollow sections and double skins than the Coupes and therefore Saloons, if rusty, would always be more of a challenge than the Coupes.
Good luck.

[Parisien]

Of course Chris, it is my intention to bring her back to life, but I can't do it alone so I rely on the advice, honesty and skills of others.

As I have said before am a novice at this having only partially restored an Alfa before.

I know areas are double skinned would like to know exactly where though so I am fore warned.

Of course my camera has gone awol since I was last down though am sure the SII Galaxy phone will still do the job


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[Parisien]

Another few evenings done, progressing slowly, all inside de-bitumened...if such a word exists;  was going to go down this evening but weather too changeable as its still outside under wraps.

Nothing much will be done until end of next week, then 14 days at it before I'm away to Italy!


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[Parisien]

Now have passenger side wings removed......most of bitumen removed.

Noted a slip dent on inner front wing......now appears that it had a minor frontal shunt and instead of replacing fog and indicators lights properly they just filled in both cavities/apertures! So I now know both wings are correct and original.

Hoping to get remainder wing areas done next week and will put up a few pics to horrify the forum!!!


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[the.cern]

Keep at it Frank, you deserve a result and I sincerely hope you get one !!!!

            Andy

[Parisien]

Thanks Andy......I quite like doing it.......actually....as long as my man keeps me pointed in right direction!


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[Parisien]

Up-date on the colour.........its Bordeaux red...discovered under the rear lights!

Also , some advice, we aren't sure if seller tried and or failed to start engine last year, hoping to turn it by hand, then if it turns check its compression, or should we just assume it needs a rebuild?

Secondly, the inner rubber seal between body and doors with aluminium groove, is there a tool to use to replace the new one?

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[chriswgawne]

Frank,
Can I suggest you look at Kevin McBride's posts about the cream B20 he is trying to get back on the road, particularly the sections on the engine studs.
A sorry tale but not untypical as I commented as under:
'Kevin,
Sounds very familiar....and why nowadays its back to square one with full disassembly for me with any 'old' engine even if it appears to  be a runner. I have read your previous comments about this car and understand completely the reasons for you ending up in this situation - what a shame that the owner doesnt appreciate what it takes to do the job properly.
The engine is around 55 years old for goodness sake and whilst not complex in design, there are areas which can easily cause problems.
On the subject of studs, in the past  I have purchased sets of newly made studs from various sources and had problems so these days I try to use original Lancia studs which do not show any signs of corrosion or 'necking' particularly in the head gasket area.
Keep up the good work.
Chris'