Projects

Projects - 33 1.7 QV S 1992 Enabling cheap transportation

September 2012: On the Dutch Alfa Romeo club forum a gentleman is offering his 1992 1.7 QV S due to the fact it will most probably fail the upcoming yearly roadworthiness check due to rust damage. Since the owner can't do the required welding operation and the car has reached a mileage of a little over 200.000km he doesn't want to spend a significant amount of money to pass the roadworthiness check. This may provide an interesting chance for me to enable some cheap transportation. Anyway I prefer welding work over mechanical work so lets see how quick I can get this car successfully through the test. The left hand side rear sill is severely infected by rust & the jacking point in that area is dangling underneath the car. To ensure I will not be confronted with unexpected issues I will bring the car to its roadworthiness check and see what will appear as not approved items. As expected it failed the test, the rear left hand sill is too much affected by rust damage and the the left hand rear jacking point is dangling underneath the car. Since no jacking point on the right hand rear side is available I can only use the bracket for the trailing rod of the rear suspension. Not a preferable way to hoist the car but there's no other opportunity at the moment.

Roadworthiness check paper of September 5th showing it failed the test as was expected.

The cause for failing the test, completely detached jacking point & crispy sill.

I like my potato chips crispy, my cars however not.

Rust affected material cut away from left hand rear sill.

The cut away material, quite hopeless.

Inner section of sill recreated and tack welded into position.

Inner section of sill recreated and tack welded into position.

Rear end of sill recreated and excessive weld material grinded away.

Newly made jacking point welded into position.

Inner section of sill finished & treated with anti corrosive coating.

Completing the inner section of the sill requires a signature of course.

Outer section of sill recreated and tack welded into position on top side.

Outer section completed, excessive material removed & square hole for skirt added.

Outer sill treated with anti corrosive coating.

Left rear sill reconstructed and sprayed into body colour black.

Yearly roadworthiness check successfully passed on September 17th after executed repairs.

All in all a very quick project this time. The rust damage was of course too much to be able to pass the test, but the rust affected section was relatively limited and easily accessible with not too complicated sheet metal geometries so no more then 2 days were required to complete the project. The car drives really good and the fact that it passed the 200.000km line can't be noticed in the performance. It's an absolute fun car to drive and will provide some nice budget transportation. The Alfa boxer engines are renowned for their robustness and durability so I'm not too worried the car will cause any engine issues in the upcoming year. We will see.

September 2013: The next roadworthiness check is coming up, this year the sill of the other side needs attention. The rear end of the right hand side sill is pretty much gone on the lower end. Even though the jack bracket is not a requirement for the check I will add this missing part so that next I will need to maintain the car 2 jacking points in the rear are available. This time again as done last year I will use the rear suspension push rod bracket as a support. The rust damage to this sill is less than the one I repaired last year on the other side. In general the car has performed very well throughout the whole year especially of you consider the purchase price and maintenance cost. Lets tackle this sill and enable another year of fun driving for little money. During the sill repair I encounter some worn out silent for the connection of the electronic fuel pump to the spare wheel well. Those will be replaced and when I'm at it I will also replace the flexible fuel lines have become brittle throughout the so far 21 years of service. Both the silent blocks and flexible fuel lines are a simple replacement and will avoid nasty issues in the future.

Right hand rear sill when plastic skirt is removed, looking suspicious.

Seen from below this section is looking even more suspicious.

A little bit of poking around with a screw driver/chisel shows a questionable status .

The transition from the lower section to the vertical section requires partial removal as well.

Replaced silent blocks for attachment of fuel pump to spare wheel well.

After additionally replacing the flexible fuel lines with fresh new ones fuel system maintenance is completed.

All rust affected material in rear right hand sill cut away.

Reconstructed sill in position, other sections with superficial rust cleaned & treated with coating.

Trial fit of hand made outer sill, fits nicely.

Trial fit of plastic outer skirt to check position of reconstructed jacking point.

Reconstructed jacking point welded into position.

Outer sill welded into position and excessive weld material removed.

Repraired rear right hand sill with anti corrosive coating.

Sill painted body colour black, ready for the upcoming roadworthiness check.

After repairing the sill and resolving the small fuel leakage issue the car is ready for its yearly roadworthiness check, I expect no issues, but you never know of course. These repair activities were spread over two days more or less like the activities from last year. The amount of money spent on maintenance when not counting my own hours is ridiculously low. I enjoy keeping such fun vehicle running so it's a "win win" situation. The yearly roadworthiness check was passed flawlessly, ready for another year of fun and cheap driving.

Last update: January 29th 2017