Deconstruction

Deconstruction... more like Demolition!

Gonna need some dental work!

Page Three - Alphie’s condition has worsened…

Busted Nose!

Earlier I mentioned that Aphie took a solid shot to the snoz, but further deconstruction shows the extent of the damage.  Call it a deviated septum, a TKO.  I have pictures!

Mashed Front Cowl

Mashed radiator and fender supports - inside right wing

Previous pictures show that the front cowl – the area in front of the radiator but beneath the hood where the hood hinges mount – is pretty bent, but with the radiator removed, you can see how mashed everything actually is.  Getting the hood to fit, the radiator at the correct distance, as well as getting the bodylines and gaps correct will be a task.

The radiator supports are mashed too.  Check out the pictures from under the wings (fenders, for you wankers).

I can – if I have to – fix the front valance, but I hope the donor car has a better one, or at least pieces I can combine with Alphie’s, a two-into-one deal.

Rocker Panels!

Deep rot on the passenger side rocker

Right, so I mentioned that sagging door openings hint at rocker issues…  Let’s look at the right rocker.  Cue the pics.  With the seats gone and the floor cleaned up a bit, you may notice, as I did, that the flat plate (13 - 15 gauge sheet metal, I’m estimating) that should be welded to the X frame is pretty much not there.  This plate extends down to the pinch weld line – in fact, it is what the inner and outer rocker panels are spot weld onto to create the pinch weld.

(BTW, the square stock bars welded across the door openings are to keep the door gaps uniform as I fix the rockers.  I welded those in before I started serious deconstruction, and yes, I measured divers (Britishism alert) times to ensure that the door openings are the same.)

You can see the ground where the passenger side rocker panel should be.
Michele's little piggies, btw.

No worries though, I have the left side for a pattern, the plate has no bends and I have solid X frame metal where I can weld the plate.

Once on the rotisserie, the rockers are the first order of business.

Floors

The floor pans are rubbish!  Even the panels that look solid are papery.  BUT I bought a set of Dave Lameront’s (in Ontario Canada) awesome replacement panels for a great price.  I’ll have to grind out the old panels and patch in some extra metal not covered by Dave’s panels, but the floors will be factory correct and solid!

The Quarters

From beneath, someone optimistically, 
perhaps desperately, slopped on some tar

Gaze upon some detail pics of the quarters.  Each quarter has problems, but the right rear has the most.  Fortunately, patch panels are readily available for these areas.  The panels will eat a chunk of the budget, but they will be easy to fit and weld.  I fear that the standard right rear patch panel won’t go far enough up the wheel opening to cover all of the damage.  Ebay may have a solution.  More on this problem when I get there.

Gas Tanks

The tanks are in good nick! Caught one break...

Yep, tanks, as in two of them.  The tanks and balance tubes…  OK, Sunbeam Alpines, beginning with the Series III, changed from a single tank mounted in the center of the trunk space to two tanks located in the rear wings and connected by a balance tube running directly behind the rear bumper.  So the tanks and balance tubes are in great shape – one tank has a dent on the side you can’t see.  I’ll fix it anyway.

Thirty-year-old gas really stinks, just saying!

Rear Suspension

Removing the rear suspension was straightforward – except, be sure to prop something under the front suspension cross member, because with four jack stands under the X member (pic), the weight of the rear suspension keeps things balanced.  Fortunately, I removed the rear leaf spring shackles first and lowered the suspension a little to get a better look at the front leaf spring attachments.  Luckily, I was not under the car when I lowered it because I noticed light between the two rear jack stands and the X member - Alphie was tipping forward!

I quickly jacked the front end and put my dirt bike stand under the front cross member to prevent Alphie from pitching over on her chin! 

The leaf spring attachments are mostly solid, but I noticed some flaking on a support piece at the left front leaf spring attachment.  I’ll need to recreate that piece with new metal.

Exhaust System

The entire exhaust system, save the manifold is Swiss cheese.  Note the pics.  Several LBC (Little British Cars) parts suppliers sell complete stainless steel exhaust systems so Alphie’s getting one.

Windshield Frame

This will require some tricky fabrication -
 trial and error, mostly error

Alphie is cutting me no slack – every place where Sunbeams are famous for rot, Alphie has it.  The bottom rail of her windshield frame is powdery.  AND, of course, the bottom rail has the more curves and width changes than any other side of the frame.  A fabricating challenge, but it’s later on the schedule.

Rusty Fasteners

This side will give me some measurements 
for the other side

Bless the British engineers’ hearts (here in the South, that means I’m about to trash them) who seem enamored with flat head screws with open nuts, rather than Philips head screws (at least, hex bolts would be lovely) and welded nuts.  You cannot get any torque on a rusty flat head screw, especially when you are curled pretzel-like trying to hold a spanner on the open nut to which it is rusted.  (Bonus point for not ending that sentence with a preposition!)

Similarly, please provide enough room between hex-head bolts/nuts and surrounding metal to allow sockets or boxed end wrenches to fit over the hex-head.  Open-end wrenches love rounding the pretty corners off bolts and nuts when you lean on them.  I’ll weld in course thread nuts where I can too.

Also, what’s with all the fine threads?!

Bolt Depot will soon log an order for stainless flange bolts, socket (Allen) button head screws and Philips head screws. 

Former Mouse House, bottom right corner

Evictions

Alphie is free of all rodent infestations and habitats!  The garage smells better too.

Alphie has Cancer!

An advanced case of Rocker Rot - Stage Four Cancer!

Page Two - Diagnostic Surgery

I inspected Alphie carefully when I bought her, and I knew she had cancer.  Well, it turns out to be stage four!  It was obvious that she took a bunch of fives (my Britishism gem for this page) to the nose at some point, and someone did some solidly dodgy bodywork… But. My. Word!

Blobs-O-Bondo

The previous surgeon apparently fancied himself a Bondo artist.  About 80% of the body sheet metal has a slathering of plastic under the paint.  It already weighs less from the Bondo shedding.

The right wing (fender to us Yanks) had plastic filler a half inch thick in some places.  Other affected areas had metal tears that went un- welded; missing spans of sheet metal that were covered with aluminum foil tape and Bondoed; fender lips that have no metal, just plastic clumps sanded to shape.  He used some patch panels but they were riveted and summarily coated.  The ninny even sculpted the gaps between the hood and fenders!

Apparently, there were wads of wood screws laying around.  They’re used everywhere.

It gives a poor body man pause…

Diagnostic Report:

Alphie’s bod is in bad nick.

Alphie's bloody nose.

The Nose – The right front fender is gangrenous, necrotic; we’re looking at amputation.  The fender crown has compressed, wrinkled metal that makes it just a wee shorter than the other side.  The jab to the nose bent the radiator support and tore it from other body panels in places.  The metal that supports the hood hinges and funnels air to the radiator looks like a crumpled piece of foil.  The lower valance is torn in several places and must be cut from the car to be repaired.

To my despair, our previous surgeon Bondoed over trim clips, screw heads, rust, emblem attachment holes – he even left un-sanded clods of Bondo that dripped onto the valance panel.  Gobsmacked!

The Rockers – I noticed when I was buying it that the passenger door rubbed against the rear of the door opening – I also knew that sagging door opening means Rocker Rot – and now I know where the biggest tumors were hidden. 

Quick Side Note:  Alpine rockers consist of three metal sheets: 

·       The first sheet, and the innermost one, is a flat sheet welded to the big X shaped crossbeams that make up the frame.  This sheet creates the pinch weld line under the car. 

·       The second is the “inner” rocker with bends for strength, runs from the door opening down and is welded to the pinch weld line created by the first sheet.

·       The third sheet, the “outer” rocker that shows, is rounded to match the bodylines and is also welded to the pinch weld.

I said I wanted a challenge!

The upper sections of all three rocker sheets are solid, but the lower sections are tattered with rust.  The driver’s side has more metal left than the passenger side.  Fortunately, there is enough metal for good welds once the rust is blasted and treated. 

The Front and Rear Quarter Panels – Each quarter panel has a rust hole, the driver’s side panels have bigger ones.  The left rear, however, has lip rust that goes most of the way up the edge of the opening.

Floor Panels – Lots-O-Rust!  I’ll need to locate replacement panels.  They exist, but it’s going to take some sleuthing.

Trunk Floor – The trunk floor is only rusted at the rear so I won’t need a complete replacement panel.  That will save several quid.

What’s to be Done?!

I have a MIG welder, and I’m not smart enough to know that I can’t fix all this!

What was not under the Bondo? Metal!

Donor Car!

Me mate who sold me the car offered a 1964 Alpine in Kentucky as a donor car.  I haven’t seen it yet and don’t know much about it, but it’s bound to have usable bits.  I’m making arrangements to run fetch it sometime in April.

Anything I can cut from the donor is money I won’t spend.  I hope it has an unviolated snooze.

Bending and Welding

I was hoping to get some welding practice, and it looks as though I’ll get it in spades!  I bought a metal brake and set up a metal fabrication workstation – it even rolls.  Once I have Alphie stripped down to a shell, I’ll whack together a rotisserie so I can get to her underbelly and start blasting, bending and welding.  The rotisserie will have wheels so I can move it in and out of the garage.

Much of what’s got the ROT, I can bend-up and weld-in!

More unhealthy metal

Blasting

Since there are rust tumors everywhere, Alphie will need a good blasting.  At first, I thought of having the shell blasted at once, and then get to mending.  I have decided that it will be more cost effective to buy a pressurized (outdoors) media blaster and blast areas as I attack them.  With my own blaster, I can use aggressive media to blast areas with loads of rust, and soda to blast areas that have less (like the body surfaces).

Patch Panels

I will make the patch panels for the rockers because they are straightforward pieces with no compound curves.  The quarter panels are much harder to fabricate with compound curves and bends that must fit other panels’ curvature.  They are available, so Bob’s Your Uncle.

The Alpine Project Begins!

Page One:  Meet Alphie!

I recently bought Alphie, a 1965 Sunbeam Alpine Series IV-A who has provided affordable housing for an extensive rodent population for about 20+ years as she moldered in her corner of a barn.  I have come, like Cinderella’s prince to roust her from her slumber and return her to glory and radiance, but she’s gonna need more than a fairy Godmother!

For the next who-knows-the-hell-how-long, this blog will follow her return to grace.  Fair warning: I plan to throw in as many Britishisms as possible because it’s fun and a bit annoying.

My Goals

Frame-Off Restoration:  OK, Alpines don’t have a frame, but Alphie will have to strip down to her naughties because she has rust in her boot and bonnet.  Lots of welding and fabricating practice!

Metal Work:  The plan is to use as little plastic filler as possible.  I have hammers and dollies, and I’m going to learn how to use them!  She’s going on a rotisserie so I can get to her bum, and I foresee some patch panels in her future.  BUT, anything I can massage back to straight, I will, and when I use plastic filler (it’s inevitable) I hope that it will be no more than about a 1/16^th of an inch thick.

Embassy Black:  She came into this world wearing black, she likes black, and she’s staying black.  (Black interior too.)

Restore vs. Modify vs. Restomod: I watch a lot of car wrenching shows, and I get the fun in modifying a car, making it better, faster, smarter and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound - giving an old school car, modern guts.  I’m seeking a different challenge – besides I don’t have the cash for a G-mod pavement pounding monster.  I want to bring her back to HER former glory.

Drivability Upgrades:  Having said that, I’m not anchored to pure stock either.  I plan to add “drivability” upgrades.  For example, no one needs to fiddle with a points ignition in the 21st century.  A magnetic pickup combined with a multi-spark box makes driving SO much better, quicker throttle response, easier starting and a modest up-tick in performance, all of which I can hide behind the scenes.

No performance upgrades!: I’m not going to lower it, air bag it, stroke, port and polish it, shave it, or cram an LS1 between her wings so don’t ask why I’m not doing it.  I’m going back to stock (mostly).

Parts Availability Limitations:  Some stuff just isn’t available anymore.  Alphie  is dressed a bit plain as a Standard Tourer (ST), like her rubber floor mats and vinyl covered dash.  No one reproduces the floor mats, and NOS mats (New Old Stock or New Obsolete Stock, for my non-restoration geek readers) are $$$ and very hard to find.  She’ll probably sport the Gran Turismo (GT) carpeting from purely financial concerns (besides the carpeting is much nicer). 

Conclusion - 95% Stock Restomod:  Although she won’t win the Factory Correct Class at anyone’s Concour D’elegance, she won’t suddenly prance about in all the options on the Sunbeam order form either.  I’ll probably use stainless steel fasteners for some sparkle and the engine bay and suspension parts will shine beyond the factory finish.  There will be some judicious powder coating too.  The GT’s walnut veneer dash may be too tempting because it’s easy and cheap to do. But overall, I plan to bring everything back to its proper nick.

Why a Sunbeam Alpine?

I’m a Restorer:  I have accepted this about myself – I get a kick out making things work again more than bolting on a lot of brand new parts.  When I was younger, I thought I would always have a car under restoration, but life and kids happened and money and time became scarce.  Now it’s time to dig into a new restoration!

A Project Car:  I started looking on Craigslist and FaceBook Market Place searching for specific cars:  I started with a 1963 Corvair when I was 15, so I looked for Corvairs.  I have had three Corvairs, so I spread out my search looking at Cosworth Twin Cam Vegas, Datsun 240z, 260z and 280z’s, Datsun 510’s, BMW 2002’s, Volvo P1800’s, even Econoline cab-over pickups.  Nothing was screaming “Me! Me! Me!” so I typed “project cars” in the search line and two Sunbeam Alpines appeared, Alphie and one sad wretch who suffered traumatic body injuries and somehow lost its engine and tranny.

My Alpine:  When I was a kid, our next-door neighbor had a Sunbeam Tiger (the one with the Ford small block V8 under the bonnet), and I always thought it was a cool machine.  As I read up on Alpines, I thought about what I wanted in a project and I came up with a list:

• An unusual “cool” car for cruising:  I suppose cool is in the eyes, but didn’t plan on restoring a daily driver.
• Reasonable purchase price: It will cost enough before I’m done.
• The correct state of decay: not so bad that it will take tons of money to fix and not so good that I don’t have anything to do.
• A compete car:  I don’t want to scour the country looking for engines, transmissions, etc.
• A car with aftermarket/club support and parts availability:  It’s very good to be able to order the perishables.
•  A small car:  I restored a 1964 Impala that barely fit in the garage and it was a pain because there was no room.  Also, it was like doing body work on a whale; sheet metal as far as the eye could see.

Alphie hit all of these notes, and she was waiting close by in Nashville for me.  I gathered the cash, rented a trailer, loaded the pickup and set out to find my princess.

My Alpine

Let me introduce her.  She is a Sunbeam Alpine Series IV made by The Rootes Group in merry ol' England.  She's a Standard Tourer, which means she has a soft top with the optional hard-top, a four speed synchromesh transmission (previous Alpine transmissions didn’t have synchronizers), and a 1592 cc inline four cylinder Hillman engine that throws down 87 mighty horses - not exactly a fire breathing muscle car.  

She has power disc brakes on the front and drum brakes on the rear.  Coil and wishbone suspension up front and a live axle with leaf springs in the back.  

The interior is a bit Spartan with vinyl seats & door cards, a vinyl covered dash and rubber floor mats.  Her soft top tucks into a compartment behind her rear seat, generously referred to as an “occasional” seat.  It’s not much of a seat; “As-Little-Time-as-Possible” seat is a more accurate name.

Her luxury and convenience package boast roll up windows…  I know, but apparently, window cranks were quite the splash of luxury back in the day.  British luxury items were on par with International Harvester tractors.  A cigar (not cigarette) lighter was optional – there were no phones to charge in 1965.

Some Interesting Facts I Know About Her

Her Hometown:  She was born at the Ryton-Upon-Dunsmore Assembly Plant (aka The Ryton Plant) in central England.  The Rootes Group built the plant in 1940 to produce aircraft engines for the RAF during WWII. 

Her Birthday:  Her chassis ends with the numbers 1351 and, according to production records, chassis numbers XXXX1273 through XXXX1355 were built from November 9^th through 13^thof 1964. I surmise that number 1351, the fourth cars from the last in the production run, probably rolled off the line on either November 12th or 13th of 1964.

Her Numbers Match:  Sunbeam engine numbers are the same as the chassis number, so if the engine number is the same as the chassis number, it’s the original engine. Alphie's numbers match, so it’s her original ticker.

Fourteen-Inch Wire Wheels:  I knew she sported wire wheels, so I did some research on Sunbeam wire wheels.  The company that produced them also produced wire wheels for MG, Triumph and several other British automakers.  My research says that all Sunbeam wire wheels were thirteen-inch wheels.  Either Alphie has big feet, or someone in the past bolted on a set of MG or Triumph wire hoops.  More research is needed.