166 Restoration

[K9d 108]

As many of you will know I got my 166 back on the road last week after it has been sat idle for 18 months.

 

Unfortunately 18 months as a target for birds have taken a toll on the paintwork, the roof is pretty knackered and there is some damage to the front passenger wing. Added to this are 12 years of road rash and a nasty scratch down the drivers side where some dinghy keyed it a few years ago.

 

Generally the paintwork is tired and the wheels could do with a refurb.

 

The interior is fairly good apart from the speaker covers in the front and the drivers carpet is worn away.

 

Under the bonnet its fairly tidy but no where near good enough for a Busso V6.

 

Now I'm over my hissy fit because of the roof, I've decided to keep her and get her back up to a condition I will be happy with and that will do justice to the beautiful car the 166 is.

 

I will update this thread as and when I move things along, this will depend upon time and money availability, although as a postie time is not in short supply.

 

My first shortlist of jobs are :-

 

Clean interior

Clean exterior

Clean under bonnet

Aircon regas

Possibly new clutch slave cylinder.

 

After that it start to get more expensive.

 

So far I've replaced the front grill that was ripped of my some other dinghy and put a nice new badge on the front, its handy living 5 miles from EB Spares.

[LJ_GQV 115]

be good to see it back to its former glory

[WTI 59]

Put some before and after pics up

 

Know you love polishing

[K9d 108]

I sure do

 

I'm going to start from the inside and work out.

 

Today I cleaned some of the plastic under the bonnet.

 

Before

 

 

After

 

 

The pictures don't do it justice.

 

I still have to do front and rear plastic parts.

[K9d 108]

The process

 

The start

 

 

After a shower

 

 

White vinegar to get rid of crap from my chalky water

 

 

AutoGlym Bumper care

 

 

Under the plastic before

 

 

After cleaning bits that will never been seen

 

[WTI 59]

Does your missus know you had car parts in the shower? :eek:

[K9d 108]

Yep I showed her the pictures

 

I've cleaned 146 Alloys in the bath before.

[WTI 59]

Fucking hell

[K9d 108]

I do clean it after

[WTI 59]

Do you use the left over vinegar from your detailing

[K9d 108]

Waste not want not

[K9d 108]

Just won these on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4x-Alfa-Romeo-166-Alloy-Wheels-and-Tyres-225-50-16-/321182670658?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=NrQ10jPueU2ho1VyiS2jlQ4WsvU%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

 

Seems a bargain

 

Between these 4 and my 5 I reckon there must be a good set.

 

I will pick the best 5, possibly get them refurbished and put the other 4 back on ebay.

[K9d 108]

Cleaned the drivers side front interior, even took off the pedal rubbers and gave them a good scrub

 

I've come to the conclusion that photobucket compresses images loads and almost defeats the object of taking them, I may switch from my Canon SLR to a compact camera and see if they upload better.

 

Note the quality repair of the key fob, I have a replacement on order.

 

 

 

[WTI 59]

More interior pics?

[K9d 108]

I've only cleaned that bit

 

It was the worst bit, so the rest wont take so long will get on that tomorrow afternoon.

[WTI 59]

What do you use on the leather?

[K9d 108]

I started with AG leather cleaner, then finished with Turtle wax leather cleaner/conditioner.

 

I'm not really happy with the result, its clean but I feel it could be better.

[Gibot123 16]

You'd possibly be better off using AG vinyl and rubber rather than I think that is bumper care in the pic yes.

The bumper stuff seems to go grey again very quickly for some reason .

Doing a good job though.

I must be lucky too have all sorts in my lounge and kitchen gear boxes and trim engine bits and all sorts for cleaning even re sprayed a bumper with laquer once due to the outside temp.

Obviously have a very understanding other half too .

[K9d 108]

I will have a look for that , I tend to use up what I've got lying about then go on a detailing forum to see what others use/recommend but that can be a bit of a minefield

 

My wife seems to have gotten to the stage of resigned acceptance, when I turned up one day to pick her up at work she sent some one out to see if I was there, They went back in and said "have you got a blue car", her answer was "Oh, he must have bought another car"

 

Is used to enjoy the challenge of beating her down until she gave in, she's taken half the fun out of purchases now

[Gibot123 16]

All the AG stuff is good always used it . There are loads of stuff out there depends what you want to spend .AG seems reasonably priced and does what it says with minimum fuss.

Two of the best recommended names on the forums at the mo seem to be "poor boys" and " dodo juice " .

There is also a leather cleaner and food that's highly recommended but not tried it .thats called " gliptone's " think they have a site . http://www.liquidleather.com/

Edited August 21, 2013 by Gibot123

[LJ_GQV 115]

I think it was an AG leather cleaner that i bought for my GTA. luckily i let my Dad try it out on his car 1st as the stuff made the interior stink of piss. I bought something else after that

[K9d 108]

As requested another interior shot

 

[K9d 108]

I gave a hoover all the way through today.

 

Then decided to have a go at cleaning the chrome strip inside the drivers door, I masked off one end to see the difference from start to finish.

 

Before

 

 

Masked up

 

 

After with unpolished part

 

 

Close up before and after of the logo

 

[LJ_GQV 115]

Now that looks like a nice place to be

[LJ_GQV 115]

Chrome strip looks much better too