1300 Coupes

[GerardJPC]

Hmmm, Coupe door on ebay Italia but asking over 500 Euros.  I know that there is a new door skin with YAJ, but the current door has no bottom to speak of and the inside is rusty too.

I have an HPE IE donor car but may sell it on as a project, in which case I can't very well loot the door from that.  I may loot its bonnet, which is much better than the one on YAJ.

[peteracs]

Hmmm, Coupe door on ebay Italia but asking over 500 Euros.  I know that there is a new door skin with YAJ, but the current door has no bottom to speak of and the inside is rusty too.

I have an HPE IE donor car but may sell it on as a project, in which case I can't very well loot the door from that.  I may loot its bonnet, which is much better than the one on YAJ.

Hi

If the doors from a S2 Spyder are the same as the Coupe (anyone?) I have a pair of pre f/l doors. From what I can tell little rust on them, but will need a bit of fettling as not perfect, but essentially complete with glass.

I will send link to photos.

Peter

[GerardJPC]

Doors the same from window down, window frames different.  Thanks for the PMs.  I will check but assume could mate extant frames with new door panels.

[rossocorsa]

I'm putting two new doors on my vx, but at 500 euro I'm beginning to think I should split it for parts! Reality has to be that no one will pay that when the cars are worth so little.

[cheeky monkey]

ricambi-automobilia in holland has polyester doors for about 240 quid

[GerardJPC]

Side impact protection built in?

Hey, I have a Series Landy, with doors made of a few mm of aluminium, but at least the chassis bar is at a height to retard the progress of a non SUV that is ramming me from the flank.  All Beta variants are, of course, a tad low, so a bit of metal next to you seems a good idea.

[cheeky monkey]

metal for sure. just suggesting an available alternative as you mentioned £'s. Hope you get a good donor door.

[GerardJPC]

got two!

[rossocorsa]

Once you start down the road of changing panels it can snowball and you are in danger of ending up like me changing/repairing everything and ending up out of my depth, 12 years off the road and counting.......

[GerardJPC]

There is that risk, as always, but I am hoping that I will be able to swap out the doors and bonnet.  The bootlid is Ok.  Query hidden grot on roof near screen.  Scuttle is bad but looks  do-able.  Neil has done wings etc.  One front wishbone is getting bad and needs painting to arrest grot.  Underneath of car otherwise surprisingly Ok.  If funds permit, full respray before next year.

I will post some photos later, but now have to drive across England to collect my daughter for half term.  As Yaj still has dodgy steering, I will go in my less interesting but reliable Alfa 156 (it is from 2001 and has a computer*, yuck, but at least it has a Busso V6 to listen to!).



 * not HAL 9000, I hope.

[peteracs]

Now there is a thing, 'reliable' and 'Alfa' in the same sentence, who would have thought of it.......

Peter

[rossocorsa]

  If funds permit, full respray before next year.

perhaps pop art style blue and red to match the interior??

[GerardJPC]

Now there is a thing, 'reliable' and 'Alfa' in the same sentence, who would have thought of it.......

Peter

I sooooo knew that someone would say that!   Italian cars should stick together!  When I had a 1977 Alfa Spider, it never gave me a mechanical problem - just rustiness.   My 156 has needed a new alternator, the predictable new suspension bushes and, er, that's it in nine years and 70,000 miles of use.    Oh, and my ex wife burned out the clutch so one of those too.   No, I didn't get divorced for that! I had a Fiat Coupe Turbo four five and a half years years and it never went wrong.  I wish that I had never sold that car.  Some Barry Boy has ruined it now.    

It is too early to say whether YAJ is a reliable car.   I have had the Volumex since February and until the clutch failed last month it had been reliable for 2000 miles of daily driving.     It is to return to daily driver duties when the clutch is replaced.  The 156 will be kept under a cover as reserve car as it is not worth selling, and a Busso V6 is hard to part with.  

I have been lucky to own some great engines, - as well as three Lampredi twin cams, there's been one Alfa twin cam, the Busso, a Rover V8, a Chrylser 386, a Lotus 912, and a big valve Lotus-Ford twin cam.   The less said about the Hyundai V6 the better!

[rossocorsa]

I've driven Italian cars ever since my first car back in 1983(fulvia coupe I seem to have gone backwards on the quality of my cars ever since!) but with gaps in more recent years, they are prone to lots of niggles but in general they are much better than painted, however the most unreliable car I ever had was a dedra turbo after that I had a delta hpe HF from new imported it from Rotterdam great car but it had its moments including the balancer shaft belt tensioner failing and dropping the ball bearings into the path of the cam belt.......result slipped timing and bent valves lovely. Back to Italian now with a chrysler delta which is ok but does gave those little annoyances that suggest lack of attention to design fine detail, they are very good buys second hand I think I read that they are apparently the highest depreciating car in the UK

[GerardJPC]

Naughty me!  I don't much like the plain black grille on a pre facelift 1300, although I realise that to the cognoscenti it signals the uber rarity of the car.  I am going to fit one of the grilles with the chrome bars at the bottom.  I will take some photos tomorrow so you can all boo or cheer.  I like originality, but I am not a fascist about it.

A dude tried to buy YAJ from me in the Co-op car park earlier this evening.  He offered me good money, but I said no.  I have had some pretty cool classic cars before, including some that were v powerful and luxurious, but for some reason this shabby and beat up old miniBeta, with its shonky steering, porno seats and smoky engine (knackered gaskets, nothing serious) is making me smile the most.

[peteracs]

Now there is a thing, 'reliable' and 'Alfa' in the same sentence, who would have thought of it.......

Peter

Hi Gerard,

Sorry could not resist it......

Seriously, when I was looking for an interesting daily a few years ago, I had a conversation with my local independent garage guy, who is in his 60s, has worked in his garage since a lad and looks after a load of moderns and classics. he works with his son and both were very forceful in saying only buy and run an Alfa if it is under warranty........

Bought the Saab as a result of that search and very happy with it.

Would really have liked to have an Alfa, just not practical at present.

Peter

[GerardJPC]

Any local garage guy may not be that much far ahead of the typical Clarkson pub bore, because the garage guy only sees what he sees, which may be a bunch of previously ill maintained cars.  I have found that garage dudes are as ready to spread pub myths about cars as anyone is.   To say that all Alfas of all kinds are unreliable is as daft a generalisation as saying that no BMW rusts.

Back on Lancias, the only engine issue that troubled me with YAJ when I collected it was a low oil pressure reading.  I was aware of leaky sump and rocker gaskets, but was still a bit concerned by the low reading.  The car was on 10/40, which my tame mech prefers generally, but I have put it on to a classic 20/50 and the needle is back in the middle of the gauge.

[peteracs]

I understand what you are saying, in their defence, the son ran an Alfa for while and I really did not want the risk of a money pit for a daily, the Beta is quite enough at the moment thanks.

Interesting point about the oil.

Peter

[GerardJPC]

So the son had a bad Alfa and that means all Alfas are bad?  I don't suggest that they are all good.  They are cars.  Some are good, some are rubbish, and much depends on how they have been looked after all their lives.  I don't buy into this idea that any marque is generically good or generically bad.    Some Lancias are dreadful.  Some are fine. 

[mtulloch]

Hmmmm ...........the son ran an Alfa which was unreliable? Not sure I would trust the mechanic who looked after it then