Peter Webb on stripping down his Super
Peter Webb on stripping down his Super
I had a wonderful weekend. I learned so much I think my head is going to explode.
I am getting my Super ready for the paint stripper, and since I want a thorough job, I am removing everything that is not body-colour.
Uncovering engineering of things that I have not touched before was great. I usually get tired/frustrated/bewildered during these tasks but not yesterday.
First, I took down the headliner. Its held up with metal, flexable dowels. The headliner has loops sewn in the fabric that the dowels pass through. When they are inserted into the holes on the roof line, the liner hangs somewhat like a cutain. The edges are held by glue, clips and the door gaskets on the side, and by glue and windshield gaskets front and rear. The foam is glued to the roof but comes down easily. After I took down the foam, my hands and arms started to itch. Yikes, its fiberglass!! Took down the wiring harness. The interior lights are as simple and sensible as it comes. The doors have mechanical switches that connect to plungers in the jamb. Plunger pushes a spring, makes elec contact in the light. Unscrewed the interior lights but they still wouldnt come out. Suicide rails did, visors did. ??? They are glued into the headliner. I was puzzled why, but pressing on....
Emptying the doors was next. The door latches that are just levers and springs came out without event. The corner windows also. Simply by the rotating shaft and two screws inside the door gasket. The main windows were another story. What a puzzle. The regulators are mechanical not the wires. Thank goodness! Getting the glass off the regs was another story. I'm still not sure how it happend, but a wiggled and jiggled and eventually, the regulators came out of the slide. Rear windows came out from top, but the front windows are still inside the doors. A puzzle for another day. Any hints would be appreciated.
Took up the carpet. The floors are still body-colour all the way through. No repair needed. The carpet came out in brittle chunks. Straight into the trash can. The side kick panels are simply vinyl glued to metal. What was more interesting is that the hot air ducts come from the outside, not the inside of the footwell through vents and ducting. Very clever.
Pulled out all the undermatting (except the tar junk glued to the floor) all the way to the firewall. Cleaned out the interior and stood back and looked. The whole unibody made sense when you see it from inside with nothing else in the car. You can see how every piece fits to make the frame. Even the firewall is double thick sheet metal structure. I feel very confident that the Super was the right choice for safety and rigidity for my TS project. Traced all the underbody mounting points to the structural members inside the car and then the geometry made perfect sense too. The suspension isnt only attached to a structural member, but to a specific structural member to produce a handling characteristic. The frame seems to be three specific parts. The U brace in the engine compartment, square beam that sits under the back seat, and inner rockers and transmission tunnel that ties them together. The front suspension mounts at the corner of the front U and the rear mounts on the back corners of the square. Since Chrysler make a point of telling about this pricipal in their new cars, I just thought I'd point out that Alfa did it in 1967 on my Super. It makes perfect sense why the cars handle so well. Even the engine and people were considered into the design.
Roof and pillar construction was also of keen interest. The A, B, and C pillars are formed from two pieces of sheet metal, bent and spot welded to make a psuedo tube, beam for strength. I believe this car would offer protection as well as cars much, much newer. I was totaly impressed in the care and design that went into these cars. Braden mentions a story about trashing a Super in one of his books. The oucome was, no matter how many hits it took with the sledge, it only showed cosmetic damage. I can absolutely see why now. What a wonderful car this is.
Sorry of the long post. Just wanted to share. Since I have been a participant in the non-Alfa content, thought I'd make up for it with this ramble.
If you are ever going to junk a car, take it apart first and take photo's. Its well worth the experience just to take a walk through the design department at Alfa. (wherever your car may have been designed). I feel I really know my car now I have dismantled it, and will know it even better on reassembly.
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Talk to jack if you have comments
last modified 20 Oct, 1997