The day my "onboro ALFA" would revive

From the time my onboro Alfa was still running on the road , I noticed that the inside of the right-rear wheel was dirty with oil soiling.  I thought there should be a problem with the oil seal of the rear axle. I checked it again when I installed the overhauled rear brakes , and found that the areas around the right side rear axle were dirty with oil.  I confirmed the oil seal needed to be replaced.  Therefore , I removed the rear axle shafts and started the cleaning. The oil soiling was really stubborn.  It was not easy to clean up them completely. The inside and outside of the splash shield , around the axle case and drum case … everything was very dirty … I started from the cleaning of the rear axle hosing. The oil seal didn ’ t look so bad condition at first glance.  But probably there could be problems in the oil seal.  ( Or also in other parts ?)   Anyway I would start from the replacement of the oil seal. (My original blog w

I could find the time on Sunday and started the installation of the overhauled brakes. First of all I installed the new brake pads.  I bought them with 6 , 000JPY for a set of front and rear when shop did the sale.  I thought it quite reasonable. Nice! In the next I replaced the brake hoses with the stainless-mesh lines 15mm flare nut wrench was necessary to remove the hoses but I couldn ’ t find it ( I think 15mm is not popular size ) .  So , I found a set of crow foot wrench at a tool shop and bought it. I could loosen the nut only little by little.  But it seemed useful in combination with the extension bar to turn the nut if it located at complicated position. Overhauled caliper and new stain mesh brake lines were installed. The stainless mesh brake lines were not showier than I thought. Now the caliper and brake hose looked fine.  But other parts were not beautiful!  I should grind the surface of the brake rotor. (My ori

In Japan May is one of the best seasons for the classic car lovers because of the comfortable climate.  Therefore , lots of classic car meeting were held on this weekend in various areas of Japan.  Also in Hiroshima Alfa Romeo owners meeting was held. It was very relaxing and fun gathering continuing 10 years.  Every year in this season the Alfa Romeo lovers gathered with their family and friends , and enjoyed barbeque and bingo game.   I was invited by the organizer , ( my neighbor ) and joined with my friends driving 147GTA and Spider.  Of course I could not join with my Alfa , so I joined with Renault Cinq. There were lots of Alfa Romeo ( much more than I expected ) .  Some peoples were reading my blog and spoken to me.  I was very motivated.  I must join this meeting with my Alfa!!! ( Sorry for the low resolution pictures by mobile phone.  My digital camera was broken. ) After the barbeque it was the time to enjoy car watching and conversation with o

I removed the rust from pad springs and pins , and painted with the Zinc-rich paint. I used a spray paint.  Because the pad springs and pins were small parts , I heated them using the oven toaster in my kitchen for baking finish this time. I didn't say it to my wife because she would say definitely “ No ” if I would ask her to use the oven toaster. ☺︎ The finish of the pad springs and pins became nice.  I was very satisfied with the results.  However , those would become dirty soon by the brake pad dust…. (My original blog was written on 12th May 2008 )

One of the springs to hold the brake pads was broken.  At first I thought to buy it, however, I tried to fix it using rivets. It seemed to be strong enough just to hold pads.  Later I removed the rust and cleaned them. Note:  I have been using this repaired pad soring for 10 years and there is no issue. Pad spring is not an expensive part ptobably (I don't know the exact price), but it is easy to repair if you have ar1750gtv hand rivetter.   (My original blog was written on 10th May 2008 )

I painted the calipers with silver paint. I did a kind of baking finish paint using an electric heater after painting with a brush. It might be just for my self-satisfaction , but I thought this would be better way to make the paint strong. Painting was an interesting job ♪ This was the silver paint I used for the caliper paint. It seemed to have strongest durability among the paints at DIY hardware store near my house.  The dark silver color was my choice. (My original blog was written on 2nd May 2008 )

I was in holiday today , but I had a lot of works for gardening and home during a day time.  From the evening I could start the assembly of the rear calipers. As same as the assembly of the front calipers , the assembly could be done more quickly than the disassembly and the cleaning. I attached the seals on pistons using the silicone grease.  Then , insert the piston into the caliper carefully keeping the piston vertical. I used wooden bar to insert the piston.  I grabbed the both end of bar and pushed it slowly , then the piston was inserted without resistance.  If there was resistance , the piston had to be re-inserted again because it meant the piston was diagonally inserted. Finally to attach the dust boots and set the retainer ring , then finished. Repeat this 4 times.  All the assembly done! I also wanted to paint the calipers , but it would be next work. (My original blog was written on 1st May 2008 )

The cleaning of the rear caliper was still continuing.  For 2 days I continued to wash and clean with brush if I could find the time.  Now I reached to this level. I compromised with this. The next would be to clean with a part cleaner , insert the pistons , to attach the seals and to paint with silver color. (My original blog was written on 28th Apr. 2008 )

Since last work I had been busy for more than 1 month for my daughter ’ s house moving. This day I cleaned the rear calipers I left after removing the pistons. I tried washing with hot water , alkaline detergent and so on… Comparing with before cleaning it looked slightly better.  But it was far from my expectation. I found one problem as usual.  The air bleed screw could not be loosen because the nut was deformed. I tired with a bolt extractor , but it didn ’ t work well. After trying some other methods , I drilled the side of the bleed screw to make a penetrating hole.  My new idea was to insert the thin shaft into the hole to turn the bleed screw.  I couldn't find the suitable shaft , so I screwed the screw and hit it by a hummer to turn. But the screw was broken because it was not strong enough. I was disappointed but turned the bleed screw by gripping the broken screw with vice grip…then , it seemed that the screw was turned slightly ???

When I enjoy car maintenance , weekend carpenter and gardening , I always wear this coverall. This is the second hand clothes from US military as you can see.  The size is S and it suits me very perfectly. It is made of cotton and uses only Velcro tapes for all openings ( no buttons , no zippers ) . Therefore , it doesn't make scratches if I lean on the car body.  It was already worn out when I bought it , but it is my favorite working wear. My wife customized the coveralls for me with some patches. ☺︎ Other items I like to wear are arm covers. When repairing a car , sleeves surely become dirty.  Therefore , I wear arm covers always ( as you see on 2nd photo ) . Sometimes I only wear arm covers on ordinary clothes.  The arm covers can avoid clothes become dirty effectively.  It costs only 200-300JPY.  Very good value for money! By the way recently I bought the key ring of Porco Rosso ( from Hayao Miyazaki ’ s animation ) .  My daughter saw it a

I was still fighting with calipers and the progress was small. Today I worked on the rear-right caliper ( the last one ) to remove the pistons. It was 4th time for me and to remove the pistons from the rear-left caliper was not so difficult , therefore I thought it should be easy.  However , I struggled as always. Before removing the piston , I always push the pistons a little using my special tool in order to move the piston.  But one piston was perfectly sticking and the iron stay of the special tool was deformed. After lots of trials and errors I tried a clamp and it worked well. The other piston was also very tough.  After all , it took 4 hours from the beginning to the removal of the 2nd piston. Today I became out of my energy at this point and could not clean the calipers ( I wanted to do it … ) . (My original blog was written on 2nd Mar. 2008 )

I got on the momentum and started the overhaul of the rear calipers. At first I removed the right and left rear calipers. And I started to remove the pistons from the left side caliper. It took time little because the piston of the rear caliper had difference from front one , however , I managed to remove it. It was not an easy job despite I already did several time.  Although work time was getting shorter gradually. The calipers were very dirty of course!  I had to start cleaning again. But one good thing was that rear caliper was smaller than front. ( My original blog was written on 19th Feb. 2008 )