The day my "onboro ALFA" would revive

This day was a Father ’ s day in 2009.  My wife and kids had their tasks , therefore I was alone at home and enjoying the repair of my car in a garage. When I finished my work in a garage , I found a parcel was arriving to me. I opened it and found… Wow!  It ’ s great!!! It was a father's day gift from my eldest daughter living in Nagoya. A handmade tinplate sign designed by my eldest daughter!!! ( She was studying at the University to be a designer. ) It was the most surprising and happiest gift I ever had in my life. I was a really happy father ’ s day for me. ☺︎☺︎☺︎☺︎☺︎ ( My original blog was written on 21st Jun 2009 )

It was raining from morning on this day. It was not bad for me because I could spend time in my garage without hesitation while my wife and kids were watching TV in the house.  I fixed several repairs that I had thought I should do. To replace the ignition coil with the blue coil again. The ignition system with the semi-transistor and the blue coil looked like a retro combination. I changed the routing of the wire harness for the fuel tank to prevent the wire harness being damaged by objects in trunk. Previously overhauled rear brake calipers were assembled to the renewed rear axle. I found the spring washers of the caliper fixing bolts were deteriorated , so I replaced them with new washers. Rear axle and brake would be like a new if the rotor would be nicer. When I worked at the engine room of my car , there were some dark areas depending on the repairing part.   To improve this I tried a small idea for the li...

This weekend I repaired the trunk floor around the fuel tank using the formed sheet metal I made last week. First of all I made the holes on the formed sheet metal for riveting.  I emphasized sturdiness rather than a smarter appearance. I used steel rivets with 4mm diameter. Aluminum & steel rivet or stainless rivet was more popular.  But to avoid the erosion I looked for the all steel rivet. I placed the formed sheet metal on the part to be reinforced and made the holes at the same position on body side. Then , the remained POR-15 tank sealer was painted on the body to be repaired and both sides of the formed sheet metal.  POR-15 hardened rigidly after drying , so it would be very effective for both the rust prevention and the reinforcement. The remaining POR-15 was wrapped in a plastic film to be shielded from the air , but the surface had already begun to harden.  But the inside was still soft and usable. The formed ...

I disassembled the rear axle before.  There had been no progress on it because I started the repair of the fuel tank during my summer holiday. While painting the fuel tank , I repaired the torn rubber boot of the parking brake wire. I guessed it didn ’ t cost high because it was small rubber part.  But I wanted to try the repair method I read on the magazine article before. This was the condition before the repair.  The rubber was torn apart and separated almost. I used this self-adhesive type butyl tape.  I pasted lots of small pieces of the butyl tape on the back side of the rubber boot.  As time goes by , these tapes would melt and stick together.  After this I applied plenty of adhesive “ Super X Black ” on the rubber boot.  On the magazine of MOTO MAINTENANCE , I read the article that the motorcycle seat was repaired with this method.  So , I wanted to try it. After drying 1 day , it became like this....

After removing the bearing I washed the parking brake , caliper bracket and so on with kerosene. So far I used an old pan or bowl to wash parts with kerosene.  But it was not comfortable because the kerosene splashed around always.  So , I cut the old plastic tank for kerosene and made the special container for parts washing.  I thought it had big enough and good shape to avoid the splash. Regarding the washing of the parking brake and the caliper bracket , I didn't pursue the perfection because these parts located at difficult position to be seen. On the other day various items I ordered have arrived. Mainly parts for axle and fuel tank.  Some parts were still in transportation. During summer holiday I would like to fight with the rusty fuel tank. ( My original blog was written on 22nd Jul. and 9th Aug. 2008 )

I was thinking the only remaining way would be to ask the professional shop to remove the bearing if I couldn't remove the bearing with this method. I didn ’ t have a confidence.  But , on the other hand , I felt it might work well because last night I had a dream that the bearing was removed. This time I changed my strategy.  I tried to pull the bearing from the spline side ( differential gear side ) of the axle shaft. To do that I needed the special puller that had the long arms with 60cm length.  How should I do ??? After thinking for a while I went to the DIY hardware store near my house and purchased long threaded rods and long bolts to extend the puller arms.  I found them at the construction materials section and total costs was 700JPY.  My new strategy was to make the “ special long arms puller ” using these parts. At first I fixed the axle shaft by a vice.  Then , I set the “ special long arms puller ” on the bearing and ...

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 )

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 ...

I went to the affordable tool shop for shopping. There were no items I needed urgently , however , I bought some items.