Getting this 3.0CSi back on the road

[Gransin]

Unfortunately, legally in the EU you are not allowed to change anything on the safety equipment.
In the case of restoration however things usually are changed, for the better even. If changes were made, usually eu countries require you to submit your vehicle for a technical check before it is allowed to enter public roads.

I dont think a self invented third seating posistion will pass such an inspection.

However, looking at Gransins tech capabilities, i have no doubt that he could make a center seat belt in a safe manner. The center seat would be the safest possibility, and very likely a police officer will not know all of these above details.

If in Finland you have to do some ( annual ) mandatory tech checks every other year or so, you may need to unbolt the " invented" centre seat belts prior to inspection....

That's unfortunately how it is, goes hand in hand with all our other strict car modification rules.. Good in some cases, bad in other cases.
But I honestly don't think the guys who does the annual inspection will have a clue, if they see that it's a clean and solid car owned by an enthusiast, they usually won't care about details like these, if they even would notice.

My recommendation on the center seatbelt didn’t involve any modifications. You just need a belt with two male ends, and you use the existing passenger receivers. The center LATCH reccomendation solved two issues. It is cheaper than a custom male belt. Latch is a heck of a lot faster and easier to install and remove (although lap belts only are pretty damn easy also). The downside is the regulation issues, and LATCH has a lower weight rating.

Anyway I think the center section is worth a shot because it is much flatter than the rear buckets. It is a bit narrow though so you need to ensure that you don’t get much lateral movement. I wouldn’t do it without tethering the top.

I want to reiterate what Markos mentioned earlier and which sounds like a great idea to me: get a short male - male belt made that can latch to the female end of each side seat. And presto: center seat belt for a car seat.

The more I think about it, that might actually be quite a clever and easy way to do it, but that would require the male - male belt to be adjustable in the middle.
I tried googling for a belt like that but didn't find any, so I guess it would have to be custom made by a belt shop? But that's not a problem as I have to get two new sets of belts for the rear anyway, and can order this at the same time.

Thanks for helping!

Congratulations Gransin on doing a magnificent job with your CSi restoration! As someone who restores cars for a living, I am absolutely blown away by your efforts.

Absolutely amazing. Well done!!!
Dan

Thank you for your kind compliment, Dan!

 

[Gransin]

Time to update a bit, I've had a little winter break on the project but now I'm hopefully back at it again.
This is the progress since the last update.

Door gaskets + rocker chrome panels and KHM 2-tone charcoal carpet installed:

Then it was time for the side wood/chrome/leather panels to be installed, all gaskets, brushes + leather was replaced.

And as you maybe already saw in the previous pictures, I've also installed side stripes, all of the exterior trim, and had the doors + glass adjusted so that I can live with it. I didn't get it perfect, and will still do some small adjusting before the door panels go back on, incredible how much time it takes to fiddle with all the gaps.

Here we have the rear seats getting recovered CSL-style, still not finished.

Rear armrests are done.

Center piece done.

And the front Scheels are done, but they are still not put together as I have to make adapters and it's easier if you don't have to lift the whole seat in and out of the car.

That's it for now.

 

[Dan Mooney]

Time to update a bit, I've had a little winter break on the project but now I'm hopefully back at it again.
This is the progress since the last update.

Door gaskets + rocker chrome panels and KHM 2-tone charcoal carpet installed:

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Then it was time for the side wood/chrome/leather panels to be installed, all gaskets, brushes + leather was replaced.

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And as you maybe already saw in the previous pictures, I've also installed side stripes, all of the exterior trim, and had the doors + glass adjusted so that I can live with it. I didn't get it perfect, and will still do some small adjusting before the door panels go back on, incredible how much time it takes to fiddle with all the gaps.

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Here we have the rear seats getting recovered CSL-style, still not finished.

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Rear armrests are done.

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Center piece done.

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And the front Scheels are done, but they are still not put together as I have to make adapters and it's easier if you don't have to lift the whole seat in and out of the car.

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That's it for now.

An inspirational update, Robert. Well done!

 

[adawil2002]

Tremendous progress, carpet and the seats look fantastic.

 

[Wladek]

Great job!

 

[Stevehose]

Gorgeous!

 

[Gransin]

Thanks for the kind words!

 

[Bmachine]

First class work as usual, Robert!

 

[StephenZ]

WOW!!! I just found this thread and read the entire thing! Just fantastic! I'm a builder and really enjoyed the garage build. I can't believe the amount of insulation in there! the layers under the slab, and the many wall layers...incredible. Where I live, in LA California, that would be called a sound stage... Very cool. The car is amazing. Great job! Congrats on the little fella, too. I have two and they sure put a damper on my uninterrupted hours of project time...LOL. Great stuff!
-Stephen

 

[Gransin]

First class work as usual, Robert!

Thank you Bo!

WOW!!! I just found this thread and read the entire thing! Just fantastic! I'm a builder and really enjoyed the garage build. I can't believe the amount of insulation in there! the layers under the slab, and the many wall layers...incredible. Where I live, in LA California, that would be called a sound stage... Very cool. The car is amazing. Great job! Congrats on the little fella, too. I have two and they sure put a damper on my uninterrupted hours of project time...LOL. Great stuff!
-Stephen

Thank you Stephen! Glad it was appreciated, I really debated wether to put up the garage build in this thread or not, but I always like little side projects in other peoples project threads, so I thought why not
I'm so glad I did spend the extra $$$$ and time on the insulation, it will pay itself back in a relatively short time. In January we had (pretty mild) temperatures mostly ranging from -10°C to -15°C / 14°F to 5°F but a lot of wind.
Using only my Mitsubishi air-to-air heat pump, and with the temperature inside set to 16-17°C / 62°F, I got away with less than 50€ in heating cost, I think that's pretty impressive considering the size and height of the garage.

 

[StephenZ]

Thank you Bo!



Thank you Stephen! Glad it was appreciated, I really debated wether to put up the garage build in this thread or not, but I always like little side projects in other peoples project threads, so I thought why not
I'm so glad I did spend the extra $$$$ and time on the insulation, it will pay itself back in a relatively short time. In January we had (pretty mild) temperatures mostly ranging from -10°C to -15°C / 14°F to 5°F but a lot of wind.
Using only my Mitsubishi air-to-air heat pump, and with the temperature inside set to 16-17°C / 62°F, I got away with less than 50€ in heating cost, I think that's pretty impressive considering the size and height of the garage.

Wow! that's very impressive. Living in Southern Cali, I start crying when it gets down to 10°C / 50°F! Lol. Yeah, I've always got a handful of projects going, from machining a robot with my 9 year old, to trying to convert my mini mill to cnc, or building who knows what, I feel like life is all about learning and doing! Now that you have Frank, you'll get to enjoy a whole new level of fun projects... having my two little guys has been the best thing in the world. Soak it up!

 

[Belgiumbarry]

just got trough the thread... amazing job on car & garage Robert ! congrats !

 

[Gransin]

Another update, now it's definitely close to what my thread title have been saying for 4 years, can start thinking about taking it out on the road!
If it weren't for all the snow we still.. have, of course.

Built and installed the parcel shelf, and installing the autocontrol reel for my front harness.

Put plastic behind the door cards.

Got the rear seat back from recover, not a perfect result but it'll be good enough for having children in the back seat.

Installed in the car

Started with the center console

Done, right door card also installed.

Today I built adapters for the front Scheel seats and covered them in vinyl, after that I just had to install the seats Everything is a bit dirty but you get the idea!

Soo, not much left to do, glovebox, panels under the steering wheel (currently held up by that ratchet), left door card if I can find a good replacement.
I've bought e24 door cards to use their long chrome strip for my doors, but I found out it's glued and doesn't have any pins like the e9 chrome strip have. So I'll try to attach them with some good quality double-sided tape later.
Otherwise it's just very minor thing left to do, can't believe it.

And, to help with further projects and maintenance, I just installed a two post lift in the garage

 

[PrussianMotors]

Wow.. that's just stunning. Great job all around.

 

[Philippe db]

Always love looking at the progress. Without a doubt one of the nicest E9 rebuilds I have ever seen.

 

[Belgiumbarry]

Robert , still no rear spoiler ?

 

[JFENG]

I think we have found someone who can give both DQ and Sven a run for the most fanatical E9 restorer. Beautiful attention to detail. Inspiring and intimidating to us mere mortals.

 

[Philippe db]

Robert here is a question for you.

Knowing what you know now would you start on another E9 when this one is ready?

 

[Gransin]

Wow.. that's just stunning. Great job all around.

Always love looking at the progress. Without a doubt one of the nicest E9 rebuilds I have ever seen.

I think we have found someone who can give both DQ and Sven a run for the most fanatical E9 restorer. Beautiful attention to detail. Inspiring and intimidating to us mere mortals.

Thank you all, it really means alot!
I can say I've done the best I can with my limited budget, time and experience. This beeing the first car that I ever restored, I'm very pleased even though it sure has imperfections more visible while standing next to it, than in the photos.
But in my mind I reached what I set out to do, get a solid driver. It's far from "complete", I still have lots of things that I want to improve or do better. I came to the conclusion that it's better to have a driveable vehicle with some small projects left to improve over the winters, than to have a car not rolling due to focusing too much on the little details.
And no, I still think DQ and Sven has the upper hand, but I'm working on it

Robert here is a question for you.

Knowing what you know now would you start on another E9 when this one is ready?

Naah, as I wrote above, I will have many winters ahead of me filled with small projects to improve the overall quality/finish of the car, and even if it were totally ready and complete, I'd much prefer to look at something else for a while.
I could do it again, but never on a rusty coupe.. never never again. That was for sure the most soul-draining part of this project.
I constantly check the ads for old Alfa Romeos... That must mean something

Robert , still no rear spoiler ?

Oh, you mean this one? just installed and complete
No, it quickly slipped down on the priority-list after I saw how much work it'll need to look good. I might still do it before summer comes, but if not, I'll do it until the next summer season.

 

[JFENG]

I hate you...