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federico

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It`s a pleasure to be in E9! I hope I can be up to the level of it's members , and , before anything , please forgive my expression capacity. I'm Spanish and my English is rusty.
Looking in the web for spaces where I could get counsel for my new project I discovered e9coupe...what an amount of knowledge!

NOw, to the important part: I have bought a 3.0Csi Alpina B2. It has 65k miles and has been in a dry cellar for the last 21 years. This week we began dismantelling it and I was terrified!!! just look at the pictures, Well it will be one step after the other and we will see where we get. In the meantime I have discoverd it's the only B2 imported into spain (after passing through Aplina, as it started as a normal 3.0csi in 1974) by a pilot (champion of the CET with Alfa GTV and who competed with 635s in europe) he has told me it was a bit to heavy to compete in rallies, so he used it (After a couple of races) for personal transport a couple of years. It was the sold to a Galicia "aficionado" who had it for 4 years (I have all the invoices. This guy was meticulous). Unfortunatelly, it rains a lot in GAlicia (northwest of SPain) so it began to get rusty. A friend of mine bought it, intending to restore it, but he never had the chance-or money. AS we are in a bug crisis here, he needed to sell it. I have a 635Csi, so I must of looked as a good victim...and now I'm scared to death with this project.
I will post photos of the process, but look at what I have to tackle!
thank for your patience!
best regards and any advice is wellcome.
Federico
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Welcome! An Alpina will be well worth your time and effort - please post pictures! Calling DeQuincey....
 
That looks the same as the rust that I found in my '72 CS. I posted a document that shows some of the process for repairing the rust and replacing the fenders.
 
federico, a no ser que seas chapista,tiralo a la basura cuanto antes, te arrepentiras

hi federico,

welcome, i am located in bilbao, and i have been active in this forum for 6 years with my non-stop personal project 3.0 CS doing almost everything by myself

unfortunately that is quite not much of a car anymore, but a rust bucket that will eat all your money, that of your friend's, your sons, grandsons,...undsoweiter

i can not properly assess the value of it being an alpina coupe, someone has to say that, but my two cents andvise on this project is, you will not be able to bring her to glory, and on doing so, you will never be able to recover the money invested on it

the best possible thing to do is to find someone really concerned by her being an alpina matching numbers and so on, and then selling the coupe to him, that will be the only opportunity of getting some money from that car, a connoisseur will pay extra money for that scrapeyard example of a coupe

the other way to go is to identify which alpina elements are available for trade in that car, body and interior seemed shot, so you would better show the mechanic pieces to see if there is any interest on them, but IMHO more than a barn find that seems a completely abandoned example

PM if interested
 
Stevehose said:
Welcome! An Alpina will be well worth your time and effort - please post pictures! Calling DeQuincey....
Click to expand...

I will post pictures! I'm going to Portugal (where that car in actually located) even though its a 3.5 hour drive the difference in hand labour price is unbelievably low (15 bucks the hour). I have contracted a peruvian artisan with tremendous experience so that he spends 4-5 weeks on the car. I will pay him 2000 dollars for 5 weeks work! My friend has a very decent workshop (and he's a great artisan, already has painted my 635 in british racing green), with enough space to work properly, so the idea is that once the car's chassis is fixed, it will be painted -by the professionals who work there-and as the interior is in good condition the car might be rolling in spring. I'm already buying parts at wallothnesch.com to put in brand new pieces hard to fabricate...this sunday I will post more photos...
I am thinking about what improvements I could include (alternator with higher output and lower weight, Petronix electronic ignition...) so if you have ideas, please share them.
thanks!!!
 
lets get together, once this project is done...

deQuincey said:
hi federico,

welcome, i am located in bilbao, and i have been active in this forum for 6 years with my non-stop personal project 3.0 CS doing almost everything by myself

unfortunately that is quite not much of a car anymore, but a rust bucket that will eat all your money, that of your friend's, your sons, grandsons,...undsoweiter

i can not properly assess the value of it being an alpina coupe, someone has to say that, but my two cents andvise on this project is, you will not be able to bring her to glory, and on doing so, you will never be able to recover the money invested on it

the best possible thing to do is to find someone really concerned by her being an alpina matching numbers and so on, and then selling the coupe to him, that will be the only opportunity of getting some money from that car, a connoisseur will pay extra money for that scrapeyard example of a coupe

the other way to go is to identify which alpina elements are available for trade in that car, body and interior seemed shot, so you would better show the mechanic pieces to see if there is any interest on them, but IMHO more than a barn find that seems a completely abandoned example

PM if interested
Click to expand...

They started to restore the car 21 years ago. A running car. I'm not worried about the conditions, though it's a lot of work. With the help of spares from Wallothnesch.com for those small parts hard to redo (already ordered 6 parts) and patience, in 4-5 weeks it will be ready for paint. I also have a great mechanic to dismantle the motor and redo it (only new gaskets, piston rings and send the injection system to be dismantled and cleaned) plus a cleaning and painting of the radiator and changing all hoses I believe it will be ready. Fuel tank is in good conditions and new fuel lines will do the trick. Brakes lines will also be new and calipers will be throughly cleaned with new set of rubbers...yeah, it amounts to quite a cost but, ¿How many B2 are in the market? Once ready I hope I can have some fun with it, and if someone comes up with a decent offer...who knows. I might sell it. Meanwhile I'm having fun with my 996 Carrera 4 and readying the 635 for some classic rallies..I might sound a bit of an optimistic, but only with drive and patience you can get a B2. There are so very few originals (this one came from Jose Angel Sasiambarrena) with history I think it's worthwhile. Can you imagine a more exclusive ride that this one?
 
m_thompson said:
That looks the same as the rust that I found in my '72 CS. I posted a document that shows some of the process for repairing the rust and replacing the fenders.
Click to expand...

I will look at it with great interest! I will surely be able to learn a lot, and maybe save time and effort. Pioneers open the way and I will follow your steps!
thanks
 
Hi Federico!

This is a huge project so you really need your optimism! The metal work can be done in 4-5 weeks but not by one man alone, and all the new parts must be at hand. If you rush it will affect the quality of the work.
From the pictures I can see that the front (inner)shock towers are very rusty. They are difficult to find new. Hopefully you can find a donor car.
I used 5 years on a project similar to this.

Good luck!
 
well i wish you good luck, probably better to open a project thread, and show us your advance on it

this is a peculiar car has nothing to do with the more bmw-standards e24, e12, or even the e3, its karmann birth makes she so very special that is mandatory to tackle all restoration process with special care

hope that you find good professionals, one of the worst things you can do is a cheap but poor restoration, spend the money to finally find that noone is interested in it, such cars are only worth if the restoration is top notch
 
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It could be much cheaper to buy a low rust car as a body-donor

I realize this will seem sacrilegious.
If Alpina didn't change the "body-in-white" then it may be an interesting idea to find a rust free (properly restored) or very low rust E9 for a body swap. Here in the USA you can find a very dry E9 for $20-$25k USD. THis would be a car without detectable rust in any of the usual areas. I just bought a car like this and am pleased to find that it mainly neds rust proofing and a complete re-paint. Mechanically it is very needy, but it is no Alpina!

I heard a story that fixing a very rusty coupe body could cost over $50k so this might be a little cheaper for you. Of course, we are paying high labor costs here in the USA ($70-$85 per hour). Maybe it's much less in Spain?

John
 
bfeng said:
I realize this will seem sacrilegious.
If Alpina didn't change the "body-in-white" then it may be an interesting idea to find a rust free (properly restored) or very low rust E9 for a body swap. Here in the USA you can find a very dry E9 for $20-$25k USD. THis would be a car without detectable rust in any of the usual areas. I just bought a car like this and am pleased to find that it mainly neds rust proofing and a complete re-paint. Mechanically it is very needy, but it is no Alpina!

I heard a story that fixing a very rusty coupe body could cost over $50k so this might be a little cheaper for you. Of course, we are paying high labor costs here in the USA ($70-$85 per hour). Maybe it's much less in Spain?

John
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sound advice john
 
advancing

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deQuincey said:
sound advice john
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I completely agree with you. Unfortunately finding a donor chassis would take time and great expenses if it's to be shipped to Spain. I am tackling this project with the idea of making the car as solid as possible. I am using 1.25mm galvanized steel, which though harder to use will give the chassis a solidity higher than original. Parts will w¡be arriving fron Wallothnesch this week. I have only ordered (for the moment) 450usd in parts that are small and time consuming. The wings are, obviously, to expensive ( over 1000 usd each), and its cheaper to restore them. The car will be sandblasted in 10 days to ensure that no rust is left behind and all dirty spaces will be properly waxed to prevent future corrosion. No effort will be spared in creating a chassis that will last for as long as I live (in madrid, with a very dry climate).
Here are some more photos of what has been done last week (only from tuesday afternoon to friday).
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Henrik said:
Hi Federico!

This is a huge project so you really need your optimism! The metal work can be done in 4-5 weeks but not by one man alone, and all the new parts must be at hand. If you rush it will affect the quality of the work.
From the pictures I can see that the front (inner)shock towers are very rusty. They are difficult to find new. Hopefully you can find a donor car.
I used 5 years on a project similar to this.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Your right. Whats your impression on this first&after. We are in early stages using thicker galvanized steel.
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bfeng said:
I realize this will seem sacrilegious.
If Alpina didn't change the "body-in-white" then it may be an interesting idea to find a rust free (properly restored) or very low rust E9 for a body swap. Here in the USA you can find a very dry E9 for $20-$25k USD. THis would be a car without detectable rust in any of the usual areas. I just bought a car like this and am pleased to find that it mainly neds rust proofing and a complete re-paint. Mechanically it is very needy, but it is no Alpina!

I heard a story that fixing a very rusty coupe body could cost over $50k so this might be a little cheaper for you. Of course, we are paying high labor costs here in the USA ($70-$85 per hour). Maybe it's much less in Spain?

John
Click to expand...
OK opening a project thread!
 
I agree, but...

deQuincey said:
sound advice john
Click to expand...
It's sound advice, but I have always thought life is to short and I don't want to loose momentum. Being on a budget, the way I'm proceeding is the only one I've got.
IN Spain I hope to be paying, for the chassis, under 12 bucks an hour. Obviously, I have hired a person (the Peruvian I have talked about in previous responses to other comments, and of which you will find a photo in projects) and I'm paying him, directly as my employee, 2000k per month (which include a house I have rented for 150€).He also gets a lot of free vegetables from a little plot behind the workshop...).
As the owner of the workshop is a friend he lets us have space and tools (and helps when needed). He also controls quality. He won't charge too much, lets say a couple of hundreds per month.
I don't have a quote for parts yet, but 359 euros have gone and I expect 2000 more will soon leave my wallet...Paint job will be under 2000 bucks and I will spend myself a few weekends working on things such as the wood in the dash board, sending pieces of rubber to get seals made (there are places where you send a small example and they make brand door seals). The windshield is 250 euros, for example. IN any case, I believe that for less than 10.000€ the car will be ready and rolling as mechanicals are quite well. If things turn up as expected, it may be a good idea for you guys to come to europe, buy a knackered E9, fix it and get it sent back over the pond. It would cost less than fixing it back home (I consider the US as home, as I've got family there and enjoyed working there for McGraw Hill's Businessweek several years).
I suppose globalization serves it's purpose in this matter.
Federico
 
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deQuincey said:
well i wish you good luck, probably better to open a project thread, and show us your advance on it

this is a peculiar car has nothing to do with the more bmw-standards e24, e12, or even the e3, its karmann birth makes she so very special that is mandatory to tackle all restoration process with special care

hope that you find good professionals, one of the worst things you can do is a cheap but poor restoration, spend the money to finally find that noone is interested in it, such cars are only worth if the restoration is top notch
Click to expand...

I will try to get a well graphically documented history of what we will do. Step by step. The final result will make the car a bit heavier (8 to 10 kg estimate) but no open areas (for lightweightness) will be left. I've been told that this is a problem in original design. I will be on top of things and Belarmino, the mechanic from portugal has been working on my bikes and cars for ages, and is a sticky guy concerning details. Mechanical details are quite simple and strait forward so no problems expected on that side. Only problem is my anxiety....just arrived from portugal yesterday and it's hard to concentrate on my job...I'm constantly thinking on what can be done...normal for a rookie I suppose.
federico
 
At 12 euro per hour I would ship my coupe to Spain for restoration!

federico said:
It's sound advice, but I have always thought life is to short and I don't want to loose momentum. Being on a budget, the way I'm proceeding is the only one I've got.
IN Spain I hope to be paying, for the chassis, under 12 bucks an hour. .
Federico
Click to expand...

a full body restoration here in the USA can cost $30k to $40k (400-500 hours). At $12, that would be only $6k. Quite a savings, and easily covers round trip shipping.
 
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bfeng said:
a full body restoration here in the USA can cost $30k to $40k (400-500 hours). At $12, that would be only $6k. Quite a savings, and easily covers round trip shipping.
Click to expand...

hi bfeng,

be careful, that is portugal, not spain, and let me say a very particular place on portugal, you'd better send the car to federico directly

spain is a peculiar country, prices in the north are sometimes two or three times the southern prices
 
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