Diving in deeply

["TJ" <tj@domain.elided>]

Sunday marked the final day that Shakespeare would still be complete (as
complete as a neglected, partially disassembled old car can be).
Yesterday afternoon I drove her in to the garage and turned off the
engine.  I removed the battery, lifted her up on to Jackstands and began
draining fluids.  The goal is to get the engine out in the next week or
two before transferring the body to a dolly for total stripping.  My
goal is to restore this car to "like new" condition.  She will be no
trailer queen but I'm aiming for a higher level of finish than I got on
my CS Coupe.

For paint removal I'm going to try a new process.  Rather than using
paint stripper, which is NASTY and time consuming, I'm going to try
plastic media blasting.  I have a friend who had his race car done this
way and the results were very good.  So my goal after the car is
stripped will be to have the body media blasted so I can begin
bodypanel/rust removal and replacement. 

I plan on leaving the engine stock if possible, but may consider modern
upgrades where it makes sense (ie. Alternator, etc.).

The goal is to have her done for the Concorso Italiano in 2004.

I am also starting a portion of the Cowpoke Racing Website dedicated to
following the restoration of the car.  I'm hoping to be able to provide
good quality pictures to document the total project.  I'm using Tom
Yang's excellent website (www.tomyang.com) for inspiration, but I'm
certainly not going to be able to attain his level of artistic
creativity.

I've just begun the first page of html, and when it's up on the website
it will be at http://www.cowpokeracing.com/alfa.html  The first update
should be up before the end of the evening West Coast time.

I just learned the hard way that the passenger side wheels on the car
have reverse-thread lugnuts.  I know why they did it, but it completely
took me by surprise.  I managed to get the wheels off without destroying
the lugnuts, but only just.

The car does have ATE calipers all the way round for those that were
interested.  

Regards,
TJ

TJ Noto		AFM #134  	Cowpoke Racing-"Friends in Slow Places"
http://www.cowpokeracing.com
95 Ducati 916 Strada
96 Ducati Monster 900 (Chela's)
61 Ducati Falcone 80			
70 Norton Commando Fastback	
73 BMW 3.0 CS ("deviated from museum reliquary standard"-Perez)
97 BMW Z3 (Chela's)
77 Mercedes 280C (Mimosa)
67 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT Veloce	
00 Ford F150 Supercab		
87 Suzuki RG250 (For Sale!)
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