Engine bay brace bolts

[hartmandm]

On my series V, none of the engine bay cowl to fender brace bolts are painted. Looks like they might have been a cadmium-ish finish. Is that how they originally came? They might be the original bolts, since they have the "Auto" + "S" letters and the recessed circle, but they need some TLC.



Thanks,
Mike

 

[Limey]

I believe they were body colour but will stand corrected...

 

[65beam]

Doug @ Tiger Auto restored the body of our series 5 and he painted the bolts holding the braces along with the bolts for the hood hinges and the door hinges. I noticed your car looks like it doesn't have the shims between the brace and the body. Do you have them?

 

[DanR]

Bob, I don't think all Alpines needed shims... Only on an as needed basis? Then, Mike's bolt heads not having paint could mean some action was taken to remove the shim (s) just a swag

I'll run over to the shop an see what my "original unmolested" Colour Code 70 has.....

OK! Checked on my "Unmolested", it shows paint on the head of the bolts. The LH Side has no shims the RH Side has two (2) very thin ones.

 

[hartmandm]

Doug @ Tiger Auto restored the body of our series 5 and he painted the bolts holding the braces along with the bolts for the hood hinges and the door hinges. I noticed your car looks like it doesn't have the shims between the brace and the body. Do you have them?

I will look. Would the shims have been a single piece that is oval shaped to match the shape of the brace end? Or something else?

Someone made a comment about bolts that were already installed prior to painting would have been painted body color, and bolts installed after painting would not be body color. That logic makes sense. Would the braces have been installed prior to painting?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[DanR]

Would the shims have been a single piece that is oval shaped

MIke, My shims (two) on the RH side are very thin less than 1/16" perhaps 1/32" thick and they are shaped to match the bracket flange. The LH side has none!

 

[DanR]

bolts that were already installed prior to painting

My question is why would the bolts be installed prior to painting?

The braces are not "slotted"! Thinking about labor intensive activity (time&motion), why make a step to install bolts that would then need to be removed later inorder to install the brace?

 

[hartmandm]

My question is why would the bolts be installed prior to painting?

The braces are not "slotted"! Thinking about labor intensive activity (time&motion), why make a step to install bolts that would then need to be removed later inorder to install the brace?

Dan,

I was wondering if the brace itself would have already been in place when the painting was done, and the brace would not need to be removed afterwards for the engine + gearbox install.

What color were the bolts on your car?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Limey]

Dan,

I was wondering if the brace itself would have already been in place when the painting was done, and the brace would not need to be removed afterwards for the engine + gearbox install.

Mike

The brace would have been in place.

The factory fitted the engine complete with carbs and ancillaries, gearbox and front axle from below. I did that and there is 10mm clearance and removes damaging your engine bay. So easy.

 

[65beam]

The drive train was installed from the bottom when built so the braces probably were painted. Doug and the other shop that does work for me use a piece of card board, stick the bolts thru it and spray the bolts. A little care and you can install without chipping the paint.

 

[65beam]

My question is why would the bolts be installed prior to painting?

The braces are not "slotted"! Thinking about labor intensive activity (time&motion), why make a step to install bolts that would then need to be removed later inorder to install the brace?

The original shims have slots instead of just a stamped out hole.

 

[DanR]

What color were the bolts on your car?

Mike, They are same as body: Colour Code 70

 

[DanR]

Limey, Many thanks for posting your engine installation from the bottom....NICE!

That is a piece of art..

I might add that is the first Alpine engine I've seem with the starter "cover & spring mount", other than mine of course

 

[hartmandm]

Thanks for the info everyone!

Mike

 

[Limey]

I got the cover from Al and someone on SOACA kindly sent me a drawing of the spring retainer which I had made. Strangely these were not spec'd fot UK cars but they seemed like a good idea.

I hope you don't mind but I've attached a couple more pics. One of the engine showing the oil filter cover with the never seen Tecalamit transfer detail and the back axle with the correct Bundy tube (never Kunifer or copper) and the factory painted code in the banjo. No one can see it but there's detail and then there's Deeetail

I know I have not got everything right but that's ignorance rather than laziness.

 

[bernd_st]

Would say this is close to perfection. Far better than what I did on my Series 1. Ok, but back in the day in the late eighties/early nineties nobody could tell how the original bits had to look like. On other hand there is room for improvement over the absolute original design. Good examples are the valve cover mounted coil which will definitely fail over time, the water heating through the manifold and the good old Lucas dizzy which should be replaced with a good electronic substitute. Ask me how I know after many miles of driving ...

 

[DanR]

someone on SOACA kindly sent me a drawing of the spring retainer which I had made

Would you still have the drawing? If so, please share....I have have some "covers" made several times, hand fab'd the spring retainers but not very good on my part.