Accidental project yellow 610 press car restoration

[mettersl]

Hi Everyone,
pictures of a610 with front bumper removed wanted
I must be a masochist as I have another alp undergoing restoration at Rats. I bought this the night before Mâcon 2017 and it performed well over the Mâcon trip...but when the MOT came along it was clear that some work was needed.
If you are on the A610/gta Facebook group you’ll have seen the shots of it having the sill and floor rust fixed at Rats. This stage is now complete and It’s moving to a painter next week, which means that I need to start getting all the parts collected for the reassembly afterwards. I have done quite a bit already on engine and suspension parts but the front end now needs focus,
One problem is the ac rad...the fluid connections got damaged during dismantling and I need to find a replacement. As the rad is too inefficient for 134 gas anyway, I plan to fit a modern replacement, this will mean some pipe work changes as these all have the pipes on one side. It will also make the ac more efficient which is good news.
Does anyone have pictures of a complete a610 with all the Rad’s fitted but with the bumper off so I can work out the new pipe routing and the size of rad that can be fitted?
Thanks
Lee

[Bazzer501]

Hi Lee,
I went through all this when I replaced my coolant radiator and my air con condenser earlier this year.
As you will know the standard condenser radiator is the same size as the coolant radiator about 40 mm thick and of the old serpentine design so very inefficient...and very heavy.
I did a lot of work with Fen Air in Kings Lynn (See their Facebook page of 15th February 2018 and now have a condenser 3/4 size of the old one, thinner, lighter and much more efficient along with new R134a compliant piping and connectors to plumb in along with top and bottom mounting brackets. They also have in stock the correct receiver dryer you'll also need. They now do all of this as a kit for the A610...guess it will fit a GTA too...?
Give me a call on 07811 979396 and have a look at https://www.fenair.co.uk/
I also have loads of photos I too when fitting mine in February and to date its been great!
Photo below showing the new condenser test bolted to my new radiator.

Cheers, Barry

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[mettersl]

Thanks Barry,
Will be in touch.
The car moved closer to the road again today with delivery to the painter, it’s now in the fens so “nothing like it’s been seen there before “according to the painter and his mate anyway.
As always when you go over something alpine or plastic with a painter there are more blemishes that need to be fixed during the preparation, but overall it’s looking good with floors and sills that you cant see through.
Hopefully it will be back at Rats for the bolting back together soon.
You can’t see much from these pictures, but the car is very different from 6 months ago.
Does anyone know how to replace the little rivets that the black spring clips attach to? The ones holding the outer scuttle panels, rear grille and a few other bits?
Otherwise I’ll be experimenting.
Wish me luck....

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Looking good Lee remember don’t bake the car to hot.

[mettersl]

Not sure what my GTA got but 60 degrees here....that's all.
A few weeks inside should get it dry...but I think its been inside at RATS for a while too judging by the state.
This guy sprayed a car for me earlier in the year and I was pleased with the results...but he does a lot of weird stuff...there a landrover in at present, lots of old VW stuff and even a grey Ferguson.
His previous core was 30's Bentleys.

Fingers crossed ..
Lee

The problem with the 610 having just re painted the problem areas, the front of the roof the passenger door and pillars, where they all the blistering takes place, is the layup is bad and they must have had a problem in the factory because when you cut it back the pink hard epoxy or what ever it is is full of air bubbles, we dug most of it out and re epoxy the areas. However all the cars probably have this problem so if you bake the car to hot after painting the air traps will expand and this will then be the beginning of blistering as time goes on.

[mettersl]

Thanks for the tip...I’ll pass it onto the painter.
Lee

[stephendell]

There are definitely some construction issues with A610 that are not there on the GTA. As Stuart says front and rear edge of roof and leading edge of bonnet are all troublesome

[mettersl]

To be fair Stephen, I’ve seen the roof issues on some GTAs too (albeit late ones) but then the 610s don’t suffer from A pillar cracking that the GTAs can have.
Both have problems with the door skins and oddly on both the left door is usually worse that the right.
Weird French things, who’d want them eh?

[stephendell]

The reason they don’t have the A pillar cracking is because they pre-installed a massive factory crack from factory lol And imo it looks worse than than the normal cracking.

[mettersl]

A closer inspection of the front valence lower spoiler shows its had too many hits on the kerb...the metal inside is bent, and this was distorting the shape of the bumper. The painter has warmed up and straightened the bumper, but I need to find a straighter lower spoiler.
This was one (of the many) rare 610 bits that I had as a spare and sold off when I decided to quit Alpines.....
Does anyone have one kicking around that they might part with? I don't mind damage as I'm aiming for usable not mint...
PM me if you do...
In the meantime, here's some "in progress" pictures.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/PPa5xXtUXQvBdMPU9

[stephendell]

I have a front bumper but unfortunately there is no rubber trim.

I have one

[mettersl]

Car now in special two pack composite body primer and looking better, I've been promised colour coats and clearcoat next week and some reassembly the week after.
The painter is a lovely chap but he's in a part of the country where time runs more slowly so as we are now around 8 weeks later than promised, it will be interesting to see when it's back ready for reassembly .
He made swift and good progress on my last (non alpine) project, but this one has been a bit more protracted.
A few pictures here....:-

https://photos.app.goo.gl/KT2HyeVVonugGNpQ6

[Bazzer501]

Looking good Lee...!