June 1^st 2009: Deleted the side skirts on the LH and RH side. Unfortunately the plastic placeholders remained in the lower section of the body. I have to figure out a way to get these placeholders out and get the square holes filled. The fight with the right hand front wing continued. Based on some tips from the Dutch Alfa Romeo club forum I used a putty-knife to separate the kit from the inner fender. It was tough work, but in the end I succeeded. The section in the engine bay is completely removed. There was still no movement at all near the A-pillar. When looking more closely I found at that I removed only the top and bottom parker/bolt in the door section. The middle two remained. There was no way to reach the 10mm hexagon heads with the door in assembled condition. Only one solution, disassemble the door. The hinges went off quite quickly, but what was strange is that the top hinge is connected to the body with 3 bolts as it’s supposed to be and the lower hinge only with 2. With the door removed the 2 remaining centre parkers could be removed quite easily. Now the fender is completely loose except for the bottom section near the A-pillar. There is a weld spot, but how the rest is connected is a puzzle to me. A worry for next time. Now that the fender was loose in the top section the last remaining nut for the headlight can be disassembled. As you can see in the picture below the available room for the top nut is ridiculously small. I sprayed WD40 on it and got it loose in the end, but the amount of time required for 1 nut is not normal. The RH headlight is now out. Additionally I started disassembly of the antenna and the rear view mirror. The antenna is so far done, but the interior rearview mirror is another puzzle to me. Another shocking item is that the LH headlight stud which is connected to the body is broken off. A replacement bracket has to be welded in the future in order to be able to assemble the headlight correctly. As for the engine I checked engine oil, cooling fluid and air filter. All seem to be in good shape, that's reassuring.

Right skirt deleted, unfortunately square holes and clips remain in sills.	Left skirt deleted, also here unfortunately square holes and clips remain in sills.
Putty knife to tear kit layer between fender & inner fender.	Right door and additional 2 fender bolts deleted at A-pillar.
Fender with 4 bolt holes in A-pillar.	Top nut for right headlight (no room available for any wrench).

June 2^nd 2009: Received RH & LH chrome door handle. I hope it will fit to my car without modifying the door. As seen earlier with the rear view mirrors it could be that modifications will be required. Let’s see whether I have some time during the upcoming weekend. These door handles come from a 1976 Alfasud. I found them on the Dutch auction site “Marktplaats”.

June 3^rd 2009: Received another Alfasud boot badge. This time in better condition than the previous one so this one will be added to my boot in the future. I bought this badge from the auction site E-Bay. A seller in Italy sold this one.

June 6^th 2009: Received engine parts from ARparts. ARparts is a friendly company run by Alfa enthusiasts. The prices are fair and the service is good. I ordered; 2 timing belts (left & right), 2 timing belt tensioners (left & right), 4 spark plugs Golden Lodge 25HL, an air filter, an oil filter, 2 cam shaft cover gaskets, a water pump, the only thing I forgot was the gasket for the waterpump. Today I finally managed to disassemble the LH headlight. My dad gave me the tip to loosen the front wing lower bolts/nuts to get more room to unbolt the top nut of the headlight and he was right. The hood trim was easily disassembled, the rear view mirror disassembled, it is fastened with a clamp construction, something I didn’t expect. The door handle was taken of the right door. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my recently acquired chrome door handles. We’ll see tomorrow if the 3^rd series Sud door handle can be replaced by a chrome one without any modification to the door. I also spent quite some time figuring out how to disassemble the front wing. The only useful item I could find is a weld spot in the door opening, the rest is still unknown.

Box with engine parts arrived from AR Parts.	DAYCO Timing belt.
Oil filter, spark plugs, timing belt tensioners.	Left hand headlight removed.
Both headlights, grille & right door disassembled.	Rear view mirror attachment at top of windscreen, clamp construction (didn't expect that).
Rear view mirror with clamp deleted from roof.	Front wing weld spot in door opening.

 June 7^th 2009: Deleted interior roof light, replaced black 3^rd series door handles with original chrome ones. I was pleasantly surprised that they fitted without any problem. After the rear view door mirror story I was expecting the next horror. Deleted the roof window trim as far as possible. Removed the LH & RH stiffener bars in the engine bay. These 2 stiffener bars are from an Alfa 33 16v (3^rd series) and will go back in the future. The engine which is currently in the Giardinetta, a 1.5 105 BHP, is significantly more powerful than the original 1.2 63 BHP engine and to keep the steering as sharp as it should be these stiffener bars are required. I will most probably spray them in the body colour instead of the current yellow colour to make them less visible. Next I disassembled the radiator fan. This was again a small disappointment. The fan went out quite easily with two hexagon bolts, however I found out that the electric contact for the plus is almost completely destroyed. The wire is so short that assembling a new jack is impossible. I’ll probably have the disassemble the fan motor and solder a new wire, damn damn. Deleted the stickers from the door windows. Now the only stickers remaining are the ones on the boot. Those are so stuck I can’t get them off. I’ll have to use some special sticker remover fluid I suppose. The tow bar electric connecter which was dangling underneath the car deleted, deleted the wiring from the boot for the back-up lights and licence plate lights.

Chrome door handles from 1976 Sud.	Right hand door handle disassembled.
Chrome door handle fits without a problem.	Interior light at B-pillar.
Interior light removed.	Sunroof in assembled condition.
Sunroof in partially disassembled condition.	Disassembled radiator fan with broken electric contact.
Left hand side yellow coloured stiffener bar (Alfa 33 16v) in engine bay.	Left hand side stiffener bar removed.

June 13^th 2009: Disassembled the windscreen wiper mechanism and ventilation box. The winscreen wiper mechanism is quite hard to take out of the service room. The amount of available room is small. I got it out after some struggling. Next I removed the cloverleaf badge from left front fender and I managed to crack the spot weld at the lower end of the right hand door opening. There is still no movement in the fender near the sill. Some people I approached for this matter told me that the lower section is only simply fastened by 1 parker, but my car doesn't have a parker and I don't see any separation between the sill and the fender. My mom removed the "NL" country sticker from the boot window and started with the GKN sticker, but that one’s on very tight. It doesn't come loose with the sticker remover liquid applied. Through the Dutch Alfa club forum came in contact with an Alfist who had a gasket for a water pump. When I arrived the gasket appeared too small for the pump I had received. In order to check if the gasket fit I brought the pump with me. That was a good idea shown by the fact that the gasket didn't fit at all. I chose to bring the gasket anyway because it's 100% sure it come from an Alfa 33 so theoretically it should fit. I’m wondering how this is possible. Let’s hope the water pump is correct. I traded the gasket for the Alfasud Sprint back-up lights which came from my boot.

Windscreen wiper motor & mechanism.	Windscreen wiper & mechanism removed from service area.
Air ventilation box and windscreen wiper mechanism.	Air ventilation box and windscreen wiper mechanism removed.
Right fender completely loose on top side.	Weld spot of fender at sill connection broken.
My mom removing the "NL" sticker from the boot window.	The Alfa 33 waterpump gasket doesn't fit to the recieved waterpump. Which is correct?

June 14^th 2009: The Weather is rainy today for a change. Took off the boot window GKN sticker with a blow dryer. I also tried clear lamp oil, but that only works on sticker residue not on complete stickers. Deleted centre console of dashboard and glove compartment + ventilation box, labelled all wires for buttons and gauges, tried to dissemble broken bolt of rear seat with plyers, but bolt keeps turning without any movement in the desired direction. Most probably the weldnut within the bracket has come loose? After investigating some more on the water pump this part seems to be incorrect, damned. Of course I immediately contacted AR Parts to check how to proceed. They are pro-active and immediately admitted their mix-up and found the replacement pump and sent it to me.

Very tightly glued GKS sticker removal with blow dryer.	All stickers finally removed from the boot window.
Deleted centre console with gauges and partially the dashboard.	Enormous Italian spaghetti of wires remaining. The majority is from the alarm system.

June 20^th 2009: Received the replacement water pump for the wrong water pump received earlier. This seems to be the correct one. The pulley is not included because it needs to be fastened with bolts which is correct. The company ARparts showed themselves to be fair and correct and provided the correct pump swiftly. For the rest in this weekend no activities. I have some pain in my wrist and it’s father’s day so I’ll catch up next week. The water pump for an Alfa boxer engine standard has a gasket in the pump box so that uncertainty is also immediately taken care off. Now I have 1 spare gasket.

Initial received water pump with attached pulley.	Replacement water pump from AR Parts.
Newly received water pump geometry looks to be suitable (gasket included).

June 27^th 2009: The pain in my wrist is at an acceptable level so time to proceed the project. Today the target is to get the current third series dashboard out and if time allows trial fit an old type dashboard. The disassembly of the dashboard clocks was not so difficult unscrew 4 screws, disconnect the speedometer cable and disconnect the 2 big electric plugs on top of the clocks. The only problem is to get the clocks out. The steering wheel is blocking the passage. I tried disconnecting the bolt for the steering arm, but the clearance obtained by that action wasn’t sufficient. The only way left is disassembling the steering wheel. The clocks were out. The dashboard itself is connected with 2 studs which protrude through the firewall. Now the heater had to be disconnected from the dashboard and then it can be taken out. The whole task was less tough than I thought. The spare part dashboard I have seems to be a second type dashboard and I need a first type. On the Sud website of Tim Rauen I found a German person who is selling his first type dashboard. I contacted the person and received a reply. I made an offer for the dashboard, but received no reply. I hope the gentleman replies and we can come to an agreement. The dashboard I have doesn’t only appear to be a second type, the glove compartment is bolted shut, so a genuine first type dashboard is absolutely required. Fitting the replacement dashboard was not so difficult, but the centre ventilation opening doesn’t seem to fit. The original dashboard gauges are covered in dust. A short cleaning action with a cloth gave a completely different look. The old dashboard and the original gauges give the car a much better appearance in my opinion. The gauges by the way are also of the second type (bleu background) and not the first type (black background) unfortunately. For the gauges I could live with the second type ones but of course I would prefer the first type ones.

Heating system dials and cover removed.	Gauges loosened but not possible to take out due to steering wheel.
Steering wheel removed, gauges can be taken out.	3rd series dashboard loose.
Very empty vehicle.	2nd series dashboard positioned.
2nd series gauges loosely positioned.	Windshield ventilation opening of 2nd series dashboard doesn't fit to current housing.
2nd series gauges, left side cleaned, right side with storage dust.

June 28^th 2009: The outside temperature is 25 degrees Centigrade so it’s not so interesting to work in the closed environment of a garage. Today I want to disassemble the timing belt covers. The visible bolts on the LH and RH side are 2 on each side. They are out in a few minutes. I can’t see where, but somehow the covers are held in place by another bolt on each side??? I loosened the generator to get the v-belt off. The temperature was making me sweat like a pig so I decided to call it a day for today. I quickly disassembled a light bulb with fitting from the 3^rd series clocks and assembled it to the 2^nd series clocks. Now a good cleaning operation is required for the these gauges.

Partially disassembled timing belt cover.	2 Bolts found per timing belt cover, where is the third one?
2nd series gauges cleaned as good as possible with cloth.	2nd series gauges lamp fittings completed with obsolete 3rd series gauges fittings.