Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

My bets is the alternator! Well the rectifier.

The last thing you test or the one possibility you forgot....

Just across the battery terminals.

EDIT: This is a handy guide why you should do a voltage test across the battery terminals first https://axleaddict.com/auto-repair/car-batterydrain

Best way is to disconnect the positive terminal on the battery, put a multimeter between the terminal and the battery post, with the multimeter set to measure amps/current - if you have it to set something else the chances are you'll fry the multimeter. That'll tell you the parasitic current draw. Then pull fuses one by one until you find the one which makes the number drop to zero or almost zero. That'll narrow down which circuit is causing the problems.

You can measure voltage instead, but current is better.

Nah, take off the negative clamp and put between clamp and terminal (to complete the circuit). Just remember to not start the engine!

I had a suspicion that might have been the case ;)

Nice work dude

It has an aftermarket immobiliser so maybe it's this. Will have to try and find someone to either hold the multimeter or pull fuses. Or see if jump leads reach from the boot to the fuse box.

Crocodile clips are your friend in these situations. Particularly the ones with a hole you can insert the stabby point multimeter probes into.

Here’s my 145 cloverleaf, sold earlier this year. Loved the little bread van!

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What should I do about this? Apart from curse the previous owner for never replacing the shagged door straps.

(preferably not involving expensive potions that I'll use three drops of and have to store on a shelf forever)

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Sarcastic answer - Buy a door of the same colour that is not rusty?

Looks like the door skin has rusted, so what do you want to do?

The second picture is mostly dirt - it's only the bottom edge that's split and rusted from frequently falling open onto the pavement.

I'd really just like the rust to not spread. It's low enough down that I don't care how it looks as long as it's roughly the same colour.

Eagerly awaiting the return of my car from the local garage tomorrow. In the end the seller's side replaced the damaged suspension components, so I kept it. I was left with a few hundred pounds of work to do, but not unreasonable stuff (Aircon etc). A good outcome as I like the car. Thanks again all who gave good advice on what to do when you buy a car that immediately goes wrong. I've learned a lot, so it's been a valuable experience.

I'd clean the area up with something like this cleaning disc then a coating of this rust stabilization if I cared about the car and keeping long term or short term use cold galvanizing paint

My opinion is aligned with @lynx, clean up with a cleanup disc, treat with Bilthamber and then seal with paint.

Lovely!

Depends on how much you like bodywork, which seems to be 90% sanding and 10% exciting solvents. If you prefer to keep your fingerprints then finding a similar coloured door in a breakers would be a more fastener based approach. Whatever you do, rust isn’t going to get better on its own.

More fulvia than alpina IMO https://www.goodwood.com/grr/race/historic/2017/12/super-six...-alpines-wrc-successes/

Thanks for the suggestions. I suspect another door from a breakers will have the same problem as it's an inherent design flaw (big doors, low clearance, square corners).

I don't own a grinder so I suspect some dremelling and Hydrate 80 should sort it.

Have you got a drill? You can get the those discs for drills too.

From the Tamiya thread.

Finally realised my design.

Just like Horatio Pagani.

But in 1/32. :o$

This is the nest from I assume the imobiliser. There is one snipped and loose wire but it's not obvious if it always has been. I couldn't find and drop across the fuses I could access. Still waiting on my helper to try wiring the multimeter in series.

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I see scotchlocks and exposed wiring.

Remove all shitty connectors and either solder and heatshrink the joints or use wago connectors. Do you know the model and brand on the immobiliser so you can get a wiring diagram.

Nice. 3d printed?