Still painting parts
Okay, the restoration is back on track after a two month break doing absolutely nothing. The primed front suspension parts have been moved to my basement and is currently receiving a couple of layers of shiny, black top coat. The basement temperature is a nice 8° C, compared to the garage temperature which closely follows whatever is outside. The low temperature makes for a very long curing/drying time; instead of the usual 24 hrs to dry at so-called “room temterature”, it takes at least three days.
I’ll have to scrape off superfluous paint on the washer and bolt surfaces once everything is done, but that’s just in the spirit of the it’s done-when-it’s-done restoration. Yes, I have a picture of drying suspension parts, but I think you’ve seen enough of them already 
And now for some really big news: I have an appointment with a bodywork guy sometime in March/April! He is going to replace the rotten sills and fix the inevitable rust in the drain channels behind the doors. The deal is that I get the car back on its wheels and deliver it ready for cutting and welding. He’s done a lot of 105 series Alfa Romeos, so it should be in very capable hands. After I hand it to him, we must cut open the sills to see what replacement sills from Bertelsbeck we need. The eight metal parts (six for the sills and the two repair panels for the drain channels) will amount to over €1000, so the stainless steel exhaust from Alfaholics won’t happen this year after all. Having no real budget unfortunately doesn’t mean an unlimited amount of money to spend. The relevant pages from the parts catalogue are TAV. 118 and TAV. 123.
The front jack points (105.00.51.056.01) must probably also go, but they are available from Classic Alfa and relatively cheap. The rear jack points appear to have been replaced at some point (I’m not sure though), and they are special to the Montreal (TAV. 116). It is unclear whether they can be saved.
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