[Utah 4C]

Hello everyone. A few months ago I purchased a 4C from an auction that was in an accident. Clean title, Madreperla White. I just finished getting the car back together. It was a challenge finding all of the parts I needed, especially the hood. I ended up finding a hood that had to be shipped from Germany. While I waited for the hood, I drove the car a few times, looking like The Road Warrior No hood, no bumper, and no passenger fender. It took awhile for the hood to ship due to the Covid. As I impatiently waited I made a few mods. I added wheel spacers on the rear, wrapped the roof in carbon, installed a Eurocompulsion V2 air induction system, a phase 2 ecu tune, and the Centerline paddle shifter extensions. As soon as the hood arrived, since it had to be painted anyway, I cut a hole in it and fabricated a vent similar to the QF concept. I was planning to repair the 4C and flip it, until I drove it. I totally love driving this car! As an added bonus, the Madreperla is my favorite color on the 4C!

 

[Alfanut]

Hello everyone. A few months ago I purchased a 4C from an auction that was in an accident. Clean title, Madreperla White. I just finished getting the car back together. It was a challenge finding all of the parts I needed, especially the hood. I ended up finding a hood that had to be shipped from Germany. While I waited for the hood, I drove the car a few times, looking like The Road Warrior No hood, no bumper, and no passenger fender. It took awhile for the hood to ship due to the Covid. As I impatiently waited I made a few mods. I added wheel spacers on the rear, wrapped the roof in carbon, installed a Eurocompulsion V2 air induction system, a phase 2 ecu tune, and the Centerline paddle shifter extensions. As soon as the hood arrived, since it had to be painted anyway, I cut a hole in it and fabricated a vent similar to the QF concept. I was planning to repair the 4C and flip it, until I drove it. I totally love driving this car! As an added bonus, the Madreperla is my favorite color on the 4C!

Congratulations and welcome, Utah4C. Some mighty fine roads in your state. The 4C is just the ticket and might earn you a few if you’re not careful. Any photos of your 4C to share?

 

[Budget1]

Welcome and congrats. Looking forward to pics of the modified hood.

 

[Alf Alpha]

Welcome Utah 4C,

You are a brave man taking a punt on a 4C like that - thank you for saving one from the write-off list.

I can't imagine a 4C being driven around Mad Max style with bits missing - the guys on here are always looking to shave a few tenths of a second off the 0-60 / 0-100 times - you have probably given them a few ideas now.

Do you have before and after photos, so we can appreciate what you had to do to save this particular 4C?

I'm pleased that your 4C has charmed her way into your life.

Cheers,

Alf.

 

[B-T]

Cool story of how you got the car, and an impressive list of mods! Utah is the most scenic state in the country. Enjoy the car!!!

 

[Utah 4C]

Thanks for the warm welcome! here are a few of the photos I have taken. They are all quick pics from my phone. I just took a couple pics of the hood. I am pretty happy with the how it turned out. I have no idea how it has affected the aero, good or bad. I still need to experiment with that. I will say that after having to tear apart the entire front end of the car, that it is an amazing machine! Almost everything up front is aluminum and very light. It was really pretty easy to work on, and designed well, well except for the washer fluid

 

[Alfanut]

Thanks for the warm welcome! here are a few of the photos I have taken. They are all quick pics from my phone. I just took a couple pics of the hood. I am pretty happy with the how it turned out. I have no idea how it has affected the aero, good or bad. I still need to experiment with that. I will say that after having to tear apart the entire front end of the car, that it is an amazing machine! Almost everything up front is aluminum and very light. It was really pretty easy to work on, and designed well, well except for the washer fluid

Whoah, is that the Pogea bonnet (hood) or someone else’s ? Nice. Does it allow for radiator air to escape easily or is it only cosmetic?

 

[Utah 4C]

Whoah, is that the Pogea bonnet (hood) or someone else’s ? Nice. Does it allow for radiator air to escape easily or is it only cosmetic?

I modified a stock hood. I didn't know Pogea made a replacement bonnet. I looked at Pogea's bumper when I was searching for a replacement, but I didn't want to spend 5k on a bumper. As of right now the vent allows for air to escape, and for water to drain. The portion of the new "tub" that I built is open at the front, towards the bumper. I haven't made any modifications to the rad cover yet to allow air from the center grill opening to get to the opening of the air vent. For those who haven't taken their hood off, the rad cover bulges up in the center to direct air over the A/C cooler and rad. That air then circles around a tub that they sit in and is pushed out of the bottom of the car.

 

[Imduder]

Welcome. There are only a few of us here in Utah that I'm aware of. Last time I asked the dealer how many 4Cs they know of in Utah, the answer was somewhere between 4 and 7.

 

[Utah 4C]

Welcome. There are only a few of us here in Utah that I'm aware of. Last time I asked the dealer how many 4Cs they know of in Utah, the answer was somewhere between 4 and 7.

Good to hear from another Utah member! I’ve never seen another 4C here. My son saw a red one about a month ago. I’m anxious to go play at Miller Motorsports, or whatever it’s called now. Please let me know if there are any get togethers planned. It will obviously be less than 50, so there won’t be any Covid laws broken

 

[RKBerta]

Nice mods and hood. There may be a few here that want more info on how you did the hood. Congrats on saving a 4C.

 

[RKBerta]

I assume you painted some of the new panels but for sure the hood after your mods. Were you able to match the Madreperla White to the existing rest of the car? If so how difficult was it to get a good match (cant' tell from the photos). I know that paint is extremely difficult to get a really good match to existing paint. I have another car with the same type of paint. It is still virgin but have heard horror stories. You may have also done a complete respray and that would eliminate that issue but more expensive of course.

 

[Utah 4C]

I had to paint the passenger front fender, bumper and hood, all of which were replaced. I know the paint is very difficult to match, and a good body shop is a must. On the 4C the paint code was on the passenger door. That took me a minute to locate. With that and a piece of the hood to further match the color to, you have to look really close to see any variation. The only variation I can see is in the consistency, or the amount of the pearl in the paint, and to see that I have to be inches away. The guy who painted it said it is best to blend it with the adjacent panels, but I just brought the panels loose to his shop and reassembled everything in my garage when they were finished.

 

[Utah 4C]

Nice mods and hood. There may be a few here that want more info on how you did the hood. Congrats on saving a 4C.

The hood was a bit of a bear. First off it took close to 2 months to get a used one. A new hood from Alfa was back ordered with no delivery date, just "check back in 30 days". So while I was waiting I kept looking on the net at the QF prototype and I loved that hood. So I used straight edges, pieces of wood, to give me the lines of the ridges in the hood, from there i was able to determine what I felt the measurements, and angles of the cutout needed to be. From there i put my woodworking skills and the skills acquired from many years ago building competition car audio systems to work. Using MDF wood I made the shape of the opening and then built a fiberglass "bowl" that gave me the shape with the angles and radius'. The day after the hood showed up I masked it off really well and marked out exactly where the hole needed to be. I used a template that was made during the construction of the "bowl", traced it, broke out the jigsaw and cut a big fat hole in the $1800 hood. from there I attached the bowl from underneath and began sanding and adding additional layers of fiberglass to smooth out the transitions. After that was smooth and looking good, I decided it was lacking a bit and needed the little wing in the center, as best I could tell, like the prototype has. I built that out of wood to get the shape, then wrapped it with fiberglass, attached it in the bowl, and sanded, and used bondo, and sanded, and used bondo.......... It took me about 4 full days to get it done and ready for paint. It was a lot of work, but I love the way it looks! At one point in the process right after I attached the bowl to the hood and flipped the hood back over, I was really questioning what the hell I had done and gotten myself into. This was my first time doing body work on a car, and I chose a 4C to learn on??
The next thing I am going to do is close up the bottom of the car under the radiator and redirect the hot air out of the hood vent. GMS and 4CRacer suggested that. This forum is great!

 

[RKBerta]

The hood was a bit of a bear. First off it took close to 2 months to get a used one. A new hood from Alfa was back ordered with no delivery date, just "check back in 30 days". So while I was waiting I kept looking on the net at the QF prototype and I loved that hood. So I used straight edges, pieces of wood, to give me the lines of the ridges in the hood, from there i was able to determine what I felt the measurements, and angles of the cutout needed to be. From there i put my woodworking skills and the skills acquired from many years ago building competition car audio systems to work. Using MDF wood I made the shape of the opening and then built a fiberglass "bowl" that gave me the shape with the angles and radius'. The day after the hood showed up I masked it off really well and marked out exactly where the hole needed to be. I used a template that was made during the construction of the "bowl", traced it, broke out the jigsaw and cut a big fat hole in the $1800 hood. from there I attached the bowl from underneath and began sanding and adding additional layers of fiberglass to smooth out the transitions. After that was smooth and looking good, I decided it was lacking a bit and needed the little wing in the center, as best I could tell, like the prototype has. I built that out of wood to get the shape, then wrapped it with fiberglass, attached it in the bowl, and sanded, and used bondo, and sanded, and used bondo.......... It took me about 4 full days to get it done and ready for paint. It was a lot of work, but I love the way it looks! At one point in the process right after I attached the bowl to the hood and flipped the hood back over, I was really questioning what the hell I had done and gotten myself into. This was my first time doing body work on a car, and I chose a 4C to learn on??
The next thing I am going to do is close up the bottom of the car under the radiator and redirect the hot air out of the hood vent. GMS and 4CRacer suggested that. This forum is great!

Hats off for a nice job! It would have been a natural if ALFA had done something similar to the car.That is a good way to get rid of the hot air and perhaps reduce aero lift at high speeds.

 

[ace]

Congrats! I also didn’t think I’d like one until I drove it. I loved it so I bought one. Great driver’s car.

I also live here in Utah. Perhaps your son saw me running around. I can’t remember the last time I saw another 4C here, it’s been a while. They’re certainly a rare car.