I spent awhile doing research, and there are 3 or so major Alfa parts dealers in the US, and I used their online catalogs to research parts pricing. One of them is Centerline Alfa. I don't remember when I looked, or even what made me do it, but at some point just before I left for Denver, I checked to see where Centerline was located. Wouldn't you know it? Lafayette! Only about a half hour from where I am staying while in Denver. Conveniant? Yes! Dangerous? Absolutely!!
So, I head down to Centerline the first Saturday I am back in town to pick up the filters necessary for the work I mentioned in my last post, and I also planned on picking up the Brooklands Manual. I look through the Brooklands there at Centerline, and it is pretty much word for word the Autobooks Manual, which I already have, as it came with the car. So I ask Joe (one of the great Centerline guys!) if he has another manual. He goes into the back and comes back with Direzione Assistenza Tecnica... The Workshop Manual. Over 300 pages of complete step by step repair instruction, designed for actual Alfa repair shops. At first I hesitated at the price, it was about 4 times the cost of the Brooklands, but thumbing through it, I decided to go for it. I needed something.
Hindsight, my insticts were correct. This book is worth its weight in gold! It is for the years 85-88, and though mine is a 75, most of it still applies. It doesn't have anything about the Spica injection, but I will be getting Wes Ingram's book anyway, so not an issue. I have come across some minor differences here and there, but nothing that I haven't been able to figure out. As an example, I, someone who changed his own oil for the first time a couple of weeks ago, used this book, the internet, and some advice from a couple knowledgeable friend to rebuild the front suspension. So, with no further ado....
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Back to Denver For The Summer
Took a contract job with my old company, helping with a large project, so I am back in Denver for the summer. Towed the Alfa behind the Commander. I guess I found a reason for having the 5.7 Hemi! Anyway...
While I had the car up on the trailer, I took advantage of the fact the underside was accessible, and took it to one of those self serve high pressure car washes. Dropped more than a few quarters into it as I hosed down the underside, as 35 years of oil and dirt started sloughing off.
Then more simple projects as I get to know the car, and get comfortable being under it, and getting greasy. Changed the oil. First time in my life I have ever changed the oil in a car myself. Flushed the radiator (I have done that once in my old Subaru, about 20 years ago...). Changed the fuel filter in the engine compartment, as well as the Spica oil filter.
Then I found out why the right rear brake wasn't working. The steel brake line had a pinch in it. A few different auto parts stores before I found someone who had an idea about European cars and metric threads. Used the original as a guide, and bent the brake line and installed it. Then bled the rear brakes. Twice. Don't ask.....
While I had the car up on the trailer, I took advantage of the fact the underside was accessible, and took it to one of those self serve high pressure car washes. Dropped more than a few quarters into it as I hosed down the underside, as 35 years of oil and dirt started sloughing off.
Then more simple projects as I get to know the car, and get comfortable being under it, and getting greasy. Changed the oil. First time in my life I have ever changed the oil in a car myself. Flushed the radiator (I have done that once in my old Subaru, about 20 years ago...). Changed the fuel filter in the engine compartment, as well as the Spica oil filter.
Then I found out why the right rear brake wasn't working. The steel brake line had a pinch in it. A few different auto parts stores before I found someone who had an idea about European cars and metric threads. Used the original as a guide, and bent the brake line and installed it. Then bled the rear brakes. Twice. Don't ask.....
Door latch
Part of the description of the car was that the driver's door didn't sit correctly, so it didn't close flush with the car. After getting the car back to Chicago, I decided to dig into this. As I said in the seatbelt post, I was naively and blindly moving forward. I had yet to purchase a manual, so it was a matter of going at it with the limited knowledge I had of door panels and latches. This one was actually a very easy fix, which didn't require the removal of the door panel. Of course, I had already removed it...
Anyway, turns out there were simply three bolts missing from the door latch, which caused the latch to not sit properly.
A quick trip down to the hardware store, and four bolts later, problem solved!
The door still sags a bit, and that will be a project for a later date, but for now, it closes all the way, if not completely smooth. I have to admit, when I finished this, and closed the door, I was pretty proud of myself... Again, I look back on that and find it rather funny... Coming up, the front suspension rebuild!!
Anyway, turns out there were simply three bolts missing from the door latch, which caused the latch to not sit properly.
A quick trip down to the hardware store, and four bolts later, problem solved!
The door still sags a bit, and that will be a project for a later date, but for now, it closes all the way, if not completely smooth. I have to admit, when I finished this, and closed the door, I was pretty proud of myself... Again, I look back on that and find it rather funny... Coming up, the front suspension rebuild!!
Seat Belt Story
I need to say at this point, I am catching up on the blog, and this, as well as a couple other projects, were early on. In fact, this was the first thing I did to the car, in the driveway of my sister's house on the trip to bring it home. Looking back at, I realize how naive I was. Remember, I have never worked on cars, and know very little about them. Alright, on with the story of the seat belts...
Since this is a 75, it came stock with lap belts, which had never been upgraded. Part of the agreement with my girlfriend of going with me to pick up the car was to replace the lap belts with shoulder belts. I poked around the internet, and with advice from the good folks at the AlfaBB chose a pair of shoulder belts from Wesco Performance. Wesco has shoulder belts specifically designed for classic roadsters (as do others). Basically, they have a retractor designed to be behind the seat, as opposed to over the shoulder as in new cars. I also ordered a couple different mounting kits, as I wasn't exactly sure what I would been, and wouldn't have time to wait for a shipment. I had all of this delivered to my sister's house, which was only a couple hours away from where we were picked up the car.
After an interesting drive from Connectcut to the cape (I will tell the story of buying the car, and driving it for the first time at a later date...) we got to my sister's, and I got busy on the conversion. Turns out it was very easy. The original belt was mounted with an extender. It really was just a matter of unscrewing the bolts, removing the old hardware, then mounting the new hardware. I will admit a couple of false starts, but all in all, pretty straightforward.
Below is a picture of the original seatbelt mount. The extender mounts to the chasis, and allows the retractor to be below the convertible top when it is down.
Picture of the mount.
The replacement belt
Now, I'll point out some safety issues that I'm sure some of you are already noticing. Yes, I mounted the extender at and angle to make the retractor work better, and yes, I am aware that no matter how hard I cranked on the bolts, a severe impact would probably yank the extender straight, causing an inch or two of forward movement before the belt locked, which could cause injury. After some research, and time to ponder, I think I will look to replace the original seats with later model sport seats. They have the shoulder harness, and I have also heard they are more comfortable. With the way the angle is currently, I see a shoulder being dislocated or broken with the downward pressure. I still feel it is safer than just the lap belt. I don't really want to find out though...
Since this is a 75, it came stock with lap belts, which had never been upgraded. Part of the agreement with my girlfriend of going with me to pick up the car was to replace the lap belts with shoulder belts. I poked around the internet, and with advice from the good folks at the AlfaBB chose a pair of shoulder belts from Wesco Performance. Wesco has shoulder belts specifically designed for classic roadsters (as do others). Basically, they have a retractor designed to be behind the seat, as opposed to over the shoulder as in new cars. I also ordered a couple different mounting kits, as I wasn't exactly sure what I would been, and wouldn't have time to wait for a shipment. I had all of this delivered to my sister's house, which was only a couple hours away from where we were picked up the car.
After an interesting drive from Connectcut to the cape (I will tell the story of buying the car, and driving it for the first time at a later date...) we got to my sister's, and I got busy on the conversion. Turns out it was very easy. The original belt was mounted with an extender. It really was just a matter of unscrewing the bolts, removing the old hardware, then mounting the new hardware. I will admit a couple of false starts, but all in all, pretty straightforward.
Below is a picture of the original seatbelt mount. The extender mounts to the chasis, and allows the retractor to be below the convertible top when it is down.
Picture of the mount.
The replacement belt
Now, I'll point out some safety issues that I'm sure some of you are already noticing. Yes, I mounted the extender at and angle to make the retractor work better, and yes, I am aware that no matter how hard I cranked on the bolts, a severe impact would probably yank the extender straight, causing an inch or two of forward movement before the belt locked, which could cause injury. After some research, and time to ponder, I think I will look to replace the original seats with later model sport seats. They have the shoulder harness, and I have also heard they are more comfortable. With the way the angle is currently, I see a shoulder being dislocated or broken with the downward pressure. I still feel it is safer than just the lap belt. I don't really want to find out though...
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The Beginning
To start at the beginning, I need to go back a few years. I was looking at convertibles to replace my girlfriend's 87 Celica. I came across the Alfa Romeo Spider, and was immediately taken by it. We ended up not replacing the Celica at the time, and it fell off my radar.
Fast forward a few years. Since the time we had been originally looking, more options became available. We decided that we could go with a roadster instead of a 2+2 or a 4 seater, which opened up a lot of options. Doing a lot more research, I narrowed down our search to the 350z, the Boxster, or the Z4. She narrowed the search down to the Sky or the 350Z. After test driving the 350 and the Sky, while she like the look of the Sky more, she couldn't stand how bad the blind spots were in it. And it was bad. And since this was going to be her daily driver, she needed to be able to see out of it even with the top up. So, the 35o it was. I'm getting there....
So during this time, I decided I wanted a Boxster. A Porsche has always been a "dream" car for me. Maybe it has something to do with my uncle coming to visit when I was young and getting a ride in his (back in the early 80s), I don't know, but I had my heart set on a Boxster, and came very, very close to getting one. Took it for two test drives, and on the second one my girlfriend went with me and drove it. She ended up loving it, and even said if she had driven it before the 350 it might have made the decision tough, and she HATES Porsches.
So, let's get to how the Spider fits into this. As I was looking at convertibles, the Spider kept intriguing me. I absolutely love the Pininfarina design. Simple yet elegant, the lines are classic, but yet timeless. So I started looking into it, comparing it to the Fiat Spider (not as attractive, in my opinion) and the MG, another classic roadster that I have liked since I was a kid. More and more I discovered that there were a lot of after market options for parts, and that fixing one up wouldn't be any more expensive than an American car, in fact, could be cheaper than a lot of them.
So I kept looking at them, researching parts, what to look out for, what would need to be done. I was also looking at the different series, deciding which would be best. Really, it came down to the look. The S1, or the Duetto, is a beautiful car, with it's elegant boat tail. However, rather expensive, and out of my price range to start. The S3 is just isn't attractive to me, with the useless and ugly rear spoiler, and bumpers that were supposed to fit the car more than the tacked on 5 mph buggy bumpers of the S2, but still seemed like an afterthought and didn't enhance the car. I also love the look of the gauges on the console, instead of all in the gauge cluster like they are after the S2 cars. I also wanted a simple car, without a lot of the electronics on the newer ones, so I could feel more comfortable working on it. So to keep a long story from getting longer, I went with a Series 2a, a 1975. Bought it on Ebay, flew out to Connecticut to get it, and after a few adventures, and a stop over on the cape to see my sister and the boys, drove it back to Chicago.
Fast forward a few years. Since the time we had been originally looking, more options became available. We decided that we could go with a roadster instead of a 2+2 or a 4 seater, which opened up a lot of options. Doing a lot more research, I narrowed down our search to the 350z, the Boxster, or the Z4. She narrowed the search down to the Sky or the 350Z. After test driving the 350 and the Sky, while she like the look of the Sky more, she couldn't stand how bad the blind spots were in it. And it was bad. And since this was going to be her daily driver, she needed to be able to see out of it even with the top up. So, the 35o it was. I'm getting there....
So during this time, I decided I wanted a Boxster. A Porsche has always been a "dream" car for me. Maybe it has something to do with my uncle coming to visit when I was young and getting a ride in his (back in the early 80s), I don't know, but I had my heart set on a Boxster, and came very, very close to getting one. Took it for two test drives, and on the second one my girlfriend went with me and drove it. She ended up loving it, and even said if she had driven it before the 350 it might have made the decision tough, and she HATES Porsches.
So, let's get to how the Spider fits into this. As I was looking at convertibles, the Spider kept intriguing me. I absolutely love the Pininfarina design. Simple yet elegant, the lines are classic, but yet timeless. So I started looking into it, comparing it to the Fiat Spider (not as attractive, in my opinion) and the MG, another classic roadster that I have liked since I was a kid. More and more I discovered that there were a lot of after market options for parts, and that fixing one up wouldn't be any more expensive than an American car, in fact, could be cheaper than a lot of them.
So I kept looking at them, researching parts, what to look out for, what would need to be done. I was also looking at the different series, deciding which would be best. Really, it came down to the look. The S1, or the Duetto, is a beautiful car, with it's elegant boat tail. However, rather expensive, and out of my price range to start. The S3 is just isn't attractive to me, with the useless and ugly rear spoiler, and bumpers that were supposed to fit the car more than the tacked on 5 mph buggy bumpers of the S2, but still seemed like an afterthought and didn't enhance the car. I also love the look of the gauges on the console, instead of all in the gauge cluster like they are after the S2 cars. I also wanted a simple car, without a lot of the electronics on the newer ones, so I could feel more comfortable working on it. So to keep a long story from getting longer, I went with a Series 2a, a 1975. Bought it on Ebay, flew out to Connecticut to get it, and after a few adventures, and a stop over on the cape to see my sister and the boys, drove it back to Chicago.
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