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Alfetta tour

2K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  91spiderNV 
#1 ·
This reports last week's 2,020 mile RT tour from Pasadena to Las Cruces, a good part on 2 lane roads through Az and NM. Some of these wound up and over the continental divide, which I crossed 4 times during the trip.

The raw calculations showed a corrected MPG of 26.5, and a bit over 1 qt of 20W-50 oil used. I did add a few ounces of 2-stroke oil in sympathy with the SPICA pistons (don't they get some splash lubrication from below?). Parts of the highway runs were at over 70 MPH, but I kept the revs to 4,000 RPM. The only maintenance done was to treat the speedometer cable with white lithium grease post trip, as the needle had started twitching with increasing amplitude by then.

All in all, I had a pretty sporty ride in my 1975 Alfetta Sedan. The ventilation was effective even with closed windows, and the windows being open did not cause much air noise. The heater blasted hot air needed for the cold start at 3:30 AM needed to avoid the Los Angeles traffic. I am left with the impression this is a sturdy little car, and I'd set off on another such trip tomorrow if I could.

The picture shows one of a few dirt excursions, this one down to the river near the Gila cliff dwellings. The car rides pretty high, but that is useful for the occasional rocky road, as well as the random grouping of metal chunks on Rt 10 in Phoenix.

Larry
 

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#2 ·
Great! Always fun to read about successful road trips! Back in college a buddy and I drove his '76 Berlina from Albany, NY to a party in Madison, WI on a whim. Took 18hours out, 17hours back. No idea the mileage.

...Got any more pics to share???
- Art
 
#3 ·
Love me Sedan! Great car, fun to drive, and very comfortable.
No other car like it!
Nice car!
 
#5 ·
Nice, and I second the more pics request.

Also, is it Spica or carbed?

I have to drive from LA to Nashville in my Porsche so that I can replace the oil pan gasket at the parent's house but I also had the crazy idea that cross country in the Alfetta Sedan might be fun too although it scares me at the same time so well done on your trip!
 
#6 · (Edited)
We drove our 75 Alfetta sedan all the way from Seattle to Washington, DC, in 78 and then two years later, a friend drove it back to Seattle for us. We drove a new 78 Alfetta GTV back. We had bought in DC. Got it cheap new because it didn't have a/c. No one there wanted it, but was fine for Seattle. It also had a couple of minor problems (cat light kept coming on, and a stiff front suspension bushing) that the totally worthless dealers in DC couldn't fix. We were able to drive it back without problems and Carlo was able to fix the problems in about an hour.

Sold the 78 GTV to Lino and bought a pristine 78 sedan. Much more practical, but still handled like the GTV.
 
#7 ·
with Pictures

Yes, I do still have the SPICA, with a Shankle Sure-Start mechanical replacement for the thermostatic actuator. Actually, I "enjoy" the tuning flexibility allowed by this mechanical marvel, and I find it more entertaining to picture all the linkages, centrifugal balls, and tiny pistons as compared to ASIC gates changing states, as I drive down the road.

Trip prep included swapping for a spare SPICA to replace one leaking gas, tuning SPICA, setting ignition timing at full centrifugal advance, adjusting cam timing, valve clearance, and adding a new upper cam chain. Oh yes, while I was changing thew SPICA I added a new drive belt and new front crank seal. I also replaced all the radiator hoses with approximations I scavenger at the local O'Reily's.

Picture 1 ( picture order is a mystery to me) shows top of engine with new chain prominent.
Picture 2 shows the trip odometer at 37 miles after making my start at 3:30 AM so I'd avoid the Los Angeles traffic. Odometer shows 90,000 miles, but actual mileage is about 320,000.
Picture 3 shows early sunrise backlighting the windmills at the San Gorgonio Pass, put up as tax dodges by clever dentists and insurance people, or so I am told.
Picture 4 shows my lunch stop in Globe AZ, named for a rock some thought looked like a globe of the earth. This food was a first for me, a sopapilla (usually a desert) stuffed with beans and pork. Think an Arizonan version of Dim Sum. Tasty, but then I am omnivorous and had been on the road for 9 hours.
Picture 5 shows the view from an Alfetta sedan's drivers seat.

More coming...
 

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#8 ·
Picture 1 shows the mighty 2 liter cooling off at the top of Mule Creek Pass, just after turning off the old Rt 666, and just before crossing the AZ to NM border.
Picture 2 shows my shift knob fashioned from a commemorative medal for the Columbia Shuttle crew members, since I work for NASA.
Picture 3 shows one of the comforts of travel in a comfortable sedan, not available in my Giulietta Spider for example. Note the soup warming in my Rove cup for a late-afternoon snack.
Picture 4 shows the sun rising behind the Organ Mountains just East of Las Cruces, on my way to work the next morning. Yes, a few bugs are decorating the windshield.
Picture 5 shows entering Sedona, AZ, on the trip home. Yes, some nice rocks.
 

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#9 ·
Picture 1. Snuggled in at the Williams AZ Motel 6 next to a Corvette. That is Route 66 in the background, and there were a lot of classic cars around to take advantage of it.
Picture 2 shows Miss Alfetta with some friends back in CA.

Compared to the cars in lovely condition I usually see on this site, Like the photo from Alfasrule, mine is more of a rat rod, or preservation class as i like to imagine. Still, it is a lot of fun to drive on back roads, can do 70 mph on the freeway, and I thoroughly enjoyed my 2,000 mile jaunt last week.
Cheers,
Larry
 

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#10 ·
Love the pictures. Even the enchilada/sopapilla. ;-)

Thanks for posting!
 
#11 ·
What's the gauge in the middle of the cluster? Mines a clock, but your doesn't appear to be one.
 
#12 ·
Yes, that "sopapilla" was a monster!

I meant to describe that gauge. It is a mechanical oil pressure gauge, front and center as it should be on an Alfa! The PO added it in hopes that the low oil pressure was due to a failing guage. I found, somewhat coincidentally, that this car and my backup Alfetta both had low oil pressure due to the oil relief piston sticking in its bore. The backup also had a plug missing from one of the crank oil lines. All easily fixed once the oil pan was off. The clue that it was a sticking relief valve was that sometimes the pressure would come up to normal. Sometimes this could be triggered by revving a cold engine to force it up against the spring, and then suddenly releasing it. Note: There is someone on this forum who is an expert oil pump rebuilder and provider of beautifully re-engineered pumps.

Picture 1. On the way to the Venus deep space tracking station.
Picture 2. Not afraid of dirt. Or, there is a reason this car rides high on its suspension.
 

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#13 ·
Great pics! Nice to see a sedan making its way across the country. Mine's a beater also, with dull Faggio paint, but I've grown to love the look just the way it is and as long as it's running, I'm happy.
 
#15 ·
I like the photo on the dirt road in the canyon. It's like "hey look! Someone left a perfectly good Alfa here! Makes for nice target practice out west"
Good to see you out there enjoying the car. It's not a fragile garage queen.
 
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