'63 Giulia Spider Normale Restoration (Euro)

[81gtv6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon Raymond OMG! And you can't even see it when the plate is on! Ok, Ok, patrick, just for that, I'll GOLD PLATE MY SPROCKETS! {and maybe just the inside of my valve cover}

[pathung]

You know that photo was "photoshopped", right? The gears are actually made of polyethylene plastic, deftly painted with Eastwood's "Make Plastic Look Like Metal" spray paint ($3.99/aerosol can), Extra Gloss version.

Gordon took a class in Adobe Photoshop just last summer, and I give him a big thumbs-up for what he was able to retain from the class.

[Gordon Raymond]

Here is the BIG problem. When you put the labor into something like that, where no one, not even you, get to see it unless the engine is APART, you NEVER put the engine TOGETHER! If I had not done that, the engine would be complete and running a year ago.
Now I just twiddle with all the bits making them nicer and nicer, both in function and to look at. The stupid oil filter can has four coats of hand rubbed red lacquer. The generator, the nicest plating anywhere. The Veloce sump, the windage tray, even the dip stick, all restored to overkill. The crank, standard, drilled cap screws polished everywhere, nitrided, straightness checked, crack checked, frozen to -300 below 0. On and on and on. All the tricks learned from 45 years of Alfa race engines, dumped into one poor 1600 veloce. This engine probably has the labor of George Krause's whole lovely car in it.
I am better though. I have set a DEADLINE! I want it on the dino in cool weather. That was supposed to be now, but the economy collapsed on me so other customers work got in the way. The NEW DEADLINE is this fall when the humidity is dropping and the air is cool. Then it will run again for the first time since 1969. {maybe}

[davisfamily]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pathung More pictures:

[alfabits]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pathung To up the ante on George Kraus, I'm GOLD-PLATING this recently-acquired S/S front license plate bracket.

[Gordon Raymond]

George, our only hope is after we are done as caretakers and have gone where ever it is old restorers go, someday, someone will look at something we did and realize, "That guy must have really liked this car!"

[Subtle]

Could be contagious --I keep thinking about the chrome lug nuts that George found.

[Gordon Raymond]

All of us are hopeless!

[pathung]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davisfamily ("From posting page 3") In the photo showing the blocks attached to the car: What is the long bolt holding onto? A frame rail? I don't have a car to look at for reference, but it makes sense that the blocks would be mounted/fastened directly to an integral part of the car. I would like to make one of these dollies for the Sprint; I see 2x6s and 4x4s. Besides the 'Simpson' brackets and the casters, anything else? Do all the casters turn, or just two of them? Thanks Dan

[1166]

If you don't have the engine completely installed, or you just want to do yourself a favor, get some REAL 1600 veloce mounts, or exact replicas of the originals. The AL mounts that you are using, use the Volvo 122 engine mounts that are not designed to be installed as they are in our Alfas. At best they will sag and cause other problems. These mounts (welded steel or machined AL(look great)) were originally designed when you couldn't get original rubber mounts. Now they really should be re-designed to take the 'original' mount rubbers. My personal opinion (perhaps not shared by others and in easy to understand terms..!) after seeing them installed and 1-2 years old is they suck and you might as well use oil soaked dead mounts as the results will be the same. Aside from that you car is coming along beautifully!!! Best of luck!

[pathung]

1166 is probably correct in stating that these mounts should not be used on Alfas, as they were made for Volvos. Our engine "mounting" odyssey continues...

You will recall that we all threw in the towel and went home after the engine was installed and headers found to jam up pretty tightly against both the chassis AND the heat shield/master cylinder. To further complicate the situation, Glenn found out later in the week that the passenger side of the engine was sitting too tall - when carbs and plenum were trial-fitted, the plenum rubbed against the underside of the hood. This seemed to dictate the use of a "shorter" rubber mount, which we bought from a local Volvo parts store. Although we had to tap the AL "foot" to receive the Volvo rubber's coarser thread, things came together nicely and we no longer had carb-height related issues. Turning our attention back to the driver's side, we pulled out both heat shield and pedal box to see where we stood, and trial-fitting a few shims under the rubber mount showed that the added lift gave us the needed clearance between Header #1 and the chassis (1/4 inch); the shims consequently stayed. Last but not least, we are grinding off parts of the pedal box to clear Header #3, with heat shield installed - we didn't quite finish here, but it should work.

Other than the above, we installed the driveshaft, and added fluids to the differential and gearbox. The parking brakes had been adjusted, all metal lines hooked up, and all suspension nuts & bolts tightened; the bottom of the car is thus ready to go.

We'll do more work in two weeks: finish modifying/installing the pedal box; install carburetors and linkage; ignition system; radiator/cooling system; brake fluid reservoir/master cylinder; install battery; add fuel; turn the key?

[pathung]

We also had quite a special car in the shop this week - an SZ Coda Tronca.

[Subtle]

V. Nice.........

[pathung]

No photos to show off yesterday's work, as we fiddled with smallish details, such as testing that the two wires that stuck out of the steering wheel column into the driver's face correctly activated the horn and the brights, installed the exhaust 4-to-2 collector, and finally squared the 3-shoe front brakes and installed the drums.

While checking with the two horn and brights relays, it was discovered that I had connected some of the wires to the wrong poles, rendering both accessories non-functional. Once we righted the connections, we found that the car had already developed a personality of her own. Before the brights would come on, their respective relay would make a highly comical noise, like a balloon letting out air, and NOT high to low pitch, but low to high; we tested it a good number of times to make sure that it's "replicable", before we christened it as part of the car's inviolable personality, not to be messed with for eternity. That's NOS for ya! These were NOS DeLeon relays that I obtained from England. Singing relays - cost extra.

[pathung]

Nearly two months since my last post. Sorry.

Lots of work got done yesterday. I finally decided that gas tank straps without the felt material as a cushion between them and the tank will get too many points deducted at the Concours, and brought along some OSH black foam (a material that will not retain moisture) as inserts. These worked pretty well, and as the strap bolts were ultra long, I had no trouble inserting the foam and buttoning everything back up. See two very unclear photos below.

Two weeks ago we also managed to get the problematic heater valve attached to the chassis, and connected all the heater hoses. The heater unit was refurbished just this past week, and installed onto the car without problems to complete the heating/cooling system (except the radiator) on the car. See photos.

Surprisingly, neither of us recall seeing a fuel filter anywhere on the car, so Glenn proceeded to install an inline filter onto the passenger side chassis rail, just upstream of the fuel pump; he made sure to make it very accessible. See photo.

Then we moved on to the fun stuff, which really didn't take too long - installing the carbs. The carbs had long been prepared to bolt on, but we had to modify a few linkages to fit, which worked well. Despite the significant engine tilt, we still needed to install the carbs/air box (lower part of AL plenum) as one unit to clear the side of the engine compartment; these barely squeezed by to fit onto the engine. Finally, we fitted all necessary fuel hoses. Next time we'll install the plenum and air hose/box on the driver's side, and move on to the distributor, and if lucky, installing the radiator. After that we could perhaps think about starting the engine. Gotta remember to bring a few gallons of gas to the shop.

I'm really hoping that the car will be drivable by the Monterey weekend, otherwise I'd have to use my Subaru again to lead the Giulietta Jaunt on the Monterey Peninsula on Thursday - a rather depressing thought.