Boooosh!

[Roadtrip]

For the last couple months I've had the entire interior out of the car. Replaced the dash, cleaned everything, overhauled the heater box, put in new insulation, and sent the seats to the upholsterer. Well, finally everything is back in except the seats, which I picked up today and installed them.

Looks very good. Started the engine a few days ago (but no seats so I couldn't drive it), and let it heat up, bled the cooling system, etc. Anyway, once I got the seats in, I'm starting to think I'm really somebody . . . . as opposed to what my teenage kids think. Everything's just humming, the sky is clear, and the temp in the 60s. Stop by to fill the tank, then off for an Italian tuneup. Do the twisties on Moon Meadows road, then turn onto the divided four-lane to Mt Rushmore. Accelerating close to readline in third, engine is singing, then BOOOOOOOOSHHHHHHHH!!! What the $%^@! Let off the throttle and check engine gauges . . . . looks ok. THEN . . . . . I hear a waterfall. I look down and there's hot steaming green liquid shooting all over my right foot and ankle. Mind goes into high gear. Think to myself . . . "that stuff looks really hot and when it soaks though my sock and pants leg, this is probably gonna hurt." About that time it soaks through. Yeow! Foot off throttle and try and maintain control of the car. Well, as a pilot, there's only three basic steps to dealing with an inflight emergency . . . . .

1. Maintain aircraft control.
2. Analyze the situation.
3. Take appropriate action.

Well, I've maintained control so far. The situation looks to be that hot engine coolant is spraying itself all over the inside of my freshly cleaned instrument and wiring and onto my leg and floor. "Rats" (although in the interests of decorum, that's NOT the verbaige I actually used. OK, well let's try and slow the leak. Heater levers to off. Firehose stops and but healthy dribble continues. Steam keeps going. Lovely smell in the cockpit now. Pant leg cooling off. Burning sensation subsides.

Ok, next appropriate action is to get this thing back to the hangar before we have to do an engine shutdown to prevent damage. Bat-turn left and moderate rpms to keep the coolant pressure down to a manageable loss rate. Made it back to home (about 5 miles) without indications of pending overheating. Had a nice pool of coolant in the footwell. Of course, coolant is like blood . . . . . a little really looks like a whole lot, especially if it's yours. Made a complete mess of my refurbishment. Had to pull the mats, insulation, seat, etc to sop up the glycol and rinse it. Spend quite a while wiping wiring and removing stuff to clean.

Now, the cause of the catastrophic coolant event? Can you guess? You may remember that I was experiencing a moment of hubris in congradulating myself for such magnificent mechanical achievement. Ah, yes, after pride, cometh the fall.

As they say, one picture is worth a thousand words. So here it is. Seems that Mr. Monkeywrench forgot to tighten the hose clamp on the heater valve. It was on tight enough to withstand moderate pressures, but when it hit redline, "it just blew, I'm telling you!" (Gus Grissom's line from "The Right Stuff.")

A few pictures of the carnage and the cleaned up and properly repaired product.

[alfatbo]

John -- Good thing you weren't really hurt. Nice job on the interior!

Terry

[Bill77]

Thanks for telling this story. I'm sure many of us will check that hose connection, check it again, then check it once more. Count me among those people.

[John M]

Hey John:

I am sure glad to hear you didn't get a severe burn or even worse.... wreck. Good driving my friend. I'll ride with you any day in a car or plane! On a brighter note, the interior, seats etc all look great. Very nice job!

Your mishap reminds me of my check engine light that kept coming on after the oil pan swap for the 92. And like you, I had failed to get one of the clamps completely tight and that was all it took.

I guess even though we have these little rare failures on our part, we can be pleased with ourselves that we do have nice running, mechanically sound, well dressed Alfas.

Best Regards,
John M

[papajam]

Glad you kept your 'cool' in what could have been a pretty 'hot' situation!

[Lazzman]

Great story, John. Well articulated. Boy, what a BEAUTIFUL Alfa. Looks like it will clean up well. Your shoes didn't look the worse for it.... Ger

[kingpin]

Glycol is good for the leather. Not the best color match for the car tho. Double sanitary interior job on the spider, looks great.

[Roadtrip]

A couple of people asked me about the seats and headrests. For a point of reference, I had them done by a local upholsterer for $317 including tax (for both seats). Black naugahyde. Included fixing foam and retying everything.

[Bill77]

Coincidentally, I pulled the heater box out of my Spider today. Even though the engine had been drained of coolant, there was still enough coolant in the hoses to cause spillage onto the floor. I thought about your story! I should have unhooked the heater hoses at the engine side first, I suppose. No big deal, since the floor coverings had already been removed.

Those seats look great. Did the upholsterer make their own seat covers or did they install someone else's seat covers? I would be curious to know who stitched up those covers. They look great.

[Roadtrip]

Made from scratch. I can't find a bad stitch or crooked seam in them.

[meatpile]

John,

Good story for the argument of retaining rubber mats.

[borrani]

Last Saturday: First vintage race of the year with the GTA. Coming out of the fast turn onto the straight I feel and hear something clunking around by my feet, a big no-no!

Down the straight I feel around while driving fast. I find it and it's a cell phone. It's not even mine.

Turns out a helper was cleaning the inside of the windshield for me just before the race, and it came out of his pocket. Had a great laugh about it, but it sure could have ended worse.

Steve S.