Brought This Home Today

[Luscombe1940]

I picked up my spider yesterday and drove it home from Norfolk, VA, 550 miles. It was a top down kinda day and made the whole trip that way. Took 11 hours. This was the first time I have driven the vehicle on the road. My test drive was just around the block. The car was owned by my daughters old boss and she had it for several years.

I now know exactly what all you Spider owners are talking about when you say how much fun these are to drive. The freeway experience was so so. When i got off the freeway on the surface roads, this baby rocks

I am used to driving Mazda sticks and getting to know this vehicle will be different. I stalled it in traffic in Norfolk. It doesn't want to lug when starting out at a light. Is this typical of Spiders? If I keep the rpm at 2k or above, it does fine. The 2nd gear syncro is weak so quick shifts are not going to happen w/o a double clutch. The speedo is broken and stopped at 76k. I suspect that the mileage is much higher. I eventually plan to do a complete restoration starting with rust repair, replacement of suspension bushings, springs & shocks, paint and an engine & tranny rebuild. From what I could see under the car, rust damage does not look extensive.

Now that I have had a chance to drive and look at the car, i am curious about whether it is really a 74 or not. The vehicle ID on the door says 74 and it matches the one on the window frame. It is not important, I'm just curious. The head lights are switched on by twisting the lever on the side of the steering column. High and low beams are changed by moving the lever up and down.

When did they change from the floor switch for the high and low beams?

I noticed the following while driving back yesterday and wonder if any of you can give me some insights.

1. The gas gauge does not register properly. When full it reads only about 1/2 and the needle bounces up and down like it has a short or something in the wiring. I will pull the gauge next weekend to check it out.

2. The oil pressure gauge only read a little over 1/2 way to 57 psi when at 3,500 - 4,000 rpm. That was as high as it ever got. when at an idle, the pressure would drop to almost 0. Is this possibly a sending unit or just a tired engine that needs rebuilding and or a new oil pump? I had to add a quart of oil to get it to the top of the band on the dip stick. I used about 1/4-1/2 quart on the trip.

3. The water temperature stayed pretty much right on 180 and sometimes just a needle width above that. I drove at 3,500 rpm in 5th most of the time on the freeway. PO had a new water pump and thermostat put in last year.

Thanks for your comments. I will update as I work on the car.

Luscombe

[Duke58]

Luscombe-

Congrats. I hope you bought the car to drive it. This here BB will give you all the answers you have. I can't tell by your photo what year the car is, but I don't think rear spoilers were a factory option. But you bought the car to drive, right? If you want the car as an investment, I suggest you buy another brand. But, you did say how much fun it was for the price...

As you've learned from the odometer, the instruments on these cars are not very accurate. Ditto for the gas gauge, temp and oil gauges.

The oil gauge will appear to drop to zero when idling. Has to do with oil viscosity, accuracy of the gauge, efficiency of the oil pump. You might install a new oil pump and find that there isn't much improvement. How do the cams/followers look? If there's no galling- don't worry.

Water boils at a higher temperature when under pressure, the opposite when under vacuum. If the inaccurate gauge shows 180, that's pretty much normal. You can send the gauge to NIST and have it checked, or you can replace the whole cooling system and it most likely will read the same. At 15 psi pressure, water will boil at about 256 deg F at sea level, so even if the temp reads over 180 in the summer, its not that big a deal. All this is based on my experience with my 1986, daily driven in in town and on 400+ mile one way trips, using 20-50 wt oil with frequently changed filter/oil. I don't care what brand, its more important that the oil is topped-off and changed frequently, like every 3000 miles or 6 months. You'll get lots of opinions about that, but you know what is said about opinions. This is based on my experience. Synthetic oil and designer filters are overkill unless you're racing the car at Le Mans and this BB isn't the one you should be reading.

Drive the car hard and fast, you'll find the same problems on here others have had that are common to the car.

You just bought yourself a sexy, fun, great driving car that won't beat many others off the line, but kick butt in about every other aspect- for cheap compared to what the fast cars cost. Have fun!

Duke

[lgbalfa]

congratulations.

beautiful car.

[Roadtrip]

Looks good. Judging by the picture, it doesn't look like a 1974 model, but it looks like the previous owner did some Franken-alfa work to it. The 74s had stainless steel bumpers. The later 70s models had the federalized rubber bumpers. Looks almost like the front bumpers are federalized and the rear bumper is still stainless. Is that right? It also looks like someone added some body parts from a 80s Quadrafoglio. That would be the spoilers and the side ground effects kit.

Oil consumption is within limits. Check the spark plugs for signs of excessive oil consumption.
Oil pressure is ok. 57 psi with engine above idle is good. It is permissible for the pressure to be close to zero on the gauge at hot idle, but the oil low pressure warning light (activates at 5 psi) should NOT come on (top left red light on center instrument panel).
The fuel gauge sending unit is probably bad. Replacements are available.

Did the car come with an owner's manual? If not send me a private message (PM). Alfa owners manuals are very detailed and contain a lot of maintenance information.

[MyVeloce]

Congratulations! My oil pressure gauge hasn't worked in 6 years. My gas leve sender has been replaced twice and never been accurate. Remember you really bought a FIAT (fix it again Tony).

Enjoy it while it lasts. Which hopefully will be as long as you want it.

[Luscombe1940]

Duke,

Thanks for the feedback.

My first thought when I bought this was to do a complete restore. After driving it, I am thinking that most of the fun will be from driving it

My intention is to fix what needs fixin mechanically, get rid of the rust, probably a paint job and some sprucing up of the interior. I would like it to be dependable and look presentable.

Based upon what I have learned about the spiders in the last month, I believe this to be a Frankenspider. Components on the interior and exterior do not match the 74 model year even though that is what is on the door post. That is not a problem so long as i can get everything to work. When I went to Advance auto parts to get new wiper assemblies, I discoverd that the metal arms are not from 74 as the replacement wiper assemblies do not fit. the metal blade is too wide and will not fit into the plastic connector. I will try and find the correct Bosch replacment part next.

I did read that the 2L Spiders are supposed to have better luggin power at low rpms and can start from a stop without having to rev the engine. Mine tends to stall if I try to take off from a stop at 1500 prm. I am not sure if this is typical or if I have a problem. I have contacted the local owners chapter in the area and hope to meet up with some other owners and see how their cars perform.

I am looking forward to getting into this project and learning more about the car.

Thanks for your help.

Luscombe

[Tifosi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luscombe1940 1. The gas gauge does not register properly. When full it reads only about 1/2 and the needle bounces up and down like it has a short or something in the wiring. I will pull the gauge next weekend to check it out.

[Luscombe1940]

Thanks Darren,

I'll let you know how the sending unit looks when I get into it this weekend. After I paint the spare bedroom.


Gary

[Tifosi]

If for some reason that doesn't bring it, there's some infobits around here someplace (GT subsection mabe?) that describes a method of putting some electrical doodad (resistor?) in the wire between the sender and gauge to alleviate the needle float.

You'll likely still need to adjust the *float arm to deal with the other issue though.


* If you want to set the float arm to spec, put 2 gallons of fuel in the empty tank and tweak the arm by bending it gently until the low fuel warning light in the gas gauge just comes on.

Far better to know when it's almost empty than have super accuracy up where it's full.