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What did you do Alfa related today?

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#1 · (Edited)
What did you do Alfa [and 164] related today?

I had a slow to go Alfa day today.

First off I worked on setting up my wife's future garden plot permiters with 4x4 eight foot posts. I tilled up part of the area yesterday with my neighbor's roto-tiller. I have to get more soil and compost trucked/trailered in before spring.

Did I mentioned we have been having a real heat wave this week. It has been tee shirt weather. Such a relief after 20-40 degree weather.

75 ° Partly CloudyFeels Like 75°
Relative Humidity 41%
Barometer 29.87(Steady)atm
Dew Point 50 °
Visibility 10.00 Miles
UV Index 1 Low
Wind Speed W 18 to 24mph

I did move two 164's today to get my truck and trailer out so I could take a load of Alfa parts to my storage unit.

With Sara wrecking her car and so much stuff already here, I got a bigger storage unit so I could move out some stuff before I start the salvage operation of it.

When part of your rear yard adjoins your neighbors front yard you have to be creative in your landscaping and be considerate.

Yes I will restore some green grass this year. There was a children's play house in the barren area that I took down but I must admit I killed the rest of side yard grass with my Alfas under the Old Oak tree project.

You can see how far in second tree dented in right side of her trunk lid.

I may use my spare Milano Verde rear wish bone to give her 164B new rear legs as it is now sitting on a wheel dolly.

I set up garden plot as a L-shaped plot so we can still get into back yard to store Alfa rescue projects behind rear gate.
 

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#278 ·
These might appeal to ya'll who also love the Milano/75 series as do I. This one was for sale but I didn't catch the price. Under the hood I saw alot of electrical tape and such but it might be fun. Ciao
 

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#279 ·
Almost as odd as seeing Lamborghini tractors. Ciao
 

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#280 ·
#281 · (Edited)

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#282 · (Edited)
Today, I drove the LS to Southbury, CT for CT- AROC business meeting and brunch. Good turnout with several Spiders [2 series], a Duetto and a Calaway GTV6.

Yesterday, test drove road tour route - fined tuned the milage and pit stops. The club is hosting a NW Connecticut Road Tour with lunch at Cafe Giulia, Simple Italian Food, Lakeville CT in Lakeville, CT. Scheduled for the 19 of May. Any BB's are in the area are welcome to join us.

Driving the tour with the LS, I am glad I have the stock road clearence.

Summers is here in CT.

Frank
 
#284 ·
Driving the tour with the LS, I am glad I have the stock road clearence.

Summers is here in CT.

Frank
I think I may have to raise the front of the S back up as I hit pan guard about 6 times today. Crappy roads and not really going fast. I guess pan would be clearing OK but who wants to take a chance.

Just watched Marco Andretti get airborne in Long Beach Indy Race.
 
#283 ·
jc96 - thanks for the posts and pictures.

Alfisto Steve - stayed at The Cavalier a few times in the past, It's a great one. You car looks great. Hope it runs as good as it looks.
 
#288 · (Edited)
Red Car

Here is a pic of my LS. With quite a bit of help from Jeff Greenfield when it came to the rear, the suspension has been fully rebuilt with all rubber parts replaced. The suspension does feel like a new car.

You wouldn't think the tie rod ends would need replacing, but they really tighten up the steering feel. New front and rear lateral arms as well (too bad I got the last set of rear lateral arms in Christendom). Aslo new trailing arms, strut tops (front and rear), ball joints, strut bearings, Koni gas strut shocks, H&R springs, it all adds up to a great drive.

Next stop is GTA cams, aluminum heat exchangers, re-timing the cams (I have dies for both the stock and GTA cams). Hopefully later this month. Oh, and squadra chip and big inlets. All in boxes waiting to go on. She should fly.

Wheels are OZ Leggeras. Astonishingly light but strong. They also help make the car look new.

Rex
 

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#289 ·
That was the car.
My friend Mike D with the red Calaway GTV6 mentioned it to me at brunch.

Well 108 is low mileage to me.
I will try to make one of the events later on in the year.
 
#291 ·
"I think I may have to raise the front of the S back up"

Did you have the suspension on Sport? The sensor for the Auto vertical setting on the S system is in the rear and will not prevent the nose from compressing/dropping too far at a bump. The Sport setting on the other hand prevents that for speed bumps, etc.
 
#296 · (Edited)
The car has Konis remember?
 
#292 ·
Since I haven't finished my income taxes yet, I found time to work on the Alfetta: Donut replaced and clutch cover maintenance.
Refit the driveshaft and clutch so far. Discovered that the DeDion seems to have moved forward so the trans carrier won't bolt to the clutch cover. Cannot realign things so alfabb surfing and income tax work seems to be in order.
Have done the Alfetta/Milano clutch/trans replacement a bunch of times so maybe a few beers after I do the taxes will clear my head.
Because of the above problems the wife and I missed our Club's Tour to Ojai Saturday. Bummer.
Oh, what is "clutch cover maintenance". When the big nut holding the clutch to the cover is loose for a while the clutch will move around and remove aluminum where 1 clutch bearing sits. Symptom is lots of grinding type noises from the clutch area. Had to make a spacer and bolt it back together. Hope my repair works.
 
#293 ·
The LS does not have switching shocks. My shocks are Koni gas struts. I think they are set fairly firm.

When this picture was taken, I had the H&R springs in front but not in back. Its a bit lower in the back now, but still has that distinctive tail up, nose down look. I didn't use the white spacers that came with the Koni's (to keep the back down). I thought it would be lower than it is, but I'm not inclined to sweat it as it is good for lower drag on the highway.
 
#295 ·
this is that way over the top 156 I mentioned I saw yesterday. Interior is very busy, moreso than the photos suggest. Ciao
 

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#298 ·
It's an earlier 156 than mine - doesn't have the trip computer or various chrome highlights - not that it needs them with that interior!

What did I do Alfa-related today? I investigated withdrawing an investment to pay for a 2006 Alfa Romeo 166. In gleaming metallic black and facelift version with multispoke wheels, it's the most beautiful large car I've ever seen.

I've had the investment in Australian resources for 20 years. It hit a high last year and has started to go down sharply again. I can wait to see what happens (the exchange rate is also sliding), or withdraw at an average return of 12% p.a. over the 20 years.

I plan to sell my 156 while it is still worth something and use the 166 + a small car that I've bought (all will be revealed soon). Still have my yellow Spider too.

I do miss my 164.

-Alex
 
#297 · (Edited)
Had forgotten that, but what I said still goes for a stock S. My LS, with Koni's and stock S springs has no problem with bottoming out, so I guess you do have it too low in the front.

Obviously, one of the problems with lowering a car below a reasonable amount. Real roads can give real problems it appears.
 
#299 ·
Hi Alex! The 166 sounds nice. I drove my lovely Potenziata to uni and back today, which is a round trip of around 68km. It makes any drive fun. I always look forward to driving it. My son and I took it to Mallala for the six hour race on Sunday, where our club had three teams entered. We are getting 30 drivers and 27 cars in the sprints these days, which is a third of all the cars of various makes entered.
 
#300 ·
Got more body work done on DND's Alfetta. Rear side marker deletes done and rear quarters primed. Critical welding in windshield opening done. Another 10 hours sanding and ding repair and it goes for paint. Been hard to keep it in budget, but it sure will be purty !!
Looking forward to more work on Davids engine build this afternoon, won't be long till we're dropping it in the car!!
 
#301 ·
Yesterday, I helped my son play musical cars. We loaded/drove his driveable Silver Maser BiTurbo Spider into his enclosed car trailer for dry storage. We then pushed black Alfa Spider parts car behind trailer. He drove red Maser Spider back up to door of garage that is now filled with car parts we took out of trailer and drove red Fiat 850 spider up behind black spider.

Know anybody that would be interested in a running red Fiat 850 Spider? My grandson will be driving a red Alfa Spider now instead of the 850.
 
#302 · (Edited)
Carefully removed the stuck/frozen bolts for the nonworking thermostat of the 91S and installed the new one. Works like it should now. The bolts were thoroughly frozen in, but repeatedly applied a reasonable torque back and forth, even with no perceptible rotation. After a day of this, with a few light raps on the heads with a hammer, the bolts started to rotate ever so slightly. Another day of applied torques in either direction, the bolts actually started to rotate, and finally I was able to ease them out. There had been no antiseize compound used originally by the PO.

Patience/time with repeated light torques can remove these bolts in many cases without shearing them off. I can understand why shops will just shear them off, not wanting to spend the time fiddling with them as I did.

Was also able to recharge the 91S a/c with new 134a, which had previously leaked out slowly last summer. Works again, and hopefully the included stopleak in the recharge canister will stop the slow leak, evidently in the evaporator, as no dye leaks showed otherwise under UV light.

Was also able to book an Alfa Giulietta rental for our trip from Rome to and around Sicily. The Alfa reservation IS guaranteed (for a slight additional fee) by AutoEurope. Might also end up with a Giulietta for the week in Tuscany, Umbria, and Abruzzi, but not guaranteed as before, might end up being a Fiat Croma (a nice car, but not an Alfa) as like our last visit to Tuscany. AutoEurope is a great outfit, first dealt with them in 1966 when I bought a 1967 Austin Cooper S through them for pickup in London.

All in all, a very good Alfa day.
 
#303 ·
Went up the mountain, to the back 40, dug through my parts stash in the shed, sat and jammed while I looked at a couple candidates for resto this summer.
Think I'll go with the black one..
 

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#304 ·
Run the freshly-rebuilt engine in Duetto number 1. A slight air leak exists and I have a rattling coming from the water pump. It was an off-the-shelf part I had and is of undetermined origin.

Hunting down the fuel-delivery problem in Duetto number 2. Newly-installed electric pump failed almost immediately.

Crank sensor arriving soon for the moribund 164LS. Hope this solves the problem.
 
#305 ·
Fired up and drove Myron's LS around the neighborhood to burn the rust off the rotors and get up to operating temp so cooling fan kicked on.
 
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