I'll start with some pictures of my Duetto from back in 1979 when I had just bought it.
It wasn't in perfect condition even back then. It had spent its first 12 years in southern California.
During which time it had been damaged in the front (and not repaired too well).
It had a replacement hood from a later year spider and some really shoddy repair work to the driver's side front fender.
With a little bit of peeling paint on the nose, it was an affordable Alfa for a college student (me) and a great daily driver.
During the course of trying to find a suitable replacment for my Duetto's original engine, I've picked up a total of 3 engines.
The first, a complete 1750 from a friend of mine here in Washington. Its a AR00551 engine that was out of a 69 Spider.
But I decided I really should stick with a 1600 for originality. Plus, after tearing it down, it obviously needed a complete overhaul.
I'll keep it for Pat in case he ever wants it back.
The second, a 1600 from southern CA. I bought it knowing that it was a AR00502 engine which wasn't correct for a Duetto. It probably started out in a Giulia Sprint GT.
It appears to be in great shape, but is a bit of a hybrid with a mix of later parts for increased power.
Then, I came across a complete 1600 that actually is appropriate. It's an AR00536 engine and it's complete.
It looks like its been sitting in a garage since about 1980 (based on the newspaper that was stuffed in the intake).
Since my car has also been sitting since the 80's, it just seems right that this is the engine that I should be using.
We'll see what the insides look like....
That is interesting. I'm missing the round headlight access ports for whatever reason - I think the body shop misplaced them and I didn't notice until they were long gone. Are those common?
The spark plugs were out when I got the engine. Don't know how many years it sat like that. The cylinder walls are rusty. The #1 and #3 cylinders look like sand got into them.
I used a 12 ton press to try to remove the pistons from their liners. #2 and #4 came out with some difficulty. #1 broke the liner before it came out. I stopped at that point.
I'll need some new Con Rods as well as Pistons and Liners.
Other than a thick accumulation of dust and dirt (and some blue paint that was spilled on it and maybe some sand), it really was pretty clean to start with.
I spray it down with PB Blaster and then hit it with a water hose.
I had two 1750s that sat open for years and looked like yours. I saved the rods out of both by cutting one side of the liner through with an abrasive wheel and then hammering a brick or cold chisel into that slot. It's messy but not difficult.
Jeff, it's a good idea to get into all of the oil passageways. These commonly collect junk. You don't want any of this coming out after fresh rebuild. @hotlegs32, I think, uses gun cleaning brushes and high pressure water to clean everything out. Hopefully, she will chime in and show what she uses.
My radiator was a bit torn up from being shuffled around on shelves over the years. I had it torn apart so that the top tank could be straightned.
After re-coring it, it probably ended up being more expensive than a reproduction radiator, but I think it looks good and it has all the correct manufacturer's markings.
I never ran the car with a radiator shroud. Fortunately, I had found this NOS one years ago.
I had three to chose from -
1) panel from 1968 1750 Spider s/n 10557.1410461. This was a spider originally produced for sale in Germany. Unfortunately, the PO had wrecked it into a brick wall and it was parted out
2) panel from my 1967 1600 Spider.
3) panel from 1966 1600 Spider, s/n 10503.660473. It had been almost completed stripped when I bought it for the few remaining parts. I ended up selling it as a rolling chassis.
In the photos, they are laying left to right - 1968, 1967, 1966
The German car's panel doesn't have the bracket for the Emergency Flasher toggle. I believe those were only added to the cars destined to be sold in the US. Otherwise, the 67 and 68 panels are nearly identicle.
The 1966 panel has different internals and is the design that is depicted in the 1600 Spider Spare Parts Catalog.
I don't know why the original design was replaced. I actually think it has advantages over the later design.
The early design uses a "Ball and Detent" type of mechanism that locks the levers in the leftmost or rightmost positions. The later design doesn't lock into any position.
Also, on the early design the levers are completely independent from each other. Moving one lever can't effect the position of the other lever.
On the later design, the 2 levers pivot on the same shaft. There's a fiber disc separating the levers and moving one lever tends to shift the other lever.
This is what I started with.
I had a decent face plate from my 67 panel. However, the plastic fasteners broke off course.
I made new fasteners by turning down Phillips head screws to the same diameter and profile. Filled the remaining recess with epoxy and painted them black.
I used a short length of all-thread to hold it in place. I don't know why those holes needed to be there, but on the left side they line up vertically and so I used them.
This version of the vent controls has a detent "click" and the end of the range - correct? The version I had in my 68 car did not have this feature and was significantly more flimsy...
Yes, the version that I'm using (the one that came out of a 66 Duetto) has a definite "click" at both ends of the controller travel.
I prefer that one over the later design.
However, after my initial writeup of the later design, I did go back and inspected my 67 controller again. It looks like it does have an isolation plate between the 2 levers that should keep the adjustment of one lever from effecting the position of the other lever. But because of flexing of the sheet metal, the isolation plate wasn't anchored properly. So, it ended up not isolating the 2 levers from each other. That said, there still isn't any feature in the later design that would provide any tactile feel when you adjust the levers to the end of their range. So, I still think the early design operates better.
What an awesome story. Can't wait to see you finish your beautiful Duetto. Keep up the good work!
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