[brownesound]

Hi all,
I wanted to introduce myself (and my Alfa) to the board as I am a relatively new member to Alfabb.
I had always heard about Alfa's from my Dad growing up, he had two late 70's spiders, a GTV and a GTV6 in his early adult life in Toronto, but sold them when he became a family man. in early 2013 my Dad was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma and I said to him, ok now we buy you an Alfa. So we did in late June of 2013 off of eBay, a beautiful 1986 Spider Veloce with 40,000 mi and original paint. That summer he drove it as much as possible and we tinkered on it together to the best of our ability. Sadly in October 2013 he died, but now the Alfa torch has been passed on to me, and at 24 I am probably one of the youngest Alfa owners/members of this community. Importing the car to Canada from the Buffalo area was really easy, but the car died in Oakville and needed a lot of repairs to get it road ready again (new tires, new fuel filters, pump, donut bearing, seals, etc etc). I have also gotten the top replaced recently, new muffler, door gaskets, etc etc etc again!
I have gotten quite a few pointers from this board already (thanks!) however I have a few questions to ask (i'll also post some 'new member photos', I know everyone likes photos!):

1) The tape player in the radio is 'skipping' every 2 seconds or so while the song is playing, which is really annoying! Any ideas on how to fix this?

2) The pininfarina badges on the sides of the car are starting to peel up at the sides and I am worried they are going to fall off. Would contact cement/black adhesive goop work to keep these in place and flatten them out?

3) The exhaust manifold looks like crap. They don't have any holes I can see, but are rusty looking. I want to pull it out and paint it with header paint and then reinstall it. Is this difficult? Any tricks to it? I have ordered some new exhaust gaskets from Centreline to replace the ones at the head and at the next section of exhaust.

4) Should I be spraying rust proofing oil underneath the car? It is in a garage for the winter, which is also lives in unless I'm driving it, which is usually in nice weather.

I'm currently away at school so that is all the pictures I have for now, thanks in advance for any help!

 

[mcola]

Welcome.

Nice but sad story about your dad. His memory will live on in your car.

I have to say that blue is one of my least favourite colors on any car, but when I see the Spiders in the blue you have, I often think it would be the color I'd want if there were no such thing as red.

As for your issues....

1. Unless you are comitting to originality, I don't know if its worth trying to fix. I don't know if one of those tape deck head cleaners would work.

2. I had one of those badges start peeling away from its base too. I used some thicker clear crazy glue behind it, and then wedged an adjustable broom pole between it and the garage wall until it dried.

3. As long as you are gentle removing the nuts and don't break any studs you will be ok. Before tackling the job, spray the nuts with some liquid wrench or equivalent. As you already know, change the gaskets - 4 at the head, and 1 at the downpipe.

4. While it wouldn't hurt, I don't think rustproofing is necessary since its never winter driven and a garage queen 6 months a year. Some will say these car leak enough that you have built in rustproofing.

Have fun with the car - fixing and driving it!!!

 

[brownesound]

mcola thanks for the quick reply! Yes I agree red would be sweet, but I have fallen in love with this colour now, I don't know if it is exactly rare but I have yet to see another spider in that colour.
I'm in the symphony de l'alfa boat in terms of music while driving, so its not the biggest deal but I would rather keep the original radio for the looks.
Absolutely brilliant idea using a broom pole and the garage wall. I was wondering how the heck I would clamp it to the car.
Ya I will soak them in PB blaster or something of that nature first, thanks!
It leaks oil a bit...it is an alfa after all! However that oil doesn't make it to the back very well and since it has zero rust I may spray a bit. It sits on a tarp in the garage too because I was concerned about moisture from the concrete floor.
This is going to be a long winter without driving it...I'm going to change some of the ignition components to keep me occupied.
Cheers!

 

[Shiraz1965]

Welcome aboard! Always great to see new Alfas locally! I believe I used a product called Car Goop for my Pininfarina badge. It's been 2 years and shows no sign of letting go.

I highly recommend you join the Alfa Romeo club of Canada which also has a chapter in the GTA. Plenty of events where you can meet fellow Alfistis and get to enjoy your car to the fullest. You can also follow the club on Facebook.

Cheers,

 

[mcola]

mcola thanks for the quick reply! Yes I agree red would be sweet, but I have fallen in love with this colour now, I don't know if it is exactly rare but I have yet to see another spider in that colour.
I'm in the symphony de l'alfa boat in terms of music while driving, so its not the biggest deal but I would rather keep the original radio for the looks.
Absolutely brilliant idea using a broom pole and the garage wall. I was wondering how the heck I would clamp it to the car.
Ya I will soak them in PB blaster or something of that nature first, thanks!
It leaks oil a bit...it is an alfa after all! However that oil doesn't make it to the back very well and since it has zero rust I may spray a bit. It sits on a tarp in the garage too because I was concerned about moisture from the concrete floor.
This is going to be a long winter without driving it...I'm going to change some of the ignition components to keep me occupied.
Cheers!

As for the blue, its a standard color offered in that era, but sadly not too many bought it. I've seen others, but not many.

Regarding the oil leaks not reaching the rear to rust protect that area... drive faster!!!!

 

[brownesound]

Shiraz1965, the membership form says its good until May 2014? Guess the site needs some updating. Yes I follow them on Facebook, awesome posts on there. I'll probably join in the new year.
mcola, haha thats the ticket! I had a heat shield rattle fixed in the summer so now I can rev above 4,000 rpm and it sounds amazing.

So has anyone taken apart the stock radio? Or is that just a can of worms I don't want to get into? I could be open to replacing the stock one, assuming I found a replacement that fit and didn't look like an 18 year old designed it for his civic.

 

[Kemer]

Hi
I'm also a new 1987 Alfa owner and believe it or not I have the same color combo.
Harry

 

[brownesound]

Kemer, let me see if I get this response right, but judging from the general attitude here it should go like this:
Post some pictures!

 

[Kemer]

I have it up on jack stands in the garage and waiting for a new fuel pump.I''l post pic asap but if you took your front licence plate off they would be identical

 

[Boccaccia]

Most of us have rusty headers on our car. Header paint will last a few weeks. If you really can't stand the rust, you can have them ceramic coated.

Also, the exhaust manifold nuts at the head are brass by design. Brass will not rust or stick to the exhaust studs. You should confirm that yours are still brass (use a magnet) if you take them off. Some one put a couple steel ones on mine. There should be washers in there too.

Do not strip or snap off an exhaust stud. Search my thread if you are curious why not...

 

[Stevew]

R&R of your transmission and engine mounts may make you think the car is reborn. Going out on a limb here, but these are common issues.

All the best and welcome aboard!

 

[james2000]

If you are concerned about the damp floor, you could put down a heavy plastic sheet or something similar under the car.
As to the radio, you would need to check whether you have a specific radio designed for the car which may be plug and play (plug -in connectors) or a universal type. You would likely need a specialist to change a plug and play radio.
Have fun, James

 

[brownesound]

Boccaccia, thanks for the tip, I definitely don't want to break a stud.
Stevew, not sure what you mean about the mounts, I don't think they are worn...?
james2000, I have it sitting on a few tarps which seem to do the trick, and keep oil off the floor. It is the original radio (with the Alfa logo), it looks like this one: http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/alfa-romeo-parts-sale-wanted/195622-clarion-radio-cassette-player.html
I'll try pulling it out when I get a change and see what I can do to make it work

 

[Stevew]

Engine mounts (2) and tranny mount (1)

Brownesound,

Front mounts may be checked with simple measurements (found elsewhere on the site) of engine "sag". A rocking and sagging engine can lead to the fan coming into contact with it's shroud, sometimes grenading the plastic fan, and at no extra cost, occasionally taking the radiator with it. Also, an engine that rocks excessively under acceleration can pull open the main air duct across the top of the engine, initiating dreaded "false air" into the L-Jet system. If you do a lot of hole shots, the resultant surging can become very annoying.

The mount residing at the rear of the tranny is rather buried but can also be evaluated with a good shake or visual inspection looking forward from behind. I did mine not too long ago (a foolishly, long delayed fix) and posted a few pics.

All three of these mounts are chronic problem areas and I would be surprised if many originals have survived this long, especially the rear tranny mount which may be living in a cloud of oil coming from areas forward. Or maybe it was just mine .

TNG, hmmmm

The New Guy?

All the best.

 

[alfa tiger]

Welcome to the board, sorry to hear about your dad, I too lost my dad recently. Do a search for refreshing cast exhaust manifolds. May be something you might want to do. Paint,ceramic coating, there's many options. I can report that mine still look great. Cheers Neil.

 

[brownesound]

Stevew thanks for the clarification, I will definitely check their health status! Sounds like it is very good preventative maintenance.
Alfa tiger that looks very nice, it is definitely something I want to try myself with the header paint, and if it only looks good for a few years so be it! I'll do something better then. Hopefully you and your Dad got some quality seat time in your Alfa!
Cheers

 

[vf31rhill]

Very nice looking Alfa spider. I have always liked that color, second to red, of course!

Good luck and welcome,

Robert

 

[garwood1]

Welcome aboard. Nice car. I like that interior/exterior colour combination, very appealing and understated.
As far as manifolds are concerned...personally, that would be quite far down the list of jobs that must be done. And the potential issues that stripped/snapped studs might create in the process would totally put me off the job ! Being cast items, a little surface rust is not going to hurt anything...plenty of material there!

 

[-P-]

I've seen a lot of this color, and most seem to be 87's for some reason. The first Alfa (blue/87) I ever drove was on the way to get my learners permit when I was 15 and it was sitting for sale in the Used car section of a Toyota lot in Houston. I bought a black 86 when I moved to Missouri a year later.

Sorry for your loss and nice work keeping the spider project going.

-Chris