Brand New to the Alfa World - and need help.

Welcome

Mike:

Welcome to the forum. I to have a 79 Spider and have been working to bring it back to like. I have been rewarded by seemingly enless help from the knowledgeable alfisti on this site. From what I have learned.

1. Buy Wes Ingrams book on the spica system (if you have Spica) and read it cover to cover. It is not long and is an interesting read. When you are done, read it again.

2. Follow all of the steps in order completly. You will have many headaches if you choose to jump around.

2. As the car is new to you I would recommend you go over the fuel delivery system completely before making any adjustments.

Take your time, one mistake will cause you to pull your hair out for hours.

Hi Mike,

welcome to the world of Alfas ! with the car all working right, you will be in driving heaven. they are true classic driving machines that entail complete driver involvement, unlike those modern overweight, numb feeling things they pass off as "sports cars" these days.

the Spica FI settings are likely to be causing the backfiring. follow everyone's advice, and find how to adjust it properly.

if the car smells like it is running rich, i hope the cat is not burned out as well. it could be a possibility if its been running rich for too long.

with the FI out of tune, you should also check the ignition system. make sure the plugs are OK, check the condition of the points and the gap, and check the timing. it wouldn't be a bad idea to eventually replace the points with a modern electronic system for reliability and less maintainance.

get the car up on a lift or jack stands, and check for exhaust leaks. besides being noisy, the fumes are unhealthy and can make you sleepy while driving.

the notion of an engine needing a "certain level of back pressure" is widely misunderstood. an engine doesn't like any restriction in its exhaust flow. what it does like, is the various pipe lengths and diameters tuned to control gas velocity and pressure pulse timing to work in harmony with the way the rest of the engine is tuned. if someone put a custom exhaust that is too large on your otherwise stock engine, then the exhaust gas velocity could be too slow and the pulse tuning likely altered to work at a higher RPM than the rest of your engine wants to operate best at.

after you have the engine sorted, the age of your car indicates to me that you should also check over the rubber suspension bushings, especially in the rear. this will have a direct bearing on the safety, stability, and fun of the car.

above all, don't think of working on the car as a chore, but rather a hobby. take your time and have fun - fixing it, then driving it