[AlfaEvan]

This is my 3rd Alfa....need I say more? We are infected, but thats okay, my girlfriend collects plates with butterflies on them. I found this Spider in 2001 and have slowly brought her back just the way we like them. My goal was to create a reliable and still fun daily driver I could be proud of. I think I have just about replaced everything possible. Wheel bearings, steel braided brake lines, all tie rods and control arm and trailing arm bushings, Ward and Dean springs, Yellow Koni's, massive rear sway bar that goes under the diff from trailing arm to trailing arm with 195/60/14's, we started from scratch with the motor, balanced the crank and pistons, Hastings rings, drilled out the oil passages in the crank, yeah they were clogged, am using the Wes Ingram high performance pump, high perf valve springs with 10.6mm cams, tried the petronix set up with a bosch distributor but actually liked the Marelli Plex electronic system better, a two piece exhaust manifold from an earlier Alfa, no emissions, even tried running the exhaust with only the resonator, it sounded great, I mean ear to ear smiles great! and with out the rear muffler you could feel how much better it ran, but using better judgement I put an Ansa on, doesn't sound as fun but works. Everything in the interior I brought up to snuff, door panels, carpet from re-originals, and here's something I just discovered, are your lap belts looking tired? take a look at the Back seat seat belts in the 164...thats all I'm gonna say! And even the stereo is Alfa, and I was lucky enough to have a Mom back into me at a stop light, so that helped sport the cost for a bare metal respray, no rust or body work found at all, this is a solid car. And now a bunch of pics!! Check out my website too for more pics: Evan Klein Automotive Photography Automotive Photographer

 

[conedriver]

Hi AlfaEvan,

Great pictures... welcome to the BB.

 

[Bill]

Welcome AlfaEvan to the BB.
Love what you have done, looks sharp!
I have thought about doing the polished radiator my self. Now that I see one, I am sure I will do that eventually. Adds a really nice touch. Thanks for sharing!

(You know the '78's were the best year and the fastest, no matter what color...)

 

[Alfa Romeo Red]

Nice looking car. Did you redo the seats as well?

 

[AlfaEvan]

The seats

The seats have never been that bad so I only have patched the drivers seat, added a little foam, sanded and repainted the frames etc., I did though pick up a set of the head rest "covers" from re originals and was really quite impressed with how it was just like factory with the heat stitching.

 

[AlfaEvan]

Just a couple more shots

I use my Alfa to scout locations, and as a stand in when needed. : )

 

[AlfaEvan]

Without Benny's help.

I just gotta say without Benny's help none of this would of been possible. So not only is he an amazing mechanic, he is also an amazing friend. If you Alfa needs help and you're tired of spending Ferrari money on an Alfa budget, see Benny!! He's in Los Angeles at 323-933-2707

 

[brownie93]

Wow, what a nice looking Spider. Welcome to the BB

 

[Bill]

AlfaEvan,
After further viewing, I am even more determined to polish-out the top of the radiator to bring out that shinny brass.
Could you supply any details as to the process involved. It just looks so natural, like it was meant to be that way...

Also, can you tell me if the interior door handles are the original style for that year? I have two of the style on the drivers door without the large diagonal bar on the passengers side.
...And is that carpet I see covering the lower part of the center console?

Thanks again and beautiful car!
Bill

 

[AlfaEvan]

Hi Bill, I went back and forth too with the radiator, until I told myself I could always paint it back if I didn't like it. So I started with coarse steel wool, that was taking way to long, switched to 60 grit sandpaper, now that worked combined with a wire stripping wheel for the power drill, there are divets in the top of the radiator that kinda hard to get the paint out of, I also used a little acetone with the steel wool, and those small metal wire brushes that look like toothbrushes, those worked really well at getting into the crevices. So after the paint came off I used some Meguiars silver/metal/chrome polish on a rag and kept polishing until the rag no longer turned black, I used the Meguiars because I had some in the garage and thought "lets try it, what's the worst that could happen?" The Meguiars worked great! I would recommend laying a bunch of towels around the radiator because you're going to get a lot of muck falling onto the water pump and and engine bay. Was it worth it? Yes!!, and it only took a few hours. Now I go out and open the hood for no reason at all, and checking the oil becomes fun again.

As for the door panels, the small chrome pull belongs on just the driver's door for 1978, and the "honey you're scaring me" aluminum grab handle only belongs on the passenger side. Under the door panels are pre drilled holes with nuts welded in place just for them, while the aluminum handle slides in on top and only screws in the bottom.

And the carpet is not original, not until the 80's did they carpet the panels, but the 80's panels don't fit ours. I found the plastic gets scratched and doesn't mute the sound very well, so I covered them, I think it looks better too!

So hurry up and start polishing!!! Send me a picture when you get done.

Evan

 

[AlfaEvan]

Rear Sway Bar

A lot of people have been asking about the rear sway bar and I wanted to pass some pics along of the set-up. The bar was left by a customer who didn't want to drill holes in his trailing arms, and I didn't mind, so we thought we'd give it a try.It works, it works great, I can't say enough good things about it. Now I know you're going to ask "Where'd you get it?" and I have to say, I don't know, we think Centerline may of carried it a long time ago, and rumors that it looks like one off a Mustang, if someone does recognize it, please let us know!!

 

[AlfaEvan]

Spica Airbox revised

I got rid of the 1978 emissions stuff, and found a plate off an earlier airbox without the tubing for the air pump stuff, the intake tube from the factory is welded in place so we got a chisel and broke it free, shifted it foreward so its getting clean air, screwed it in place, and with an exhaust tube I found at autozone bent and formed it for a perfect fit. I think it looks pretty cool and should be very effective and getting air into the airbox, I've got a freeway trip today, so lets see what happens!!

 

[rafael]

very nice pictures.

How is the rear sway bar attached to the training arms? Welded?

 

[AlfaEvan]

Rear Sway Bar

very nice pictures.

How is the rear sway bar attached to the training arms? Welded?

Take a look at the close up shot, you'll see 2 set's of bolts. One set hold's the sway bar to the plate. The other set goes through the plate and then through the trailing arms and secured with nuts. When we drilled the holes in the trailing arms we welded the nuts in place, once the trailing arms are in place you can't get to the nuts. Since installed I've not had a single problem.

 

[AlfaEvan]

Out with the Alfa

Out scouting locations again, I think the Alfa makes a nice stand-in!!

 

[Rustic]

Great pics! I'm in New Jersey, but I also have a '78 Spider... and my name is also Evan. Your car looks wonderful--very nice job on the restoration. Thanks for posting the pictures.

 

[bianchi2]

on your rear sway bar(s) the upper one is still conected to the body? and the lower on has no centre link( bushings to the body shell, just to the trac arms) how doe's this work? i can only think, that the handling might be suspect, do to the fitting of the lower bar, and having 2 bars to control the rear end?

 

[AlfaEvan]

Rear sway bar

on your rear sway bar(s) the upper one is still conected to the body? and the lower on has no centre link( bushings to the body shell, just to the trac arms) how doe's this work? i can only think, that the handling might be suspect, do to the fitting of the lower bar, and having 2 bars to control the rear end?

Hi, yes, the original stock sway bar is still in place and connected, and the new bar does not connect to the body. It really stiffens up the rear end, and now the trailing arm bushings last a lot longer. The car seems more predictable with out so much understeer, and its much easier to get the back end to break loose when needed.

 

[AlfaEvan]

Desert Concours show

How bout that show!! So many great Alfa's. Warm and sunny. What else could you want? I'm posting just a few pics, I made a panorama for fun, if you download it you can zoom in and look around. I love that we were all able to park on the course with the cars being judged. It's always fun to see what other owners have done too. And next year?, yeah I'll be there, half the fun is driving there!!

 

[Nipper]

Great Spider Evan, it looks like you are having a blast with it.

BTW, is that grass real??? It's the best lawn I've ever seen.