[74ragno]

Hey everyone, I just purchased my first Alfa a few weeks ago sight unseen and got a few surprises , some good some not so great . . First starting with the good:
Seems to be an original 13,xxx mile car
Only one repaint with no rust / body filler
Undercarriage in very good original shape
Interior really nice
New top
Over all in really nice shape

Not so good :
Leaking oil from head gasket & a multitude of other places
Very finicky going into 2nd gear
Over all runs pretty rough
Some electrical issues

I’m not by any means new to wrenching on cars, but Alfa is totally new to me & pretty different . I do love the car and decided that I want to go the vintage racer route with it while improving / fixing the known issues . . I’m going to be asking a lot of question & looking forward to documenting the progress .

 

[74ragno]

 

[vintagemilano]

Welcome, nice looking car. Probably best to post your questions over on the spider forum, more traffic there.
Try retorquing good your head nuts. If that doesn’t help then changing the head gasket isn’t too hard, first time might take two days, if it still has spica the most finicky part of the job is getting the four rigid fuel lines out and back in.
Second gear synchros are a known issue, there’s a thread here about fixing that yourself if that’s in your realm.
Make sure the ignition system is in top condition before you dive into the rough running stuff.

 

[74ragno]

Welcome, nice looking car. Probably best to post your questions over on the spider forum, more traffic there.
Try retorquing good your head nuts. If that doesn’t help then changing the head gasket isn’t too hard, first time might take two days, if it still has spica the most finicky part of the job is getting the four rigid fuel lines out and back in.
Second gear synchros are a known issue, there’s a thread here about fixing that yourself if that’s in your realm.
Make sure the ignition system is in top condition before you dive into the rough running stuff.

All good advice, thanks