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Newbeeee Needs help

1232 Views 4 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  darth dino, 
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Hey Guys/Girls, Im a newbee to the forum and the world of alfas, I mostly work on watercooled Porsches and toyotas. A friend of mine has asked if I can rebuild his alfa and I have takin on the challange. Its a 1988 afla spider with a manual tranny and I believe a 4cyl 2.0L engine. The bad news is the engine is Blown, My friend ran it out of oil (oil light was covered with a picture) and now it sounds like a broken rod or spun bearing and doesnt run. He has let it sit for 7 years in a garage. Its not in really bad shape, A little rust on the front fenders and the rockers are almost rusted away on the outside. The drivers seat needs to be replaced, But just about everything else looks good. I told him I would rather not rebuild a blown motor because It would be a waste of time to take it apart cus its more likely unusable. I havent had alot of luck finding a good used engine. Anyone have any tips or places to look for a good used engine?? My friend would like to keep the rebuild under $5,000 which I think is very possable givin that I will be doing most of the work myself. Anyway Thanx for any info, cant wait to start my adventure ;-)
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My advice would be to part that car out and use that $5k to buy a better car that's not going to need bodywork and a repaint. You might get the rockers off and find that it's just masking serious damage to the inner rockers, plus my guess is that the floors are rusted out underneath the carpet.

If it was a more worthy car like a mid-60s Duetto, I say yes, it's worth saving. But not a beat-up 88.
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Have to agree with Roadtrip. My 1986 Spider isn't worth $5000, and I consider it to be in good shape.

If you did find a good engine, you'll still have to fix rust and other items.

Sell the car for parts, buy another one for $5000. You should be able to find a nice one...

Duke
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fetta78
Yup. But with a twist.......buy another mid-80's Spider for under $5,000 and keep the other as a parts car!!:D

.
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darth dino
the rocker panels are extremely important to the structural integrity of a Spider. if they are rusted away on the outside, the chances are extremely high that they will be bad on the inside. while not impossible to fix, it is very time consuming and potentially expensive. plus there is rust elsewhere.

i agree that it would probably be a wise move to use the $5k budget to just purchase a resonably nice mid-late eighties replacement car.
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