The car was sold in 2018, after 35 years of delightful ownership. Sniff! Sob! Pitiful flow of tears!
Click here & hear me roar!
2000cc engine
Full bottom end rebuild Oct 2017, including pistons, liners, bearings, water pump, etc. Work done by Steve Smith, Santa Clara, CA. Steve was a factory mechanic for Alfa and has more than 40 years of engine building experience. As of August 9, 2018, the new motor has approximately 500 miles on it, is quick revving and pulls like a train.
Pistons are Motronic-style 10.0:1 with Hastings rings.
Crankshaft pulley from my original 1600 engine (smaller than a 2 liter’s pulley; slows down the alternator)
Crank drilled, tapped and plugged with allen screws
High performance oil pump
Aluminum flywheel (approximately 7 pounds without ring gear)
Cylinder head originally by Rich Goodrich (www.goodrichdist.com); port-matched and polished – almost too pretty to put on the car. Refreshed by Bearing Services, Portlandia, Oregon, summer 2017
45mm intake valves with multi-angle valve seats (runs on unleaded premium)
High performance valve springs
Jon Norman Megacycle 11mm cams (www.alfapartscatalog.com)
45 DCOE 152 Webers (purchased new from www.alfaholics.com). Tuned by Weber wizard Gron Perry
Carb mounts are the longer aluminum version from Alfaholics
1980’s vintage Sprint cast aluminum air intake and filters (similar in result to GTA air horns, but with good filters).
I used an ITG low restriction air filter, part JC50/S/75 (www.coastfab.com) for a long time, but changed to the Sprint setup when I added the aluminum mounting blocks to increase torque and broaden the torque curve
Wrinkle-finish, powder-coated valve cover with polished Alfa logo (Good for 5 horsepower!)
Nickel-plated mounting hardware
Aluminum motor-mount stiffeners and new motor mounts
Centerline ID405 electronic ignition (www.centerlinealfa.com)
Tri-y equal-length headers
Headers are mated to 2.25″ stainless system, using a front expansion chamber and middle muffler, with no rear muffler, as recommended by Peter Nitoglia, a former Magnaflow VP who raced a GTV at the time. The mufflers are Magnaflow Parts #14325 and #14415. (www.magnaflow.com)
Listen to a clip of it under acceleration here: YouTube
The headers are bolted on with special nuts from Coast Fabrication. These M8 x 1.0 elliptically deformed locknuts, part no. 8100PH135M, have a 10mm head and 13.6mm base, allowing the use of sockets for installation
Engine compartment
Black Interstate battery
Moroso vapor canister with braided line and AN fittings
Moroso catch can for radiator overflow
Fuse block moved into interior, under passenger side dash
Relay added between ignition switch & starter to cure the typical won’t restart
when hot malidy
Relays added between headlight switch and high beams; between headlight switch and low beams; and on the electric fan
Moved horns and alarm siren up under fenders, behind the mud guards
Recored radiator
Electric fan, thermostatically operated Mishimoto MMFAN-10 (Probably could have used larger fan, but car has never had overheating issues)
The thermostat is a Stant 45358 180-degree unit (costing about $7) that sits in a Meziere inline aluminum housing. The car had a screw-in thermostat. I cut the original top radiator hose into sections to insert the Meziere unit
One-wire alternator from a Milano, with built-in regulator (switched to an
alternator 20 years ago)
Heat shield for alternator from a Spider
Late model starter (www.international-auto.com)
Holley fuel pressure regulator (I have a good electric fuel pump, but wanted
an adjustable regulator)
Transmission
1984 transmission built by Tom Sahines. He specifies Shell Spirax 80W-90. Ten years after installing this tranny, I switched to Valvoline VR1 Racing 40 weight engine oil, part number VV229, as used by Jim Neill (Papajam). The Valvoline allows very smooth shifts without a long warmup
All gears are lightened. Shifts are fast and buttery smooth … and I no longer have to make the Alfa pause between gears)
New SACHS clutch, T/O bearing and pressure plate Oct 2017
Aluminum flex joint cover adds measure of safety in case of gibo failure
Tune-up specs
Plugs — NGK B7ES gapped to .030. Used .025 with original breaker-point ignition (B8ES is one step colder)
Timing — 34-35 degrees max advance at 4600 rpm
Weber Settings
Venturi — 36
Idle — 50f9
Accel pump jet — 40
Main — 145
Air corrector — 180
Emulsion — f16
Aux 4.5
Wheels, tires, brakes, clutch, suspension, etc.
14×6 Campagnolo wheels from 83-84 Spider (required wheel spacers & longer studs)
Dunlop Direzza tires, 195-60×14. Very sticky. Great tires on this car
Front brakes: Brembo aluminum calipers from a Milano
Vented front rotors on custom hats from Tom Sahines
Rear brakes: Later model Spider
Tilton proportioning valve located under back seat, passenger side, so it can be reached from driver’s seat
1969 floor-mounted pedal box and hydraulic clutch to match the late model tranny. Plumbing the thing was a pain!!! A friend making the same engine-tranny swap used an adapter from Alfaholics, and avoided having to change the pedal box and add the hydraulic clutch. The manual clutch was perfect for 20 years; this mod was only because I didn’t know about the Alfaholics cure, so to speak
Alfaholics “fast road suspension” (www.alfaholics.com). Consists of new springs, fatter front sway far, polyurethane bushings. Used with the Koni orange shocks, set to medium on front and full soft on rear
Adjustable upper A-arms
Headlights: Hella lenses with 80/100 watt bulbs