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Alfa Romeo project progress


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This is my second one. First was full resto. Never again!!

 

Did this yesterday. Booster. Pretty easy. 

 

All done but the road test. It was below 40*F when I finished. No top.......

I've been driving it with the vacuum to the booster plugged. Wasn't that bad. I can't wait to drive it today.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, huge bump in the road.

 

Yesterday morning I plugged the 2 plugs from the donor cars console into mine thinking I may use it. 

The harness smoked from the passenger side dash real fast and damaged wires all the way to just above the steering column.

 

so, this is the donor car and how far I had to disassemble it to get what I need for the harness. Almost.....

 

Still on the fence though. Thinking of rewiring it with a proper fuseblock and tidying everything up. 

 

 

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Well, the harness is out of the donor car. 
 
I think I'm done removing all the circuits/wiring that I won't need. 
Hopefully, today I can start verifying everything with the diagram and prep for the removal of the stinky, crispy wiring from Old Red. 
 
The pic with my foot in it is what I've REMOVED from the original harness. The jumble of wiring with tape and felt marker descriptions is the harness I'll be using. 
 
-- 

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Got most everything buttoned up after the wiring harness replacement. 
 
No visors so I had a tint strip installed on the windshield.
 
Need to install the clamshell around the ignition switch and decide what I'm gonna do for mounting the blower and wiper switches. 
 
I've got some carpeting to finish off the area around the shifter/hump to cover where the factory console used to be. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, yesterday morning, I decide to do a bit of work on the carbs. I had all the spark plugs out for a reading. 

I removed the carb top for the rear carb and did the needed jetting. 

As I picked up the carb top to reinstall it, the brass float pivot pin slid out and went into #2 spark plug hole. 

 

Finally got it out last night using bubble gum to stick to it. Slurpee straw as a special tool. Thankfully I had my Hobo Freight bore scope that I never used. Only ever loaned it to friends....Used a shop vac to suck it out. We weren't sure it was out because we could only see the gum and the gum could have had the pin in it.

 

Imagine our celebrating when we found the pin in the vacuum!!!!

Fished the gum out with a piece of wire and she's up and running. 

So now its 4:30 AM and I've still gotta wash it. Luckily I have a heated garage as it's 41* outside now. 

The photo is of the piece of bubble gum with the float pin laying across it. 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I got a grille yesterday from Larry at Alfa Parts Exchange out of Lodi, California.

 

It's not for this model Alfa, but if it didn't work, it would become wall art. 

I love it. Will be easy to mount.

I cut off the lower grille bracket from the original and cut off the factory bumper mounts. 

Those bumpers weigh close to 70 pounds each!! Sold them to guys who just HAD to have them. I'm going bumperless.

Plans are for a perforated metal grille background with LED parklights behind the mesh. 

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Cruiser,

 

Tell us about that blue lift you are picking up the Alfa with!  Make, model, and where to get one.

 

Looks to me like it fits in a standard 8 foot high garage?

 

How high off the ground can you lift an XJ/MJ in your heated garage? 

 

Thanks,

 

John

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  • 1 month later...

Had a catastrophic coolant loss a while back. Blew the head gasket. 

I consider it a blessing because I got to see what a crappy job the guy did on my head.

Went with 1mm oversize intake valves and milled .030" off of it. 

 

runs great.

 

So, I got it dialed in on Friday night and we had rain off and on Saturday.

Been hotter than hell here and I couldn't go drive it, so I addressed stuff on my punch list.

 

One of those things was using the spot where the radio used to go as a spot for my blower and wiper switches since I ditched the very ratty console long ago.

 

I got the wiring harness installed for the wideband air/fuel ratio gauge which will be installed later. 

 

 

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Good progress on the front grille project yesterday. 

 

That is NOT ME in the photos. That's my good friend Steve working his metal magic on my car. 

 

You may notice there are no park/turn signal lamps. And, there won't be.

 

They are built into the headlamp bulbs!! A strip of 2 different brightness amber LEDS along the bottom of the bulb. The headlamp bulbs are H4s. 

 

 

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Was working on jetting the dual Weber carbs yesterday. 

The AFR gauge is an incredible tool.

New gasoline is crappola. Boils at a low temp. Using an IR thermometer I found #1 carb barrel at 142* and the rest around 125*.

 

I used an existing cold air intake tube  and ran a hose up into it to the carb. I jury rigged up an intake to put way more into the engine bay than the 2" hole. 

 

Hot dogging road test and the #1 barrel was at 125*.

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
21 hours ago, HOrnbrod said:

What was the peak rear wheel HP / RPM?

 

 

At 5000 feet elevation mind you.

 

Peak was 100 horsepower at 5000 RPM.

Torque was 104 pound feet from 2000 RPM to 4700 RPM. 

 

It's a screaming freight train. Pulls 4th and 5th gears like they were 3rd gear. 

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  • 1 month later...
Appears I got the ride height to equal that of the European models. Took 2 tries on the front springs. I added adjustable upper control arms so I can change camber adjustment. 
Poly bushings in the rear suspension and Koni shocks all the way around. Handles wonderfully. rides smooth and comfy. 
 
Now for an alignment. 

 

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