Engine Rebuild and DiFatta Shop Visit

[TJCallahan@domain.elided]

An update (and embarrassment) on my '63 Spider restoration ... a while back I 
advised the AD that I had taken my long dormant (20 plus years) engine into 
the shop to have it rebuilt and we noted that the top end (head, etc.) was a 
stock (normal) early 1600 while the bottom end appeared to be a Veloce. Many 
kind digesti offered comments and possible reasons for this apparent, and 
interesting, mixture.

I have now discovered the truth about this puzzle and need to pass it along 
lest any of you continue losing sleep wondering about this. The answer is 
simple -- my confusion. We have been accustomed to looking at later 1600's 
and their multi-piece, uniquely shaped oil pans, so, when we started looking 
at the straight and square early 1600 "normal" oil pan (think miniature 
bathtub), we got confused. It turns out that my engine is simply an early 
1600 "normal" engine, top to bottom. Mea culpa.

The engine, as I said, is back from the shop now and sitting quietly in the 
corner while the owner (<--- that's me!) contemplates the next item on the 
car to be attended to. The suspension is coming all the way off soon, for 
cleaning, coating, and re-bushing. Oh, yes, and the trunk floor needs 
rebuilding (it's a Giulia Spider, after all). Got the new Wolf floor panels 
sitting in the storage room waiting for the suspension to get back on the car 
so it can be rolled onto the trailer so we can head to the shop so the panels 
... you get the idea.

Any ideas where I can locate "rubber" sheet stock that I could use in 
rebuilding my carburetor and mechanical fuel pump? I've noticed that my Solex 
carbs have an accelerator pump diaphragm that is screwed onto the metallic 
parts rather than swaged. If I could find the raw stock material, I suppose I 
could build my own diaphragm(s) -- I have one rebuild kit and three carbs 
(spares). Any ideas where I could pick up a small quantity of the correct 
kind of material? I'm thinking a 12 inch by 12 inch piece would do me well. 
Any ideas would be appreciated.

Different subject -- during the week of 12-16 July, I had the good fortune to 
be in the greater Baltimore, MD (USA) area and paid a visit to the DiFatta 
Brothers shop. I was greeted warmly, given a tour of the fabulous facility (3 
floors crammed full of gorgeous orange and black covered parts) and given a 
sneak peak at (the exterior of) John's 300HP 2L 4cyl "GTV-6." Some kinda 
machine. Paul was very generous with his time in showing me around.

The DiFatta shop has parts for 105-series cars and newer. I have a 101, so we 
were unable to transact any business this time. Nice place, however, and a 
nice reception for me. Thank you John and Paul!

No financial interests, etc. Just a pleasant visit to an Alfa supplier.

Now, off to my garage to clean some suspension parts ...

ciao

Tom
'63 Spider
Seattle

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