Digging deeper...

[Scott Fisher <sefisher@domain.elided>]

Well, I got a little further into my 1974 Alfa Spider since last week. 
Alan Lambert and I have both posted a little about our adventures in
brakes on Saturday.  What we *didn't* post was about how much fun I had
riding in Alan's Spider.  He's got the chassis stiffener installed on
his, and I'm sold -- gotta have one.  The single most annoying thing
about my car is the way the front and back halves of the car seem to
have different vibrational frequencies on nasty roads.  And it's a solid
car, too -- when we had it on a single jack, opening and closing the
door was easy and solid.  There was absolutely none of that on Alan's
car -- it rattled and flexed less than most hardtops.  Even though I
wasn't driving it (he's got a custom-fitted race seat behind the wheel),
it was obvious -- no dashboard shake, no door shake, just a solid,
one-piece car.  

Later on Saturday, after flushing the braking system, I took my wife out
in my own Spider for the road test and of course had to check out the
brakes.  Heh.  I drove within about 10 feet from a stop sign at a
completely legal 30 MPH and managed to keep the nose out of the
intersection.  (Well, the car's nose -- we definitely tested the
inertia-reel seatbelts that day!)  No squeal, nobody behind me to
rear-end me, just stopping the car in what felt like its own length. 
Brakes work.

Then it was time for Kim to have her first drive in the car.  For some
reason, she's been reluctant to take it out herself -- we've had
occasion to ride in it a few times, but always with me grinding the 2nd
gear synchros instead of her.  So after a few minutes to get everything
warm, we swapped seats.  Short answer: she loved the car and agreed with
me that it's the least weird of any weird old car I've ever owned, and
if THAT isn't a better marketing position than anything Alfa ever came
up with for the U.S., I don't know what is.  We did a few laps of the
neighborhood followed by a short blast over the freeway to get the whole
experience.  The only times she graunched going into 2nd gear were when
I was trying to get her to double-clutch; go figure.  After about three
attempts I shut up and let her demonstrate how to shift smoothly.

On Sunday I ran a short errand and was beeped at by someone in traffic:
"Did you know you have no brake lights?"  No, I didn't.  Thinking of the
pressure-sensing switch on my 1300 GT Junior, I wondered if a piece of
crud had been wedged in the sensing unit (either during the flushing
process or in my brake test), so on returning home I spent a few
fruitless minutes looking for the sensing unit on the firewall.  A brief
scan of the Alfa manual pointed out why I was having so much trouble,
and in only seconds I'd found the brake light switch, mounted at the top
of the brake pedal.  Duhhhhh...  

I removed the fusebox lid and saw the #2 fuse blown.  Pressed a fuse out
of the blister-pak in my toolbox, installed it, touched the pedal and
*ping*, it blew instantly.  

Hmmm.  Not good.

Just to see HOW bad it was, I put in a 25-amp fuse and pressed the
go-pedal.  The fuse incandesced and began to visibly soften and melt,
like the blast door of a Federation starship with a Jedi Knight
inserting his light saber into the other side of it.  I let go of the
brake pedal.

Hmmm.  REALLY not good.

I pulled the rubber cover off the rear of the trunk and found a couple
of fire hazards -- the yellow wires for the license plate lamps had been
wrapped with masking tape.  Fixed that, but the next sacrificial fuse
(another 8A, got lotsa them) popped just as quickly.

My sole piece of electrical test equipment is a wire with a pointy thing
at one end and an alligator clip at the other, suitable for use as a
jumper or as part of a test light.  I jumpered the brake light switch
just in case it was internally buggered or something, and yet another
next sacrificial fuse popped.

Okay, time to consult a professional.

On Monday I drove it (my wife following me, ensuring that not only did
nobody run into me but also that I had a ride home) to Silicon Valley
Performance, aka The Shop Previously Known As Manarello's (and I *still*
find it hard to type it that way!)  Nice folks, found the short in about
an hour -- bad corrosion in the RH taillamp socket plus a blown bulb
there.  Fixed the short, replaced the fuse, oh and by the way the wipers
now work -- turns out they're on the same fuse.  I'd already given them
verbal approval to put in a new wiper switch if needed; it wasn't, and
they didn't.  Parts cost: $2.70 for a bulb and a fuse.  Tell me again
about expensive Italian parts...

Better still, one of the guys in the shop recognized the car, checked
its license plate.  The previous owner had had a clutch replaced there
about two or three years ago.  One of the other neat facts they had:
this car has 1" spacers under the driver's seat.  I'd take them out
Saturday but we're going to the Beach Boardwalk with some friends, so I
will have to wait till Sunday.  The only thing I've been dreading about
this car is the onset of winter, as the wipers didn't work and there's
too little headroom with the top up.  And now both are fixed.  Bring on
the rain!

The drive to work today was just great.  The brakes are firmer -- in
fact, the pedal drops so much less now that it messes up my heel-and-toe
alignment, which was just about perfect before.  I'll have to get used
to it.  

Next: seat adjustment, then an oil change, then higher-temperature brake
pads...

 --Scott Fisher
   1974 Spider
   1967 GT 1300 Junior

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