Re: Thanks for all the advice (new spider owner)

[Scott Fisher <sefisher@domain.elided>]

Not to pick on Bruce, but this caught my eye:

>  I bought my car because it was clean inside and out,
>  rust-free, strong running, 
>  cheaper than the other cars I'd been looking at,
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

But only when you bought it... :-)

> I just don't want to rebuild an Alfa engine or transmission ($!).

While that's a good starting point, I have to say that my experience
buying these rebuilt for my '67 has been better than I feared.  I paid
$350 -- yes, three hundred and fifty doughnuts (plus a $150 core charge
which I got back when I dropped off the old unit) -- for a rebuilt
transmission a few years ago.  That would be the same gearbox as your
Spider, in fact it came out of a late Spider according what the folks at
Alfa Parts Exchange told me.  Later that same week, my sister in law
complained about having to repair the transmission in their Ford Taurus,
for $2200.  I'll take these finicky, expensive Italian exotics, thank
you very much. :-)

> I figured I could spend $500-1k on handling [...]

Seriously now -- If the selling price accounted for that, then you did
okay.  The real killer with these cars (just as with Britcars) is
chassis rust -- did you check that out?  You're probably okay as it's a
California car and it's only a little over a decade old, but keep an eye
out.  

>  and have a strong car for a couple of years.  

Much longer if you keep it up.  My guess is you're in for all the
bushings, possibly shocks, as well as tie rod ends and maybe some
steering box work -- maybe under your $1000 guesstimate, maybe a bit
over.  But you should get a lot more than a couple of years out of the
car.  Best of all, though: if you have reserved the budget to do it all
at once, it'll be like a new car (at least in the brakes and suspension)
for the next few years.  That's something I used to think about when I
had my Britcars and would rebuild, say, the front end one year, and then
two or three years later put new bushings in the rear when it needed it:
what would the car be like if I did both ends at once, instead of
repairing just the one that needed it worst?

> The problem I was writing arose when trying to get this done: the
> diametric difference between my seat of the pants evaluation and
> my mechanic's. 

That makes sense.  You bought a car that you thought needed some
suspension and brake work; that mechanic (not "your mechanic," I think
you've come to that conclusion :-) tried to tell you "oh, they all do
that."  He was mistaken.  Nobody would confuse the chassis rigidity of
an Alfa Spider with a modern, computer-designed coupe (or an old Alfa
coupe, for that matter), but you shouldn't be scared in an Alfa, except
by the speed at which the scenery goes by.  And that's an entirely
different kind of fear. :-)

Best of luck,

- --Scott Fisher

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