Couple of questions about 1974 spider

["Gregory S. Youngblood" <greg@domain.elided>]

I went down and looked at (and basically purchased) a 74 spider 2000 this
afternoon. Looks to have about 107k on the car.

The only disappointment is some body damage to the front passenger side of
the car. That and it appears to not seal at the base of the window on both
doors and therefore leaks - a car cover will be a necessity until that is
fixed (can it be fixed?)

I checked things over pretty well. Engine ran smooth and solid (supposedly
rebuilt ~36k miles ago), shifting was smooth up and down (current owner
warns downshifting to 1st will grind, and I noticed a tendancy to grind
gears going 1st to 2nd if not done with care). At 70mph no shakes or
shimmys. Solid feel. Very little (almost none) play in steering. Brakes
solid.

I was quite impressed. [From the rear there are the lovely squeaking
sounds of rubber rubbing together, my guess is rear suspensing repairs or
tweaks will address it.]

Admittedly I don't know too much about the spiders. I have an 87 Milano
that I've had for a couple of years, working on as time and money permits.
Only catch is it is in MN and I'm in CA. Finally got to drive it about 3
weeks ago and was hooked. Decided I had to get an Alfa while I was in CA.

[On a side note - the Milano is at my parents, my father has driven it
a few times and I don't know who has been more excited about driving the
car - him or me. Seems like every other month I find out about new
"things" he has either fixed on or bought for the car.]

Now for my questions:

1. How difficult is it to change the front nose/fender part?
2. The car has the SPICA FI (and Bosche plugs). I recall reading about
converting from the SPICA to carbs. How difficult is that conversion? I'm
thinking of future projects or if I start to have problems from the SPICA.
3. Any advice/tips/tricks for a new spider owner? :)
4. Is 74 a good year for Spiders?

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