Two things: 1) Doug's Spider Saga (AAATT, or All Alfa All the Time); 2) Best car for a 16 year old? (NAC)

["Douglas R. and Julia R. Harris" <dharris@domain.elided>]

Main thing:  For those of you who have graciously offered me advice:
Thank you.  Ill catch you up now on whats going on with my Spider that
up and dies; for those of you who have no idea what Im talking about,
Ill fill you in, too.

For years now, Ive felt like a dog without a bark  automotively
speaking.  After about eight or ten years of only practical,
young-family Subarus and Toyotas, my wife decided she felt sorry for me,
so she said shed allow me one girlfriend  so long as she had four
wheels.  I bought my 77 Spider last Summer.  I enjoyed zipping through
northwest Jersey to Philadelphia and curiously-impressed in-laws.  After
changing the oil and filters, I drove her home to Richmond, my wife and
four-year old in the Toyota behind.  The car is low-mileage, to the
point that I wonder how the PO justified having such a garage-queen over
the last 24 years.

I think shes beautiful in her silvery, but occasionally alligatored,
lacquer, even  with her slightly-worn original top up. Last Fall, I had
the SPICA system calibrated and adjusted  to the tune of $200 by a
local Alfa guru, Aren, whose fluency in Alfese seems to defies his
twenty-something years.  Fuel system was fine, but it wouldn't stay lit
so well.  So on to ignition as the likely culprit.  I replaced all the
usual ignition parts: rotor, cap, plugs, wires, coil.  I cleaned every
fuse and connection I could see.  I didnt replace the POs after
market, no-name ignition module because, well, I know zip about
electronics.

Over the Winter, the car preferred to molder in the garage.  I could
coax her out with careful starting and some oregano sprinkled on the
hood, only to be stranded a half mile from home until whatever pesky
part defied resistance a few hours later, allowing her to finally
start.  This got to be a challenging weekend ritual, especially since I
could only say darn with my four-year old son in the seat beside me.
Finally, the intermittent electrical problem became permanent.  She
hasnt started for three or four weeks.

So,  I finally resolved to replace the POs no-name aftermarket ignition
module with the CraneCams XR700 ignition module Id direct-ordered in
January for two-thirds the price one of our finer parts suppliers
charges.  (How could I revive memories of puttering under the bonnet of
my high school TR6, or the hood of my post-college RX7 if I didnt skin
the first  knuckle of the year.)  I took the first day off work since
Christmas and tackled it today under an all-too-rare blue Spring sky.  I
removed the distributor (thanks for all the tips, Russ, Bruce, Brian,
Scott, Paul and Skip) and installed the optical sensor below the
centrifugal advance mechanism, all according to the clear instructions
provided by Crane, hooked everything else up and tried to adjust
everything as best I could  mainly by following the marks I had earlier
put on the sides of all parts capable of rotary motion located within an
inch of the distributor.  After several hours of interesting toil 
pretty rare for this desk-jockey  it still wont start, but I know Ive
made some considerable progress.

I believe the optical sensor isnt placed quite right -- gotta do some
more fiddling.  The timing is probably a bit off.  Ive also pulled the
battery down and the new plugs are a little fouled.  In the morning Ill
go buy a trickle charger so Ill have juice to burn.  Any insights or
suggestions from her on would be welcome.

Second thing:  What do you guys buy for your 16-year old sons and
daughters?  Ive been looking for weeks for what I would like if I were
16 today and needed safe, reliable wheels, with a kick of fun dashed
on.  Ive been looking at CRXs from about 1990 (my wife says:  no air
bag, no more wheels), del Sols from the mid 90s (try to find one that
hasnt been tricked out), and 90s GTIs (try finding one with fewer than
150,000 miles).  My older son wants something fun, but I want him to get
home when he's supposed to.)  I would also look at MX6s and Sentra SE-Rs
(and anything else thats not a station wagon or a dippy American car)
from similar periods if there were any stock of good specimens.  Cant
wait for the Alfa pocket rocket (the 146?) to be imported.  Advice
welcome here, too.

aTdHvAaNnKcSe

Doug
77 Spider
Richmond,  Virginia

[demime 0.98e removed an attachment of type text/x-vcard which had a name of dharris.vcf]

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