Catalytic Converter

["Steve ." <blind_creek@domain.elided>]

I will give a little bit of background here.
Last fall, I bought my first Alfa - a 1979 Spider Veloce.
Price was right, ran/runs great, needs a little tlc but far from beyond hope 
- even the father-in law mechanic was impressed by how well it ran and 
handled. I put a few hundred miles on it in the fall and it really just 
purred like a kitten. Tach doesn't work - maybe someone can give me some 
advice on that too.
So here is the scoop - I have the philosophy of  - If it isn't broke don't 
fix it - but gave the old girl the once over of new fluids from top to 
bottom - changed all the filters - changed about 80% of the vacuum hoses as 
they were getting pretty brittle - new plugs and plug wires - pretty basic 
type of once over I figure.
Went to start it up tonight - turned the ignition to the on position to let 
the fuel pump fill the lines - all is well. Cranked it over - two to three 
cranks - and away she goes - great !!!
Its running on high idle - couple of minutes and it used to slow down - but 
it didn't - water temps coming up to normal - still on high idle - and then 
to my horror (never seen it before) I looked under the car and the catalytic 
converter was glowing red !!! I immediately shut the car down - shut right 
down no problem - let it cool down a bit (now you may call me stupid) - I 
started it up again - engine was warm - high idle again and a couple of 
minutes - the cat started glowing again.
I have absolutely no idea what is wrong - please help me - If you need any 
more detail or events - I'll be more than happy to supply as much as I know. 
I did not touch any screw etc on the Spica system with the exception being 
three nuts for the filter change - I was very careful when doing things not 
to bump - hit or otherwise touch the thermostatic actuator tube etc. The 
only fuel additive was some Marvel Mystery Oil in the tank as I knew it 
would be sitting for a bit when I started the once over.

Thx
Steven Cameron
Adrian, Michigan
blind_creek@domain.elided



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