RE: Alfa Pleasure, Alfa Pain...

[Jon Pike <jhpike@domain.elided>]

Well,  I promised an update..

Things I've learned about the car..

Good stuff:
The body, though there may have been some mild impacts fore and aft at 
some point,  has next to no frame distortion..  There dosen't seem to be 
much more rust than I already knew about. (very little, mostly cosmetic)

The thermostatic actuator,  which I presumed dead..  seems to be at 
least somewhat alive..  I managed to look at it and think it was leaking 
from the capillary to bulb joint.. the "white stuff" I see is actually 
coming from AROUND the mounting flange to bulb joint,  and is probably 
just coolant residue.  (coolant can leak there, can't it?)

I pulled the Spica pump barometric capsule,  and the oil dosen't smell 
like gas,  there's still a spring for the altitude compensator.

Generally,  there dosen't seem to be any hidden surprises with the rest 
of the car..  there's oil in the trans and diff.. no major noises in the 
back.. not excessive ones anyway up front.. Clutch is good (maybe some 
throwout noise, and input shaft noise) u-joints seem OK,  brake pads are 
good, with maybe some need of a turn on the rotors.  I felt a little 
side to side play on the rear wheels, but he said "if they aren't making 
noise,  the wheel bearings are probably ok".  Maybe a bit of pinion seal 
leak.. see grease on the body,  but seemingly not exiting now from the 
seal area...  General, expected stuff.

The not so good:
The smog pre test came up GROSS POLLUTER in all catagories but NO.. 
HC's were 4.5 times pass, 1.5 times Gross Polluter..  (I know the NO is 
low now,  wait till it's leaned out where it should be..)

The head is definately not oil tight,  it needs a full rework.

There might be some more problems,  i.e. rings/pistons..  And, as we 
slide down that slippery slope..  what else should we do while it's 
already apart on a engine that the PO's let get 3 quarts low on a 
possibly regular basis? Though it sounds good.. no knocks, or other 
funny noises..

The thermo actuator is still working, but it may be leaking anyway.  On 
a nearly cold engine,  on a high 80's day,  it was only 23-24mm out from 
the flange..   still haven't taken a hot pump gap measurement yet.. but 
I know it's running rich from the smog test..

Cat converter is probably the original  25 yr old item,  and probably a 
dead doornail.  Haven't seen it heat noticably more than the rest of the 
exhaust,  wouldn't it glow red with all that oil and rich running if it 
had some life in it?

Prior Owner is apparently remorseful about the problems,  and wants to 
make some kind of good on it.. though is reluctant to fork over the 
money and take the car back.  He is also leaving the country for a 
month,  starting Monday!!  He's trying to contact the friend they bought 
it from,  to find out about the smog test it allegdlly passed this 
December when title changed hands..  but no record of shows up with DMV. 
(!!??)  He does seem sincere about working something out.  Now that the 
car seems in better shape than I feared..  I might be willing to do 
something like that myself..  still not sure exactly what.  We have 
tomorrow and the weekend to work on that.. (his wife will still be here 
while he's gone)  
Who ever said Alfa ownership wasn't interesting!!  ;-)

Jon and Marcia..
77 Spider
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