74 Spider Newbie Owner Needs Help

["A. J. Durrani" <durrani@xxxxxxxx>]

I recently inherited a 74 Alfa Spider which was garaged for the last
twenty years and has 41k miles on it. The body is deep blue with maroon
interior. This car doesn't even have a ding in its body. Having sat
unattended without much attention to storage conditions, the engine
obviously is in need of some work. I got in touch with the Houston Alfa
Club for help and went to their first event yesterday, where I got to
meet a number of very passionate and friendly Alfa owners. I now have a
general idea about the car and know that all the fluids, hoses, and
ignition wires would need to be replaced first. I also need to assess
the gas tank, brake master cylinder, SPICA fuel injection pump,
radiator, etc. The tough part is that there are no auto shops that would
want to work on Alfas and it's not easy to find an experienced Alfa
mechanic either. I did some self-help work on cars while I was a student
at the U of Michigan in the late seventies and that is about it. Rocking
the car in gear didn't budge the engine. Many of you must have
experienced a situation similar to mine. Is there a previous digest
article that describes the dos and don'ts of bringing life to an old
Alfa? My desire is to get it to run first and then progressively make it
pretty.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?

 

A. J. 
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