speedo cable on 86 Quad Spider

[Brad Karp <bkarp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Ciao, amici,

The speedo has just stopped working on my 86 Quad Spider; it rests on the
pin at the minimum reading, and doesn't move. The odometer has ceased to
increment, as well, so it would appear there's no input arriving at
the instrument.

Same thing happened in late 2001. I had the speedo cable replaced (by
Britalia in Berkeley), and all was well.

After my speedo stopped working this time around, I popped the hood to see
how the cable looked. To my surprise, the rubber exterior is chewed up
fairly badly in the region where the cable is held in place by a clip. The
clip holding the cable is bare metal.

A few questions:

1) What would cause the exterior of a speedo cable to be chewed up so badly
in just 1.5 years? Is it possible I'm missing some sort of soft, rubber lining
for the clip that holds the cable in place?

2) How hard a job is it to replace the cable myself? I have the CarDisc for
the car, but I cannot find a diagram anywhere for the *drivetrain* end of the
speedo cable. Do I need to jack the car up to reach the attachment point for
the lower end of the speedo cable? I slid under the car on my back yesterday,
but the cable disappears under a heat shield above my exhaust pipe...

3) I now live in Pittsburgh, PA. I've heard from several locals that the
factory-trained Alfa techs in the area are now all at Exoticars in the South
Hills. What recommendations do people have about great Alfa shops in the
area?

Thanks,
-Brad, bkarp@domain.elided
'86 Spider Quad
'02 BMW 325xi
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