Author: hamilton.mm

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101 1300 19: made it through another recession…

I know, you’ve all grown bored with my never ending engine rebuild. Well, let me tell you, no one is as tired of it as my back and shoulders! I wonder how Sisyfus would have felt about a never ending series of installation and removals of an Alfa transmission. Yeah yeah, boo hoo your thinking, I deserve all I get if I keep making these rookie moves.

Achem, okay, enough about that. In a mere 5 hours, spread out over three days, I managed to swap out the friction disk with a NEW one that I sourced from Glenn late Saturday afternoon while couch shopping. Now, once again I am on to the next thing and the next thing is on new ground, but first a short recap.

old-discOld disk is .33665 inches or about 8.5mm. The shop manual says 6mm is the limit of wear. The linings were a little loose on the metal part of the disk so I suspect I could have compressed the disk a little more, maybe to 8mm. It’s possible a pressure plate adjustment to account for the springs settling over the years would have made this disk useable to 6mm. I’m not going to find out.

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Recession proof advertising… (bid) stimulus package

I forgot my camera with pictures of me struggling to install the transmission in the Sprint so I guess another installment of eBay auctions featuring girlfriends, wives, daughters and paid models is in order. Someone sent me a link to a website dedicated to the topic but I couldn’t find it this morning. Maybe it got shut down? Anyway, as usual, don’t shoot the messenger.

d8bc_1This is very wholesome. Someones cute girlfriend or daughter who happened to be on hand when the General was being photographed. I love the big glasses and sneakers.

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101 1300 18: more slow progress

Even though I haven’t mentioned it in a while I am continuing on with the Sprint. This Saturday I got back around to the Weber vacuum leak work. I installed the DCD again with the newly lapped mounting base and hooked it all back up, the car still refused to idle and runs rougher than it should off idle. Needing a reality check I decided to install the Solex that came with my old TI. It had been off the road for several years and looked bad on the outside but it was clean on the inside and I knew it worked since I drove the TI with this carb installed for 20,000 or more miles.

sprint-solexThe Solex bolted into place. It’s hard to see but the PO spray painted the carb silver, screws, washers, springs, levers and all.

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Market 99: Two-tone Giulia SS project

Update 3/31/09: Auction ended at $32,299 with 32 bids.  This is strong money and reaffirms that SS’s are sought after right now.  If the new owner is happy with the cosmetic condition and drops it off at a shop to be made to run and drive they will probabkly be $50K into it when they take their first test drive.  They will be pushing $60K if they decide the two-tone paint needs to be rectified.  The DIY home mechanic could probably see this on the road for about $40K out of pocket.  The white SS that was on eBay recently is looking better when all this is considered.

Update 3/29/09: A kind reader took some pictures when he went to see it in person. He reported that it needs more work than he thought it would before seeing it and that the paint was not as good as it looks in the pictures.  Still, this is one of the better SS projects to show up in a while.  Spy shots here.
Giulia Sprint Speciale 10121*381357, no engine number stated, but said to be original. Available right now on eBay out of La Habra Ca is this 1965 SS. Seller says it’s a 1966 but it was (according to Fusi and d&T) made in 1965, the year production ceased at car number 381399. The two tone treatment is reminiscent in my opinion to that seen on some Lotus Elites. Some assembly required.

bpkmrgqwkkgrhgoh-c4ejlllzvvhbjyrl3p66g_1This is a great angle for SS’s. I like the two-tone treatment, but would consider painting the roof to match the body color.

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Today I’m 101 200 603 72,434

The careful reader will know that the 101 is for the number of Market reports I’ve written. I suppose the same reader could guess that 200 is the total number of posts I’ve written for this blog. 603 is the most page views I’ve had in a day, there is no average to be seen, but I would guess around 275. 72,434 is my total visitors, doubtful if they are unique.

What good have I done? Not sure. I’ve been tempted to write a market wrap up but that sounds like a lot of work, maybe at the end of a year. I have this crazy idea that I could develop a Giulietta value calulator based on actual sale prices now that I have a pretty good catalog of auction results.  I’ve gotten a lot of work done on my Sprint, enjoyed the daily commute company of a fine Berlina and gathered a lot of good parts for my SS project. Through all these I’ve had you here to keep me honest and on track. Thanks!

Oh, and check out my new ‘Production and Register’ page. I think the format has stabilized now that I have accepted it has to be edited in HTML.  If your car’s not there drop me a line!

threeqsssRandom period SS photo to fulfill be word-to-photo quota.

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Market 101: From the endless supply of Spider projects 1495*04751…

Update 3/30/09: This car endded with 2 bids at $4000 reserve not met.  I think a few more revealing pictures (underside, floors etc) and a clear statement about the engine (numbers, completeness and condition) would see this car get bid up a little higher. 

Giulietta Spider 750D 1495*04751.  This car is on eBay right now out of Pittsburg PA and represents a fairly average Spider project considering what’s gone through eBay the last year.  Seller states that the buyer has a choice of engines, either a dry sump (?) 00551*02329 or one that is “more original”.  As always I would want a lot more pictures, or to make a personal visit before I committed to buy, but it’s pretty clear this car is incomplete and needs work done to everything.  On the bright side you end up with a rare  early Giulietta Spider when you’re done.

66c3_3The pictures certainly don’t disappoint if you come here to gawk in that ‘watching a car crash happen’ sort of way.  Nose panel isn’t too bad, having a seemingly unmolested ‘bump’ to receive the top center of the grill.

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Market 100: Late Spider project

Update 3/30/09: Auction ended with 13 bids and a closing price of $4250, reserve not met.  Considering the seller paid $1500 for it and is going for a quick flip, I would think this would be a perfectly acceptible price.  Oh well, look for this car to reappear on eBay and elsewhere until either the seller reconsiders how much they should take for it or someone who wants this exact car shows up.

Giulia Spider 101.23 AR392006, Engine 00112*15462. Car should probably be 379206. This car is on eBay right now at about $2700 with 2 days to go and Hemmings.com with an asking price of $7000. The seller Fat Dog frequently sells Alfa and other vintage parts so he knows his wares somewhat. There is a Fat Dog in Berkeley that owns a guitar shop, anyone know why a guy would call himself Fat Dog? Is it a Grateful Dead song reference?

bo6romqbmkkgrhgoh-csejlllzpb1bjdzhdz5_3Lookin’ not so good. Well, all things considered and for the right money this could be a decent place to start your quest to own a Giulia Spider, but with less rusty, near-to-running projects seemingly abounding these days and less than $10K, why not spend a little more and save yourself a lot of work. I know, there is a whole class of Alfa guy who prides themselves on bringing cars back, and for those guys this is perfect.

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Berlina Register Newsletter 28 out now!

Andrew likes to keep us up to date on the Berlina world by reporting sales, stories and the like in his newsletters. Newsletter 28 (berlet28) appeared in my email box yesterday so naturally I decided to post about it.  I’ve noticed the last few years he has strayed from the primary topic (Berlinas) and it has become more and more the Alfa Sedan Register Newsletter. Yours truly features in one of the sale reports, as I did in Berlina Newsletter 27.   Stay tuned for the next installment on that front where I will likely feature again, perhaps twice in Newsletter 29, which will put me in there three issues running.   If you go to the Berlina register website (there’s a link on my homepage) you can find an archive of all of his Newsletters going back to when market reports included $800 Berlina original runner/drivers that would be $8000 these days.  So it goes.

SF Gate published an article about Andrew in their CARS section recently that is linked below.

SF Gate article about Andrew.

andrew_alfa_4The SF Gate article included a photo session but strangely there are no pictures with the article anymore.  Here’s Andrew with his Super.

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Market 98: Nicest early Sprint I’ve seen

Giulietta Sprint 750B 1493*01149, Engine 1315*01110 (I think).  This car is one of the earlier Sprints I’ve seen come up for sale and is available now on Anamera for 50,000 Pounds Sterling.  This car is well known to Alfa enthusiasts in Europe, having been displayed in shows and driven on events there by the seller.  A friend who owns several Sprints (early, late, veloce etc) said he wouldn’t hesistate to lay out the cash if he could afford it.  He says that this car is as good in person as the pictures and has been warmed up so that it really goes.

95aec285f4The car at speed.  Note the wire wheels.  Stunning, and I even like the color.

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101 1300 part 17: It ain’t over…

I keep thinking it’s time to write the epilogue, you know, with a final tweak or two to the Weber or ignition described, a break down of what it ended up costing and some video at 80 mph on a nice long back-road sweeper after the exhaust system is welded up. Well, it’s not that time yet. I keep having to revisit things I was taking for granted as done.

I guess the big lesson for me is that when rebuilding and installing the whole drive train, a bunch of the parts of which have never met before, there will always be one more thing to do before it’s done.

img_7895

As usual- my teaser picture. I took this last week after I had just come down from my parts loft. As much as I am enjoying the challenge I would rather be getting on with the SS rebuild. Continue reading “101 1300 part 17: It ain’t over…”