Tonight on my way home from work I made a spur-of-the-moment decision. I decided the engine was going in the Sprint. I have spent 3 weeks talking about it, worrying over getting help, clearing the headers, centering the lot on the engine mounts and a thousand other things, it was time to put it in and tonight was the night.
The catalyst was Conrad telling me he usually put the engine and trans in Sprints separately, that it really ended up being about the same amount of work. I got to the shop, unbolted the transmission from the engine, hoisted it up and dropped it in. It took maybe 15 minutes and I had the motor mounts resting in their cut outs. The only hard part of putting the engine in was I had to remove and then reinstall the exhaust side motor mount to clear the headers.
Here it goes. A good quality hoist is key so you can lower it really slowly, allowing you to check clearances and guide it. Note the engine mount on the head.
Looks very good. It’s hard to get all the panels and trim pieces to align and be symmetrical after a repaint. Color is a little boring in my opinion, but I’m sure ‘classy’ in someone elses, at least it’s original.
A complete runner, very blue and pretty good looking. I was in my twenties and wanted a Giulia sedan in the worst way.
This Bus has a faked black plate and the dog looks bored. This is the unpaid ‘friends good-looking girlfriend’ version of the accessory.
Here it is being delivered to me when I bought it off eBay for $3500 in late 2002. Car looked great in the pictures and the plan was to fly to Atlanta and drive it home, but the seller changed his tune about it being capable of making the 3000 mile drive so I shipped it. That’s a younger version of me and my cousin Norm pushing it onto the loading deck. Car needed a clutch almost immediately and would likely have stranded me if I drove it home.
At this point, 20 years into their development these Spiders were just filling a hole until the new Spider could be rolled out in full swing. The first Duettos had appeared and the GTC was available, though neither was being pushed.
These pictures are not very high quality but I have a contributor who is going to get better pictures if possible. I am into this color combo and may have to change my SS color plans, Black with Dove gray is spectacular!
Looks like a greasy Alfa engine to me. Note early Marelli distributor, I think this may be destined for the 1300.
Here I am at the first attempt, the easy out wasn’t so easy and even with a nut welded to the end it wouldn’t turn.
This is a neat car. The yellow reminds me of a Ferrari 275 GTB4 a friend used to have . I would lose a few of the stickers but other than that keep it how it is.