Tag: cars

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SS Engine 00121 #1: Inspections

Drum roll please. The moment you’ve all been waiting for, I am back on the SS project. I know, I know, the 101 1300 I’ve been rebuilding for the last 4 months is not in the Sprint yet so why am I shifting gears and diving into this? Well, this engine rebuild is next on the list and I need to figure out what I need to replace (buy) and what performance modifications I am going to try and incorporate so cracking it open now will help my planning and give my wrench a smooth transition.

00121 veloce as found frontLooks like a greasy Alfa engine to me. Note early Marelli distributor, I think this may be destined for the 1300.

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Market #78: Spider Veloce shell

4 bids, $1000 selling price… not bad!

Giulietta Spider AR167162 with an F.  EBay is an endless source of entertainment and todays entertainment is provided by this Spider shell, on offer right now from a California based supplier of Alfa interior components.  The front is tore-up and it looks horrible, but if it is indeed a Veloce, some one will be scrambling to save it or at least moth-ball it away for when the economy turns around.  If I was at this moment restoring a similar Normale the price difference between Normales and Veloces (about $20K) is such that it would almost make sense to get this body, blast/repair/paint it then assemble the Normale bits on to it and then swap Veloce parts onto it as they become available.  Selling the Normale body to someone with a rusty car would probably pay for a good bit of the swap project. 

217191907_oOuch and Ewww and scarry but doable.  Presence of suspension and steering  components is a bonus.  How does this happen? 

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101 1300 engine rebuild part 7: even closer

I had a lot of time this weekend to work on the Sprint engine rebuild and I got a lot done.  I had been stressing out about getting the cam timing set but it turned out to be an easy process.  I still need to get a dial indicator to find TDC perfectly, but it is very close right now.  All I did to set the cam timing is I pulled the adjustment lock bolts out, loosened the vernier adjusters, connected the timing chain and tensioned it, verified TDC and cam marks again then tightened the lot up and reinstalled the adjustment lock bolts.  I put a little red locktite on the big cam nuts and bent the lock tabs over.  I still need to install new cotter pins in the adjustment lock bolts.  Once that was done it was a downhill coast until I broke a stud off …

cam-timing-doneHere it is, cam timing adjusted, everything torqued and cam chain tensioned.  I plan on dousing this all with oil before the initial start-up, probably a few weeks away.

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Market #76: Older resto 65 Giulia Spider Veloce

Giulia Spider Veloce 390549, engine 00121*01983.  This car is available right now out of Cambria California on the Alfa BB for $39,000.  This a rare Veloce version of the official last year for the classic Pininfarina Giulietta shaped Spider.   The 00121 engine is common to the Giulia SS and in stock form makes anywhere from 120 – 129 hp depending on source of the information.

rightsideThis is the kind of car you want to buy if you can’t find a similar condition original car.  Car was restored to a  straight, clean and functional condition then driven.   Everything should fit together and work nicely since it takes a kind of fine-tuning that can only be done a little at a  time during  frequent use to get the most out of a mechanical restoration. 

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Market #75: Giulietta Sprint Project

This Giulietta Sprint ran on eBay over the turn of the New Year and was bid to $2551 by 20 bidders. Reserve was not met and a buy it now option for $5400 was available. Number stated is AR14322515 makes no sense other than if it was AR1493*22515 in which case yes, it would be a 1959 Sprint Normale, but then it should have a 101 series 1300 engine, not the 750 series item in the pictures.

WAIT A MINUTE… AHA! This car was seen here on Giuliettas.com before as a project out of Florida that sold for $310! The statement below from the auction description speaks for itself.

“I’m listing this car for a good friend who’s a licensed car dealer, specializing in rare and unusual cars. He doesn’t do eBay so I listed this for him. I have inspected the car to give you the best possible description. I am an automotive engineer and have over 35 years of experience with classic & foreign automobiles.”

market 75 noseNose seems to have been bumped a few times, nothing serious though. Grills look good, hood fits okay and the lights have decent alignment. Market lights in the front side corners may indicate a European delivery car.

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101 1300 rebuild part 6: getting close

Here it is, probably my last post of 2008. I might have squeezed one more in and wrote about one of the Sprint Veloce Lightweights for sale in Europe right now but I have been busy keeping up the usual holiday schedule and another post doesn’t seem likely.

This post is mainly to catch up on two busy days at the shop trying to get as close as possible to having the Sprint on the road before the end of the year. The first picture in the series is a teaser and should be farther along in the series, but I like it since the Sprint can be seen watching my progress in the background.

img_7036I suppose the color of the turn signal lens could be called ‘impatient Orange’. When this was taken I had just made all the head nuts finger tight after fishing the timing chain up through the timing case.

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Market #74: restored Blue plate Spider

Update 1/12/10:  It’s funny to go back and look at these old Market reports.  Funny in this case because I go on about the wheel baase of this car but now know that 08607 would be a LWB car.  Oh well, you learn and have to admit mistakes…

Giulia Spider. For sale on bay area Craigslist. No real information given. $56,900 asking. Umm, yeah.

Ad text states it’s a 59 but I don’t think this style hood happened until late 61 or even 62 so I’m not sure what to say without the correct VIN to check. They say the vin is 000014908607 if I dare extrapolate I could guess 1495*08607, which is a 1960 Spider Normale, but that number series should be for an early style car with short wheel base, flat hood and early style gauges. Hood and gauges can be changed but a measure of the wheel base would tell the whole story.

00000000014908607-1Nice car for sure. I mean really nice car. Perfect. Of course a shiny red car at dusk always looks good. One would have to inspect…

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Market #73: Best color combo Spider Veloce

Update: Bidding ended at $24,100.  Solid money for this car in a depressed market.  Hopefully some of its originality can be maintained.

Giulietta Spider Veloce 750F 1495*04644, engine 1315*31682. This car is available on eBay right now. d’Amico and Tabucchi list this car as a 1958 model.  These don’t come up often in this nearly-a-runner barn find condition. They are usually very challenging projects or restored. The rare intake components are listed as included but there are no pictures so one would want to see their condition before diving in too deep.

bc86_3Another car that makes me wonder ‘who would let this happen to a car like this?’ This is actually pretty early for a Spider Veloce and arguably the best color combo. I would guess rust on the hood is the result of a tarp trapping moisture against it.

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Market #72: Dejavu 58 Sprint Veloce

Update 1/6/00: Now on eBay with starting bid of $10,000.

Update 1/5/09: This car was on eBay starting 12/29/08 for about 5 minutes with a starting bid of $12,000 before ending early. 

The following was added to the description: ”

The Alfa featured here was a regular at the Lime Rock race track in Connecticut where its previous owner of 25 years raced it, including many VSCCA vintage events. The roll bar should still meet SCCA regulations. The engine has a 750cc Veloce bottom end and a 101-1300 head, intake, and dual Weber carbs. Gear changes are made by a lightened GTA close-ratio gearbox and the limited slip rear end has a 5:12 gear ratio. The no restriction exhaust makes the wonderful music you expect to hear from an Alfa race car. We bought this car with the intent of restoring it as a second vintage race car sister to our vintage racing Duetto but after a year of sitting we realize it is time to let it go. It runs great, the clutch, transmission and brakes are all good. As you can see from the photos, the nose has been pushed in a bit but nothing serious or structural. We do have the grills and other exterior trim to return this to a stock, street driven car but our wish was to return it to a streetable vintage race car. We had intended on painting the car black and retaining the stock red interior. This is such a fun car, if you have never experienced a vintage Alfa that has been built for racing it is very hard to put into words the absolute joy to be had. Though great mechanically, we would love to be a part of returning it to its former visual glory and will offer the new owner a very attractive price for a cosmetic restoration of this little gem. If you are viewing this listing you probably know as much (or more) about these cars as we do and if you don’t we recommend you do some web research to learn more about what makes these cars so special.” 

 Giulietta Sprint Veloce 750E 1493*06930. This car is available right now from Brighton Motor Sports for $28,000.  This car is humorously described as having a “900cc block with a 1250cc head”, pictures of the engine compartment look like a 1600 is installed.

I recently sold SV 06917 to Corey in Seattle and SV 06924 was sold last year by FJ, both those cars are the same Amber White but with with blue/gray interior.  This car probably shared the paint booth with those cars and they almost certainly went tip-to-tail through the assembly line together.  This car is not in as good shape as 6917, and certainly doesn’t have the monster 1750 that it has, but the asking money is the same.

880820032Ouch!  My red Sprint experienced this sort of thing when its brakes went out.  Was $1800 to fix it up back to presentable.  Stripes almost look like 3M masking tape.

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Market #70: Above average 63 SS street/race car

Giulia Sprint Speciale 10121*380473. This car is available right now from Fantasy Junction (I should mention they revamped their website and it looks great, with a new high res photograph appearing with each return to their home page and larger format write-ups). Asking price is $45,000, much more realistic than the $55,000 they were trying to get for this car last year.

This car has been seen around California racetracks for several years. Hans used to drive to the track, race, then drive home, in many cases several hours each way. I saw this car race maybe three years ago and, like Jerry, he didn’t take the chequered flag, and he didn’t come in last. It has the original, though rebuilt engine and went pretty well. It is no match for Alfa’s prepared to current racing spec, but that’s not really the point of this car. I’d be more than happy with it just as it is.

14794This is the second car in two posts with mis-matched mirrors, maybe I need to emulate rather then complain. I think this car looks tough and purposeful in this picture with the numbers and spot/fog light.

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