Alfa 75, No2 arrives!

[75nut]

Well added another motor to the fleet, don't think its really a classic, but it is old and as its on a Alfa 164 chassis I think its in keeping with my tastes. I saw it come up locally at a good price, £500 but got it for £400 so could not resist!

Saab 9000 CSE 2.3 Turbo (full pressure) 97 P , 140k with FSSH. Mint inside and very good outisde apart from one bubbling arch. Has 4 months MOT and 5 months tax. Going to run it til MOT ends and if it passes without to much needed do the body work, if not Ill probably break it and see what I can make back!

True Bangernomics in action lol!!

Done loads on MGB, all panels stripped and zinc primed, just need to get under and clear all old underseal. The Alfa is still suffering rom a battery drain and noisy bearing plus now alot of driveline shunt so needs to come off and have some stuff done.

The MX5 just keeps going!! Not done a thing, great little car!!

Some pics of the Saab -

[admin]

£400? Bargain!

[mach1rob]

I think Saabs are one of the bargains of the decade so far, I picked up a lovely 9000 CSE (mind only the low blow) for £350 couple of years back, and it was a cracking motor.

[75nut]

Been busy over last few weeks

The MGB hood needed striping down completely rubbing down and painted -



The wings and doors are now comnpletely stripped of paint and have been coated in Zinc Primer ready for refitting and checking panel gaps before block sanding etc



A friend asked me to do a favour on his 92 7 Series BMW, its in very good conditon bar two rusty rear arches right down to the lower section by the bottom of the door. After stipping it back I found the reason for rot here (when the rest is so tidy) is previous repair, seems the whole rear of car was paint as some point and quite a bit of filler added! So rust reated zinc primed and repaint, the colour match was not exact from the rattle can, but then it is a 19 yr old car so I guess its faded from new a bit! But was close so looks good, he was very happy.




Nice motor over all



I was determined to sort the wate rmarks that kept coming up on the Alfa after rain. The rain was drying out and leaving white milky marks. Someone on the Saab site suggested a Sealer, and recommended something called Wolf Chemical Sealant . Applied it this weekend, I have to t cut the whole car then clean it off with a chemical as it has to be mint. Then you simply wipe over and then buff off after 15 mins, Cannot recommend it enough!! Amazing shine, no swirls or chalky marks and the water beads and runs straight off!
Unfortunately highlights the dent someone kindly put in the door at the car park!





I hasten to add these pics are from a 2mega pixel camera phone so dont even do it justice!

[75nut]

So story is I went back onto Alfaowners forum for first time in donkeys age, and was looking about and spotted this Left Hand Drive 75 in the Classified with no price but offers.

Gave the guy a bell and turns out he had it in the Netherlands where he use dit daily and brought it back many years ago with the intention of doing it up. As happens with these things it ended up sitting about and he got in a postion where he needed the space.

He said it had a driveshaft overhaul , major surface and some engine work taking it to 210bhp and that overall it was tidy with a small bit of rot on bottom of rear arch.

So I made a bid based on it being a good parts car as I need to overhaul my driveshaft anyhow and need a few parts for my 75 etc.

Turned up this afternoon. And it turns out that its actually as good as my car! Interior is MINT! ALL electrics work including central locking, windows mirrors etc etc. All lights indicators etc work, adn in the short drive I did up our private lane and back it pulls well and second gear syncro seems fine!

Underneath on a basic look seems solid and he body work is dead straight and amazingly lacking car park dings etc. And the rims are in great nick!

Engine bay is very clean with no oil leaks and what looks like a brand new battery!

The only faults (found so far!) is a blowing exhaust, and the small amount of rot on the rear arch that has caused the bodykit to come away. Also front brakes binding from sitting (I hope the rears are ok dont fancy doing that again lol!).

So plan now is! Clean her within a inch of her life and get underneath for a good root about.

The weld the rear arch and refit the arch cover, take froont brakes off and give them a good clean etc and check calipers. Have a look at exhaust and patch for mo.

Then get a MOT test and see what they say. I also need to ge tit UK registered.

The pics where taken in the rain quickly today, so I will post more after a good clean and start project thread.

So the question you are prob a thinking is, how much, well princley sum of £300! Which I think is a bargain even for left hooker, got to be worth that in parts!

[London]

1938 Alfa Romeo rocks , the most stylish car ever they ever made.

[75nut]

Here's the bodywork needed after getting the kit off, I knew th eone arch needed doing but the other is to, and one side needs that tricky lower area in the door sill doing.

I could decide to leave it and strip the car down, especially now I found its got Konis.all round! But the rest is so good it seems a shame not to save another and have it on the road.

So panels ordered, let the joggling and grinding begin!

[75nut]

Work has been really busy at the moment so I have not had a chance to do much ot the new addition to the gang the Black LHD 75.

But I knew I had to make the time to get all the cars ready for the winter, this mean coolant changes, oil changes and filter changes for 3 of the cars, the 2 Alfa 75's and the MX5.

So I ordered everything up ready for a busy Saturday. I was suprised to find that Amazon was the cheapest place for the oil and filters. I happened accross some K&N oil filters, I don't know if they are really any better but I figured probably a better bet than a cheap one from the local motor factors.



The Mazda MX5 fluid change went fine, came to do my first on the Red Alfa 75, my first change on these cars and just could not work out how to get to the filer, you cannot get your hand in, and there is no way of getting the filter out either.

So the internet came to the rescue and a quick search later I found that removing the airbox was the way to go, so 3 easy screws later and I had free'd up a ton more space and it all came out ok with the help of a filter wrench.



I then came ot the second 75, the recent LHD purchase and was suprised to find there was loads of room! Reason being, no A/C! It's the A/C pipes and some filter or something for the system that takes up a load or room. On the non A/C car there is load smore room in the engine bay.



Leads me to think I should remove the aircon from the othe r75 , it does not work anyhow, how do you go about doing this, as regards the gas etc???

One more job I had to do was the slave cylinder on the MX5 for the clutch. I was having trouble selecting gear sometimes and the guy sont he forum pointed ot this as the culprit. The part is cheap, £25 and oyu can get to it through the wheel well, and used my Gunston pressurised bleeding system to bleed it and get good pedal again.




Unfortunately it does not seem to have worked so its possible now (again according to the guys) I have a clutch issue, so I think it will have to go in the garage as Im just to short on time.

No progress has been made on the MGB at all, and the Saab just keeps faultlessly plodding on, best £400 I ever spent!!

[75nut]

Well she passed the MOT! Just 2 bushes and a couple of new bulbs! Cost £200, only as I did not have time to do myself. So result another 12 months motoring! If include the cost of the MOT it owes me £600 now. So although the missus new car is due mid Jan I intend on keeping the 9000 as I like it so much and my 2 75's and MX5 all need work at mo.

BUT, the following day, on the way home from evening out it died! AA called out, pump pushing fuel to engine ok, injectors ok and if he sprayed the fuel directly into inlet it ran fine?!? His diagnosis is that although the pump may work with the pipe at engine disconnect , when reconnected it may not have enough pressure.

So was towed home , ordered a used pump from Neo Brothers and set about removing the old one in expectation of the delivery. Really want to do it myself in order to keep the costs down on what is a project in bangernomics and also as never done one.

So armed with a print off from the web I set about doing it. I read the advice re the chances of breaking the plasic clips that hold the pipe and doused in WD40 and wiggled back and forth for a few mins before pulling up and they came off fine.
I then had to ge tthe lock ring off. I was not going to chisel it as it needed to be reused and also I read that applying pressure in one place won't work. There is a specific Saav tool to fit accross 2 points inbetween the points with a socket but I was not going to pay £30 for one or wait for it to arrive so set about making my own.

First attempt did not work. I had some thich steel but only in thin strips so I had to weld aload together to get the right thinkness but although it fitted tightly accross the lock ring it kept twisting out.

Attempt 2 was made simply from a plank of pine that was the righ thickness to fit perfectly in the gaps between the teeth, but being a soft wood it snapped.

Attempt 3 was alot simpler, a length of threaded bar I had a cut and bent in a U shape the correct width to fit between accross the lock ring and fit between teeth. Before twisting tho I read to douse the ring in hot water to loosen the seal.

I simply twisted new designer tool and the ring broke loose and came off! I did losse 3 teeth on the ring from previous attemplts but there are still plenty enough to re tighten.

I then followed the instruction to lift the pump and twist 80 degrees and pull up and it pretty much came straight out!

So all set awaiting the arrival of the new pump and fingers crossed its the solution and the car is great!

Had to sit in the boot to do it

Tool 1

Tool 3

Ring off eventually

Pump out

[alfaSleep]

.... well, what can you say about SAAB. I had a 9K 2.0LPt CD [booted], fab car... well quick enough to keep you poor [GOD but they're thirsty!!!].

Their value, by weight, had a shed load 'over the bridge' when scrap steel was well high.... maybe again?

Bangernomics are probably just on the tipping point.... a £100 fix is possibly a fix too far.... and any mileage will have the fuel bills crippling you!!

A really smart 'Aero' 2.3T is worthwhile addition to the collector type.... but a 1.7TD Astra (with plenty Gaffa tape) will stay out of the breakers with TLC, in the hands of 'thinkingBangernomics - man'..... quite sad

alfaSleep