I enjoyed seeing you rebuild the Alfa engine and transmission. It brought back fond memories of the Alfa Spider I recovered decades ago. Hope to see more of your videos on this car soon.
At 13:12 - you'll be okay for awhile but a common mod that has been around for the past 50 years is to install roll pins in the block to head oil passages to support the o-rings which have always been a weak point allowing oil to leak both externally and into the coolant. A further upgrade is to use square cut Viton seals along with the pins rather than the standard o-rings. This mod virtually eliminated the early head gasket leakage issues. Too late for you but anyone else planning to redo the head on an Alfa engine should know this.
Great job, but would have taken the opportunity to upgrade the synchros in the gearbox - a known weak point with these boxes. Nonetheless kudos to you man! So refreshing to see a genuine rebuild and not a studio/edited (all goes swimmingly) episode. 👍 💪🏽 As a fellow spider owner I can’t wait to see the completed product and hear that engine buzzing on the road.
Great job, and thank you. I turned down a car that had sat in a barn for decades. My gut just said walk away. Thanks to your video I can easily imagine my car having the same compromised bearings. i wouldn't know until I tried road testing it.
22:49 The two rear cam cover nuts should have aluminum washers, not the fiber washers that are used on the other four. Also, I think the silicone bead in the cam cover gasket should face down, against the cylinder head.
Great work! I owned one of these cars back when they were new, and I have to say that out of the four Alfa Spiders I owned over forty years, my original 1970 Spider Veloce 1750 was my favorite and the best.
I own two 1971 Spiders. I think that it's the best year for S2 Spiders and only second to the S1 1969. The 1750 motor is rev happy, but has enough torque. The 2L has more torque, but doesn't rev as nicely. I'm glad you checked the crank. These things seem to lose oil pressure as the bearings get worn out. It would've been terrible to put all that work into the motor and to require pulling it again! Congrats on the success you've had. You'll love driving her when she's done! A fun, fun car!
23:24 it’s hard to tell from the video, but the orientation of the slave cylinder should be such that the bleeder valve is in the 12 o’clock position and the hose is in the 6 o’clock position. This makes it easier to thoroughly purge air from the slave when it comes time to bleed the clutch hydraulics.
Heading to check out a 1986 Grad. Spider soon. Garage-kept (nice, attached garage), but it's been sitting for at least a decade. Maybe two. Any recommendations on specific things to look out for would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, all!
23:41 I didn’t see the specs on your choice of gear oil, but the preferred oil for this transmission is Redline 75w90NS. You might experience noisier transmission operation and possibly exacerbate grinding when shifting into 1st, 2nd, and reverse with your oil.
Great overall construction…regarding the transmission oil…I thought these cars needed mineral oil-GL1-since they used soft metal-brass-in some of the innards components….
CAM Cover, Front and middle bolts only have Fibre washers, the rear only have metal washers to earth the cam cover. Also another earth strap from intake manifold to front carburetor. Earth strap from engine to chassis.
Nice accomplishment! What brand head gasket did you use? Mine blew right away (compression leaked into cooling system) because the cheapo shop I used put in a cheap one that came in a kit. Victor Reinze is what they put in next. Best of luck!
Use a Spesso head gasket, available from Classic Alfa in the UK. If you need service advice for an Alfa Spider, I recommend Mike Besic of Besic Motorsports outside Chicago. Mike has raced Spiders for decades in SCCA.
13:15 Is there a reason why you chose not to use Ultra Grey sealant around the rear oil return ports, as recommended by Reinz when installing their head gasket?
This is awesome! I just bought an 89 spider veloce and was wondering if yall had any recommendations for good online resources and where to find parts?
Wait. Did I miss something in a previous video? You're lapping the valves, but what about the condition of the valve guides? They are definitely an important wearing part. You need to place the valves in and give them a wiggle. The guides, and for that matter, the seats, are replaceable parts in the Alfa motor. The seats can be ground. In lesser cars, the guides are checked and, if necessary, knurled and reamed to the proper clearance. In better cars, like the Alfa, the guides are replaced and reamed to the proper fit. This should be checked prior to any finish lapping.
I enjoyed seeing you rebuild the Alfa engine and transmission. It brought back fond memories of the Alfa Spider I recovered decades ago. Hope to see more of your videos on this car soon.
At 13:12 - you'll be okay for awhile but a common mod that has been around for the past 50 years is to install roll pins in the block to head oil passages to support the o-rings which have always been a weak point allowing oil to leak both externally and into the coolant. A further upgrade is to use square cut Viton seals along with the pins rather than the standard o-rings. This mod virtually eliminated the early head gasket leakage issues. Too late for you but anyone else planning to redo the head on an Alfa engine should know this.
Great job, but would have taken the opportunity to upgrade the synchros in the gearbox - a known weak point with these boxes.
Nonetheless kudos to you man! So refreshing to see a genuine rebuild and not a studio/edited (all goes swimmingly) episode. 👍 💪🏽
As a fellow spider owner I can’t wait to see the completed product and hear that engine buzzing on the road.
Great job, and thank you. I turned down a car that had sat in a barn for decades. My gut just said walk away. Thanks to your video I can easily imagine my car having the same compromised bearings. i wouldn't know until I tried road testing it.
22:49 The two rear cam cover nuts should have aluminum washers, not the fiber washers that are used on the other four. Also, I think the silicone bead in the cam cover gasket should face down, against the cylinder head.
Great work! I owned one of these cars back when they were new, and I have to say that out of the four Alfa Spiders I owned over forty years, my original 1970 Spider Veloce 1750 was my favorite and the best.
Beautiful work indeed!
Thank you 🙏🏼
Strong work! Quite a transformation.
Sweet. What kind of advance does that distributor have?
Remove the felt washers on the rear cam cover bolts. Aluminum washers for grounding.
+1. I see other rookie errors, but too late.
Awesome job! Glad to see it run.
I own two 1971 Spiders. I think that it's the best year for S2 Spiders and only second to the S1 1969. The 1750 motor is rev happy, but has enough torque. The 2L has more torque, but doesn't rev as nicely.
I'm glad you checked the crank. These things seem to lose oil pressure as the bearings get worn out. It would've been terrible to put all that work into the motor and to require pulling it again!
Congrats on the success you've had. You'll love driving her when she's done! A fun, fun car!
Nice, another episode! I took a look at your channel a few days ago to check for vids. I forgot I was already subscribed :D
Wonderful Video! Alfa’s are great!
23:24 it’s hard to tell from the video, but the orientation of the slave cylinder should be such that the bleeder valve is in the 12 o’clock position and the hose is in the 6 o’clock position. This makes it easier to thoroughly purge air from the slave when it comes time to bleed the clutch hydraulics.
Now...paint it and let's get on the road!
Replaced the thermostat on my Veloce 2000 a few months ago.You may need to throw some sealant on that water outlet gasket.
Heading to check out a 1986 Grad. Spider soon. Garage-kept (nice, attached garage), but it's been sitting for at least a decade. Maybe two. Any recommendations on specific things to look out for would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, all!
23:41 I didn’t see the specs on your choice of gear oil, but the preferred oil for this transmission is Redline 75w90NS. You might experience noisier transmission operation and possibly exacerbate grinding when shifting into 1st, 2nd, and reverse with your oil.
Great overall construction…regarding the transmission oil…I thought these cars needed mineral oil-GL1-since they used soft metal-brass-in some of the innards components….
Keep it original color: guessing it is white? Good work, keep it up.
very good job
Im getting the same carb conversion.... any chance you will be making a video of the carb set up???
CAM Cover, Front and middle bolts only have Fibre washers, the rear only have metal washers to earth the cam cover.
Also another earth strap from intake manifold to front carburetor. Earth strap from engine to chassis.
Nice accomplishment! What brand head gasket did you use? Mine blew right away (compression leaked into cooling system) because the cheapo shop I used put in a cheap one that came in a kit. Victor Reinze is what they put in next. Best of luck!
Use a Spesso head gasket, available from Classic Alfa in the UK. If you need service advice for an Alfa Spider, I recommend Mike Besic of Besic Motorsports outside Chicago. Mike has raced Spiders for decades in SCCA.
13:15 Is there a reason why you chose not to use Ultra Grey sealant around the rear oil return ports, as recommended by Reinz when installing their head gasket?
Nice job. I enjoyed watching. I'm curious why you went with the carburetors instead of the original SPICA. Cost?
29:23 When jacking or using stands on Alfa 105 & 116 models, always lift or support on jacking points. 'Chassis' rails are weak on these cars.
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This is awesome! I just bought an 89 spider veloce and was wondering if yall had any recommendations for good online resources and where to find parts?
A mere question, do you think it's possible to switch from 1600cc to 1800cc on the same engine by keeping the valves and crankshaft ?
Were you aware that the crank was nitrided and it should be re-nitrided after grinding?
can you mill the timing chain cover to reduce leaks?
where did you get the rebuild kit from?
Warning - No crescent shaped Thrust Washers were installed on both sides of the center Main Bearings during this rebuild video.
I put them in. It's not clearly seen in the video.
I have 1992 spider- pretty beat up- is it worth restoring? how much am i looikng at$$$ appreciate help! Paige
Why are you converting to carbs? The injection gives you more power.
Takes a year and a half to get the spica unit rebuilt and 4x the cost of carbs.
bad noice somevere
All that effort and you didn't replace both timing chains....
Wait. Did I miss something in a previous video? You're lapping the valves, but what about the condition of the valve guides? They are definitely an important wearing part. You need to place the valves in and give them a wiggle. The guides, and for that matter, the seats, are replaceable parts in the Alfa motor. The seats can be ground. In lesser cars, the guides are checked and, if necessary, knurled and reamed to the proper clearance. In better cars, like the Alfa, the guides are replaced and reamed to the proper fit. This should be checked prior to any finish lapping.
he said he sent head to machine shop.
Paint it red and put the white round number plates on the doors.
Sounds like a bag of nails.