my 1984 Alfa Romeo spider

nice!

Some very interesting things going on in this thread so far.  Cool project.

Neat project! Are the posted pics the current state of the car? Is the engine mounted yet?

Very cool, I would love to see pictures of the bracing if at all possible 

In reply to Alfaromeoguy :

Good taste in cycling gear as well! Seems that you have an Italian theme going. I am just riding mountain bikes these days with the exception of my steel Bianchi commuter and the custom fixie and the custom dirt jumper and...  haha. As a shop guy I get to be curmudgeonly and mostly ride steel bikes but the nice carbon stuff really does fly doesn’t it? 

In reply to Alfaromeoguy :

Ah! Saw bike racing in your profile and that makes sense! 

Cool project, can't wait to see finished dash.

Never saw one of those Avalon interiors. Dash outlines look like they'll compliment the stang gauge pod.

Way too many colors & textures in that Avalon interior!

This should be a fun car to drive when done.

Not sure I fully understand your paint process.  

I only ask because you mention that you want  a "perfect" bodyshell and I don't understand your approach. The picture shows that you had more sanding to do in the filler primer stage before you put any paint on the primers; the dark spots are low areas that either need filling or the surrounding area need more sanding. Sanding the clear with 1000 grit will give you a nice shine,  but it wont make things flat; that has to happen entirely before the paint goes on. Are you doing guidecoats?

Also, why one panel at a time? Are you spraying or rolling the paint and clearcoat?

I am pretty new to this paint game, but a neat trick I learned is that when I think the primer is ready for paint, I wet it down with a hose and look at the reflection. The water acts just like a clearcoat and it will show any imperfections. If you are happy with what you see at this stage, then you will be happy with the paint.

Pete

I can't wait to see this finished.  

I removed  my posts. Very little  interest. Guess my car was not a maita.

In reply to Alfaromeoguy

Now why did you go do that? I was watching this thread because there aren't many Alfas on here any more. Just because there weren't a lot of comments doesn't mean we weren't paying attention.

Alfaromeoguy said:

I removed  my posts. Very little  interest. Guess my car was not a maita.

 

It's not about interest, it should be about documenting your project.  And just because people don't comment does not mean they are not watching.

Funny you mention about the Miata- I've got a Miata "restoration" project that very few are looking at and commenting on, too.  I'm going to still post the project, even with it being very, very slow.  

static fit,no internals 

That looks SO GOOD in that engine bay! Please continue to share - for every person that comments, there's 10-20 that are watching and reading along. Thank you for putting the effort in to keep up the thread.

Yes, to more of your progress. How else will everyone be able to cheat off of your answers?

Go lucky, and depriving them a lack of sleep trying to figger it out,  that would not be fair 

I was worried about the left side of the engine,close to steering box. I cut a large Styrofoam block to shape of the engine,to get an idea one fit. Looked like block to steering interference . I also cut the oil filter mount off,welded in some aluminum plate over the cut, but added 2 an 8 fittings  for remote oil cooler and filter.

Was not the problem,have good room, I can remove intake manifold and starter easily.

It was the right side of the engine, exhaust header is fine, the down pipe  will not fit.but I do believe I have a fix for that. 2 flexible exhaust pipes, clean oil off them ( from factory  ) wrap some masking tape around the pipes at 300 mm each, drill hole in each masking tape spot, tack weld to now cut down pipe  mount ( leaving 30 mm of pipe attached to the flange )  attach the collector  pipe to the ends of flexible pipe .no weld just force.

shape to need then after shape is correct  spray expandable foam into the holes I drilled into the flexible pipe, let the foam expand and harden

 Cut spot welds off, remove now unflexable  pipe, let muffler shop copy in S.S. pipe, refit to car, making shire it is in the right location. Tack weld. Remove and finish the weld.

Going to paint it black cherry.  Like it's baby brother

I haven’t been on GRM for a while but this was the first thread I clicked on. I was confused there for a minute.

It’s nice when folks comment, but a lack of comments doesn’t mean nobody’s reading, or that nobody will.

Great color choice.

Engine specs.  2.2 base engine.  .020 over.    Molly side coat on pistons, ceramic on the tops.  10.0/1 compression .  3 angle valve seat cut.  Lots of work on the head porting.   Back of intake valves a coating of some stuff that makes the back sides slippery to any build up. Polished the combustion chambers to eliminate any possible hot spots.  Beehive valve springs. Pistons and rods are perfectly balanced. Rods are polished to mirror finish,( I got carried away ,took them down to 1500 wet/Dry paper, with olive oil to keep paper wet. the lower 2 rods are not quite polished when photos were taken, they are perfect now. )

Retainers are oem.  All flash on the insides of the block removed.  oil filter cast into block.  That was removed for fit .Those passageway blocked, drilled and an 8 bungs welded on for remote oil cooler and filter.  Intake manifold  is off a 2.4 ecotec. The throttle body is oem 2.2 with adapter from my freind, Shawn  at CBM  motorsport. They also re programmed the ecu ,delete passkey for me, 7k soft cut redline, and program  for more performance. Header off ebay ( you know the rest on how I will fit the down pipe)

New engine braces,1.5 inch square tubes

Keep it up man- Looks great!

My welding practice is paying off. Getting better  at it.

Checking in with one dork worth of interest. I look forward to more of this build.