The life and loves of an Alfa Spider 3.0 V6 owner

[D-String 2]

I am now the proud owner of a rather beautiful Spider 3.0 24 Valve, 2001. I picked it up 4 days ago and have been grinning ever since. What an amazing little car.

I am emigrating to Australia from London and by a twist of fate and the impulsive purchase of a business I will be settling in the Hunter Valley with my girlfriend, the Alfa, a Land Cruiser and a 1963 Airstream Safari (more on that in later posts).

I thought I would keep a 'from day 1' account of my time with J-Lo (my girlfriend named her as she thinks she has a sexy rear end!)

Here are a couple of pics - I will add an account of what I have fiddled with and what I intend to do shortly. For now - enjoy.

[Filip 124]

Great color combo 

[D-String 2]

Thanks Filip, for me black with red was the dream combo. To find one in Oz and the V6 was amazing luck, I can't imagine there are more than half a dozen here at most.

I bought the car sight unseen from 10,000 miles away, whilst back in London. Which as everyone knows is just about the most foolish thing to do with a Spider. However having done a little internet stalking I found out that the owner was the wife of the current president of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club in New South Wales - it was a fairly safe bet that the car would have been well cared for and honest. 90,000km on the clock, stamps in the service manual, cam belt done at 50k and a second change to be completed before purchase.

I paid for a local pre purchase inspection which turned up the need for new drive shaft boots and a split air intake flexi pipe. I had the boots done and bought the Autolusso silicon Air Induction Pipe and brought it over from the UK.

First job when collecting was to change the split pipe, no major problems, neat and tight fit. However can anyone tell me what the empty plastic tank is for - it connects to the underneath of the standard flexi pipe set up but not to the replacement Autolusso part. I can only think it reduces air pressure or collects condensation - pic below.

Having done the paperwork I took off with the roof down and a smile on my face, dusk was closing in and the sky was looking angry. I had time to put the top up before one of the heaviest and frightening thunderstorms I have ever driven in - when it rains here, it rains properly!

Day 2 - a few short little drives to get familiarized. What did I learn? - learn to drop the clutch quickly! A couple of poor starts with too much power and the smell of burning clutch was horrific - I don't fancy doing a clutch swap just yet, so gently does it!

Day 3 - 200ks along the South Sydney Coast and I start to hear a metallic rumble from the front near side wheel. A check of the forums and I diagnose a rubbing brake shield on the disc - job for tomorrow morning. My girlfriend needs to be able to drive the car too. She passed her test in the UK 3 months ago and has a steep leaning curve and I must have the patience of a saint and nerves of steel.

Day 4 - moved the brake dust shield using a flat head screw driver, with the wheel still on and working by touch and feel. Outcome - perfect quick fix! Whilst my head was under the front valance I noticed one of the new rubber boots was loose and a metal retaining band was flopping about. I managed to push on by hand but will need to get the car up a bit before I can make sure it is all nice and secure. Whilst under there I also noticed it was as clean as a whistle - result.

Tomorrow is a 3 hour drive to the. Hunter Valley and more driving experience for the Mrs.

Jobs on the To Do list identified so far.

Full wash, wax, buff, clean leather, detail whole car

Install new gear knob

Re-gas the air con

Fix a couple of nicks in the dashboard vinyl

Refurbish alloys (curbed)

Apply screen clear to the rear window (can't see anything out of it).

Reset the airbag light (i am 6'4 and Mrs D-Stringer is 5'4 - learnt not to move the seat when the ignition is on very quickly!)

Paint brake calipers (currently faded red)

Paint black trim at base of windscreen - where the wipers are. It is badly pitted - is this a usual problem?

Fluid change in 3000kms (just to be sure)

Currently all the work is cosmetic or for comfort - fingers crossed is stays that way for a bit.

Fuel consumption figures to follow.

[GTV-TB 315]

Lovely car you have  , regarding the empty plastic tank on the intake do a search on Helmholtz resonator, it's a device to
tune the intake sound or performance or for both aspects.

 

[D-String 2]

Nice long drive from South Sydney to the Hunter Valley and back. Mixture of highways and twisty roads + the girlfriend driving for a few 100km with less than economic throttle control. Roof down half the time. Filled to the brim with 98ron premium and set off. After 445km I refilled to the brim with 44.5litres.

I make that 10L/100km or 28mpg in real money - amazing!

[Paso 239]

On long trips I managed up to 9,6l/100 km with just a little care, so 10l/100 km is normal if the car is in top condition.

[D-String 2]

So, I was going to try to keep a thread going about the joys and problems of 916 ownership - but as ever the forum update is never top of the 'To Do' list  and there have been lots of things on my 'To Do' list since moving to Australia in April.

 

I have bought 2 vintage Airstream trailers, 2 Toyota Land Cruisers, had 1 Airstream written off on the Hume Highway and I am currently awaiting the return of a (hopefully) fully repaired Cruiser.

 

Here are some pics

 

 

 

 

 

Then - Oh dear!!!

 

 

 

 

However 4 months into Spider ownership and 10,000 km's later there is not too much to report.  A couple of issues with squeaking brakes which led to the purchase of some nice new cross drilled discs and the currently strong whiff of petrol, which I think is a simple enough fix and I will root around for some info on this before asking for help.

 

Thought you would enjoy the pictures - very sad to have lost one of our fleet, it was pretty darn scary.  I love my little Spider but I was very glad to be in a Toyota Land Tank at the time.

 

Now to do some research on petrol smells from a 3.0 V6.

[kunev 131]

Nice Spider and probably very rare car there  .

Very interesting comparison with J-Lo  . And what your girlfriend think about the Spider - visually and driving experience. She probably like it very much on open road.

How old are these caravans. I haven't seen chrome caravans until now  .

[D-String 2]

Kunev - Yup really quite rare in Oz.  I have seen 4 other Spiders on the roads since I have been here - and 3 of them were on the same weekend as an Alfa meet-up.

 

My girlfriend only passed her driving test in January this year - so this is her first car.  Needless to say she loves it but has nothing to compare it to - apart from the Land Cruisers.

 

For me it ooozes style - something quite rare in everyday cars - especially in Oz where apparently all real cars have to have at least a 5.0 litre V8, loud exhaust and be able to put a big set of 11's down the road for 100 metres. 

 

The Alfa is a bit scuttly over the bumps and around corners - I know there are mods I could do - but I don't need to drive it too hard to enjoy it - and I don't want to find out its limit, unless I am on a track.  I like blatting along with the top down, stereo on and not almost killing myself or getting nicked by the speed crazy cops here.

 

The vans are all aluminium - a '63 Airstream Safari and a '67 Airstream Overlander - they are rarer in Australia than Alfa Romeos - and now, sadly, there is one less, (I guess I shouldn't have let my girlfriend talk me into letting her tow it!).

 

I found the culprit of the petrol smell.  The pipe from the fuel rail was dripping nice warm petrol directly onto the red hot exhaust manifold and engine block.  I am surprised for the second time in a week that I am still here to tell the tale.  I removed the pipe bought a replacement length and some clips, cut to size and tightened - tightened a lot!  Then went for a drive in the country, with the roof down, in the middle of winter, in 70 degree sunshine - happy to be able to do so!

[D-String 2]

So, I thought I would share a few photos. I am thoroughly disgusted with myself for allowing my lovely Spidey to get into such a state.

To be fair I dislocated my knee in December, followed quickly by a herniated disc which I had operated on just 10 days ago. An amazing super-fast recovery coincided with my fiancé being away for 3 days - giving me a perfect opportunity to get in the Man Cave undisturbed.

Here's the process - it is the first time I have ever done a full and comprehensive detailing.

1: Shower off the dust 2: Soft Hose Brush wash 3: Sponge soapy hand wash 4: Clay Bar clean 5: Meguiars Cutting Compund with Cylco Dual Action Random Orbital Sander 6: Repeat Step 5 as there were still lots of scratches 7: T-Cut Black with Cylco buffer 8: Auto Glym Super Shine Polish 9: Meguiars Carnauba wax. Plus clean and detail the interior and feed leather.

3 Days! - it will be faster next time.

Very pleased with the result. She now sits under a soft car cover in the garage.

Also, back in March I had new rear springs, bump stops, Koni adjustables and fully power flexed the rear end.

Now she looks as good as she drives.