Grover

Jerry, you dog, I'm jealous!!! I too have been perusing CL periodically looking for a rotisserie for the Alfa. Like you I'm scraping, welding, grinding underneath the car on my back, and it just plain sucks. Hope all's well.

I went through a similar mental exercise as you while working on my current project car, an old Alfa Giulia Sprint GT. I had a lot of wires that were damaged at the connectors, some hacked wiring from where previous owners added/subtracted elements, paint overspray, etc... Add to this, I eventually made the decision that the car would get media blasted, I decided just to pull the entire harness. Finally, since I made the choice to move the location of the fuse box, and I came to the conclusion that I would just rebuild the whole thing from scratch. First step was to label everything during the disassembly, then lay it all out and make sure I had every single wire cataloged for length, gauge, color, routing, etc... Next step was to order new wiring from Rhode Island Wiring. Then, the next step was to get completely overwhelmed and just ignore what the hell I got myself into. I'm still in that step.... Will be a wet winter project in the coming few months hopefully to get the new loom assembled... I'm optimistic that the finished product will be worth the work, but this is evidently not for the feint of heart. I seem to have a habit of getting into these predicaments, but invariably they are great learning experiences and you have something to be really proud of at the end. Good luck, whichever path you choose.

Jdeitch. The airbox is an old Lee Vuong Massive CF box. They were originally built to work with dual side drafts. However, when fitting to my ITBs it required some adapting as I wanted some airhorn extensions as well as sufficient clearance over the brake booster. Specifically, I made (with the help of a friend with much better fabrication skills than me) an adaptor plate that bolts to the CF box itself. This plate, on the inside, has some machined black Delrin rounded-lip airhorn tips. Then, coming off the ITBs themselves are simply some straight round tube airhorn extensions which essentially slip into the Delrin cups attached to the adapter plate. In other words, the entire airbox assembly just slides on and off. It is a very snug fit, so once it's on, it slide off without some persuasion. I don't have any picture of the adapter set-up off the car, sorry, but here are a couple that can give you a decent idea. Hope that helps.

I have used that HF one for probably 50 welds. Still going strong. I always use a little cutting fluid to help preserve it.

Looks great Lisa. Where are you getting the body and paint work done? Is Le doing it, or is this one of his vendors in SoCal? Regardless, looks really nice, so congrats.

I'm running a similar ITB set-up to some of these other folks, but less aggressive than what you are targetting in terms of compression, COP, etc... Like you, I also am running an S14 block mated to an E12 head. I was previously using the serpentine-like E21 manifold and was excited, but simultaneously stressed, when moving to ITBs as I'd heard many issues with tuning. I've been running MS for 6 or 7 years I'd guess with zero issues, and when I transferred to the ITBs stayed with MAP based tuning. I had every intention of switching to AlphaN or a blended approach, but honestly, have been super happy with how the car has performed on the MAP based tuning once I re-worked it for the ITBs. I never did dyno it with the old intake manifold, but have done so with the ITBs both with and without full radius air horns, and an airbox, and saw basically zero impact. I keep the mixture on the rich side, especially at the top end, and pay no attention to economy. This is not because I own oil fields in the middle east, but rather because I put so few miles on the car that I may as well get the maximum enjoyment out of it. If you are going to swap to ITBs, or do any performance modifications to a 40 year old car, I would hesitate to cite economy as a reason, it's all about the giggle factor. Oh, and JimK knows his stuff when it comes to tuning, listen to what he has to say. Good luck with your project!!

I have an old Alfa that I'm in the process of restoring. While the metal repair is not as extensive as yours, I can tell you that you are looking at a huge number of hours to do that job well. As a hobbyist, I get some evening time to work on the car, as well as some weekend time between family obligations (ie. not completely neglecting a wife and child.) I'm over a year into metalwork (floor pans, rust patching, quarter panel replacement, suspension mount strengthening, rocker replacements, etc..) and I'm not done yet. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally enjoying the learning and the process as a whole, but it is not for the faint of heart. It's a massive amount of work.

I'd suggest that a logical first step is to get a firm understanding of the issue you are having right now. Is it really the K-fish, or something else? Wouldn't it suck to put a bunch of money into rebuilding the pump, only to realize that was not the problem?

Assuming you've done the above, Andrew gives some good advice. One thing I can't help but pick up on in your initial post though is about feeling the cost of rebuilding the K-fish is intimidating. If I recall correctly, this is something in the range of $800 (please correct me if I'm way off base here.) While that's not chump change, it is absolutely dwarfed by what you would spend on an M20 or S14 swap, not to mention that your car would "likely" have lesser resale value than if you left it as a tii, at least with the M20 route or a hopped up carb'd M10. Almost everybody on this board (including myself) says "I have no intention of selling my car" but the reality is that the vast majority of us do at some point; I'm getting ready to do that myself. In other words, don't let resale make your decision for you, but at least be conscious of the impact your decisions now will make on a future resale, especially on something like a tii.

Lastly, and again back to price, having done an MS install myself, I'd say your cost isn't going to be less than rebuilding the stock unit. Yes, some will tell you that you can spend all your weekends and evenings trolling Pick 'n Pull and do it for less, but really, is that how you want to spend all your time? Once you buy the ECU, swap parts, wiring, 02 sensor, etc, you WILL be in over $800, I can almost guarantee it. And THEN you need to start doing the install and tuning. Don't underestimate the cost or time it takes to do a nice MS install. I can't speak for the Bosch system as I've not touched it personally.

But whatever you do. Enjoy the process. Learn. Then gloat and post pictures of your successes like the rest of us.

Oh dear, I feel your pain. Have seen a few of your posts unearthing various metal issues. Have you decided how you are going to tackle this? 

There are drivers, there are passengers, and then there are sufferers. For those of us who chose to dive in on projects like this, we are undoubtedly the latter. I'm just over a year into a similar project on an old Alfa, and I've unquestionably got several years to go. And that's okay, I get tremendous pleasure and satisfaction out of wading into unknown waters, holding your breath, and hoping you figure out how to float. Certainly not for the feint of heart, but it you enjoy learning, working with your hands, buying tools, and seeing steel grey water run down the drain every time you rinse your hair in the shower, then go for it.

I can't quite figure out where that first image is, but the second and third are certainly concerning. In both cases, I'd suggest you are only uncovering the tip of the iceberg, certainly for the one of the outer sill. Yes, they "can" be patched, but that will be a short term fix unless you get rid of all the rust in the area. Think about what your vision is for the car, how much time and money you have, and then act accordingly. If you dig in, be prepared to go quite a bit deeper. 

yeah, I've done the exact opposite of this (S14 block to E12 head) and can confirm that the S14 block mounts into the 02 chassis with zero modifications required and it doesn't raise the motor up at all. Other mods are required, obviously, but the fit is a non-issue.

So, basically, this thread is a perfect excuse for us to post pictures of our engine bays, yes? I've done many of the things already described: lots of cleaning, fresh paint, and eliminating whatever is not necessary. I also spent quite a bit of time figuring out where wiring was going to run and then wrapping it nice and cleanly. Personally, I think this goes a long way to keeping a bay looking nice and somewhat OE in appearance, even if it's quite a ways from factory original, so to speak. 

I believe a number of folks have done this without swapping to longer hard brake lines and simply bending them to the new location of the master cylinder. I tried this when swapping my booster a few years back and was just not happy with how the lines needed to be bent so elected to swap a couple of them out. A bit of a pain, but not too bad.

I've had both the BavAuto cover and the Cal Car Cover and personally think the latter is far superior. Better fit, snugger hold at the bottom, nicer quality material.

I'd agree that I'm not convinced those are 15's, they look very similar to the 14" steelies on my car. Maybe widened, I don't know. 

I'm so sorry to hear this, please accept my sincere condolences. I never had the pleasure of meeting your dad personally but had seen his name, and the photo of the two '02s in the driveway, countless times over the years. He seemed like one of the truly good guys who loved this forum and community. Wishing you and your family all the best. Sincerely. Tom (aka Grover)

I'm so sorry to hear this, please accept my sincere condolences. I never had the pleasure of meeting your dad personally but had seen his name, and the photo of the two '02s in the driveway, countless times over the years. He seemed like one of the truly good guys who loved this forum and community. Wishing you and your family all the best. Sincerely. Tom (aka Grover)

The previous owner of my car had the Recaro's recovered, probably 12 years or so ago. While most of it looked good, unfortunately there was a big rip in the driver's side bottom cushion. I tried Aardvarc and World Upholstery, who I figured were the two most likely vendors, but neither had a vinyl that still matched what was on my car. So, what to do… 

I've been doing a little upholstery here and there, so I figured I may as well try to make my own before sourcing new ones. It has ended up taking quite a while to figure out the correct patterns and assembly sequence, but ultimately they look to be shaping up pretty well. The bottom cover is now on, but the upper still isn't as I found quite a bit of foam in the side bolsters that needs repair. That will be next weekend's job I guess. Fun stuff!!

I would not have guessed that those were 17's. To my eye, they look almost more like 15's. Regardless, I'd agree, looks like it could go a little lower. The 195 shouldn't be a problem, but your tire diameter would be in the range of 2" larger than a stock tire, so may well have some rubbing on the inner fenders especially when turning.

Assuming you are talking about Berkeley, CA.... There are a few good shops in this area. What kind of work are you talking about? And, how long to store? Days? Weeks? Months?

Mattio523. It's a 2.3L stroker motor, the bottom end being from an S14. ITB's, EFi, etc...

Thanks for the nice comments guys. Fresh TD, the tires are Falken Azenis 195/60/14s.

Took a few photos after giving the car a good clean this past week. 

Mickem02: love those Borrani's!! Nice work.

Personally I'm a big fan of the E30 steelies. My car, when I bought it 10 years ago, had bottle caps. At least to me, they just never looked quite right, a little too 80's or something. Now running the E30 steelies which I think have the right period look and are dirt cheap. The Alpina stickers are just for grins.

It's a long shot, but wondering if anybody has the photos from Dubois' old technical article on installing a sunroof archived. I went to look at it today, as I need to re-install mine, and the photos are no longer being hosted. Thanks folks.