Alfa Romeo Alfetta 1978

(Bought August 23, 2020 from Chicago, IL)

History:


Back in 1993, I accompanied my friend who wanted to buy this car from the original owner. The car was in Glencoe, IL. He bought it on the spot and then sent it to Mike Besic for mechanical transformation. Mike rebuilt the 2L engine to include high-compression Borgo pistons, Carillo rods, rebalanced crank, ported head with big valves, high performance Spica pump (overhauled by Wes Ingram). He also put in LSD from Milano Platinum, rebuild driveshaft, and Milano 3.0 clutch. The suspension was also refresh with performance torsion bars, lowering rear spring, and Konis. The work took about a year to complete.

In 1999, my friend sold this car to my other friend. He drove it for a year then put it in his garage in 2000. It had never left his garage until I sent my driver to bring the car to Nebraska in August 2020.

Images (Arrival Date)



When the car arrived, it was in a rough shape. Families of mouse had called it home over the past two decades. The interior smelled really bad. While the car was indoor, it has collect a lot of dirt in the cowl and that has caused major corosion under the cowl. The brake line ruptured inside the driveshaft tunnel. There was a dent in the left rocker panel. There are tree saps everywhere on the paint. The rear hatch was rust through around the windshield. There are some surface rust throughout. The good news was that the engine turned. The engine oil was clear. The transaxle was full with fluid and it was also pretty clear. Mouse had not chewed on the wires so the electrical system seemed to be in tact. Over the next three months, my son and I did the following to the car:
  1. striping the interior, lights, and trims,
  2. replacing the hatch from a GTV6,
  3. rerunning the brake lines,
  4. replacing the clutch master and the cluch slave cylinders,
  5. replacing all the gas lines and filters,
  6. replacing the Fispa filter with the earlier one with FPR,
  7. replacing the three-port fuel pump with the L-Jetronic pump,
  8. cleaning the gas tank, and
  9. changing all fluid.

We were able to start the car in November. We drove it around the neighborhood. However, we found out that the right front brake caliper hung and we could smell the burning brake pads. At that time, a member of AlfaBB (stemeister) was giving away Alfetta front calipers so he shipped them to my caliper guy in Oregon. We put the calipers in the car in early March.