Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider (RHD)

Progress stopped over the winter due to us escaping the cold for a couple of months. I started work again in March, doing a day or two a week and have made some good progress. Wiring Harness I routed the new harness around the car, this was made much easier as I had labelled it before I took out the old harness. I connected all the rear lights (newly chromed) and number plate light etc, then fitted and connected everything in the engine bay.  Engine bay The fuel, brake and clutch lines are in, with refurbished master cylinders and a NOS slave cylinder. The original reservoirs have been cleaned and painted. Everything else is now fitted in the engine bay ready for the engine fit.  The brake servo has been rebuilt and a NOS non return valve added to the newly painted vacuum tank. The regulator and relays have been checked, cleaned and refitted. I think I have fitted everything in the engine bay that I can prior to the engine. Engine The engine is fully rebuilt and includes a tri...

More body work On close inspection both door skins were in need of replacement. These new door skins were made and from scratch (thanks David!)  The car went off to the paint shop in May 2024, so over the summer I finished off any part restoration that remained. The engine rebuild is also coming along, more on that in the net update.  Manifolds I have had all the manifolds and air plenum aqua blasted. The intake manifold has been de-Siamesed ready for the new throttle bodies. After a long wait the car finally came back from the paint shop in December 2024, now at last I can start putting the car back together!!

Body work. The underside of the car has been media blasted and epoxy primed. I then spent many happy hours seam sealing all the panels.  All the panel edges were painted with a brush to ensure coverage before a coat of Epoxy mastic, once this had hardened I sanded the surface and applied a final coat of Raptor. Engine Bay I prepped the engine bay, epoxy undercoated then finished with Eastwood UnderHood Black that gives a very low gloss which is close to the original factory finish. I have used Raptor on the cross beams. Here are the before and after photos. Steering Box In a previous posting I said that after I had had a quick inspection and the wear wasn't too bad, that I would leave the steering box alone.  I wasn't really happy with this but as the RHD rebuild kits are hard to come by, I was prepared to live with.  Then I came across  Ricardo Cavallero in Buenos Aires, they make all the bits I needed. As luck would have it I was planning to visit South America du...

Engine The engine is apart and looks really good. I have had it dipped and cleaned and I'm now working out what bearings etc I will need. Good news is crank, pistons, liners and valves are all ok. Refurbing many parts While the car has been away at the fabricators, I have spent most of the summer examining all the parts that came off  the car. I have kept and will reuse as many of the original parts as possible and have had many hours of fun cleaning, repairing and repainting. I have rebuilt the heater box, it needed a new valve which sounds easy but the RHD models use a different valve so I ended up using he insides of a new LHD valve and the original outer casing of my valve. Fitted a new matrix while I was in there. I have had new bushes for all the suspension and most of the rubber parts on the car had hardened and perished. My spreadsheet of parts that lists everything that has come off the car or has been bought as a replacement now stands at 350 items, good thing is I photog...

Interior out All the interior has been taken out of the car and assessed, the seats were all good except for the foam which had disintegrated to powder and some of the old stitching which had simply rotted.  The seats have gone to Stitch Perfect  for repair, the plan is to use everything original. Clean off floor pan and underside All the inside of the car has been scraped off, and good news is there is no rust!  Many hours spent cleaning off the underside of the car, removing the old original bitumen based underseal with a heat gun and scraper, by far the worst job to date! Great news again very solid! Wiring Loom I managed to source a new wiring loom from Autosparks . I was a bit sceptical about its accuracy, however after comparing every circuit it was accurate both for colour and completeness. The only missing wires related to the rear number plate light, an easy patch in. Car ready for fabrication body repairs After a complete strip down, it looks like the car will n...

Got quite a bit done over the last couple of weeks. Engine & gearbox are out and they are big!!  Took out the fuel tank and after close inspection I am amazed to say that it has no rust!!! Even inside is clean. Inside  the tank The car has the original clutch mechanism which is serviceable and just needs a new plate. I spent a few very dirty hours degreasing and power washing the underside and suspension in readiness to drop out the rear axle and front suspension. I pleased to say that the underside of the car also seems more or less rust free. Now to parts for the rebuild. I have spent a good few hours finding, ordering and storing parts ready for the rebuild. I'm managing to find most of what I need, but the list of suspension and rubber parts is long. Regarding the engine I'm replacing all the serviceable parts and adding a new electronic ignition. Once the engine is fully stripped I will no doubt have a few extra bits to find.

The car has covered only 1800 miles since 2000, and since 2010 only 300 miles. So the engine and gearbox were a bit of an unknown. We got the car started without having to rebuild the carbs and drove it "round the block", gearbox synchro's seem ok, but some bearing wear noise on the layshaft. The engine is fitted with the original Solex carbs, the mounting rubbers are cracked and the carbs are likely to be gummed up, so surprising that it started at all! Following both a leak and compression test, we now have a plan. Going to drop out the engine and gearbox, dismantle and refurb which will include a clean and rebuild of the Solex carbs. All of the suspension, drive shafts and braking system will be removed and refurbished.  I want the car to present like a well sorted and loved car from 1964 and not have that over restored look. The interior is complete and in great order (other than the seat foam pads that are crumbling to powder) so it will be all gently cleaned and sav...