Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider restoration - Refurbing many parts

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 photographed everything that came off and used the parts storage system that I have used on other cars. It saves hours of work when refurbing and putting the car back together.

Whilst I have managed to source most of the parts I need, none of them are cheap!!

Fuel Tank

The fuel tank was media blaster and no rust inside or out. Amazing. I have sealed the inside using Rustbuster Fuel Tank seal Slosh . The outside of the tank I have painted with a black epoxy.

Dashboard and seats

Are back from being re-stitched, the dashboard ended up being recovered due to multiple burn marks from the cigarette lighter.












Softop Hood

The car still has the original hood from 1964, its a work of art! Having looked at what is available on the market I decided to refurbish and reuse the original hood. It had suffered the same fate as the seats in that the stitching had deteriorated and the foam turned to powder. My fried at Stitchperfect has brought it back to life.


Steering Box Rebuild

I have had the steering box looked at and whilst the is wear its ok it will need a rebuild at some point. So for now, after a good clean its going back on. I'm hunting down the parts that I will need at some time in the future. (See next blog update on the parts)

Chrome

All the brightwork work (nearly all) has either been re-chromed or polished. A lovely job by ACF Howell. 

Non Original Concessions

Whilst I am intent on keeping as much originality in the car as possible, I have decided to make a couple of concessions. 

1. Power Steering

One concession  is the fitting power steering which I think will transform the drivability of the car. The unit fits under the dash and all the steering components in the engine bay remain unchanged.


2. Fuel Pump and Regulator

I couldn't get a rebuild kit for the Fispa regulator, and as fuel is rather important I have decide to fit a new fuel pump and Regulator both of which should perform much better than the 1964 originals.









Location: Pershore WR10, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider restoration - August 2025 update

Image
Big progress has been made throughout the summer. The car was moved from my garage to a company who allowed me to work on the car on their lift and provided extra hands for the heavy lifting of the engine etc. Engine & Gearbox The engine and gearbox is in, biggest hoist ever!! The heritage throttle bodies are fitted and looking the part and the harness for the fuel injection is finished for the injectors, knock sensor and lambda. The throttle control bar was well worn, so I had a small engineering shop create a new hollow bar and re-bush the casting. The exhaust has been fitted with the lambda sensor adapter. Cooling system The radiator and oil cooler have been fitted. We did have a problem with the drain tap on the block which leaked and had to be replaced, quite difficult to get at once the engine was in!!  We also had to do some remedial work on the output that is situated on top of the water pump, in short it had rotted through and I hadn't seen it. It required drilling a...
Read more

Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider recommissioning commences - Sept 2022

Image
This all started in September 2019 when my ever understanding wife said lets go to the motor museum, now the understanding bit comes in as we were on holiday in Malta so having the opportunity to indulge in a few cars was a real holiday bonus. A quick bus ride found us meandering around the many exhibits.  Malta Museum As a self confessed petrolhead there were lots of distractions however the group of red cars really caught my eye. What looked like original unrestored Italian beauties stopped me in my tracks. Malta car museum I've never really been an Alfa guy, not for any real reason, just never owned one. In fact I can't remember even being in one. My car history, forgetting the boring day to day cars is a real eclectic mix from an original Honda NSX, one of the last air-cooled Porsche 911 (933) and more recently VW based Porsche 356 replica which I finished during lock down. So finding myself nearly 3 years on as the owner of a 1964 2600 Spider, one of only 102 rhd made, I’m...
Read more

Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider restoration - December 2024 update

Image
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!!
Read more