Sunday, 24 August 2025

Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider restoration - August 2025 update

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 and re-tapping to take a new fitting.

The system is now filled and looking leak free, fingers crossed!!

Prop & Diff

The prop shaft was balanced, painted and then refitted along with the renovated differential.

Brakes & Clutch

With disc brake all round the refurbished discs and callipers have been fitted and the system has been successfully filled and bled. Clutch circuit is also fitted, filled and bled.

Suspension

All the suspension is fitted and the car is back on its wheels. The wheel nuts and studs had been damaged probably by the air guns used in modern garages, so the threads were cleaned using taps and dies, and all is well.

The wheels had been cleaned and powder coated, then created a key in the powder coat finish before spraying a coat of paint (hopefully close the the original colour) and lacquer.









Thursday, 5 June 2025

Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider restoration - June 2025 Update

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 trigger wheel and crank sensor ready for the fuel injection. 


The fuel system has been changed replacing the Fispa regulator with a combined swirl pot and high pressure pump together with a return pipe to the fuel tank. I will at some point do a specific blog on the injection system design and installation.

Body work

I have fitted the rear bumper, as I was fed up of moving it around my garage!

The original front lights with new rubbers and chrome have been partially refitted as has the front grill which is much easier to fit without the engine in place! 







Conversion from triple Solex's to Jenvey throttle bodies.

Conversion to throttle bodies. In this post I have endeavoured to describe the components and other changes required to convert from Solex c...