Cardboard and Carbies

Sorry - I've spent so much time on the format of the blog, I have not gotten around to updating the content. But it does look pretty cool now, doesn't it?

For those of you who have called for photos, I leave for work when its dark, and its dark when I get home, and since you can't see a black car when the morning/night is also black, you'll just have to wait until Saturday, or some other period of time with an acceptable level of blacklessness.

Work on the car:

- on Tuesday night, I pulled the air-cleaner box off, to discover that of the six nuts/screws that are supposed to be holding it on, only four of them were present. And the four that were present were so loose they were about one turn from falling right off. Removal of the air-cleaner box also revealed the fact that one of the carbs was missing the gasket between the carb and the cast section of pipe that runs from the carb to the air cleaner box. Thanks Sanitarium for your cereal boxes - using the gasket from the other carb as a template, I was able to fabricate a new one using the back of a Weet-Bix carton. New gasket in place, air-cleaner box done up tight, and one of the many rattles from the engine bay has been put to rest. I also made a fairly half-hearted attempt to cut back some of the didgy paintwork, but gave up when i realised it would take months to do by hand. I need a buffer disk for my angle-grinder in order to complete the task with some degree of efficiency.

- yesterday (Wednesday) I found - on the internet - a full exploded diagram and technical description of the Dellorto DRLA carbs that my Alfa wears. When I got home, I intended to pull them off, pull then apart, and then reassemble them, but decided it wouldn't be such a good idea, as I need to use the car on Saturday. But at least i have the resources now.

So instead, I tried to resolved the fact that, despite the owners manual stating that the handbrake should work after the handle has been pulled up three clicks, it actually comes up about 6 or 7 clicks. I was asuuming that the drum brakes on the rear would have some means of adjustment, to compensate for pad wear, but it appears they haven't. And whats more, the drum is an integral part of the hub, and cannot be removed without getting all greasy, and playing around with wheel bearings and stuff. So that was the end of Wednesday night's work.

So, as you can see, most of the work has been familiarisation, more than anything else. I hope to get the alignment sorted on Saturday, and I may talk to my mechanic and see if he is keen to tune the carbs, and sort out the valve-train clatter.

Adios, and good evening.