Next

1967 Alfa Romeo 1750 Spider Veloce log.
Updated November 25 2000

In Sweden we have an official compulsory control every year by the SBP. The km figures show the total milage every year as registered by the SMOG-authorities SBP

Where did I get the spares? I have my favourite resources:The Highwood Motors Company has served me almost all these years. Thank you, Chris at Highwood.

1967 May 7th
Manufactured and shipped to Sweden and stored there for two years. Original color Rosso Montecattina, that's red with a slight tone of orange. Black interior and Webers! However, the Spider just stood there in the showroom for two years. Obviously the Alfa Romeo Sweden delivered the Spiders like LIFO or: Last In, First Out.

1969 - 1972
Finally sold and registered on September 12th. Gently driven by the lady who bought her, cuz "it's such a cute and adorable car". She only used it during the summers and I doubt if the car exceeded 3.500 revs.

1972 18 220 km
Purchased by me on April 20th. What a joy. Just driving around in Scandinavia. No problems. New spark plugs and oil. I put on the Momo Vega alloy rims. Nice car and proud Alfista. Car stereo fitted and I am digging Jerry Lee Lewis and Duane Eddy every day. I also mounted my Momo Super Indy 14" steering wheel.

1973 23 660 km
I had to replace the clutch master cylinder, the old was starting to leak. The we went to Italy. Valves adjusted to 0.45 New Castrol oil. Replaced front brake pads.

1974 39 610 km
Italy. Running as good as ever, no problems. Replaced left front brake hose and I lost my hood bag somewhere. New front Pirelli tyres. I bought new complete 4H iodine head lamp sets.

1975 47 410 km
Just driving around. One head lamp cowl was smashed so I had to buy a new one. Replaced the fuel hoses from the pump to the Webers, old hose was tending to leak. New oil, plugs filters etc. Nothing special happened. New front brake pads.

1976 56 520 km
Schwitzerland, ignition retarded and adjusted. Two parking fines in Laussanne. She exceeds 190 km/h easily on the Autobahn.

1977 71 240 km
The Netherlands for three weeks. Smashing roads to drive on. My first and only flat tyre. New Pirellis fitted on the rear wheels. Lost the key to the glove compartment in den Haag, never found it again. The SBP banned me 'cuz the tires were too wide! I have 175/14 Pirellis instead of 165/14. I went to another control center with a nice person who liked the car, so I passed.

1978 87 840 km
Replaced left outer track rod end. I had to buy a new rear mirror from Autoalfa, someone had kicked the old off the car. #€%%€& idiots. Waterpump replaced. New battery, old was totally dead. New clutch, release bearing and propeller shaft U-joint. Plugs and oil and filter new. Valves adjusted again to 0,45 mm. Italy for one week.

1979 95 130 km
New paint and hood. I did it almost by myself and I like the result. No rust on the Spider. The hood was of vinyl and turned out to be very durable. Drove away to Italy again.

1980 108 130 km
Only domestic driving, no oil consumption but regular change even though.

1981 114 670 km
New tyres all around. New piston rings and clutch replaced again! Engine noise, might be the cam chain. 1997 I found out it was not! New front seal for crank shaft.

1982 118 250 km
New upper cam chain, still engine noise. The brakes are setting and the booster is loosing power. Lots of other things to do so I waited to order the spares.

1983
No driving. New exhaust system and new brake booster fitted. Replaced brake tubes on rear axle. Still that €#"%€€ engine razzle.

1984
No driving. Replaced bleeding screws on rear brakes.

1985 112 150 km
Still some engine noise, rear shock absorbers replaced, otherwise no problems.

1986
No driving.

1987
No driving. Brakes needed bleeding again. New battery.

1988 122 250 km
Anti-thefth arrangement on steering wheel fitted. Engine noise continues at 2.000 to 2.500 revs. New plugs and valves adjusted. Still no oil consumption.

1989 123 050 km
#€%

1990
No driving. One tail light did not function. New wire fitted.

1991
No driving. New lower cam chain fitted but still that annoying engine noise.

1992
No driving. New rear exhaust pipe.

1993 125 210 km
New oil. Engine noise continues. . . #€%="##

1994 127 660 km
Windshield wiper motor broke down. Replaced with one from the junk-yard.

1995 128 850 km
Complete gearbox overhaul. New rubber mounts and yellow Koni shock absorbers fitted. Brakes overhauled and new gaskets there.

1996 129 100 km
Two new Pirellis and going to Italy again. Hood repaired, I am very pleased with the quality. Speedomeeter is starting to malfunction.

Going to Italy and Switzerland, total 4320 km. In Omegna I met this mechanic who said that the pistons might be of the non-offset kind that were used in a minor number in 1967. That might perhaps be the answer to the engine noise. He also mounted an electronic ignition system and the car is revving like never before.

Back home again, I replaced the head and fitted new liners and pistons. I measured the pistons and connecting rods and the discrepancy was a good 2 g. Total engine overhaul carried out in September.

%€#€€ chaos. The coolant is leaking through the entire engine. Two of the liners are apparently too short??? No compression on # 1 an 2.

Remove the head and check everything. Replacing the head gasket, but still the same.

Once again removing the head and replacing the head gasket, no change.
Rechecking the head for flatness, everything OK.

I take the Alfa to my favourite garage. Again, we have the heax checked for flatness and the liners measurd. The new liners are 0,20 mm shorter than the original liners. Ver strange indeed. The entire engine is cleaned and checked. Four new bolts in the head for the exhaust manifold. The liners are above the head within the tolerance 0.20 mm. Once more, the engine is full with coolant.

Again, for the fourth time I dismantle the engine. The valves are grinded at a specialist garage. When reassembling I use a lot of sealant and this time it works.

Finally, the engine is running again. The engine noise is gone. It appears as if the non-offset pistons were causing the sound.

I have welded the jack points and the front bumper support, nothing else have been under the attack of rust so far.

Now, it's time to respray my Roundtail. I remove every detail from the body and have it painted in the original colour Rosso PininFarina, a red colour with a slight tone of orange. Very nice, I have ordered some new parts from Highwood Motors. Front grill, badges, a canvas hood and some switches. Back again I mount the chrome and the new canvas hood and red carpets. Ready to take off.
Finally, my Roundtail is as good as when I first met her in 1972! However, there is still this razzling noice.

1997 131 410 km
What a joy to drive around in an Alfa Spider! I have had my Momo rims resprayed and am ready to take off for the Båstad Classic Car Show. I have also got my Roundtail a brand new hood bag, excellent quality from from Coburn Co in UK. I had to replace the ignition wires, all four of them. The engine was missfiring when accelerating and was firing in the exhaust system too, when decellerating. The local yunk-yard had a set from an Alfetta, free! That solved the problem. What else? SBP told me to replace the track rods, easily done.

Finally, the authorities in Sweden accepted my Spider as a 1967-model. Nice fellow at the VagVerket in Sweden, D. Thorn helped me. No taxes any more and I'll even get a refund. Great! Thanx a bunch.

What a mess I was driving with my 'spouse Stina when suddenly the front ckarnshaft pulley spinned of like a frisbee. To make a long story short, the love of my life, Stina managed to find the pulley in the wood again. The nut had obviously been cracked since 1980! I replaced and fitted a new lock-plate and like magic, the engine razzle disapperared. It was the locking shim that had been razzling all the time. It must be the most well tuned 1750 engine ever. For fourteen years I have been going over the tolerances, the valve shims, the head, the ignition etc etc. Well, now I have an excellent smooth-running engine and do not worry about the past.

One little advice, the problem might not be what you think it is!

Noticed that the radiator has a tendency to leak when hot. Have to fix that ASAP. Flat tyre, second time in 33 years! Clutch master cylinder kaputt! New one from Highwood £40.00

What a joy to drive a smooth 105-Alfa Romeo!

1998 136 498 km
There were no problems at all. I just did the regular oil change in the engine and the gear box. The Spider meeting in Limburg inspired me to overhaul the interior floor pans. I painted them with a special enamel paint. At the same time I painted the anti-roll bar. I also made a wind shield for the bar in plexi fibre to reduce the wind coming in my neck. It worked just fine. Lots of good driving this summer.

An Ammeter was fitted in the engine bay to check the alternator. The hood frame got some paint too, same black enamel quality.

1999 140 026 km
The valve timing and clearance were checked and adjusted. New fuel filter. Outer track rod ends replaced, the old had worne out. Wheel camber etc adjusted. The compulsory automatic light had blow a fuse, easy to adjust. I also laid my hands on a 1966 Duetto totally dismantled. Perhaps a donor car or a project car, ten years at least it will take.

New engine oil and filter. Total 10w-40 is my choice now. In France I blew a fuse for the wipers and had to get new blades too. Rear brake pads replaced in August. She runs and idles perfect, smooth and quiet. What an engine. I have cleaned the entire engine and the bay so she looked very nice at the Classic Car Show -99. The cable for the bonnet was loose, so I had to adjust it.

I fitted a new reservoir and improved the cooling system. The temp. was firm and precise even before, but now there is more water flushing in the cooling system. I had noticed that during long distances, say five to ten hours, the radiator had some air and this pressed the water into the reservoir. The new improved system solved that.

I also swapped the gas tank for the one from the -66 Duetto and painted the tank silver using Hammertite. Looks nice and works well.

Oh, yes of course. We went to the Limburg meeting again and to the Alsace valley in France. We did 3700 kms in three weeks. Funny, when I drive real cool and calm, the average fuel consumption goes down by some 20 to 25 percent. Michael "Alfanut" Williams was here to check and drive the Duetto and he was impressed. Nice fella.

147.574 kms In September 1999 I cahenged the Jaeger speedo with a Veglia, don't want to drive too much this summer with the Jaeger. The total Kms this summer was an impressive 7.548 kms and no problems. The Alfa is very solid and reliable. The Veglia reads 64.110 kms. Oil change at the same time, five litres of Total 15/40 W.

2000 144 236 km
Brake light switch broke, new from a Volvo Amazon! Clutch slave cylinder replaced from Highwood.

New hoses for the coolant reservoir. T-pipe junction for rear breakes at rear axle started to leak. I had to fit new brake pipes at the rear axle and also to replace the flexible hose. Did not cost much fortunately.

If you have any comments, please send an E-mail  Top