Turismo Tasmania 2012 – Day 1
This year there is no traditional Alfesta at Easter time, so my family joined the Turismo Tasmania – a four day driving tour of Tasmania (http://www.alfaromeoturismotasmania2012.com.au/). On Thursday evening before Easter, we sailed on the Spirit of Tasmania – the large ferry that crosses Bass Strait from Melbourne to Devonport in Tasmania. The boat was well subscribed for the Easter break, so there was a long delay...
Mario II blossoms into life (-ish)
We’ve had a busy month or so preparing Mario II for the gruelling shitbox rally. Preparations have included attending to a leaking rear caliper, and a leaking clutch slave cylinder, replacing shagged swaybar bushes, fitting of second hand rally tyres, alternator mounts, and various other bits and pieces. Finally Mario was declared fit for the highway, and was granted a 45-day club permit. We’ve also fitted a stereo with...
1750 GTV – March 2012 #3
Lovely weather here at the moment, so I’m enjoying spending a little time each evening tidying up parts and making small progress. I pulled apart, cleaned up and painted the window wiper mechanism, and greased the pivot points. The motor I have is I think from an Alfetta with a 5-wire plug. Now I know why the wipers didn’t self-park. The original motor is a 3-wire plug, I’m still not sure if it was one-speed or...
1750 GTV – March 2012 #2
The early 1750 GTVs had no adjustment lever built into the outer headlamp units, so there was no cut-out in the stainless headlamp rings. Our car had one of each kind, so I asked around and Rob Panetta provided me with a spare cut-out-less headlamp ring. Apparently he dropped it off for me in a mate’s race car at Phillip Island last weekend, and it made itself known as he was driving out onto the track for the next event!...
1750 GTV – March 2012
Fiddling with the pedals for the GTV. These pedals have a pressed-in bronze bushing which wears and makes the pedals loose and rattly, and the brake pedal from our car was particularly bad. Rather than hunt for a suitable bushing, I went through a box of old pedals until I found a decent brake pedal and cleaned it up. I still need to drill out the hole for the push rod clevis pin as it has worn into an oval. When that’s done...
Phillip Island Historics 2012
As usual there was a large contingent of nice Alfas from all over Australia competing at the Phillip Island Classic this year. A highlight was the return of Hugh Harrison’s Group A Ignis GTV6. Below is a selection of interesting things that caught my attention yesterday. I also uploaded this short clip to give a reminder of the awesome sound and feel of the Group A cars:...
Buy a T-Shirt!
I made a handful of t-shirt designs which you can buy from RedBubble online. Click on the image to look at the selection.
