An embarrassing amount of time has passed since my Alfa had a confirmed kill on its head gasket. Between the Land Rover, Jag, and Saab... frankly I just didn’t feel like dealing with my little Italian princess right now. He (she?... I’m always on the fence on that one... regardless of gender, 100% princess) got lavished with parts and attention a couple years ago and, frankly, I’ve got other, more useful cars to work on. Cars with AC. And heat. And cruise control. And that are mostly waterproof.
(Fun fact: All of my cars except the Alfa have cruise control and heated seats, which is wild when you consider the 1984 Saab is included in that!)
Anyway, the Alfa is 100% going to miss convertible season, but at the the same time I’m wrapping up projects on the other cars soon (hopefully) so its turn in line is coming. The Land Rover goes to the mechanic on Monday, the Jag on Tuesday, and I am in the process of putting the Saab’s fuel tank back in now.
Man this article is all over the place, isn’t it?
ANYWAY!
Alfa.
Parts.
So many parts.
My usual go-to for parts is Classic Alfa in the UK. I’m slightly nervous about going that route as the last two international packages I’ve dealt with took 1.5 months and 2.2 months to be delivered. Still, if I don’t order international I feel like that is letting the terrorists win so I’ll probably still go with Classic. Based on their website I’m looking at:
- Gasket kit (minus HG, Spesso branded) - $41
- Head gasket (Victor Reinz brand) - $34
- Valve springs, performance - $166
Which isn’t too bad. Optionally I’m also looking at...
- Valves (x8, unknown if needed) - $100
- Timing chain, lower - $13
- Timing chain, upper - $25
- Timing chain spring - $8
- Valve guides and other parts - $75
Not sure what else I should be looking at doing, but this is my warm up list. There was also some talk of a full engine rebuild or throwing in some hot cams, but.... well we’ll see.
The Alfa will ride again.
Eventually.