My timesert kit came a day early and with minimal fuss I now have two M8x1.25 threads in my cylinder head to hold the exhaust camshaft in place.
But now I have a new dilemma, I got about half a mile into my test drive when the dashboard was engulfed in smoke and the acidic smell of burnt wiring. It appears my autometer phantom 2 wideband gauge I installed quite some time ago tried to kill itself because the 12v positive wire got hot enough to melt the insulation clean off of it. The wire itself is perfectly fine and I don’t see any arc spots under the dash so I don’t it got chaffed enough to short out against anything and I don’t think my power source (the ignition switch) is the issue because I’m pulling power for the voltage gauge from the exact same spot with no problems. It’s possible the gauge itself has a short in it but I’m not entirely convinced it does because I had the alfa idling in my garage for about 4 minutes without issue, yet a half mile of driving and the gauge goes kaput. Maybe it took that long for the wire to get hot enough to melt but I’m not sure about that because it’s a tiny 20 gauge wire. I’m almost convinced it’s something along the lines of a failing voltage regulator messing with the car.