Addressing few issues on the Alfa Romeo before our road trip to France

One of the problems with the car was a small oil leak from one of the bolts holding the sump.

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Yesterday I took the Spider back to Marc, for a few checks after the engine overhaul and all the other work he had done on it.

I had three items on my list; A small oil leak, Some pulling to the right when braking and I also wanted Marc to see if he could adjust the front wheels slightly, so the steering would be a little easier.

Next to that Marc would refresh the engine oil and filter, re-torque head bolts, check tension on the distribution chain and a few other things.

The oil leak came from one of the little bolts holding the sump. Marc put some more anti-leak paste on and retightened it. But then he was not satisfied with how the sump protector had been installed and it might have been rubbing against the little bolt. So he took it off and grinned it down a bit, to get some clearance.

A couple of images from underneath my car. You can see all the nice new shiny parts!

Marc took the cam cover off and broke out his fancy digital torque wrench. I was surprised to see how much some of the nuts turned. Some up to 30 degrees!

Also tightened the distribution chain. On the Spider this is a very simple mechanical tensioner. New chains always stretch a bit. Of course, they will stretch more as they wear down. But that is an extremely slow process. Valve clearance on these engines is checked every 30-40K km. In order to adjust the clearance you need to loosen the distribution chain tensioner as the camshaft has to come off in order to adjust the clearance by means of shims.

Marc also has this fancy piece of machinery. A balancing machine for camshafts. He does almost everything on engines in-house!

It was interesting to see how Marc undid the oil plug on the sump. He kept the pressure on it whilst unscrewing it. Next, he very carefully lifted a tiny bit of the sump and its threads. He wanted to make sure there was no (cooling) liquid in the engine oil, which would have accumulated right on top of the oil plug as it is the deepest point in the sump. All was well, also no debris on the magnets on top of the oil plug.

Marc spend quite a bit of time trying to fix the pulling to the right. The steering has become lighter, and it pulls less, but it is not perfect yet. But it is good for now. In a couple of days, we are off on our annual Spider trip to our friends Annelies and Cees and their Bed and Breakfast in Buxerulles, France.

I drove home via all kinds of rural roads and a “pontje” (ferry) as one does in rural Netherlands.

On the way home I also stopped at Alfa parts guy, Goos and picked up some nice new shining wheel nuts. Looks much better

The old, originally galvanised, but now rusty, wheel nuts.

The new nuts are slightly taller, about 5-6mm. So at some point in time I might get my old nuts nickel plated.

I also noticed the left window rattling a bit. So I took the door card off, once again.

I found the rubber inside the window guide rail had come undone. So glued it back in and everything seems fine once again.

I had already washed, polished and waxed my Spider. Just a last few more details to sort and I will be ready for France!! Looking forward to it.

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