| Author |
Message |
stu cordova (Balataboy)
| | Posted on Saturday, September 29, 2001 - 12:02 pm: | |
BRAVO, Peter BRAVO!!!!!
Enzo would be proud..... |
Gerrit Visser (Gerritv)
| | Posted on Friday, September 28, 2001 - 8:15 pm: | |
Congrats Peter,
I recall your feeling from my rebuild of an Alfa 1750 GTV engine in the 70's. Apprehension overcome with joy, then relief, then rejoicing :-) |
magoo (Magoo)
| | Posted on Friday, September 28, 2001 - 5:37 pm: | |
Peter, Were they able to mount your tires without scrapeing off the paint on the outer edge of the wheel? I know when I had mine done, after refinishing, I had to watch them and make sure they kept the removal bar of the machine on the tire and not on the edge of the wheel. Great to see that you finally lit her off. Good work! |
Larry (Larry)
| | Posted on Friday, September 28, 2001 - 10:33 am: | |
Excellent Peter! was keepimg my fingers crossed for ya(good weather). anxoius to hear how today goes and, your first mile. A big congratulations!!!
Larry |
Erik Jonsson (Gamester)
| | Posted on Friday, September 28, 2001 - 3:55 am: | |
This is too comical! I too was fortunate enough to be able to start my car this Thursday after over a year in the process. Runs well but is extremely rich- I disconnected the air bypass valve and that leaned it out partially. Without the seats I drove it out of the shop and back in. The Ansa exhaust on it sounds superb, alot like a built 5.0 Mustang with a Banks exhaust. Throaty!
Tinted the rear window tonight and will install tomorrow. Then off to the upholsterers on Monday. Nice to see everything come together after so long!
Erik |
'75 308 GT4 (Peter)
| | Posted on Friday, September 28, 2001 - 1:10 am: | |
The day started early.
Got in the van, took my refinished wheels to the local tire shop to have the tires mounted (14" Pirelli P4000).
Got a brand new battery from Costco.
Filled up two 5 gal. pails of premium gas.
Went back home.
Put everything in, bolted everything up.
At 5:00pm, turned the key, starter spins for quite some time... good actually, because the engine is getting well primed with oil... The engine finally catches and the beast starts and runs on a very low and lumpy 400RPM idle.
Dabbing the throttle clears it's throat and keeps the engine running, I slowly let out the clutch and she rolls under its own power (for the first time in ten months) out into the laneway.
Jumping out, I quickly grab my multimeter and set it to read RPM's. I also grab my timing light and set the distributors. Working on the throttle-stop screws, I (roughly) bring the engine to a normal 900 RPM's and let it warm up. The coolant starts churning in the expansion tank and I go and bleed the rad (my GT4 does not have a thermostat-body bleed screw). The exhaust pumping out a thick cloud of smoke, but over time clears up to nothing. But my nerves finally catch up with me and I struggle to get the balance between banks. Its also pushing 7:00pm now and light in the sky is fading.
So I pack-up and plan to do my adjustments tomorrow (Friday). Put it in reverse and park it in the garage.
Success!!
Somewhat.
What doesn't work is my oil-pressure gauge (which I think was on its last legs before this work last year), fuel-gauge, oil-temp gauge and my fuel pump leaks.
We'll see what tomorrow brings. But after pulling into the garage for the evening, I get an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment and joy. I stand back and admire the car sitting there. One of the most involved, complex jobs in my life and it works. Sorry I don't have any photos of the start-up, too nervous. I asked everyone to leave the garage (Herbert said it was bad luck to have an audience), well it worked. Now, I can at least get a good night's sleep knowing that it runs... I can't explain the feelings I have right now, I'm up there, somewhere way up there...
Grazie Enzo! |
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