Okay, I’m a terrible blogger.  So sorry.

The Alfa and I had a period of love/hate.  It all started when I noticed some sort of nasty liquid around the battery.  I replaced the battery, but still more nasty liquid.  I pulled the radiator, had it overhauled with a new core.  Same result.  Only left was the water pump.  One think led to another and we ended up here…

Yes, that’s right, the engine came out.  I broke a stud that holds the water pump to the engine.  Unfortunately, it also holds the timing chain cover.  Anyway, I took it to Alfaman in Novato

and in 10 days he tore down and rebuilt the engine and transmission.  Actually, we only cleaned up the pistons and valves, but completely rebuilt the tranny.  Along the way we ditched the electronic distributor I had installed and went back to a mechanical distributor with the ’71 curve (best!).  Here’s the finished result

I could not be more happy with the results.  The car is a joy to drive.  I’m really surprised how tight the transmission is.  The old one was very vague, now it’s actually crisp, even considering the long throw.