Re: alfa-digest V9 #188

[Redwoodcabin@domain.elided]

Hello Alfa Enthusiasts,

I've recently purchased my first Alfa, an ivory, 1984, Spider Veloce 2000, in 
excellent condition and with only 80K on the odie.  Thanks to my brother and 
his diligence.  He bought the car and garaged it for the past 6+ years.  We 
tend to trade sports cars, but that's another story.  Both of us were raised 
at the local tracks (Sears Point, now Infineon and Laguna, now Mazda 
Raceway), not to mention various tracks outside our immediate area.  Anyway, 
I digress, we both love racing and sports cars.  So, this was a mid-life gift 
to myself and I'm somewhat a neophyte to the whole Alfa ownership thing.

The questions that keep rattling around in my brain are, period, or not?  My 
car needs some new hoses and currently has the ones with the fabric braiding 
on the outside of the rubber core (original).  Can you even find these types 
of hoses anywhere?  Would my local Alfa repair shop have them?  Also, my car 
is Ivory with, what used to be a navy rag and dirty, navy leather interior.  
I would like to clean up the interior and replace the rag with another navy 
rag, but cannot seem to find replacements in these colors, e.g., IAP doesn't 
carry the navy as one of their color options for either the top or leather 
upholstery.

I also was advised by my brother, that the rear bushings probably need 
replaced in the not too near future.  I am not the most mechanically inclined 
individual, so I will probably take it to an Alfa shop.  Does anyone know of 
a reputable one, either in the Bay Area, say Mt. View, Menlo Park, or over on 
the coast, say Santa Cruz?  I live in La Honda.

At any rate, I love this new baby of mine and thoroughly enjoy the ride.  I 
find though, that it handles like a pig at low speeds and much more smoothly 
at higher speeds.  I have a lot of good, country roads to drive my mid-life 
trophy on, so I'm a happy person.  I think I've answered the question, 
"What's it all about Alfie."  EWE.. Sorry!!!

Anyway, I've also noticed that the brakes fade when the car is cold and I 
pull outta the driveway.  Any ideas on why that is happening?  I tended to 
think that it might be because the vacuum advance lines maybe leaking (the 
fabric covered, rubber hoses).  Feed back appreciated.  Oh yeah, one more 
thing.  The tach doesn't seem to register, which I understand is an 
electronic tach, so there maybe a connection lose?  Or what else may cause 
this?  Anyway...thanks for any input.

Eric
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