Its Italian - The Issues Never End

 So it has been over twelve months since the last post and in that time a lot has gone on in the world of Alonzo.

After the Lakeside outing on June 23, it wasn't long after before once again the failing clutch reared its ugly head again. Pumped the pedal for what seemed like ages but nothing, so a quick call to Barry and he popped around to have a look. Pumped it a couple times and presto, working again; how to look a fool in a few seconds. Alonzo was all fine up until we went for a European trip and when we returned it was all out to get things done before the late November QR Raceway outing. Barry had in the meantime replaced an engine mount and a bush now they had arrived in Australia whilst also cleaning out the blocked aircon outlet at the same time, so no more leaks into the cabin and time to return the carpets. A bit of a tedious job but the end result was worth it.

 



I had also started cleaning up the plastics which in a 20 plus year old car had started to become sticky. A very laborious job with alcohol, cloth and elbow grease but the results were quite successful.

    

So once again on track at QR Willowbank in November and a fun morning was had in warm conditions with Alonzo running well, if not as fast as the turbo cars that were there. That could possibly also be attributed to the driver, but I don't care, I'm having immense fun. ;-)

So after this outing, things went OK for a couple of months and little bits and pieces were fixed from an aesthethic viewpoint inside. However of course this wasn't to last and finally in October the clutch finally went. The stupid slave cylinder had gone and due to brilliant Alfa engineering, the whole gearbox needed to be removed as it sits inside the housing. Barry was set for January until ill health forced him to stop work so it was a matter of finding someone to fit the items. Finally in late January 2024, Automotion in Enoggera had time and late one Sunday arvo I limped Alonzo across the river to the shop and left him there to be fixed. 

Of course nothing is simple and upon removing the gearbox, it was found the manifold was cracked due to a broken bracket. Off to get rewelded and returned to Automotion who then fitted the new clutch kit, flywheel machined slave cylinder fitted and few little extras. Picked him up and brilliant. Mention of shocks need replacing but that can be later.

2024 went well and Alonzo enjoyed a number of Happy Laps at both Lakeside and Queensland Raceway. New door linings were installed in July on all four dours to match the roof lining, and a couple of the non working speakers replaced with new and wrecker sourced tweeters. Cruise control was fixed by simply cleaning contacts on switchs under the brake and clutch pedals. An Ultra Racing rear Strut Brace bar was installed as it had been mentioned a number of times that when others were following there was a hell of a lot of body roll when cornering. I was also noticing knocking noises all round the car and decided late in the year that new shocks and coils were needed. Luckily on our last Happy laps at QR I met Jorrit ( Alfa mechanic) who suggested fitting some DGR Coilovers with damper adjustment. These were duly ordered and on the 31st Dec they were fitted. We lowered the car all round by about 20mm and the new coilovers allowed for 30 stops of damper adjustment; plenty of fiddling for racedays. The improvement was immediate. No more noises from the front and back suspension and the handling was brilliant, I did not realise how bad it was beforehand. So basically now all the suspension components, save the rear torsion bars ( may get around to it) have been replaced and it was now time to look at getting my Motorsports Australia drivers licence and doing my first sprint series. January 19th 2025, Queensland Raceway here I come.












                 
      





    

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