Speaking of money, I think Roadkill may have saved me a ton of cash. Not by switching my car insurance to Geico, but by posting this header bashing video:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/azPKIjxmmdU
Those downpipes (not available in the US, and very expensive to ship) may just end up going in the "meh, later" bin.
Thanks Roadkill 
Almost done with the wiring, but you guys have seen all there is to really see in that department, so I thought I'd give ya something else to look at for a bit. The crank pulley from the 3-liter needs to be replaced with the crank pulley from the 2.5-liter (serpentine vs v-belt and there are water pump pulley clearance issues...). Anyhoo, I wrote up a how-to:
Afla Romeo 164 Crank pulley nut removal
1) chain the crank shaft to a bell housing bolt via the flywheel mount bolt
2) make sure the engine wont spin on the stand by tying a rachet strap to the post via an old jack handle
3) 1/2" breaker bar, and a length of exhaust tubing should give you all the "oomf" you need to bend the jack handle you have strapped to the stand post, and break the chain that's keeping the engine from moving.
4) Go finish your coffee and get ready for work.
(Round 1, Alfa)
Good times.
Keep fighting the good fight.
Well, I guess if I HAVE to 
Round 2:
Rachet strap relocation. I have one of the stand-to-engine mounts rachet strapped to one of the legs of the stand. Plus side is it seems to be stronger than the jack handle, down side is the stand likes to pick itself up when I really get to reefing on this beast.
Chain on crank to bellhousing replaced with 2x4 on crank counterweight. The board was installed a bit deeper than what the picture is going to show, but you'll get the idea. The plus side is there is no chain to break or bolts to bend (forgot to mention I bent the crap out of one of the bellhousing bolts). The down side is... well, we'll get to that...
Exhaust pipe cheater bar on 1/2" breaker bar replaced with BFH (Big berkin hammer). In reading what others have done this was one of the suggestions. Apparently the bolt really isn't so bad once you shock it loose. Since I dont have an impact gun to accomplish such a feat, I'm just going to have to impact my BFH right into the handle of my breaker bar.
(Round 2: Alfa)
Good times
As promised: The drawback to trying to use wood to block the crank from spinning is FOD it leaves inside your engine...
Remind me to bring my mechanical fingers with me next time I'm out in the garage. I kind of ran out of time today.
Have you tried a good impact gun?
Don't have one (or a compressor) 
I was thinking of loading it up, stand and all, and taking it to the local used tire shop and see if they have a 1/2" drive impact gun they could try. Maybe flip them a couple bucks or beer or something...
We'll see. I'm pretty stubborn, and getting everything loaded is a lot of work
Done!
While playing with the Hungarling and his Thomas the Train table we were digging through his selection of various train-track configurations when I noticed a couple small pieces of hard-ish wood (looks like oak, but seems harder...). I couldn't see any use for them in the track so I thought I'd do him a favor by putting them to good use in the garage.
Using the block of hard-ish wood in the same fashion as the 2x4 that previously didn't work, I went back at that nut with my breaker bar and cheater pipe. Just like the folks on the Alfa board said. As SOON as it went "ping!" the nut was loose as a goose.
Engine reset to TDC on #1 and ready for the pulley swap, water pump swap, oil pump drive swap, cam and pulley swap, and a bracket removal.
Not a bad 10-minute garage session, if I do say so myself
(I also brought a rope and a torch with me out to the garage. Had the wood not worked I had planned to thread the rope into the #1 cylinder on its compression stroke to lock the engine and then apply heat the pulley nut... I wasn't sure I wanted to go that route as I was genuinely worried about the connecting rod with all the force I had been putting on the nut previously with no success)
Good times
Congo Rats! It looks like you didn't even get dirty!
Ha! My powers must be growing
Still progressing forward. Some final touches and the wires will be ready for wrap. I'm holding off at the moment as I want to work a bit more on finding a manual window regulator option before I wrap things up for good. But for now, here's a before/after:
In other news (and I can't remember if I've mentioned this already) there may be some events coming down the pipe that are going to force me to wrap this up on the fly. It's not certain yet but at the moment I need to stop all work on the 3-liter and button up the 2.5-liter to have it prepped for a quick install. I may also hold off on the engine bay paint, as well as a few other areas. I think I can still keep the project moving forward by addressing the manual vs electric window options, finishing the wire harness, and buttoning up the interior. I also have someone interested in the Impala I'm selling. If they take it, I'll have cleared enough to get the Alfa into the paint booth. More to follow, but cross your fingers for me please...
Hungary Bill wrote: In other news (and I can't remember if I've mentioned this already) there may be some events coming down the pipe that are going to force me to wrap this up on the fly. It's not certain yet but at the moment I need to stop all work on the 3-liter and button up the 2.5-liter to have it prepped for a quick install. I may also hold off on the engine bay paint, as well as a few other areas. I think I can still keep the project moving forward by addressing the manual vs electric window options, finishing the wire harness, and buttoning up the interior. I also have someone interested in the Impala I'm selling. If they take it, I'll have cleared enough to get the Alfa into the paint booth. More to follow, but cross your fingers for me please...
Cryptic Bill is cryptic.
What is possibly in the pipe that would require you to finish this in a hurry? And tell us more about the potential buyer for the Impala! I demand more info! Text message update would be acceptable.
A gentleman never asks, a lady never tells (Cant jinx it)
Sent you a text though.
Well, my Impala sold. With that I got what may very well be the last major bump in funding for this project (unless this is still going 6-years from now). I'm hoping to have enough to get her painted, but first I have to get her back together and prepped.
To wrap up the wiring (literally) I ordered some pretty split sleeving and some wire tags. Oldskewltoy's photo serves as the motivation for this one
While I wait for those to arrive I still have to remove a few more wires, and give the harness a good going over. It'd probably help things if I could have it as pretty as possible too.
I also ordered two Alfetta GT manual window regulators off of e-bay. I've been doing some picture to door comparing and the mounting points look similar, and the handle spline attachment looks like it has sufficient facilities in the door to require no modification, but more to follow on that one. If all goes well, I'll remove the rest of the power window wiring before buttoning up the wire harness (and I'll be very happy because I absolutely HATE the power windows in this car)
I also ordered some goodies for body work. The usual stuff, bondo, kitty hair, primer, gloves, respirator, sanding blocks, sand paper, putty knives, spreaders, etc, etc etc. Pretty much everything the person who's never done bodywork before needs to start screwing up the already horrible finish on his car
To make use of the extra space in the garage, I ordered four car dollies from HF. I figure I'll angle it to give me a better stab at the sides where most of the bodywork is (the back too!).
I'm finding it hard to behave when it comes to NOT spending every last cent in my bank account all at once... For instance: I told myself I really did need Bilstein monotube dampers from Performatek and their braided stainless brake lines, but I stopped short of their beefier preformance springs, and sway-bars. I figure if I have enough left over when the paint dust settles I can always go back.
All in all, I spent about $1600 between Centerline, Ebay, Amazon, and Performatek.
It is a good day 
When you know the FedEx and UPS delivery people by name, you might be having too good of a time!
RossD wrote: When you know the FedEx and UPS delivery people by name, you might be having too good of a time!
I thought EVERYBODY on here knew their delivery folks by name!
So... When is the sanding party?
Please give me some more information about the braided split loom you ordered. Want to use that stuff on the duster, and have never used it before. Just seen it.
Clockwork: Every morning! 4:30 to about 5:15, stop by and dive in any time!
Duster: This is the stuff I've ordered: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004UHQMYW?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01
I've worked with similar material in the past and loved the finished product. I bought this because it seemed more of a nylon finish, and it's split sleeved, which isn't my favorite, but it does mean I can slip it over the harness without de-pinning any of the connectors first. I'll let you know how it works out. So far I've ordered 1", 3/4", 1/2", and 1/4" in ten foot sections. Maybe if I have leftovers I could send some your way.
It's a bear to cut with a knife or scissors though, you really need a hot wire/hot knife or something to get through it.
Hungary Bill wrote: Clockwork: Every morning! 4:30 to about 5:15, stop by and dive in any time!
Sorry... I'm already at work by that point. I get out at 3pm. Any time after that and I'm in.
Quick post because I'm in major "catch up" mode:
One week off and now I'm back in town. So, I guess I can ditch with the "cryptic talk" now. I had an interview last week in Hungary with the organization that provides oversight for the work I used to do for Boeing there (big name in the business). The interview was so rough I'm not worried about jinxing it anymore darn superstitions anyways.
So, one week on the road and this stuff was waiting for me when I got back:
Hungary being 9-hours ahead, I'm up at 1am on Monday morning all ready to go. So I figure I'll use my jet-lag to my advantage and see if I cant wrap up this wiring. (I'm relatively positive I bombed the interview, but I'm also very positive I'm going to try to get back to Hungary soon with another position. That being said, I'm going to try to get this "driveable" quick and sort the rest out after it gets there)
I'll give myself till the end of the week to quit messing with wiring. After that it just goes back in, ready or not.
Here we go 
Photobucket wont rotate the photos, sorry.
Anyhoo, not a bad 4-hours in the workshop It looks a bit more complete than it is (ran out of zip-ties), but I have it to where I should just be able to zip most of what you see there into place tomorrow. I also ran out of 1/4" sleeve (I had 20ft, I need about 10 more I think).
Of course there is the risk that with all the repaired wires, and re-runs, I'm going to smoke-check all of this when I hook the battery up...
Good times
So, close up and review of your amazon braided loom? I've been waiting to see what you think before I spend money.
Love it, love it, love it.
Looks clean, installs easy, adds protection against chafing, and gives it a nice professional feel to everything. Would do it again.
The biggest selling point for me was when I pulled it off the ply-wood map and tossed it into the driver seat in a bundle (baby woke up, had to run). Then picked it up off the drivers seat and it untangled itself instantly.
Anyhoo, a few things I learned along the way:
start with the small runs then do the big ones. The reason being you tuck the end of the small run about 1/2in into the big one and it looks cleaner and gets rid of the seam.
you can notch the braiding with a solder gun instead of stop-start every time you get to an off-shoot. But you'll have to do something otherwise it looks like crap
Use floss or string tie to get all the wires as clean as possible before you do the overbraiding. Sloppy wires aren't easily hidden.
tighten the braiding as much as possible before zip-tying into place (or whatever method of securing you prefer) but don't twist it into a spiral. It looks like crap if you do...
one zip-tie about every 4-fingers length on the small runs seem to do just fine, slightly further apart as the runs get fatter.
But yeah. I like it and am happy with the result. I think it will led itself well to repairs in the future as I can cut the zip ties, unfold the necessary area and repair. I only worry about having to make a complete wire run... might be more involved.
In reply to Hungary Bill: Great post. Thanks for the details on your experience in working with that loom material. I'm sure that will be useful for lots of us here!
Thanks Bill. Looking like I'm going to try it out on the duster.
Where did you get the wire tags? I think I need some.
And are you really planning on re-importing this to Hungary? I can't decide if you're brilliant or insane.
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