Rankin’ Full Stop
I see you upon the street, you look so sweet,
I see you with your dancin’ feet, yeah.
Said are you ready, said are you ready to stop,
Said are you ready, said are you ready to stop,
I said stop.
A TI report, brought to you by the English Beat, of course.
I’ve had to keep the Giulia TI up on jackstands for the past couple weeks while I waited for a new front left caliper. It would have been a quicker turnaround but I wasn’t paying much attention when I removed the old caliper and didn’t notice that, at some point between 1966 and 2008, someone had swapped out the original little ATEs for the bigger ones found on the 2-liter Alfas of the 70s. I wasn’t overly bothered by this discovery, since having bigger brakes is never a bad thing. The caliper I replaced was completely frozen; I’m really looking forward to stopping in something resembling a straight line.
The calipers were easy to get off and even easier to get back on, so there really isn’t much to tell; this is already the long version of a very short story so we’ll leave it at that as far as the brakes are concerned. I’ll have a road test tonight and hopefully everything will feel good and solid.
Having to remove 2 of the 4 wheels on the car gave me all the excuse I needed to finally scrub all the rims down, brush and clean with some highly noxious paint prep stuff, and rattle can them from gray and crusty to silver and shiny. This was a quick and dirty medium-term fix to address the last really ugly part of this car. Maybe when I replace the tires I’ll do a proper job of media blasting and powder coating. Or not – they look fine from 20 feet away.
As seen from the front....
... and as seen from the rear. This once-ratty TI is nearly ready for the prom.
I’m glad to have the TI back in service and give the Super (yet another) well-deserved break.
June 3rd, 2010 at 8:22 pm
the wheels make it. looks stellar man.
June 17th, 2010 at 11:13 am
Nice – will I see it on the Motherlode this weekend?
June 17th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
It’s currently a 50/50 game between the TI and the Sprint 1600. As I write this, ie with 24 hours left before I’d really have to put down the wrenches, the Sprint sits with gas tank removed and a bit of welding and fabricating left to do still to get something like a battery tray or hold-down mechanism in place in the trunk. The TI (or the Super, for that matter) are capable and inviting alternatives if I can’t sort out the Sprint in time.