Putting my Alfa Romeo's engine back into the car after an overhaul

These cars are fitted with Bosch L-Jetronic injection and ignition system. Lots of wires, sensors and endless hoses and tubes that all need to be fitted correctly.

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Earlier this week, I spent a day with Marc and the Spider. Marc had finished overhauling the engine and it was time to put the engine back into the Spider.

Marc must have done this hundreds if not thousands of times. But I have done it only a few times. For me, it is very interesting to work alongside a real pro.

Engine all done!

We had to shuffle some cars around to get the Spider onto the lift. Marc always has so many cars at his shop, space is always at a premium.

This is what the engine compartment looked like.

Here is an image taken from the front of the Spider. In the middle centre, you see the bell house and if you look closely, you can just see the input shaft. To the right, you see the flanges of the exhaust. We also took the hood off, which makes it a lot easier to get the engine back in again.

On the right-hand side, you see the alternator. On the left is the AC compressor and also the fuel injector rail with all the injectors. The starter motor is dangling down there as well. Actually, it might look a bit messy. But everything is tied down with tie-wraps. All other components were laid out separately and very systematically by Marc and his team.

Marc doing the final prep on the engine.

Back in again. Marc put an axle stand under the gearbox/bell house so it is angled slightly upwards. That allows for easier mounting of the engine. With the engine dangling from a little engine crane it took less than five minutes to put the engine back in its place, flush against the bell house once again. From there on it is just a matter of bolting everything back in place.

I was very impressed with Marc's knowledge and experience. We had so many bolts, nuts, washers, rings. He knew exactly which one went where!

Having the Spider on the lift is so much easier. Because you need to work from underneath and from above on the various engine components.

We had taken the track rod off as well. Can't get the engine in with it in place. Makes for interesting front wheel positions!

By the end of the day, everything was bolted back into place again. So I filled the cooling system with the appropriate cooling liquid and the engine with engine oil.

With everything tightened up, we hooked up the battery as well. Moment of truth. First start after a complete engine overhaul!

Started the first time! Not bad. These cars are fitted with the Bosch L-Jetronic injection and ignition system. Lots of wires, sensors and endless hoses and tubes that all need to be fitted correctly.

One of the injectors was leaking a bit of fuel, Marc will fix that. I needed to leave, unfortunately. There are a few more little things to fix and then the Spider will be ready. The next stop will be the "rolling road" where we are going to test the Bosch system.

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