28 Nov Spanner Works: JP du Plessis

A regular feature by senior workshop technician JP du Plessis outlining the activities of FMM’s workshop personnel who are responsible for repairing, renovating, refurbishing and restoring the museum’s large and varied collection of vehicles. This month JP and Lorenzo Farella join forces to bring a Spider back to health…

Having built grand old cars of greater proportions before and right after the War, in 1954 Alfa Romeo changed its strategy with the introduction of the Giulietta, which was first seen at the Turin Motor Show. The smaller platform, with its revolutionary Nord twin-cam engine (designed by Giuseppe Busso), created a light and nimble driving experience. It was such a success that Alfa Romeo used this engine in various displacements until 1994.

In the museum’s collection is a 1961 Giulietta in left-hand-drive Spider guise. On a recent exercise run, it was found that the car was suffering from an intermittent misfire, so it was pulled into the workshop for JP du Plessis (an adopted Alfista) to attend to the problem. Work started by removing, cleaning and checking the gaps of the spark plugs and ignition points, making sure of the ignition timing and adjusting the carburettor. The car then pulled well, but was still sounding a little rough, so it was decided to dig deeper and check the cam timing and follow the valve clearance procedure. Workshop manager Lorenzo Farella (having been born an Alfista) had the required shims readily available as well as decades of experience playing with Alfas. Adjusting the Alfa’s valve clearances requires a little bit of basic maths and writing down the measurements and calculations, which are crucial to not having to start over…

After this, it was also decided to check and replace other maintenance items. Besides a full lubricant service, the Giulietta received a new propshaft carrier bearing, fan belt, fuel filter, ignition points and condenser. The carburettor was also removed and cleaned in the ultrasonic bath. With all these items attended to, it was time for a test run. The drive was smooth and the engine sounded crisp. – so it was all smiles back at the workshop.