Resurrecting Jalpa #359

Camera?! I expect CBS national news to broadcast it LIVE

 

 

you guys are hilarious

engine bay wiring harness is all disconnected. they seemed to have teamed up that harness with the aftermarket stereo stuff. once it's disconnected i'll be done disconnecting the engine bay. bad news on the carbs.... looks like somehow the fuel that was in the carbs ate through the float bowl. how in the hell does that happen? Pretty sure I'm going to need new carbs...

 

 

any more progress? :zthread needs pics:

I'm sure he gotta work in between restoring this thing.

I'm sure he gotta work in between restoring this thing.

 

What I wouldn't give to be retired and spend all my time restoring a Jalpa

 

I kind of pissed off my back, I got a little overzealous on a few bolts. I've tried to take a few days being easy on myself till I don't feel like I've got the back of a 90 year old man. Been doing little things like wiring and getting the carbs off. All in good time

Wait until you see what the motor-mounts look like when you get them off! This is unless they've already been replaced.

 

Mine were in horrible shape.

I forgot to take and send the pictures of my custom Jalpa carb wrench. Sorry for the delay.

 

As you can see in the pictures, I modified the wrench considerably.

 

-The U side was bent to about a 45 degree angle while the O side was bent almost to a 90 degree angle.

 

-The U side is ground considerably. The ends were ground down to make the points considerebly narrower. This is to get the head of the wrench into the tight spaces and turn in the confined space.

 

-The O side is ground way down all around. The end is super thin to get into the space around the nut. They built the carb body right next to the nut, so the head has to be really thin. I also took quite a bit of material fron the top and bottom of the O head. You need to do this to get over the nut and bolt and get into the absurdly tight space.

 

With this weird little wrench, I was able to get all 4 carbs off without removing the rubber pieces.

 

I see what you did there, tricky, I like it!

Found 6 Webber 42DCNF Carbs on ebay today. Still looking for a set? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Weber-42-DCNF-carb...715&vxp=mtr

Derek, any updates?

Derek, any updates?

 

Got a replacement window motor so that makes me happy. More wiring. Too much work this week (not on the car, just actual work), have had little time. That and it's freezing balls outside. 23F today.

As long as long as it's your and in your garage everything else can get done whenever.

As long as long as it's your and in your garage everything else can get done whenever.

 

Yep! No rush

So I have no heater for my garage, even though it's insulated. Woke up this morning, "Yeah, I think I'll go work on it this morning."

 

6F. Nope.

A space heater helps a little but yeah I'm not planning to be out there too much unless it is close to 50 in there lol

-22F here today. Yeehaw!

So here is where the interior started

 

 

I cleaned the seats up today. The leather and everything is in amazing shape, just super dirty since the car sat for a while.

 

Driver side is obviously not perfect, but it's still nice.

 

All of this bullshit came out of the car today.

 

I put it in a box, I doubt I will use it again.

 

Interior as I was taking it apart.

 

State of the interior now. Looks rusty but that's actually glue from the carpet and insulation. I plan on stripping the rest of it off tomorrow. There's no way to properly get to all the wiring harnesses without getting the carpet and covering out of the car. I figured the carpet looks like crap anyway, so I just tore it out so I can go through it properly.

 

Got the engine lid open with the spare cable.

 

Took the center plates off. They're in good shape. Needs new hardware, old hardware is old and rusty (not surprising).

 

Carpet is all out. It's old, grungy, messed up in some places. Measured it so I can order new carpet and make my own.

 

I think that's enough for today.

 

any evidence of water damage in the interior? i knew of a flood car on the east coast. the flood damage wasnt major it still ran afterwards.

 

regards rs

 

go seahawks!

any evidence of water damage in the interior? i knew of a flood car on the east coast. the flood damage wasnt major it still ran afterwards.

 

regards rs

 

go seahawks!

 

I don't think we're talking the same car. This one hasn't ran in a while from my understanding. No idea how long to be honest. No matter though, if it takes me months or years, I'll have it on its feet. I think even if one finds a car that has "little to no damage and still drives" one would want to tear it apart. Hell, even with all the known issues on the Jalpa, even a nice one with "no issues", I'd probably still tear it apart and put it back together. Part of me feels like tearing it apart and putting it back together makes learning fun, the rest of me wants to do it "my way" and the other part of me just wants nothing to worry about for the future years of ownership.

I don't think we're talking the same car. This one hasn't ran in a while from my understanding. No idea how long to be honest. No matter though, if it takes me months or years, I'll have it on its feet. I think even if one finds a car that has "little to no damage and still drives" one would want to tear it apart. Hell, even with all the known issues on the Jalpa, even a nice one with "no issues", I'd probably still tear it apart and put it back together. Part of me feels like tearing it apart and putting it back together makes learning fun, the rest of me wants to do it "my way" and the other part of me just wants nothing to worry about for the future years of ownership.

 

Well said! With only 410 Jalpa's built, every one saved is a good thing!

 

Mike

Well said! With only 410 Jalpa's built, every one saved is a good thing!

 

Mike

 

Indeed. It really makes me wonder: How many are actually left?

Debate topic:

 

I'm tempted to convert this thing to ITBs with modern fuel injection... should I?

Debate topic:

 

I'm tempted to convert this thing to ITBs with modern fuel injection... should I?

 

ITB = individual throttle bodies? I've always loved that look and I don't see why you shouldn't. Something on the scale of a Miura I think would be blasphemy to make it modern but I dont see why not with the Jalpa

ITB = individual throttle bodies? I've always loved that look and I don't see why you shouldn't. Something on the scale of a Miura I think would be blasphemy to make it modern but I dont see why not with the Jalpa

 

See that's kind of what I'm wondering. I was speakin' with old man pegs and he said for resale value I should stick to stock. I 100% agree with him there. But this car isn't perfect, it hasn't run in years. It's likely that as I rebuild it, I won't be sticking to 100% factory parts, especially since modern materials have come so far and especially since I can make it more reliable. However, that means it won't necessarily be 100% original.

 

So there lies the dilemma. Do I say, "fcuk it." and squeeze out more power, have more fun, build it my way and have some fun with it but make it not original... or do I "stick to the plan" and keep it as original as possible.

 

I have absolutely no desire to change the cosmetics. I love the way it looks and do not want to touch the lines. However, when it comes to mechanics, electronics, etc... I can already start to see a ton of things where I'm going, "I could improve that. I could do my own circuit with this. I could do xyz here... what if I did this there?" and the first thing that came to mind was, "How could would it be to have a fuel injected Jalpa that is 100% tuneable?"

 

Let's be realistic... the fuel system is old and dated, the fuel pumps are hard to find, and spendy. The fuel system routing is one of the concentrations most owners want to improve since some of the lines are prone to heat problems from the headers. I can already think of ways I could improve that and regulate it, etc. I could potentially do something like megasquirt. Although, this time around, instead of having the standalone do spark AND squirt (which is my current issue on the race car, ignition), I'd stick to an MSD setup and leave the fuel system to just the computer.

JPegs brings up a good point. I think realistically you would be able to find a buyer since someone will surely appreciate that it is modernized. You may get less money selling it that way but you also may spend less to make it that way. I'm not up to date enough on people who have modernized the countach systems and how that played into costs to do them and then cost to sell so someone else on here will surely have some better insight.