The Alfa is running beautifully now. Well, really well – but still slightly perplexingly. The fuel pressure problem disappeared after I filled the car with high test gasoline. The light stayed on for 1 or 2 kilometres, but after that, the baleful light disappeared. After that, as the mechanic promised the car ran perfectly (although he had suggested that I run the tank dry). Anyway, I’ve put about 200 km on the car and it ran without a miss. However (and there is always an “however”) when the car got down to about a half tank the fuel pressure light came on again – and within about 5 km, it was starting to hesitate… hmmmpf. So – I went to the gas station and immediately the problem was solved – no fuel pressure light. Is it the Hi Test? It does have 10% ethanol…
I’ve posted at the Alfa bb with regard to this and have several suggestions that I will be looking into. Still. The car is running well (though spraying a tiny bit of oil on the interior bonnet – but – HEY! it’s Italian….) so it’s an issue, but not a critical issue at this point. In general I’m thrilled with the car.
If there is one thing I find hard to get used to it’s this; my last car was the Mercedes you’ve seen earlier. That thing was a tank. With this car, if I have my hand on the quarter window as I drive over a repair/dip in the road, I find that I can feel the car react in different areas – through my foot (accelerator) first, my butt (seat) second and my hand windshield/quarter panel) third. The whole car “shifts”. Not in a “bad” way – just in a very “direct or precise” way. I’m, still trying to figure out whether this is good or not, but am leaning on the side of “good”. So – the handling is taking some getting used to. But in a good way. I had been warned that Alfa’s had wonderful road-handling, but this was not necessarily guaranteed to make you feel like you were in a luxury car…
If there is one thing I’ve learned with this car, it’s that if the top is down, the windows must be also. Otherwise, every crease in the road is accompanied by an unhappy rattle of the windows… I want to find out if this is “standard” or whether (for instance) I need to replace the door rubber…
But – in general… 🙂 Planning to go on an Alfa drive at the Escarpment not this weekend but next. Can’t wait!
Kicking Vintage Tyres 
I’m sure you know by now the first thing is to change the fuel filter, but if not it’s usually the culprit so have a look.
As far as window rattles go it’s the window channel “fuzzy” strips. The correct parts are expensive for some reason, but you can usually scrounge up some universal channel strips that work fine for less money, just a matter of getting the right dimensions.
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