A Leslie Wong Blog

The damage that the inattentive driver did to the Alfa has largely been repaired after some co-operative Allstate insurance people.

My neighbor who is also a car guy, Tony Prock, recommended
J & J Auto Body in Monterey and I’m happy with the work they did. It cost me a little more than the insurance paid but the car looks better than what could have been done with the insurance settlement.

It was a pain getting the appraisal and trying to get what I thought I should get from Allstate, but I learned you should not give ground on what you think “make you whole” means – recovering all of the costs for returning you to where you were before the accident. If I had agreed with the first adjuster that wanted to total the car, all I would have now is a check for $1250 and no car.

An inattentive driver backed out of her parking space while I happened to be driving by. This was the result.

I asked, on the Alfa Digest, for opinions on Shankle headers vs. Alfa European cast iron headers. Russ Neeley suggested that I use the header flange gasket to compare the shape of the headers.

It looks like there is enough material to grind on the Shankle header to smooth the transition from the head.

Tom Sahines wrote: “The only power difference will (be) evident over 7000 RPM. The Shankle headers will be significantly louder.”

The Shankle header is also (warning: PDF) approved in California by the Air Resources Board (CARB). It has the mounting holes for the air injection rail that is part of the pollution control air pump.

I bought an extra air rail to modify to fit on the cast iron header but that seems to be a back-burner operation.

I bought a new Magnaflow catalytic converter for my 1979 Alfetta Sprint Veloce. These converters don’t have the flanges like the OEM converters because they are meant to be welded in.

They’re also a lot cheaper (~US$65 vs $200-$250).

I cut the flanges off the old converter and ground them down so they’d fit on the new converter.

SEM Colorcoat

I bought these vinyl seats for my 1979 Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce in 2002 on eBay for $99. They had no rips or tears but looked dirty.

At the local automotive paint store I bought three cans of SEM Colorcoat 15093, Light Buckskin for about $10/can (13 oz). There were also SEM cleaners and surface prep. The guy at the store said just to use lacquer thinner, which I did. Two and half cans later they looked OK. I painted them in July 2002 and they have held up very well – no cracking or chipping.

Colorcoat seems to be more of a flexible paint, than a dye. The driver’s seat shows dirt but it cleans off with Simple Green. The apparent unevenness in the color in the photo is due to the lighting, rather than the application of the paint.