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Did some baking today when the wife went out. Came out pretty well. Thought I would remove the powder coating off the GTA motor cam covers as it was peeling off due to bad preperation. I had the cover glassbead blasted then bought Flameproof paint. This 'cake ' took an hour 120 c for 15min 250c for 30min 300c for 15min - then wife came home !

Pics are not so clear as it was taken on phone but the red is pretty good. Trying to make each engine different colour Race car 3.0 - raw colour, 3.2 GTA(164 based)- red colour, 3.7(164 based) - charcoal.

Look what arrived in the post today. This is what happens when car dealers are closing shop. Engines just get flogged for peanuts. Sadly none left but managed to steal this brand new gta motor for less than you would pay for a set of torsion bars.
Maybe next a new workbench but this has been in my family for fifty years.(messy workshop)

Some people have all the luck. ...... like finding a rare bugatti in a barn

..probably got a broken crankshaft,... er probably.

I was one of four lucky chaps. Im looking for a 156 with broken motor to put into. Should be quick with the 2.5 gearbox. It would make a nice tow car for the race as driving to the track is becoming more risky with bad condition of some of the roads at the moment. As there is a major construction program on at the moment for the world cup.

After three years of trouble free motoring with the diesel GT it was time to trade it in. So I (my wife and I ) look at the options of what to buy. Circumstances here in South Africa are very diiferent to those in the rest of the world in terms of safety so three makes of cars had to be eliminated immediatly. BMW , Merc , Volkswagen. These cars get hijacked every couple of minutes and most times the owners are left with a pile of lead in them. I would never by the last two types but have to admit BMW make the best engineerd car at the moment. With recession foreign makes such as Saab and volvo are looking shaky but not a fan of styling.
So I went back to Alfa and my wife bought a way overpriced underpowered BRERA. Overpriced it is but this 2.2 petrol is still faster than the GTV 2.5 with great economy.
Bottom line its a very comfortable ride , excellent quality of finish. But I have that the gearchange is very notchy especialy third. Maybe just new box.
As there has never been a case of an Alfa beign hijacked here - touch wood, we are very happy with the Brera.
Honest opinion if its price came down by a third then its a worthwhile buy.

Might be overpriced and underpowered, but it's almight gorgeous, much better than the german options in my opinion

Kevin the Brera may have its weaknesses,fwd (I presume it's not an AWD model ?) ,motor,and excess weight but it sure is a good looking machine.Looking at it actually stirs some passion,something that can't be said about very many cars these days.
By the way what's with the selective carjacking based on the car you drive ? Are the cars selected based on the value of their parts and then chopped ? Boy sure makes 5 months of winter (Canada)sound pretty appealing We don't have any carjackers

Kev,

Is your model any lighter than the very early versions? I think you can easily get bit more go from the car by going with slightly smaller and super light wheels. Enkei RPF-1 17 X 8 only 15 lbs! I'm not sure what is standard on the JTS model, 17 or 18?

Car is very good looking. Why not red? Is it to avoid attracting attention? I imagine a red Brera would attract loads of attention, maybe the wrong kind to in SA.

Why buy a red car when you can get a black one?

Which gearbox does it have? The F40? Some shots of the box would be nice.

Z , wife believes new Alfas should not be red ! Maybe silver.
Murray , the cars that are stolen here end up in neighbouring countries for their politicians and only German cars are really orderd. Do you think you could picture Mugabe(or his henchmen) driving a Brera.
BMW 740 and 750 are extremely high on the list for cash in transit robberies, where they ram these three ton armoured vehicles off the road. These guys have it down to a fine art whereby they clip the edge of these armoured cars on the back corner at 100kmh . This then flips them over. The BMW ends up a write off which is left on the scene and the armoured vehicle doors are blown off(with poor security guard inside) or angle ground open. They then flee in the two backup vehicles .If you think im joking its happened twice in front of me on the freeways. You just keep your head down and wait till there gone. There were over three hundered of these cash in transits last year here.
As I am in construction I am always on the road so my chances are far greater than most office bound people.
My mate has a scrap yard with a pile of these BMW v12 motors which the guys use for replica cars. There are some spinoffs except for the chap in the back of the armoured car. Anyway I am mentioning it but dont want to talk any politics how this all started otherwise it will ruin a good thread.

At least I'm trying to keep it technical...

Kevin
You have just bought the most beautiful car in the world.

JEREMY CLARKSON QUOTES
On the Alfa Romeo Brera... 'I only have to imagine this in black, with
tan leather and I'm nursing a semi!'

Maybe this is the reason ???


John

You know....That Brera looks like it would make a nice home for that GTA engine you just picked up....hmmmm I wonder how long it will take for that to happen....hmmm.