Once we removed the engine, we mounted it to an engine stand and removed the cylinder head, front cover, and other items. While on the stand we’ll clean the engine with safety kleen and a brush.
The cylinder head has already been cleaned up in this photograph, and the cams, gears, and bearings inspected.
Alfa Romeos of this era have a very uniquely-designed oil pan and while dirty, this one was found to be in great shape. Some time in our parts cleaner removed the oil and road grime.
The biggest surprise so far was discovered as we disassembled the engine – the distributor shaft had a lot of play as we twisted it, and it shouldn’t have much if any. We were able to get the rotor on this locked distributor to move somewhere between 10 and 15 degrees easily. The distributor itself was fine, but we found significant wear in the bronze drive gear on the oil pump shaft. We’ll have to replace the oil pump as these gears are not available separately.
While it’s out of the way, we’ll also clean up the engine bay with some good old-fashioned elbow grease combined with a pressure washer and some Simple Green.