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Alpine a couple steps closer to running

sammyb

Luke Skywalker
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The Alpine vintage racer I got a couple months ago is a little closer to running. I just got the rusty, nasty fuse box replaced (although, I'll admit that I have absolutely NO idea where those wires go to under the dash!!!)

I also just dropped a fresh battery in (for the first time.) It would appear that the battery cutoff switch on the body isn't hooked up, because the ignition light was on either way (dummy, I left the toggle up.)

Then it came down to flipping all the unmarked toggles to see what was what. The far left got the headlights and the taillights on. The left-right three way did nothing, but then again, no turn signals appear to be wired.

The toggle that would appear to be the starter (next to the ignition) did NOTHING.

I flipped the final toggle and tick-tick-tick-tick-tick. We have a working electric fuel pump. Unfortunately, the rear Stromberg soon started leaking fuel from the bottom. (Note to self: order a couple carb rebuild kits.)

As I looked at the carb, I remembered this car has a button on the starter solenoid. I pushed it and got a whirrr.

I pushed it again and got a whirr and a click-crunch.

I pushed it again and the engine started turning!!!! Big milestone. This engine hasn't turned in four years or so.

Then I noticed a small wire smoking connected to the solenoid. Okay...time to stop for the night :wink:.

I really need to figure out how the DPO wired this SOB!
 
An Alpine! Excellent!

As much as I like my Spridget, it's nice to have something a bit less common (which is the reason I just bought an A35 for racing).

G'luck with it!

Pictures?
 
Good work, Sam. Please keep us updated on your Alpine resto. A beautiful, rare car, that. Nice, flowing lines and actually modern looking.

I can't recall anyone posting photos of an Alpine resto here, so maybe you can be the first, Sam!
 
Hey guys,

I have the pix of the car (and story) on my CarDomain.com section. (Since I write for CarDomain.com, the Editor-In-Chief asked that I make car pages for all my cars.) You can check out the Sunbeam there. (https://www.cardomain.com/id/sbarer)

It's a bit of a fright pig right now, but I really wanted to save this from certain death-by-Pacific Northwest weather.

Of course, I always forget how much more difficult it is to work on a car that has been "updated" (more like just hacked and changed with other bits.) Takes more work when diagnosing problems...and more time searching for -correct- rebuild kits.
 
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