Am catching the tail end of this and can't help myself as this strikes
a chord. Both Spiders I've owned are/were not 'Series 4'. They are/
were 'Series-whichever-year-had-SPICA-injection-and-left-Italy-with-
ugly-black-bumpers'. (Makes them '2' or '3'? And the $301K 8C is 6 or
7?)
Anyway, these old older cars both had last-minute, crap, aftermarket a/
c systems. At peak operation, my 79's system (in 1984) might have
provided some perceptible top-down cooling after about 20-40 minutes
run time with a full R12 charge and a good headwind. Albeit, this was
Florida...and summer. I eventually removed the compressor and all
other components as they were in the way of a couple wires I wanted to
inspect and the condenser unit was ugly.
I had an opportunity to test-drive a new one (Series 4.5.6? Bosch car
in 1984-5, nonetheless) then, in 1985, and noted "all the a/c problems
had been laid to rest! The Lords of Milan have gifted us with
operational refrigerated air systems! And apparently right from their
factory floors...the Pope must have intervened!"
The system seemed to work well at the time and it might be worth one's
while to work with systems found in the Bosch cars. You never know
when you might need dry, hot defrost when it is <60 F and very damp.
Simple defrost doesn't cut it as well as what you get when you add A/C-
dehumidified air.
My new-to-me 1991 164 has very effective a/c. (Until the leaky Shrader
valve leaks out the effectiveness. ETA: November for substandard
pressure.) It's been righteously converted to 134A and cools nicely in
the summer. The Italians can and do design HVAC systems as well as any
other European manufacturers, IMHO.
To paraphrase Fred...just fix it.
- Eric H., Marietta, GA
Current ALFAs: 1991 164L & 1976 Spider (no 'Veloce' or any other
designation in '76)
Past ALFAs: 5 daily drivers
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