Series 3 - Alfa Romeo 1966 to 1994 Spider Faq

Carpeting became standard equipment for the first time in 1978, and a plethora of interior colors
were introduced (tan, blue, and gray being the most notable, although black was still quite
common).
The cars lost an unknown but noticeable amount of horsepower as well, and as time went on
became less and less driveable until the introduction of the Series 3 cars. Because of this, Series
2a cars, at least in their stock form, are probably the least desirable of all the Alfa Spiders
produced.
In defense of the plucky Series 2a owner (or future owner), the cars are still recognizably Alfa in
both appearance and character. Because they are (somewhat) newer than the Series 2 cars, they
are (again, somewhat) less likely to have serious mechanical, rust, or collision problems. Those
massive, ugly bumpers also mean that a Series 2a owner can laugh off impacts that would
seriously damage a Series 2, and probably ruin a Series 1 ("IT"S A SPORTS CAR! NO! IT"S
A BATTERING RAM!!„).
I believe that there are very few 2a's out there that haven"t been modified in some way (and
indeed, there are some very sneaky ways to modify them that will increase performance but fool
Mr. G-man and his computerized minions), so the performance of a 2a you buy today will almost
certainly be better than when they first appeared.
However, you can't really change how much the cars weigh, and so the performance of a 2a will
probably never match the performance of a 2 with identical modifications.
While modifying a Series 2a to make it look like a Series 2 seems to be a good idea, according to
owners who have tried the conversion there are actually a lot of changes in the structure of the
2a's that make it more complicated than it seems.
According to what I consider a reliable source, the cars themselves took a dive in driveability
from 75-77, came up from 78-80, and then dove strongly again in 81 with the introduction of a
single-throttle SPICA system. 1981 was the last year of the Series 2a cars (well, sort of), as well
as the final year of the SPICA system.

Series 3

The Series 2a cars weren't QUITE finished, but changed in a significant enough way that I am
including the ... 82 2a's in with the Series 3 cars.
Because tightening emissions standards finally strangled even the SPICA system, in 1982 Alfa
converted the Spider to Bosch electronic fuel injection. I believe a few years before that they had
converted to electronic ignition as well, making the two most fiddly parts of the car
comparatively maintenance free.
The Bosch systems (first the L-jetronic injection system, and then in 1990 the Motronic engine
management system) substantially improved the driveability and reliability of the cars. However,
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