Alfa Spider steering check

This morning I spent a little time in the garage to check/adjust the steering on my 1986 Alfa Romeo Spider. I had been noticing some "slop" aka freeplay in the steering wheel lately, so decided to get the front end up off the ground and make an adjustment.

After jacking the front end of the car up, I removed the airbox to give myself a bit more room to work. The steering box on the car is located directly under the brake master cylinder.

First I checked the fluid in the steering box and found it to be low. This is done by popping a plastic cap off the top of the steering box and checking visually. I added some Spirax 80w90 gear oil to top it off.

Next I loosened the lock nut (19mm) which holds the steering box adjustment screw in place. I screwed the adjusting screw in all the way (flat bladed screw driver), which made the steering wheel very difficult to turn and then slowly backed it out, checking along the way to see how the steering felt. Eventually I got to a point where I thought the steering felt pretty good and much of the slop in the steering wheel was eliminated.

All that was left was to tighten down the lock nut, put everything back together and take it for a brief test ride. The steering feels tighter and better to me. I will have to perform a more lengthy test drive soon.

Here are some scintillating photos. Click to enlarge.