Waiting...

So, I've been waiting for parts to show up in my house. It turns out, the water pump is back-ordered, and the shipment to the vendor has not arrived from Europe. It seems both Centerline and IAP are in the same boat, and so, I have to wait.

In the meanwhile, I figured if I can't work on the car, I can read about working on the car.

So, I went to the Books4Cars.com store. No, not the online store, but the actual physical store. It is found right here in Seattle, in the Columbia City district. They listed the actual Alfa Romeo shop manual for my car, so I figured I'd go there and buy it.

The store is this small, 1-story building right off Rainier Avenue (the main drag in Columbia City.) It's very easy to miss. But inside, it's a walk into auto-book heaven. They have plenty of shelves full of shop manuals, user guides, automobilia books, magazines, parts catalogs, anything imaginable.

The staff is very friendly (even when busy servicing online and/or phone orders.) I just showed up to the store, and they immediately guided me to the Alfa Romeo section. I spent an hour just browsing everything I could find. I ended up buying the Alfa Romeo Shop Manual (looks authentic enough, and very informative,) as well as a used Alfa Romeo Technical Specifications manual. This latter one is a must have, as it lists all the important specs on the car: suspension ride height, nut torquing numbers, maintenance instructions - all sorts of important stuff.

I then spent about 45 minutes looking at the Mazda manuals. I could not find a shop manual for my Miata, however. They may not have every car book in existence, but they did indicate they can order it for me if needed.

I must say, this is the coolest car shop I've seen in a long time, and it's become my favorite bookstore. Who needs a latte when you have a rack-full of Porsche books to browse?

Books4Cars is located at 4850 37th Ave. South in the Columbia City district of Seattle. If you live in the Puget Sound you must check out this place. If you don't live around here, check out their online store at http://www.books4cars.com/

I think I will list a bunch of vendor links on this blog. This store will be right at the top.