After a long trip to SA, to see Dave Williams (of Ricciardi fame) over the weekend i'm home, and over the moon. i love the thing!
It's not perfect, but i wouldn't expect it to be. It drove home without a single issue. (we stopped twice, once for lunch, once for fuel).
Ok we all know that's not believable, it doesn't start when hot. On the bright side though it did do 40 MPG!
The only thing that works on the dashboard is the little indicator LED, so i have some fun ahead of me there. If anyone wants to point me in the rough direction it would be appreciated.
Couple of other questions, does anybody know if the heater core under the dash is the same as in the Alfettas? because it needs replacing, and no prizes for guessing what spares i have.
Next thing, is there supposed to be anything attached here? the negative terminal of the battery. one would assume if there is an extra post it would have a wire attached to it. but i can't see anything obviously out of place.
Oh and its a 87 TS if that's any use.
Oh shame, Oh shame.
Or is this just a ploy to get an LSD for the race car?
Hope you have a world of fun in the new toy.
Alan.
That sort of performance upgrade has got ot be worth 3 - 4 secs a lap. I hope your mother was heavily sedated when you broke the news ( a mothers day present for next sunday possibly ).
Hi Matt,
Sorry to see you move away from Alfetta's but it is still a transaxle car!.Were you lucky enough to get a shed tour? and see all the great stuff!.
Cheers
Andrew
I don't think you should be concerned about the spare earth post on the batthery terminal Mat. It's probabbly just a spare for acessories etc. Don't forget the whole car is an earth post actually so it's not important to use that post.
Just be sure you have a good heavey lead to the engine block and usually a bit smaller one to the body. Have fun, sounds like you are already. Gary.
Hehe. took 6 months to justify it to mum. she should be just about calm enough not to kill me when she gets home.
For now (i mean when i get it registered and all) it will be the road car. What happens to it after a years rego? who knows.
Am still keeping the Alfetta (s), once it runs out of rego i think i will put it on club plates. If i do that it will give me a chance to get it fixed (the rear end STILL isnt done), and maybe fiddle around with a few more things i couldn't if i needed it day to day.
We did get a short tour (probably lasted close to an hour), but it just wasn't long enough. absolutely f***ing amazing the cars, knowledge and skill Dave has. Unfortunately it was getting dark and Dave had things to do, so we went on our way. Would love to find an excuse to go back again one day.
Interestingly, the car felt much slower than the Alfetta under about 80k's. Highly likely that this is just an illusion, but i was quite surprised. I will also add that i didn't have a tacho, and as such was changing gears at what i would guess to be about 4500, but yeah just an observation.
Thanks Gary, good to know. Plenty of fun to be had indeed!
Cool car, Mat! I searched long and hard for a TS 75, but couldn't find one that wasn't silly-expensive.
(edit: having said that, there's a cheap one on carsales right now, ::) )
Quote from: Mat Francis on May 03, 2009, 07:15:19 PM
Interestingly, the car felt much slower than the Alfetta under about 80k's. Highly likely that this is just an illusion, but i was quite surprised.
Around town, the extra torque must be noticeable, though?
Hi Mat,
The heater core hoses both exit on the drives side of the 75. It also looks different to the GTV's so I'm not sure if you can simply swap them over. My donor 75 went down to the scrap yard last month but I know of another 75 thats had the engine stripped and is just sitting around.
Give Nicklos a call on 0414 999 773 and see if its still there.
I'm also spewing that its the earlier loom. If it was the later style I would have asked you to buzz it out as I'm desperate to work out the wiring to the ECU so I can finaly start mine up :(
Good luck with the project and the wiring (the 75 has 3x that of the GTV.) Oh and check out Craigs Place for all your 75 needs: http://www.users.on.net/~craigf/
Tristan
QuoteAround town, the extra torque must be noticeable, though?
According to the internet, (and we all know how right that must be!), it only produces another 20 foot pounds than the claimed 168 in this alfetta review i have. i know the Alfetta engine is strong, and am assuming the TS is also, (doesn't blow any smoke, revs cleanly and gives good fuel economy). The extractors on the Alfetta make a huge difference low down.
Again, i have absolutely no proof of this, but to me it just feels like the Alfetta pulls much harder from low speed. Could just be that its a bit of an animal to drive though, whereas the 75 feels much more civilized and refined.
Thanks for the contact there Tristan. It is going to have to wait a week or two, younger brother's Alfetta has priority at the moment, but i will look into that as soon as is practical.
I got all the available stuff off Craig's Place last week and begun slowly sifting through it. I haven't taken much in yet really, its all a bit of a shock after getting familiar with the nice simple alfettas.
You've made a good start there Mat towards your next track car. With a bit of tinkering around, removal of excess components and addition of a few items you will have recreated my desktop background. ;)
Quote from: Mat Francis on May 03, 2009, 09:07:00 PM
QuoteAround town, the extra torque must be noticeable, though?
Again, i have absolutely no proof of this, but to me it just feels like the Alfetta pulls much harder from low speed. Could just be that its a bit of an animal to drive though, whereas the 75 feels much more civilized and refined.
Mat found the same thing with my 75 TS, thought that the 82 GTV was more responsive down low. The GTV just felt a little quicker initially but once the 75 got going it went harder and revved clean. While the 75 felt like it had more power overall with more mid range & top end wallop, mine had a bit of a flat spot under 2500 rpm where the GTV felt more tractable it would pull from as low as 1500 - 2000 rpm no problem where the 75 didn't like it as much. Could be just my car though. But then again theres nothing better than revving the tits off an alfa
Enjoy they are a fun car
Great stuff Matt, congrats.
The low down power thing could just be power to weight? The 75 would be heavier than the Alfetta.
Thanks all. Agree, the 75 is a fair bit heavier, that thought crossed my mind.
Pep- 100% agree. with the lot. describes my limited driving experiece of it so far exactly.
Quote from: Mat Francis on May 03, 2009, 09:07:00 PM
According to the internet, (and we all know how right that must be!), it only produces another 20 foot pounds than the claimed 168 in this alfetta review i have.
It also depends
where it makes the torque as well of course. I think the twinspark engine is reasonably peaky though, compared to the twin cam, and the weight certainly wouldn't help, and the gearing is possibly a bit longer as well?
Nice one though Matt, hope it grows on you like the Alfettas have. Let me know if you need any help with electrics/flimsy interior trim and whatnot. Been there, done that.....
Electrics hey? Well...
Doesn't start on its own- needs to be push started. No fuel pump when ignition is on. Could a dead fuel pump relay mean the starter won't go?
No dash board- as above, the indicator flashy LED works and that's it. crappy earth somewhere?
And the Alfa Computer thing in the middle of the dash- i have no idea what it's meant to do, as the only thing on it that works is the light showing me i have headlights on. Don't have a clue where to start looking to fix this one.
I'm about to dive into a solid nights reading of the 75 manual.
Oh and i think with the exception of first, all gears are slightly taller in the 75. i have no idea what the final drive is though.
You'll have fun going through the 75 section on the BB then. ;D All 135 pages. All your answers are in there Grasshopper.
It was interesting when I took the carpets out of my 90 and discovering just how many earths there are......
I disconnected the alfa check control after about a year as it started to piss me off with that stupid big red light flashing when somethings wrong. It worked when I got the car then it started telling porkies so I pulled the plug.
In this day and age its great you've got this forum and the alfa bb so theres a truckload of info and as your not married (assuming) there wont be wifey yelling at you to get off the friggin internet (you'll need plenty of time on the bb!)
The gears are taller yet the final drive is 4.1:1 from memory
I think we've all heard "..are you on piece of shit dot com again?.." before. Or is that just my missus?
The ARC is very useful, and there's a thread on BB somewhere about how to make sure everything works, or if it doesn't to short it out. Very handy. I just put a bit of tape over mine in the racecar so it doesn't annoy me.
can i ask how much it set u back ?
I need to find a way of systematically getting through all those pages on the BB. i have at least an hour a night on there for the last month preparing for this sort of thing, but have absolutely no idea what i have and haven't read anymore as i just kept choosing random pages.
The carpet is absolutely rooted, but i was lucky enough to get a good one supplied with the car. I suppose that would be a good time to re do all the earths. come to think of it the heater was disconnected, possibly because the core was leaking under the dash. if that was the case it could cause some crap earths under there, and that could be the cause of no dash? i'll find out pretty soon i suppose.
Jimmy the sparky was round and helped me establish the starter motor is a cause of grief. Still no noise from the fuel pump in the back, but bashed the starter for a bit and then she turned over no worries! starter motor rebuild.
i didn't realise how fast i would learn with this thing!
Quote from: Mat Francis on May 04, 2009, 07:55:48 PM
come to think of it the heater was disconnected, possibly because the core was leaking under the dash. if that was the case it could cause some crap earths under there, and that could be the cause of no dash? i'll find out pretty soon i suppose.
Wouldn't be surpised at all. When I moved my electric window switches from the roof to the console I would be looking at totally unrelated things under the dash and then, Hey Presto!, there's an earth! Wow, just what I needed!
All the info is out there Mat. Failing that, when I come to take it for a test, you can pore over Ironsides with a fine tooth comb to find all the uncovered earths..
Quote from: Storm_X on May 04, 2009, 07:32:14 PM
can i ask how much it set u back ?
No you can't, that would be rude.
I would also love to know, but I'll wait till I see Mat face-to-face so that he doesn't have to let the whole world know. Failing that, I'll use PM or email.
can i ask how much it set u back ?
Besides, why do you need to know.
Ok update. apart from the headlight issue, it's coming along well.
Pulled the dash to bits and found the reason the ARC wasn't working- it had been unplugged. Stuffed around for half an hour this arvo with the relay (ARC and Instruments are on the same relay, neither were working, etc..). Unplugged because it is going spastic doing the normal light up everything as quickly and often as it can. At least i know what the problem is now, and will sort it out after reference to the BB.
Instuments- took me about an hour to work out how to get them out. Not at all like the 2 screws in the front of the Alfetta- bugger the looks of having the screws there, i'll take convinience over good looks anyday!
So eventually got the whole instrument section out. pulled the wiring off the speedo and noticed that the printed circuit was not folded over the plastic tab as it should have been. thought i must have done it as i removed it. fixed it and put it back on.
Checked the tacho- same thing. ahhhh he says, that's a little suss. Put's it back properly, reconnects everything, cranks the motor and bingo! EH VOILA!
tacho reads too low, but again the BB has that covered.
End of my rant and happy with the nights progress!
Might as well keep using this as my update thread.
Today's work produced a fully functional ARC, the only exception being that it doesn't have a bulb for the master warning light thing. Don't feel any real need to put one in anyway.
Also managed to fix the tacho, so it now reads about 200 rpm fast. As close as i could be bothered getting it, but it's near enough for me.
I'll and try book it in for a new exhaust on Monday with any luck, and after that i reckon it should be pretty bloody nice to drive ;D