Back in the late 90s I bought my second Alfa, a 1979 Alfetta GTV. I really couldn't afford it at the time, but deals were done and it was mine.
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/userpics/10001/79gtv.jpg)
A year or two later it came off the road for a transaxle rebuild after something breaking and me having to drive home in reverse, and a (slightly) more reliable (ha!) car was purchased, as I'd just changed jobs and had a significant commute now.
I eventually got the money together for the rebuild, but couldn't justify (or afford) registering it now that I had a modern car that was chewing up all my spare cash with engine and transmission rebuilds of its own :o so the GTV sat around unused.
Then in 2000, I was starting it up for its once-every-few-month drive around the front yard when disaster struck.
Here is an artist's impression of what happened:
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/userpics/10001/fire2.jpg)
The fire was hot enough to melt the carburettors. That was not a good day.
It sat under a tree in my front yard for a few years after that, I couldn't bare to look at it.
When I moved house, I winched it onto a trailer and hid it behind the garage at my new place. When I moved again 7 years later, I dug it out from the weeds and stuck it in the corner of my new shed.
Every few years I'd get a bit of motivation, and spend a couple hours on making a new wiring loom, or building up a set of carbs, getting the engine to rotate etc.
The next time I moved house, I had to downsize from a 24x16m shed to just a double garage, so I had to get rid of a lot of things - including a couple of cars - but after a lot of (ir)rationalisation I thought if I'm going to keep this pile of junk, I'd better get it running again. By this time, I hadn't had a road-going Alfa for 15 years :'(
It was filthy enough to qualify as a 'barn find'
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/userpics/10001/dirty.jpg)
but after a few fits and bursts of motivation spread over some months, it started to scrub up ok
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/userpics/10001/clean.jpg)
It was about this point that my teenage daughters first really noticed the GTV. They weren't alive the last time it moved under its own power, or even had all its panels fitted.
They took quite a liking to it, and provided extra encouragement and motivation (and occasional labour too).
Even so, it still took me another 5 years.
But today it breezed through a roadworthy, and two hours of queuing at the RMS later it's wearing new club plates.
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/userpics/10001/plate.jpg)
Its finally back on the road after 20 long years. Today was a good day :)
There's still a *lot* more work to do, but I'll keep chipping away at it...
Thing is festy, today is a good day for another important reason. It's now worth a sheit load more than it was 20 years ago..(more ways than one).
She looks great festy and admire your perseverance and willingness to get her back on the road, particularly after the setback of engine fire. Here is too many years of motoring pleasure, as I am sure you will have a smile every time you drive :) :) :) :)
Reward for keeping the faith . Great to see another running / registered GTV hit the road. Do you think you will waive your 75 TS Motronic magic wand over the car.??? Still a lot of continued interest in your epic work over on Alfa BB.
Gully
Great read festy and another GTV back on the road!
Congratulations! That's a great story, especially the part about your daughters support and involvement. Now you can enjoy it all over again :).
congrats, bet you are stoked to have it back again. ;)
Great stuff Festy, good on you for persevering!
Great read, well done
Fantastic Festy, looks magnificent.
Thanks everyone, I can't tell you how relieved I am to have this back on the road. I honestly never thought it'd run again.
Today the sun was shining and the weather was perfect for an italian tuneup, so we started getting reacquainted.
I'm amazed that I haven't tried to indicate with my wipers even once, I guess it's like riding a bike ;D
There's a growing list of to-do jobs - the cobbled-together exhaust needs replacing, there's at least one noisy rear wheel bearing. Gear shifting is
really stiff, and I don't think the valve stem seals are doing anything - but damn, I'd forgotten how much fun corners are in a 116 8)
I promised my daughters ages ago that I'd pick them up from school in it as soon as it was back on the road, and their reaction when they saw it waiting for them today was priceless.
Quote from: MD on July 20, 2020, 07:57:13 PM
Thing is festy, today is a good day for another important reason. It's now worth a sheit load more than it was 20 years ago..(more ways than one).
When I insured it a few months ago I was certainly surprised by Shannon's agreed value - nothing crazy like 105 money, but probably twice what I was expecting. Makes me feel better about being so stubborn and not sending it to the crusher years ago!
And over the past year or two it's given me plenty of quality time with my daughters - they're all getting good at panel prep, and my eldest learned how to do oil changes, replace spark plugs, set the timing and check valve clearances once she started taking an interest in cars.
There's been arguments over who'll eventually inherit the GTV, but I told them I'm taking it with me when i kick the bucket ;D
Quote from: Paul Gulliver on July 20, 2020, 09:08:32 PM
Reward for keeping the faith . Great to see another running / registered GTV hit the road. Do you think you will waive your 75 TS Motronic magic wand over the car.???
Not a hope - this one is all about the shiny nord cam cover, the soothing bort-song of the Dell'Ortos, the subtle yet persistent smell of petrol, and all the sacrifices and compromises that come with a 40 year old Alfa. I wasn't even really sure if I wanted to upgrade to late 116 electronic ignition, or keep the points and condenser so I could truly appreciate the pain of years gone by....
I have another GTV that's fuel injected (among other tweaks) that scratches the EFI itch and a bike that made me realize there's no such thing as a quick car, so this one will stay mostly original. And I really don't need
another project just yet!
Plans might change in the future, but for now it makes me happy the way it is :)
Fantastic Festy - I really enjoyed reading this post. Well done :)
My 1980 GTV, ground up restoration!
2/3
3/3
I have absolutely no idea where the post you made somewhere about a an angry bull that broke lots of bits, tried to kill you and shat everywhere fits into all of this (still makes me chuckle) fits in this story, but: Awesome dude!!!! Talk about keeping the faith. :)
Quote from: LukeC on July 28, 2020, 11:43:53 PM
I have absolutely no idea where the post you made somewhere about a an angry bull that broke lots of bits, tried to kill you and shat everywhere fits into all of this (still makes me chuckle) fits in this story, but: Awesome dude!!!! Talk about keeping the faith. :)
That feels like a lifetime ago :-\ I think that was on the old gtv6 forum?
As for where it fits in here - it doesn't, that was my other GTV. It's been sitting behind my house for the last 5 or so years since I finished the EFI/turbo conversion, waiting for me to take it out to the track :-[
Progress has been a bit haphazard over the month or so since passing the roadworthy, but I've had a couple of good wins.
The most pressing issue was how badly it was running. I'd managed to get it going just well enough to ascend small hills, but it was no fun to drive.
The throttle response was about 70% flat spot, but with lots of babying and encouragement I could usually nurse the revs up a little - then open up the throttle at just the right time while holding my tongue at the correct angle and the engine would rev happily until I had to lift off.
I was suspecting the accelerator pumps, so I pulled the carbs and set up a jig to measure the pump delivery. I wasn't sure how accurately I would be able to measure, but I quickly worked out that accuracy wasn't that critical - the first carb's accelerator pump didn't work at all.
The diaphragm and jet appeared to be fine but I couldn't get the blanking plugs out to inspect the springs and weights, they were really stuck firm.
It was about this point when I noticed the other issue with the carbs - they were missing the chokes :o
Both carbs were choke-less, which would certainly explain the flat spot all the way to WOT I guess.
While digging through my parts cache I not only found the 4 chokes I needed, but also a spare carb body so I transferred everything over from the faulty carb, reinstalled them and went for a drive.
The improvement is about what you'd expect when swapping from a pair of carbs with no chokes and one faulty accelerator pump to a pair that are not only complete but functional as well ;D
Next-most-urgent issue was the rear wheel bearings. The driver's side was the worst, so started there.
The first obstacle was the driveshaft bolts - a couple of them really didn't want to budge. I eventually managed to get them all out without resorting to cutting any heads off though.
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/Alfa/DeDion/decaphead.jpg)
Next step was to make up a hub puller, which did a great job of extracting the hub. And half the bearing, as it turned out...
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/Alfa/DeDion/hub_puller.jpg)
And that's where things started to get a little more complicated than expected.
The bearing had collapsed, the inner race was firmly stuck on the hub, and I never found any trace of the bearing cage :o
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/Alfa/DeDion/sadbearing.jpg)
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/Alfa/DeDion/halfbearing.jpg)
I tried to separate the inner race from the hub using a bearing puller - but nope, not budging.
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/Alfa/DeDion/bearing_nope.jpg)
I tried my press, but chickened out when 1/2" steel plates holding the bearing were bending :-[
I ended up grinding most of the way through the bearing race with a combination of a small abrasive cut off disc and a bit of die grinding, then after a very short hit with an air chisel I heard a satisfying "ping" as the race cracked.
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/Alfa/DeDion/crack.jpg)
It then came off the hub without any further misadventure
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/Alfa/DeDion/bearingmoving.jpg)
Next, I needed a tool to remove the lock ring. I found a suitable chunk of round bar stock, and turned it down to size.
My daughter helped me with the maths required to calculate the arc degrees required per tooth, then moved over to the mill.
This was my original setup, by the time I realised I had a rigidity issue I'd already destroyed two endmills >:(
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/Alfa/DeDion/tool1.jpg)
Mounting the work piece directly to the rotary table was much better
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/Alfa/DeDion/tool2.jpg)
Locking ring socket, ready to use
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/Alfa/DeDion/tool3.jpg)
and it even worked :o
(https://www.festy.org/pics/albums/Alfa/DeDion/tool4.jpg)
It took me two days to change the driver's side bearing.
The other side was finished in a bit over an hour - no stuck driveshaft bolts, no collapsed bearings, and no tools to fabricate this time.
The difference the new bearings made was surprising, I knew they were bad but it now feels (and sounds) like a whole new car. Noises and vibrations have disappeared that I hadn't even attributed to the bad bearings!