Hi Guys
Not really a directly Alfa question but:
I know the Montreal has mechanical fuel injection. I've also heard these beast are a pure science. My boss has bought a classic Merc which also has mechanical fuel injection and he is trying to find an expert on these systems.
Anyone have someone they can recommend who understands mechanical fuel injection systems.
Thanks in advance, and anything I can do to get in the Bosses good books is a winner :-)
Shane
Wes Ingram in the USA is the spica guru. He has a website and will recondition these units better than when they came out. The spica rarely has any faults from the multitude of research I've done (I have an Alfetta with spica). This injection system is a creature of the diesel industry, perhaps a truck or merc specialist would be your best bet. It wouldn't hurt to see if you can gleen the injection units brand name and google search it that way. Merc dealerships may be able to offer some insight? Good luck with the brown nosing ;D
Problem is, it depends on which market the unit was in abundance in. Spica Alfas flooded the USA market for about 15 years in the 70's and 80's, so the few that toyed with it became proficient with them over there or in Europe in the Montreal market like Germany. Even so, a diesel mechanic may have some idea on it, but I'd be surprised if they were comfortable to even start pulling it apart. If that's what it need, if not for lack of knowledge but lack of spares.
What's the merc?
As cool says, which Merc ? A friend of mine might be able to recommend someone based on that :)
I would say his best bet is to contact the some of the Mercedes clubs in Australia.... or search the internet. I personally think the dealership will not have retained the knowledge or expertise in the older stuff to be of assistance. This type of stuff. Like Wes, there will always be experts (like Wes Ingram) servicing the niche market.
I worked on Mercs for about 8 months after I came to Canberra... before the local Alfa workshop poached me back to the true way. The Merc system is a bosch system (like the Alfa's based on a diesel injector pump). I have work on a quite a few Bosch mechanically injected cars: Merc 300 SEL 6.3 (a beast indeed), a 600 Limo (with the same engine, owned by the them PM, Paul Keating), his then wife's injected 280 SEC...
Early Mechanically injected 911's also had the same basic system albieit with ITB's. I have also tinkered with one of these but only to balance and a minor tweak.
The Bosch system was not a patch on the Spica. I have dismantled the Spica, Bosch and Kugelfischer (that was on BMW 2002Tii's and Peugeot 504 Ti's in the seventies). The Spica really was the duck's gut'z with Load, speed, barometric pressure etc inputs (as well as pure quality of build). Most people that have had experience with Spica love it....
I have never worked on Lucas mechanical that was on Triumphs etc.... (Shudder!)
Well Luke, you are truely Alfa blessed to be able to say that you've touched a SPICA unit in Australia. Very rare for someone in the trade to be able to say that over here. Even rarer to find someone in the trade to praise its build quality and mystique. From my research, most shops steered clear of these units and in fact had owners swap them out for carburettors, and as such gave them a bad rap. This was mainly due in part to Alfa's secrecy in divulging any information of the inner workings of the unit at the time, and it was more cost effective to do the swap, than send the unit to Alfa in Italy (if at all the SPICA was actually faulty). More likely the limited knowledge of the mechanic sweet talking the owner into the swap out. Id be surpirsed if there's more than a hand full (or even 2) of these SPICA Alfas currently running on Australian roads. I'm keen to chew your ear at a later stage for the little auto biograhphy I'm doing for the Alfetta build when its complete. I'm curious about your views and experience, in particular that most people loved it, which is contrary to what I've read. I'll keep you in mind and PM you at a later stage, if you dont mind.
The dealership suggestion was more to see if there was a service mechanic that may have done some work in the past on the injection (like yourself?), or to see who they would use in outsourcing any repairs...I can just imagine an apprentice standing there scratching his arse in wonder at a mechanical fuel injection unit in the merc, he, he, he. But yeah, a merc forum would be a more precise sorce of info, would merc drivers have a forum? Maybe a Euro or German car owners club ???
If it's running rich, they have a cold start enrichment solenoid that goes south.
Sorry about delay reply - been travelling. I will get the model off him and thanks for the replies.
Hi Guys
The Merc is a 230sl 1966 model
Thanks
Hi Shane, I have it on good authority from the classic Merc cognoscenti that Alan Lennox motors in Bulleen would be well worth a visit for the 66.
Apparently the 230 is a cracker of a car :)