Today i went on the Great Ocean Road drive in the 33 after it had been off the road for 6 months, not broken down but some 'improvements', so it was good to take it out, on the G.O.R. drive it was all good till i hit the loaded front wheel on a massive bump in the middle of the road, the suspension bottomed, and then it started tracking to one side with the steering wheel out 45 degrees, not good, pulled out a suspension joint or cracked chassis rail has opened up , but no, the shock absorber had pulled out of the top mount, and the top of the suspension is flopping around every where, ok still not good but slow drive back to Melbourne, thank you to all the Ausalfa type drivers that pulled up to help but, i'll be able to limp back to Melbourne, so i turned it around and drove about 50 metres, and the front suspension collapsed, bang!, so i spun the L.H.S. wheel to get it off the road, took the wheel off , the shock absorber had fallen into the strut, the coil spring had come out, and i had no R.H. suspension, and no mobile coverage, [thanks vodafone], so i can't call a freind even if i had one, next thing would be Brother, but no coverage, so it looked like i had to try and fix it, cut the rubber gaitor off the strut so i could see what i was doing, and tried to push piston up through top mounting, but every thing is at the wrong angle, i thought maybe i could remove the strut and do it at the side of the road, but i couldn't lift the car high enough to get the strut out, so i went for a walk up the road, and found a rock that was about the right size, to be contiued, Colin.
continued, so i jacked the car high as i could with the rock placed under bits, this continued for it seems like hours, until i got it high enough off the ground, with suspension on maximum droop, undid the tie rod, these are terrible, but i took it off about 3 months ago for a wheel alignment, so it come off easy, next, the 4 bolts that hold the strut to the bearing housing, remember there is no spring pressure, because it has fallen out, undid the 4 nuts that hold the strut in and presto, out she falls, so then i assemble it on the ground and the spring won't compress enough to go in, so i leave a few things like rubber insulators, and put washers in back to front so i can get a bit of length from the shocker, and Bobs your uncle i managed to start the nut, but not the original nut as its long gone and the shocker fine thread is damaged, so i used aircon course nut and used it as a self tapper to get the nut on and pull it down, then the strut is all assembled and i put it back in the car without too much drama, with bits back to front and other bits missing, let the car down, which seem to take hours, jack up car, remove rock, let down jack to next rock, move jack, jack up car, remove rock, etc, put tyre back on car, done up bolts, to be continued, Colin.
Continued, let car down off jack, bounce car a few times, seems ok, slightly lower on right due to missing parts, started car, drove so slow, i was being hounded by Toyota's for driving so slow!, had a great lunch at Pub, then played a game of pool with Ella, drove back to Melbourne slowly, got home at 6pm, i think sometimes with the current speed kills hysteria at the moment, what about the state of our roads?, the roads down that way are falling apart, but i am sure Vicroads won't get their bums kicked, the suspension could have broken on a high speed corner, and then the accident would be put down to excessive speed, but geez i had a great day, it could have been much worse, i could be still down there trying to fix it, as it was it took two and a half hours to fix, and you always get a kick out of fixing something and getting home, Colin.
But are you home yet?
sorry asked the question before your last post
(http://images.wikia.com/macgyver/images/3/30/0808281240172.jpg)
there is a 33 on ebay thats going for $20 at the moment if you want to get any parts and its a 1.7
Hey Evan, who is the man with the plane, is he some sort of 33 rescuer, with a plane load of spares?, Colin.
Quote from: colcol on January 22, 2012, 01:21:29 PM
Hey Evan, who is the man with the plane, is he some sort of 33 rescuer, with a plane load of spares?, Colin.
Yes Evan - is he the guy who used to work at the Alfasud plant and who still seems to somehow have a really good supply of NOS Sud and 33 parts?
Reminds me of the Johnny Cash song about the bloke that worked on the Chevrolet production line, and everyday he took a part home to build his own car, speaking of car parts, anyone have any front Koni shock absorbers to suit a 1984 33?, Colin.
Colin i am so glad you were able to fix it and get home safe, eventually, actually me and AGM155 had stopped at a petrol station in Werribee and he saw you driving past on the freeway. We realized when we got to Apollo bay none of us had your mobile number to check on you :(
I hope the 33 gets well soon!
Thanks Miss Alfa Sprint, no point in ringing me, as there is no Vodafone coverage down there, when i worked out it was a bigger problem than 1st thought, i was going to phone my brother, but couldn't due to no phone signal, so i had to fix it, geez that bump i hit was mean, suprised the shock didn't come through the bonnet, but we Alfa people help each other out, thanks again, and i will be driving the 33 to work this week until i can get my hands on a new front shock absorber, 33's you can't kill them!, Colin.
Colin - I had a front shock top mount pull out on my GTV6 once driving down the Nepean Highway. Just started rattling for no obvious reason so popped the bonnet open and the top of the shock was floating around in the engine bay.
Not the drama you had - it didn't hold the suspension to the body - but it must have been cracked for some Ike beforehand.
The shock absorber has a nut, [long gone] holding the shocker to the top mount, the thread on the shocker is stripped, so i don't whether the nut gradually come loose or the bump in the road yanked it out, i suspect the bump did it, because if it was coming loose you would hear it rattling around, and the steering wheel would gradually move off centre, as the strut alignment changed, Colin.
Quote from: colcol on January 22, 2012, 01:21:29 PM
Hey Evan, who is the man with the plane, is he some sort of 33 rescuer, with a plane load of spares?, Colin.
Does this one jog your memory? You fixed your 33 with just a rock, and some paper clips, pipe cleaners and hand cleaner.
"...but geez i had a great day". :)
Mate, I was driving behind you for most of that stretch and yeh we saw you hit the bump as i narrowly missed it after seeing your car lurch over it. Sorry to hear it mate.
On the bright side, you looked like you were having a great time on the road. I was trying to imitate your line and i have to say, i learnt a fair bit. Also hearing you heel and toeing, double clutching and make that engine scream was pretty awesome. I was honestly struggling to keep up at some parts.
George
Thanks George, but no one to blame but myself for hitting that bump, very lucky, could have been a lot worse, can't wait to get back again, the fancy heeling and toeing is because, if you don't it won't go into gear, unlike 156's which have good strong synchro's and seem to go into gear easy, gee, modern cars, too easy!, Colin.
Sorry about the 33 problem but fantastic effort & read getting the car home - Magivor (???? ???) has nothing on your efforts!
Have a spare set of Koni's so front struts are yours (PM me).
Paul
just so you know the 33 from ebay sold forn $142, out bid by $2
So Mr Dehne, secret 33 fancier are we?, having the same 33 for 26 years hasn't affected me,.... all that much, Colin.
have driven before and they are a fun little car, was think for my daught who is 12 to start in to motorkana
My neice Ella is 9, dead keen to do the Alfa club driver training, can't wait till she is 12, wants to do in now, uncle Col, put blocks on the pedals in the 33!, Colin.
Something i left out of my strut 'rebuild', was that it has a Koni shock absorber replacement, and you are able to loosen the bolt that holds the shock in the bottom, and using a rock 'stolen' from the cutting, bash the shocker upwards in the strut, so that you can get the spring in under the top housing plate, but most of you people out there wouldn't be able to do this, as you lack one of my features, that is a big fat body that i can use to compress the spring enough, in the heyday of the 33 they had Spica front struts, that used to last about 10 minutes as they used to leak, i remember seeing a whole heap of struts at a dealer, and they were all leaking while they sat on the shelf!, Koni couldn't keep up with the demand for 33 shockers, as it was a fix for dealers. mine took months to turn up, and this is how we fitted it, use a angle grider to grind a 45 degree angle on the top of the strut to release the old one, pull it out, clean up the housing so the new Koni goes in, drill hole in bottom of strut for retaining bolt, put Koni in, put in bolt, do it up to pull Koni down, its been there at least 25 years until Mr. Magoo hit a bump that everyone else missed, Colin.
What a story, Colin. Thanks for sharing.. How many kms on that 33 out of interest?
Colin are you saying you never adjusted the koni in twenty five years? says a lot about koni and maybe even more about you" ïf its not broke"
Hey 116gtv, 275,000 on odometer, more like 285,000 due to speedo not working in the early days, [common Alfa problem on 33's], still a daily driver except when i break it, Colin.
Hey Mr. Pignatauro, never touched the Koni's since i put them in in the late 80's, what i like about Koni's is you can rebuild them, assuming you can get parts for them....which i am about to find out, hate throwaway stuff , cause you never get the chance to fix things, but just replace things, Colin.
Colin i had mine rebuilt a few years ago wasnt particuarly expensive and they were revalved to yellow spec, it was fulcrum in qld that did the rebuild
Took the stuffed Koni today to Top Performance in Vermont, in Melbourne, i will tell you if they can rebuild them, if it was any other brand, then it would be a throwaway job, Colin.
Got the KONI's back, new oil and both revalved and adjusted for local council speed bumps, $204, pretty happy with that as you can no longer buy them new, its great to have something that can be repaired, and not more rubbish to be put out on the nature strip, Colin.
When i was fixing the 33 at the side of the road, i had to cut off the shock absorber bellows, so i could grab the shocker to push it back up, and i was thinking, i may never be able to get another one of these, i will have to go to Repco for a generic non genuine bellows, need not have worried, the bellows are quite easily available from all over the world, ended up buying a set from the spare place in Adelaide, sent it overnight, they also interchange with Alfa 164's in noticed on the receipt, cost was $38.50, including delivery, once again thanks Vito, Colin.
Colin you have convinved me I am selling all my cars and replacing them with and only alfa 33s, thankyou
Ive never driven a 33 but if the pedals are anything like the sprint how do you manage to heal toe???
Quote from: stuka on February 05, 2012, 09:52:03 PM
Ive never driven a 33 but if the pedals are anything like the sprint how do you manage to heal toe???
My first car was an Alfasud and I've owned one ever since. The Sud is the best car I've ever owned for heel-toeing - and I have size 13 feet! I guess I'm just used to it.
Evan!, and i thought i had big feet,[size 12], to echo Evan, Suds and 33's are the car for healing and toeing, you have to heal and toe otherwise you crunch the gears, after a while it becomes second nature, so much better than 147's and 156's, but the newer cars have stronger synchros, so matching the gears \ revs is not as critical, or as much fun, Colin.
Quote from: stuka on February 05, 2012, 09:52:03 PM
Ive never driven a 33 but if the pedals are anything like the sprint how do you manage to heal toe???
The first time I drove a 33 I used my big toe to drive and had to be bare feet but once you get used to it it was great fun
The first time i drove a Sud i thought that the pedal layout was just appalling, most likely the worst car ever, then i did an Alfa Romeo driving course at Winton, my instructor was some tall guy called Allister, what ever happened to him?, and he explained healing and toeing and how to change down without crunching the synchro's, then the funny pedal layout made perfect sense, these Alfa Romeo designers must know a thing or two, Colin.
Quote from: colcol on February 06, 2012, 11:10:53 PM
The first time i drove a Sud i thought that the pedal layout was just appalling, most likely the worst car ever, then i did an Alfa Romeo driving course at Winton, my instructor was some tall guy called Allister, what ever happened to him?, and he explained healing and toeing and how to change down without crunching the synchro's, then the funny pedal layout made perfect sense, these Alfa Romeo designers must know a thing or two, Colin.
So youa wanna driva Alfa fasta?? Thena you musta learna how to makea da engine singa lika Pavarotti!! He no go to sleep betweena da notes!
Meanwell, back on the subject, when my M10 nut departed the scene on the Great Ocean Road, because of a disagreement with Mr. Koni, thought i will just go and buy another nut, like "how hard can it be?", well the normal everyday nuts are 1.75 pitch [1 thread], fine ones are 1.25 pitch, the Koni's are 1.0 pitch which are unobtainable from every fastener store i contacted, i eventually found a place that sells them, KEABLES in A'Becket St. Melbourne, $1 each, minimum order $25, now have 24 spare nuts, actually pleased to get them, might put 2 on shockers to act as lock nuts, Colin.
When you stuff up and make a blue, you always try to justify it, so here goes, weeks before the great ocean road drive and incident, the struts were groaning when i turned the wheel at parking speeds, strut swivel bearings i thought, next job to do..... when i was at the side of the road 'mongrelling' my strut back together, i tipped the strut upside down and water ran out of the bearing, not the recommended lubricant, when i pulled the swivel bearing out, it was rusty and dirty, but not beyond another 25 years use, which is the last time i looked at them, so in the long search for new bearings, i found a pair at Peter Stapelton Automotive in Ballarat, they were Genuine Alfa Romeo, delivered to my door about $70 for the 2, thank you Gail Stapelton, for tracking them down, Colin.
Hi Colin, funny I should come across this thread as I don't check these forums often.
Just thought I'd say that I was in the 156 that you were following when your car broke - and that 33 was really moving.
I was about to pull over and let you past when I realised the 33 had disappeared from my mirror - I didn't find out you had stopped until our next stop at Apollo Bay.
Anyway its good to know that you still managed to make a memorable day of it despite the fact it didn't turn out quite as expected.
Hope to see the 33 embarassing some more modern machinery again some time.
- Andrew.
Its easy to look good in a 33, they are very forgiving, except when you drop it in a pothole, i actually also have a Silver 156 JTS, just like the one i was following, usually take it on Club Runs, but the 33 had been off the road for 6 months, and i wanted to take it for a run, hope to see you on the 147-156 forum, its all good fun, Colin.
The seals for the strut swivel bearing have been impossible to get anywhere, i have tried all over the world at various Alfa places, seal and bearing places, NOTHING, the old ones are not too bad, but they are 28 years old, new ones would be good, found some New old stock, from Peter Stapleton Alfa in Ballarat, about $40 delivered for 2, thank you to Gail Stapleton, nearly ready to get it all assembled now, miss the 33, can't wait to drive it again, Colin.
Decided to get some new top rubber mounts for the 33 strut, where the shock absorber fits in the rubber mount, the fit was like a cucumber in a bowler hat and the right side that got damaged, the steel plate on the mount was distorted, not a good idea to repair bent suspension components, so i tried for some new ones, in Australia, the price was 2 for $190 delivered, after a bit of hunting around on ebay got 2 for about $75 delivered to Australia, in Italy they are called 'TASSELLO AMMORTIZZATORE ANT', or front suspension supports, the postage and packaging was 9 euro, about $12 Aussie, the company was sc_maroc and some of it is written in Italian, so my Italian is improving!, but they have good pictures, so you have a fair idea of what you are buying, they took 10 days to arrive, some of the postage costs were a bit steep from the UK, the same mounts, one company wanted 65 euro, about $85, when questioned about the high price of postage, they said they could do it for 40 euro, but it would take longer, so i went with Italy, Colin.
Started putting the struts back together today, as previously noted, when at the side of the road, i tipped the strut upside down, and water ran out of the swivel bearing, so i have decided to use grease that resists water washout, it is made for trailer bearings on boats that are reguarly immersed in water, it is a blue grease and a engineer from Castrol told me it has the viscosity [runninest] of snot!, yuk, just try not to think about that, it is called Valplex, and is blue coloured, i reckon that it would be good in 33 and sud steering racks which always end up full of water, Colin.
You cannot beat archoil grease. Nano technology! The 8300 grease rebuilds the metal and stuffed bearings. It withstands 1,813,000 psi and is not affected by water. Put it into your cv joints and enjoy them for many years to come. ;D
Thanks Karu for the good tip, where do you get archoil grease from?, i have never heard of it before, this is what the forum is all about, giving each other these tips, so much knowledge out there, Colin.
Mr.Ali Erdemir is a senior scientist in the Energy Systems Division at Argonne National Laboratory. He specializes in transportation and materials research, including super low-friction coatings and other nanomaterials. He helped develop a material 40 times slicker than Teflon. He has more than 25 years of extensive research work and experience in the areas of surface engineering, tribology, and lubrication primarily directed toward the development of fuel-efficient and environmentally-friendly transportation systems, multi-functional nanocomposite coatings, nanolubrication, and super low friction materials and coatings.Mr. Erdemir has pioneered development of nearly frictionless carbon films and a series of boron-based nanolubricants and superhard coatings for severe tribological applications. He has directed and conducted fundamental and applied research on solid lubricants and surface engineered tribomaterials. His recent research activities include friction and wear of multifunctional nanocomposite and nanostructured nitride, carbide, and boride coatings; fundamental tribological mechanisms of diamond, diamond-like carbon, and carbide-derived carbons; tribochemistry; implant materials and coatings, boriding; design and synthesis of novel materials and coatings providing super low friction and wear.
Thanks to his hard work and passion "archoil" have been able to improve this technology greatly. AR9100 friction modifier uses the oil as a carrier. The esters it contains strips carbon, soot and varnish from engines, gearboxes (manual and autos) and diffs An incredibly hard lattice structure coating grows throughout the internals, adhering to all metal, filling asperities and lowering the friction coefficient to 0.037.This of course gives better fuel economy, far less mechanical breakdowns and far less oil changes as the engine is not experiencing metal to metal wear. Metal on metal wear also leads to an acidic engine.
The Russians' found minerals in the Ural Mountains that like boron also had hard and slippery properties and spent 10 years developing archoil AR9300. AR9300 resurfaces your engine 5 times harder than original and loweris the friction coefficient to 0.003 (That is slippery). It lasts one year in your engine, gearbox and diff. Whereas AR9100 requires you put it in your engine every oil change. But remember, you can go 2, 3 or 4 oil change cycles before having to change your oil with 9100. If using AR9300 I recommend using AR2300. AR2300 is incredible; it will have your engine, gearboxes and diffs as clean as new after 4000-5000km and restore automatic transmissions and seals. Engines that blow smoke have been restored to like new with many owners saying that they had thought their engine was dead after 500,000 miles but after using AR2300 they had never experienced the power of the engine as they have now. In California a 560 SEC Mercedes failed their required emission test as it put out too much pollution. After using AR2300 it returned the amazing result of 12 parts per million.
I have a 1985 Suzuki Carry van with a 970cc engine and a high revving 5.9 to 1 diff ratio. My old man bought it new; it had a top speed of 100kph from new. I finally, after years of hassling him got it. I put AR9300 in the engine, gearbox and diff, and I drive it every day and I travel a lot of kilometres. Yesterday the odometer turned over to 322,000km (well past its use by date according to Suzuki mechanics). It is not unusual for me to drive 25kmh faster than its 100kmh top speed it had prior to AR9300 and even though it is as small as a Mini, it is amazing to see how much fits in the van. Late last year my parents sold their very large 6 bedroom house and purchased a 2 bedroom unit. They gave me most of their stuff and also I had to collect my stuff I had stored there and forgotten about over the years. I did four 600+km return trips in my tiny van, nonstop each way. Empty there and filled on return. The first trip I put in my Datsun engine and a large industrial mower, thanks dad, then we filled up the van till there was no more room except for me. Each of the 4 return trips I could cruise without any engine strain sitting on 110kph. The fifth trip I hired a large truck; of course I could have done that in the beginning –but-- I was trialling AR9300. The sparkplugs are still like new even though I bought them for $1 each at the Ballarat swap meet in 2010. The compression is excellent and I rarely have to brake. I can be doing 40kph in 5th and put my foot down without any strain on the engine. I was showing this to a mate who had his 33 stolen recently after a bloke smashed into him in Belgrave. Interestingly, the insurance company is refusing to pay up because; can you believe this? His 33 1.7 was stolen while has was organising a tow truck . The driver of the other car has stated he was at fault, the police were notified, the thief charged, he admitted stealing it but refuses to cooperate and tell where it is. But the insurance company claims that they have no proof the Alfa was ever stolen so they refuse to pay..
Anyway, Nanotechnology is the future and archoil is the leader, environmentally friendly and very affordable. It is in all my cars and family and friends cars. Fiona's 3.5 V6 Magna's trip computer went from a constant open road figure of 11.6 litres per 100 km to 8.3. I actually have seen diesel mechanics workmates argue over a few remaining bottles they had as it transformed their 4X4's to "Better than new." In my front wheel drive cars I cut off the outer driveshaft boots and remove the grease, I then re-pack it with AR8300 (although AR8100 and AR8200 are also bloody brilliant at a much more affordable price) and then I put stretchy boots on. I despise changing drive shafts. Don't forget your wheel bearings for that as near frictionless ride as you will ever get. If only the Alfa's wiring could be so easily and affordably fixed.
Unfortunately for me, when you enter these 2 websites below you will find I am the Australian distributor and no doubt you might think that I am only writing this for self interest. That is not the case; if that was so I would have joined under a different name other than my real name. You might find me spruiking on the other model Alfa threads, but you won't. I joined this forum because I have an Alfa 33 and I love Alfa's. I know archoil will keep you happy owners and that is why I have my business, to see people happy with their vehicles and not spending as much on them; I despise seeing Australian's working hard with so little money to show for it once the bills and taxes are paid, so If I can keep smiles upon people's faces I am a happy man. I only mentioned archoil because it is the best grease money can buy and while I do not believe in man made climate change, I would like to see an environmentally clean Earth and archoil helps achieve that with less petrol, diesel and oil required, not forgetting less pollutants. karu
www.evergreenamerica.com www.archoil.com
I know some of you members went to the archoil websites yesterday so for those interested I thought I would add other forums that are discussing the products. I didn't mention the AR6200, one of the fuel additives, because this thread was about grease. I know these are diesels forums but it works the same with petrol.
http://www.powerstroke.org/forum/general-6-0l-discussion/238825-ar6200-fuel-additive.html
http://www.thedieselgarage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112382
This one is about AR9100 friction modifier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea52qKFZd1c&feature=related
Is it made from snakes?
I can see the similarities. Snakes rejuvenate by growing a new skin. Archoil rejuvenates an engine, gearbox and diff by growing a skin, although much, much harder.
Some things i found out about 33 struts, the series 1, 33, that was leaded and ran from 83-86, the series 2, that ran from 86-90 that was unleaded, include, it looks like the series 1+2 strut assemblys are interchangeable as an assembly, ie series 1 will fit into series 2 and vice versa, although i haven't tried it, the coil springs, the coil seats, the rubber bellows, the coil rubber seat and the top strut rubber mounts are interchangeable between series 1+2, the struts, shock absorbers, bearing swivels are not interchangeable between series 1+2, the swivel bearings in the series 1 is metal to metal, a thin roller against 2 steel washers, it looks like it could have more load carrying capacity than the series 2, but the bearing are almost impossible to get new, the series 2 are ball bearings in a plastic cage, plastic to metal, easier to replace, and easy to buy new, but the one i pulled out, the plastic cage was all split, the top strut rubber mounts are the same from 83-90, but the series 3, 16 valve have a different rubber mount, and it looks like it could have a bearing built into it, but not sure?, Colin.
but is it back together yet?
Now going, put it back together about a week ago, drove it to work this week, all good, doesn't like the hot weather and traffic though, thats more 156 territory, Colin.
Thats not the car that does not like those conditions , thats all of us
When the Sud was designed for Europe, it had 60 horse power, 25 years later the 33 has the same size radiator and 105 horse power air conditioing power steering, cramped engine bay, lots more weight to tow around, thats why the series 3 Alfa 33, 16 valve had a bigger radiator, Colin.
The drivers side outer constant velocity joint boot has some cracks in it, and the grease is starting to leak out, so i pulled the shaft out and the C.V. joint was loose on the shaft, it is held on the shaft by a snap ring, obviously the impact of the bump or the suspension falling apart has seperated the C.V. joint from the shaft, hadn't noticed any noise or clicking when driving, but the grease had gone hard and wasn't lubricating the C.V. joint very well, so it was time to be pulled apart and cleaned, it was most likely 20 years since it was last done, usually the rubber C.V. joints start to leak before the grease dries out, so over the Easter break its a good time to renew the 4 C.V. joints rubbers, otherwise, you pull the shaft out, do one end and a week later the other end starts leaking, the grease in the other 3 C.V. joints hadn't dried out, it was still runny, but a it was smelling a bit off and it wasn't as 'clingy' as the new grease, when i put the C.V. joint together dry, to see how it felt, it felt ok, so then i put the new Black Moly grease in the C.V. joint and as the grease worked its way in the joint, it become easier to move around, and the new grease actually 'clung' to the C.V. joint, so the new grease is better than the worn out stuff, Colin.
The grease i used was Castrol or Valvoline or BP, its a tub i have had for about 20 years, may be better grease around, but the 33 is coming up to 28 years old, i mean how long can it keep going for?, the outer boots were new from an Alfa spare parts and wrecker, that fitted ok, they had marked on them to suit T.S. 164, you can buy boots of ebay, but the quality varies greatly, i remember buying a boot from a VW place to suit my old Passat, and the boot looked good, nice and shiny, made in China, fitted ok, but after 2 years the rubber was perishing, and i had to replace it, on ebay there are boot kits that are made extra flexiable so they can be installed without having to take the C.V. joint off the driveshaft, they use a wire 'cage' that fits over the C.V. joint to ease the 'flexiable boot over the C.V. joint, the problem here is that the boot ends up floppy and won't run true and you end with too much boot that runs against itself and wears itself out, although they are good to get you out of trouble, or you are selling your car, the C.V. joints in my car have done about 280,000kls, they are the originals that came with the car, and are not rumbly or have too much slop in them, the brand is SPICA, [Italian], and i beleive they were owned by the Italian Goverment at the time, SPICA also made the front shock absorbers on late model Suds and early model 33's, and they used to last about a month, in the car, as they would leak out all the oil, sometimes they were out of oil before the were put in your car, i remember seeing a row of them in a spare parts place and they had leaked all over the shelf, Colin.
The speedo has stopped working, a problem that crops up every 5 years or so, the easiest thing to do is check the speedo sensor for resistance, pull off the 3 wired plug, usually around the master cylinder, and follow it down to the right hand side of the gearbox, it is a grey wire, pull the plug apart and check the resistance of the red and white wires going towards the gearbox, it should be 2-5 ohms depending upon your Multimeter, if all ok the speedo sensor is ok, if no resistance, you have a crook speedo sensor, but mine was ok, so i cleaned the electrical connectors, and tightened the female spade connectors to give it a nice tight fit, the loom that carries the 3 wires to the speedo, that is red, white and non insulated wire from this plug on mine a few years ago was actually housing a broken wire so i rewired it, rather than repairing a broken wire, so thats something to look out for, so anyway, dropped the 33 off the stands, took it for a drive and the speedo works, freinds again, [until next time], Colin.
Speedo worked on the way to work, but stopped working on the way home, oh bother!, so got home jacked up car and replaced speedo sensor in gearbox, with good second hand one from my collection, this one has slightly higher ohms reading across white and red terminals, to remove speedo sensor from right hand side of gearbox, first remove 'circlip' that has 2 big arms coming out the end, so you can squeeze the arms and wiggle it out, then using a screwdriver, pointy nosed pliers to carefully lever the 2 lugs on top of the sensor, to pull it out of the gearbox, for your good second hand replacement, make sure the 'o' ring on the speedo sensor is ok, to avoid leaks, if you put a new 'o' ring on the sensor, don't use one that is a bit big otherwise you won't be able to push it in the gearbox, the early speedo sensors had 1 'o' ring, the later ones have 2 'o' rings, they are made in France by Jaegar, so they have all the reliability of a Renault, without the flair of an Alfa, make sure you put the circlip back, and run wire to the back of the steering tie rod arm, so it doesn't rub, a speedo 'expert' that i took the 33 to a couple of years ago managed to wrap this wire around the driveshaft, and all the wires got broken, didn't go back there @#$%^&*(), took car for drive, speedo works, [again], Colin.
Colin that 33 is almost a full time job, not at all dissimilar to my sud
Its a reason to live and get out of bed every morning, you will fix it and all will be good again, and it will be another experience you will be able to file away for another day, and use it to fix something similar, and when you take it for a drive and it all works good, BELLISIMO!, but then you have to wait for something else, because life is pretty boring with nothing to fix, Colin.
Quote from: colcol on April 17, 2012, 08:17:32 PM
Speedo worked on the way to work, but stopped working on the way home
Back when there 33s were easier to buy, it seemed that all of them had remarkably low kms!
I'd say with a 33 you'd probably want to double the kms shown on the clock - i know with mine, the speedo only worked half of the time.
I know this is not the 147 section, but today the volume controls on my stereo started working in opposites - so turning the stereo down made it louder etc ( no i didnt have the steering wheel upside down ).
Overall though, the electrics on the 147 are VASTLY improved over the 33, as you'd hope.
As for the a/c in 33s...totally useless...with dreadful circulation just to compound the problem!
The electrics on the 147/156 are vastly improved over the 33 because Fiat gave Alfa Romeo money to do it properly, unlike the 33, which was Alfa Romeo, with no Fiat money, the electrics in the 33 were pretty much the same as the Sud, which were nothing to write home about, dodgy connections and plugs, wires too thin, not enough peak load carrying ability, 45 amp alternator in the 33, 120 amp in the 147/156, Alfa Romeo making 1 line of cars the 33, Fiat/Alfa Romeo/Lancia, building 3 lines of cars means cost is spread over 3 Makers, Australian installed and made airconditioning in 33, wind down the windows on a hot day, Italian made air conditioning made for 33's and blows out all vents, works quite good and is acceptable, and mine still works!, despite that, i still love the 33, driving it tonight, i thought, after owning this car for 28 years, i still love it, Colin.
Quote from: colcol on April 23, 2012, 08:06:46 PM
i still love the 33, driving it tonight, i thought, after owning this car for 28 years, i still love it, Colin.
You dont have to convince me. Of all the alfas I have had my 88 twin carb 33 was the most fun to drive and had the best exhaust note and that lovely back firing thing they do....wish i could tweak my 147 to make all those crackles and pops!
Lots of valve overlap as in the 1.5, 105 horsepower TI, will give that lovely crackle in the exhaust as you back off, not quite as crackly on the 95 horsepower GCL, but still good none the less, in fact going to work at 5 am in the morning with the exhaust crackling, going down a hill on overrun, the police waiting at the bottom of the hill have pulled me over for a noisy exhaust, but when they see the old bloke driving it, they send me on my way and tell me to fix the hole in the muffler, and i am not making this up, Colin.
Quote from: colcol on April 24, 2012, 08:46:36 PM
Lots of valve overlap as in the 1.5, 105 horsepower TI, will give that lovely crackle in the exhaust as you back off, not quite as crackly on the 95 horsepower GCL, but still good none the less,
mine was actually a 1.7 twin carb....as apposed the IE that was available at the same time.
It was VERY crackly!
And the induction noise through the 40IDF webers was glorious, Alfa Romeo must have gone close to the noise limit for ADR's on Suds and 33's, sometimes when tuning with the air cleaners off, and you go for a drive, the noise is intoxicating, but the police pulling you up would get tiresome, not to mention the extra engine wear, Colin.
yeppo - the best mod for double carb alfas was always trumpets and socks... or not..
;D
(http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/CARBS.JPG)
I sometimes get pulled up by the police for a bit of noise, with the standard air cleaner and exhaust, what would happen with this setup?, apart from throwing me in jail, the extra loud engine note would turn me in to a wannabe race car driver, who owns this 33 Joe?, Colin.
Yeah agree with the comment about the 1.7 exhaust note being 'crackly' - with 1 & 3/4 headers into a 2 inch exhaust system, the note on 'back off' is sensational. Is quite loud although quiet compared to the Exige.
Regarding the constant velocity joints in the 33, when you put the bands around them, if you get a kit from a Constant Velocity joint specialist, you get the grease and the clips to hold them on, because i purchased the boots themselves on their own from an Alfa spare parts place, it had no clips, so i used plastic cable ties, in the past i have used Subaru stainless steel cable ties, because their was a dealer close by, i was at Bunnings today and buying some cable ties for a non car project, i noticed they sold stainless steel cable ties, in all sizes, perfect for C.V. joints, and unlike the Suby dealers, they were not $10 each, but $7 for a packet of 4, gotta luv that, Colin.
The 33 speedo stopped working, so i have done the easy bits, such as cleaning the speedo sensor cable plug and then changing the speedo sensor, so in a time honored tradition, i have to attack the inside of the car, take the speedo binaccle out, pull it apart, resolder all the speedo connections, [in case of dry joint], the 4 pin connector that the speedo slides onto, clean the metal spikes and tighten the corresponding metal connectors, check printed circuit on speedo for broken circuit, clean all the speedo multi pin connectors, [speedo is also hard wired], so clean and check for continuity of the hard wiring, roughly put back in car and go for a drive, speedo works, boys and girls can you tell uncle col what the problem was?, no i can't either, but while speedo is apart, it has been reading slowly, ie telling me i am doing 95, when i am really doing 100, solution, carefully take off speedo needle and reposition it, and go for a drive with your GPS, and keep positioning the speedo needle until the GPS and speedo agree with each other, Colin.
Speedo worked ok for a week, now it has died again, been driving around for a few days behind slower drivers, and remembering the rev counter revs for road speed, to avoid speeding fines, all of a sudden, knucklehead in a Fairlane pulls up in the left lane to check Melways road maps, everyone jumps on brakes, and nearly rear ends each other, when clear, drive off and abuse Fairlane driver for being typical stupid Falcon driver and give him a good blast with horn!...... speedo starts working again, todays top tip from the Alfa Forum, when your speedo stops working, jump on the brakes really hard, swear a lot and toot the horn loudly, so much better than going to an Auto Electrician, Colin.
Speedo has stopped working again, and i have hard wired it, so that there are extra 2 wires going into the speedo itself to overcome the dodgy multipin plug on the back of the speedo, and it still doesn't work, went to wrecker and got another speedo, this time the speedo works, but the odometer is not working, went and got another speedo, this time Speedo and odometer is working, has anybody got any idea what stuffs up in the speedo, is it the one thing, or random things?, Colin.
i had the same problem with my 33 earlier in the year, i replaced the sensor, hardwired it as you did and also resoldered the instrument cluster and worked beautifully - maybe you are having just bad luck using a second hand sensor that was nearly dead anyway?
With the hard wiring make sure you tape up the soldering you did to not create a short between them - you probably did that anyway but just checking!
Another thing to look at is the fuse box, I recently did some resoldering there and checked all fuses and relays upon further inspection I noticed several relays were corroded and not working properly, i removed them all and cleaned them with alcohol and bit of fine sandpaper. Good luck with the repair!
I have several, [about 10], sensors that i swap around, so i don't think its that, you can check for resistance between the red and white wire, it should be 2-4 ohms, no reading, throw the sensor away, years ago i had a broken wire between the plug on the sensor and the instrument binnacle, so i made a new wiring loom, i have resoldered the instrument cluster, in case it had a dry joint, but you are right, you have to be carefull that the remelted solder doesn't short out the printed circuit or the other wire, and the hard wire connector on the speedo cluster has a insulator over them, i have cleaned the fuses, as they are a constant source of trouble, when there is a poor connection, they get hot, then the plastic fuse body melts, and the ends don't make contact, i have used a different speedo in the same intrument binnacle, so i can eliminate a crook binnacle, the 'new' second hand speedo i put in now works, but i have some other 'issues' that i will have to figure out, thanks for the good tips Alfapride, life is always busy with a 33, Colin.
Anytime Colin! It's great to listen to someone else so passionate about these 33's, I reckon these cars are a bit of a sleeper in the alfa line up. The 16v has been my daily for 6 years now and whilst it has a few little querks its hard to find a newer car that sounds as nice and has a personality...
Hey Alfapride, if i didn't love it to pieces, i wouldn't have kept it 26 years, and i like it when people at work tell me how hopelessly unreliable Alfa Romeo's are, and i point out i drive it everyday about 70 kilometres everyday, and its the oldest car in the carpark, but on Top Gear they said......., sure you have issues, but they keep going, with a smile on the owners face, Colin.
So now i have put the new second hand speedo in and its reading slow according to my GPS, it is reading 50% slow, ie GPS says 100 KPH, speedo says 50 KPH, on the speedo there is a 'pot' with a tuning rheostat in it, i will adjust that and see if it makes a difference, Colin.
After about 10 attempts to adjust the 'pot' on the bottom of the speedo, according to my GPS, when i am doing 99kph on my GPS, the 33 speedo reads 100kph, can't ask for any more than that, the speedo is a French made Jaeger, and the gearbox sendor is a French made Jaeger and the binnacle is Italian, betcha the faults in the speedo, not the binnacle, would be a worthwhile job to do on your 33 speedo, if its not reading accurate, better than making a contribution to Goverment Revenue, Colin.
So anyhoo, have FOUR Magnetti Marrelli distributors at home, and only 1 works, thats the 1 in the car, [!], as they die and misfire, i just go and buy another second hand one, decided i needed a good second hand one in the boot for a spare, so i purchased another second hand one from the wreckers, and put it in to make sure it works, it works good..... except now the revcounter has St. Vitus dance, so i changed the revcounter with another one, and it also has St. Vitus dance as well, then i tried another 2 revcounters and they are all suffering the same affliction, i think they must have all caught the same disease, as they all lived in the same box, so out with the new old distributor, and in with the old old distributor and now all 4 revcounters are cured again, the current distributor is the worst looking one, and some of the ones that don't work are quite new, Italian electrics, never a dull moment, Colin.
Now i have a new old rev counter in the car, it seems to be reading too high at the upper rev range, so i checked it with a tune up kit that is so old, that it was purchased from BRIAN'S SPEED SHOP in Elizabeth St. Melbourne, and sure enough, it was, i know that at 100 kph, it is usually doing about 3500 RPM, but it was showing about 4500 RPM, so i took the needle of and repositioned it, as when i installed it i had to use the needle off my old rev counter, so it matches the Speedometer, [the needle is a flouro red off a Commodore], and no matter where i positioned it, it didn't seem to work accuratly, so i pulled the tacho out and found it had an adjustable 'pot' [potentionmeter], so over the period of 1 week, i adjusted the pot either way to try and get it to read accurate, after not achieving much for about a week, i decided on drastic action, took the cover off the instrument assembly, so that you see the 'chassis' of the instrument holder, drilled a 8mm hole at the top of the rev counter, directly above the pot, put a jewellers small screwdriver in the pot and adjusted it while it was running, first remove needle and position it so that it reads 1,000 RPM, when the engine is idling, then adjust the pot, so it reads accurate at high revs, the pot is like an adjustable gain at high revs, it all now seems to work, freinds again... until next time, Colin.
How is this for bizzare, just before the 'price cycle' petrol prices go up, i filled up the 33, on the 39 degree day in Melbourne, and after being at the petrol station about 5 minutes, the 33's fuel had vapourised, and was running a bit rough at the next set of traffic lights, and it was idling about 200 revs too low, and the speedo was jumping from 0 kph to 10 kph, and everytime it the speedo needle 'jumped' the odometer turned a bit, so after sitting at the lights stationary for a few minutes, the odometer told me my car had travelled 0.8 kilometres,...... while stopped at the lights, even a Triumph [car] would be proud of that!, Colin.