12/1983 Alfasud ti QV Barn find (kinda)

[Evan Bottcher]

Oh I do like a nice Sud

I really hope this one is salvagable - the rust in the floors and battery tray would scare off the faint-hearted but I have faith in you    Check the double-skinned firewall as it's supposed to be tricky to repair.  Another spot to look is where the front driveshafts pass under the chassis members - that spot on the bottom of the chassis rail is prone to cracking and rust.

As Alister says there aren't too many left in Europe, but they are starting to get restored over there particularly the early ones.

Check:  http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfa-33-sud-and-sprint/
There's a lot of UK Sud and 33 owners on there doing resto jobs, and they bring back cars from the most horrendous rust damage.

[Mike]

Thanks guys,

Yes, I have seen the uk parts on line store.  I am grabbing as many parts frmo this guy as I can.  He is excellent to deal with.  Yet, it is getting hard of course, not much left.  Still hunting for an uncracked dash....anyone?!

Off to Korea for a week, will play again on my return when I should be able to swap in a new dizzy and see if that sorts out the misfiring and total lack of torque.

Cheers
Mike

[Sportscar Nut]

Car sounds like a real goer Mike - fantastic.

Suggest also removing the rear plastic flares and checking for rot and ensure the two b pillar plastic covers on each side are sealed (to avoid moisture in sills under b pillar). An original rust free hatch is almost unique!

Just helped a mate sell his original Aust delivered TiQV to a HK car collector who is about to spend post US$50K on a concours resto so interest in growing (..........finally)!

All the best
Paul

[Mike]

Thanks for the tips guys, I will be taking all this on board for my easter break.  At the moment I have not had too much time other than for a quick polish..actually I still have the hatch and drivers side to go, but the pics give the idea...starting to look good.  I always have trouble taking a photo of red and getting the colour the right hue, this is about right...

[bteoh]

Mike,
Did you check out the other cars? The Giulia Super got sold and transported to Melbourne. What was the Alfetta GT like? Good choice you went for the Sud Ti . Well done 

[Mike]

The GT I did only got photos of, but what I did see looked pretty far gone.

[Mike]

Pop quiz:  Car idles, but as soon as you apply throttle it coughs splutters, and no matter how many revs, it has stuff all torque and struggles to pull away..

It has fuel, it has spark, timing is not quite right, as I set it on the 'T' mark knowing no better without the manual..which I now have.  I rebuilt the marenello dizzy, thinking the weights were a bit sticky after years sitting, not the solution.
Fuel was drained and fresh 98 put in, so not the issue.

Takes ages to fire, suspect have flooded the very hot B9egv plugs (all I had in the shed).  Will be off to get some champion N6Y tomorrow.

Clutch appears to be slipping, will sort that as have new one.

Next I'll hunt for vaccuum leaks I guess...and main jet blockage's

Thoughts?

[colcol]

Look down the carby throat and crack the throttle open and see if you see the accellerator pump squirting some fuel down the carby throat, with old petrol, it forms crystals on the jets, and this completely blocks them, and the accelerator diaprahm, after many years will tear or get holes in it and won't pump the fuel, the fuel pump jets are small, about 0.1mm, Colin.

[Mike]

That sounds very likely...my plugs are not as wet as I would expect them to be...hmm.  Can the diaphrams still be purchased?  And thanks once again Col.

[colcol]

The last time i purchased a 36IDF repair kit was from a carby reconditioning place, it was about $60 per carby, it contains all the gaskets and accellerator pumps, the brand was fuel miser....carby reconditioning places, now dissapeared along with Video shops, Colin.

[Mike]

Ok, so it's alive....and I took it for a drive....good...almost.

I pulled the tops of the carbies, eveything looked in order, pulled all the jetting and made sure each was free of blockage, which they were.  Checked that I was getting fuel, each carbie accel pump appeared to be working as a good stream of fuel visible.  Noted  that driver side carbie was opening too far byt a couple of degrees (past vertical on full throttle).  So adjusted it back to vertical and compared with passenger side. 

I should point out that I am doing this without a manual...which is a bit of a pain...need to get one.

Anyway, moved dizzy a to a couple of different spots, and got it to fire.  There is a red 'T' someone has painted onto the flywheel, and I have it set so that pointer at idle is showing about 15mm further round clockwise from the 'T' when standing in front of engine, if that makes sense.  At this point the engine fired straight up, and settled into an idle, but idle was about 1200rpm (when hot) so I backed the idle screws that adjust angle of butterfly at idle back to get 900rpm.  Engine idles smoothly, and revs freely when blipped on throttle.

Another oddity I noted is that the cap I have (I have two and both are the same) does not agree with the book (a mate sent me a scan of a page).  1 and 4 are swapped from the book on my cap suck that I have 1,3,4,2.  So I swapped 2 and 4 such that the engine would retain the correct firing order of 1324.  Still, I though this rather odd. 

Now the strange bit.  I took it up the road, and it pulls away ok, then drops into a bit of hole between 2000-4000 then seems to get back on it...like a wild cam might feel.  So I went back, popped bonnet, put timing light on no1 and revved to 2000rpm to see what movement I had on timing.....none!  It did not move at all.  It started to move somewhere around 4000rpmm (not sure of rpm as wife got bored and left me to own devices).  I understand at 2000rpm I should see timing move to double timing mark (two dash's) and 4500rpm should move to single dash mark on flywheel. 

There are two different sized springs on my dizzy, which I thought odd, but I have another dizzy here and it also had two different sized springs.  I would have thought they would be the same...

I thoroughly cleaned the dizzy out and reassmebled, it moved much more freely than it did prior to the clean up.

I also noted that when I rev the engine the timing light seems to start missing a few flash's and pausing for a moment before picking up the new timing....normal?

Am I barking up the wrong tree here?  I'm happy it is running, but I really want to get the engine revving cleanly through the range.

[Fetta GTV]

This timing mark issue and dizzy cap issue is very odd, I have always thought it strange that the cap is wrong. Mine also has 4 on the cap where no 1 plug lead is. It runs fine but it is just enoying.
I have 3 timing marks
T  top dead centre
I   This is where my timing is set when checked with timing light
II  this I thought was the 2000rpm timing mark but at 2000 rpm I am not getting that much advance
III in the manual says 4500 rpm timing mark, I can't find this one.

My car revs smooth and idles perfectly at these settings

I had not really looked at this until Mike and I tried nutting out what is happening with his advance.
Would be great to hear what marks everyone else has there boxer set to.
Who has just mechanical advance, and who has mechanical and vacuum? Mine has both.

Just to let you know Mike, my advance starts to kick in just off idle and moves very smoothly as the revs increase but you have to rev to about 5000 to get near the II mark.

[Mike]

Thanks Dave, 

I will check what rpm mine gets to the II mark at tomorrow...don't think the neighbours would approve tonight :-).

Anyway, as a way of saying thanks for the help I have recieved, I took a photo of the sud on my 15inch, grp4 Alfetta rims...for laughs....but gee...lower...some carbon flares.....no..stop...stock!

[colcol]

The carby linkages are designed to go past centre, so that they don't hit a stop and maybe jamb, you need a carby balancer, the 2000rpm - 4000rpm dead spot could have something to do with the carbys being out ao balance, i had the same problem with mine, 3000 RPM, massive flat spot, would not pull 5th gear, had to drop down to 4th.
Try looking on ebay for a second hand workshop manual, Haynes is a good one, make sure it has a supplement for the later models, the Haynes manuals went out of production about 30 years ago, but i did find a new old stock edition, Colin.

[Mike]

Carby balancer would be nice, I agree with you.  always meant to make up a plate with 4 vaccuum gauges....maybe now is the time! 
Yes, I agree, I have already tried to buy a manual, the buy never responded, was then offered a free one..yet to turn up...time to stop being a t.a.!

So Col, you think the advance not moving at 2000rpm is normal?  I have listened to each carb tube and got them pretty close byt this method. 

Tomorrow is another day, I shall keep plugging away, hell if I make this much progress every day, I'll be sorted by weeks end haha!