Alfa 33

[colcol]

Today was 28 years since i purchased my Alfa 33 from Talbot Motors in Collingwood, your first Alfa Romeo is always special, and i always think back to everyone who warned me about all the troubles i would have and how it wouldn't last and how it has most likely outlived their cars about 4 times over.
It is now coming up to its 30th birthday in October, long live the king!, Colin.

[Sportscar Nut]

Happy birthday Col for the car ownership and am sure you will get at least another satisfying 28 years of ownership - imagine where we will getting our parts from then! Consider myself a mere 'newbie' having owned the Sud for only 22 years and continue to learn from your insights & passion.

Paul

[Garibaldi]

Congratulations Col, may you continue to enjoy your beloved 33.

[lombardi]

WHO SAID THEY COULD NOT MAKE ANYTHING GOOD IN NAPOLI. Auguri alla 33- Buon compleanno.

[Joe Garra]

Congratulations. Was that from Mick Fuoco? He sold me my first Alfa a 75 Twin Spark back in 88, really miss it. The other Alfa I miss is the Alfasud.

[Alfapride]

Congrats Col, fantastic to see an active member here on the forum with decades of alfa experience with the one car you must know it back to front hope it continues to give you many years of driving pleasure

[colcol]

Its amazing the number of people, when they find out that its an Alfa Romeo, say "they are always broken down?", and no. look after it and it will get you to work everyday, or when you are tinkering with it or changing the oil in the driveway, and you are asked, "is it broken down again?", i have the oldest registed car at work in the carpark, and workmates say that, "Alfa Romeo's always break down", or so you keep telling me, but don't beleive everything people tell you, Colin.

[DAMO1A]

Congratulations Col.  It would give a new meaning to "extended road test" if you could give us a few of the trials and tribulations of the last 28 years of 33 ownership.

[colcol]

Things i don't like about 33's,
1. Doors don't have stays, so they don't stay open on a hill,
2. Hatch rusts out about every 5 years, due to water getting under rubber seal, rusted out after 5 years old from Alfa Romeo, [anti corrosian warranty ha-ha], top bodywork bloke in Melbourne fixed rust, rusted out after 5 years, uncle col removed rust, rusted out after 5 years, col col had another go and replaced the rust with K+H Metal-mend, [fibreglass and stainless steel strands], rusted out in other places not fixed, quite badly rusted in a few places, purchased good second hand hatch from 1988 model 33, fixed the minimal rust with K+H Metal-mend, see how it goes, but it will most likely come back......after 5 years, next time radical surgery, thinking about bonding in screen, to stop water getting under glass, Alfa Romeo put in drain holes that clog up with dirt, and are in the wrong spot!, put water in channel and it doesn't run to drain holes, but will on one side if you park car at 45 degrees, then when that drains park car on other side, work in progress.
3. Speedos are unreliable, as they are French, made by Jaegar, for no apparant reason will stop working, i have a collection of sensors that go in the gearbox, and i can change one in about 10 minutes, it is an easy fix, if its not that, then its the plug near the brake master cylinder, give that a clean, then if all else fails, it could be the plug on back of the speedo, as it works on less than 12 volts and you get ressistance on the plug, but i have hard wired it so it bypasses this plug, did seriously think about putting in a Alfasud speedo with a good reliable speedo cable instead of the electronic one, but now have about 3 instrument binnacles, which i can change over in about 15 minutes, and put the 'on holidays' binnacle to one side, for a rainy day to fix it, with about 14 or so fixed speed, [money] camera's between my place and work, i require a working speedo!
4. Electric windows and central locking not working, the accountants at Alfa Romeo kept the wires as short as possible to save money, and where they pass through the doors in plastic 'gromments', they wires usually break, so its out with the multimeter, to see which wire is broken, and to add 50mm of wire, as should have been done in the first place.
5. Slow power windows, this applys to all Alfa Romeo's of the 80's, due to too thin wiring and dirty connectors, when putting windows up and down, just make sure all other power assesories are off and you are doing at least 2,000 RPM's.
6. Central locking not locking, see no 4, but it is usually the rear offside lock that causes trouble as it is too far away from the battery, solution, relocate battery to centre of car.
7. Air conditioning rubbish, solution, throw it away and fit an Italian unit meant for it that blows out all five vents, my brand was Autoclima, the ones they fitted in Australia blew out of the 3 central vents, without much success.
8. Heavy steering, have wheel alignment done, so it toes out 4mm, and pump the tyres up to 50 lbs, and adjust seat to steering wheel position closer so that you are steering with your strong muscles in your shoulders, and not the weaker muscles in your arms OR spend 12 months fitting power steering out of a series 3 Alfa 33 16 valve.
9. Overheating and rough running in traffic, there is only one solution to this, and you can have cool running in winter and not overheating in up to 35c OR normal running in winter and overheating over 25c, my solution is REMOVE the thermostat.
10. Rough running and constantly clogged up carby jets, fit fuel injected fuel filter from EA Falcan or VN Commodore, the filter is finer than a carby filter and for 80's EA's and VN's they are available everywhere.
Thats enough for now, Colin.

[Thevak]

I am wanting to remove for good the air con. What are the possible issues with a permanent removal? Electrics? Refrigerant? Others?

I had my car recently weighed stock at 1045kg so looking to loose as much weight.

[colcol]

Its illegal to remove airconditioners, because of the refrigerant gases being put into the atmosphere and causing global warming.
However, if it hasn't been used for 5 years, then the gases would have all leaked out by now, so you can remove it, just be carefull with the pipes as they are under high pressure and any escaping gas could cause frostbite, wear safety glasses and gloves in case, and put the aircon away for future use or put it on the forum or ebay for sale for spare parts.
I raced my 33 for years with an airconditioner, at the end of a hard days racing, it was good to get in the car switch on the air and drive back to Melbourne, Colin.

[Garibaldi]

Col, you must have lot of patience dealing with all of the issues you have had with the 33 over the years. You would now have to be regarded an expert on that model. It makes you realize how much better the modern Alfas are in regard to reliability, build quality and rust proofing.

[colcol]

Lots of cars from the 70's and 80's rusted, not just Alfa Romeo's, if mainstream car manufacturers made their cars rust buckets and were unreliable, that would be bad, but Alfa Romeo were on the bones of their arses, as they were broke and were relying on money from the Italian Goverment, so there was no money for rust proofing, they didn't get a Galvanising dip at Pomigliarno De Arco until Fiat put one in after the takeover.
The switches are old school low tech, they can be pulled apart and the terminals cleaned and put back into service and some of the things that go wrong are not Italian made but German and French, but a good quality control system would have stopped that, but there was no money.
The Motors, Gearboxes and Final drives are first class, as a former Alfa Romeo employee once said, you pay for the engines and gearboxes, but the body comes free, that was Enzo Ferrari who was Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team manager who went on to build a few cars until his company was purchased by Fiat in 1969, and like Alfa Romeo, to stop FORD buying them, Colin.

[Alfapride]

Great insights there Col! What about posting some pics for everyone to see of your baby 33?? It's great to hear people still use these as a daily driver!

[colcol]

Now some good things about 33's in the workshop,
1 They are quite easy to work on, even for Gorrilas like me, they were designed to be simple to build.
2 To get under them there is a big towing hook at the front, which doubles as a jacking point.
3 Just put ONE trolley jack at the front, jack it up, 2 chassis stands on the side rails and you are set.
4 Change the oil, easy as, just undo sump plug and watch it drain, sump bolt is hexagon head, easy!
5 While under car, put hand up at right of car, and loosen off oil filter, no power steering pump in way.
6 Clobbered the sump, no problem, undo all easy to get at bolts and put new sump gasket in, 3 hours.
7 Alfa 147 and 156 owners who drive 4 cylinders need at least 2 weeks to do this.
8 Need new Alternator?, its there at the front winking at you saying "hello big boy", out in 1/2 hour.
9 Alfa 147 and 156 drivers need their long service to achieve this.
10 Alfa 33 starter motor to come out?, sitting at the top of the engine, 2 bolts its out!
11 Alfa 147 and 156 owners, twin spark and JTS see point no 9.
12 Oil filters are easily available, Z89 interchange with most Alfa Romeo's 70-92 and some diesels.
13 Brakes, on the front, outboard, none of this inboard rubbish, out in the cooling air.
14 And you can work on them easy, 2 bolts off comes caliper, 1 bolt off comes rotor.
15 Pads are easy to get, made by Bendix and don't dust up mag wheel.
16 Rear brakes drum, low tech you say, on front wheel drive back does 20% of the braking.
17 The wheel cylinders will leak after about 15 years, long before you wear out your brake shoes.
18 The rear brakes are the same as Fiat 131, [Italian Morris Marina], and they have a great handbrake.
20 Car is very light and doesn't wear out suspension parts like other, [see above] Alfa models.
21 I renewed my suspension bushes about 22 years ago, special tools required, hose clamps and press.
22 To renew my sway bar takes about 2 hours max, Alfa 147 and 156 models see point 9.
23 Oh sorry, i was wrong on that last point, as the centre of gravity is so low, sway bars not required.
24 Cam belts and tensioners renewed every 4 years, easier done with bonnet and radiator removed,
25 Bonnet removal is a 5 minute job, as the hinges are easy to get at and the bonnet weight is 5 kg.
26 Spark plugs in 8 valve take about 20 minutes to change, NOT as easy as a JTS 156 though!
27 Tappet adjustment is easy, in early single carb 33 use feeler gauges, pin punch and allen key.
28 In twin carb solid, use feeler gauges bucket depresser and magnet, shims are 70's Volkswagon.
29 On unleaded 33's adjustment is done away with due to Hydraulics, [not as much fun].
30 Fuel pump sits on side of engine block, 2 bolts and its out, but still have original Fispa.
31 To remove clutch, you take engine out with gearbox and split them, 3 hour job.
32 Never worn out a clutch, just always change it about every 10 years to stop any flywheel damage.
33 Front wheel bearings need special tools to replace them, just buy 2nd hand ones off wrecks.
34 CV joints are pretty tough, despite lots of full bore takeoffs in racing times, still originals there.
35 Gearboxes are good to work on, ignore the warnings in the workshop manuals, they are well made.
36 Synchros can wear on 2nd, like old Alfa Romeo's, but learn to drive properly and its not an issue.
37 If you need a new slave cylinder, just undo hydraulic pipe and remove circlip and push out.
38 For above Alfa Romeo models with internal slave cylinder see point 9.
39 Carburation is by the worlds best, Italian Webers, IDF 36's and 40's no less.
40 They stay tuned for years, much to my astonishment, dirty fuel will block jets though.
41 You will have to take the tops off the webers and blow out the crap in the jets with an airgun.
42 The wiper motors lives up under the windscreen, still the original, but have a spare one.
43 The wiring is too thin and doesn't have enough current capacity, but it will never cause breakdowns.
44 Your lights may dim, wipers run slow, blinkers stop, starter motor cranks slow, but you will get there.
45 Give the fuses, plugs, wiring connectors a clean now and then, clean it with Silicone Lubricant.
46 Distributors can have wiring short out in the wiring loom, the insulation is chewing gum.
47 Just cut out old wires and put in new ones going to the distributor, thanks Magnetti Marreli!
48 To change coolant get under car and slowly remove both drain plugs on each engine bank.
49 Seriously, how many cars have drain plugs on their blocks?, a great feature of the boxer!
50 Thats more than enough from me, might think of more, Colin.