My New Shitbox

[Sheldon McIntosh]

My new car, which I'm calling Mario Speedwagon, bought last week for very little money.  It's a 1981 Giulietta, 1800 and seemingly completely original.

I bought it to enter into the Shitbox Rally in May next year.....http://www.shitboxrally.com.au/........which is basically a 7 day, 3800km drive from Brisbane to Darwin, in a car which costs less than $1000, including rego and roadworthy.  The event is all about raising funds for cancer research.  Each team has to raise at least $4000, and from that you get back $1000 for the car and $500 for petrol.  At the end of the rally the car is auctioned off to raise more money.

I don't yet have a link for the online fundraising site, but when I do I'll post a link up here, and I'm hoping I'll get some support from fellow Alfisti for what I'm sure will be the only Alfa in the event, and to help raise funds to research this terrible disease which affects pretty much everyone in some way.  Also get in touch if your company wants to sponsor the car in any way, I still have some room for sponsorship on the car!!

The car seems pretty healthy, considering.  As you can see it has some character around the base of the windscreen, and it has some more around the rear screen as well, but not too bad.  The only other thing I need for a RWC is a rear exterior door handle, so if anyone has one they'd like to donate to the cause let me know.   It had some problems starting and idling until it was really warm, but I'm pretty sure it's just spark related, which is good since I know nothing of these carburettor things and don't want to go near them really; my Dad is going to be my co-driver, he can be the carb (and points) expert, I'm sure he's rebuilt a few in his time.

It drives really well.  The engine is a bit tappety, and definitely a bit tired, but I'm actually surprised how much grunt it's got for a little 'un (I was reading a 1981 Modern Motor magazine recently, and the 1800 Giulietta had about 33% more power than Japanese 2000s of the same time), the gearbox is beautiful, brakes are fine and it seems to handle well too; it's pretty soft, but that is probably just fine considering some of the roads we'll be going on.

I figure once I clean it up for a RWC and get a club rego I'll have around $300 to spend on any parts for it, so I was going to look at renewing the fuel system and ignition as much as possible to aid with reliability (reliability will be important since before the rally starts I'll be driving it from Melbourne to Brisbane, so all up it's a 5500km drive in a shitbox).  Any other suggestions most welcome, as is any information about the roads we'll be on (there is a map in the link I provided above). Any parts that are donated don't count towards the final $1000 I believe also.....

I'm really looking forward to the event, and I'll keep everyone updated via this forum about the preparation of the car.

[Barry Edmunds]

Sheldon

I have some door handles trhat might fit.

Barry

[jimnielsen]

I have lots of giulietta parts Sheldon, you can have any that you need,

jim.

[MD]

Sheldon,

First up, congrats and tell us where to send the donations

I think the key issues for you is reliabilty and here's some things that should be cheap to do and maximise your reliability :-

Temparature Control
Flush the radiator & cooling system. Add new coolant with a 50% ethylglycol mix.
Replace fan belt
Close off all heater hoses with new hose terminations
Replace top and bottom hose.
Take spare water pump if its withing budget. Old pumps have a way of failing on continuous runs ( mine failed on the 75 on the way to Phillip Island)
(if your cooling system fails in any part you will overheat and...so this is a key issue)

Ignition

The ignition you are already dealing with.

Charging

Ensure alternator is charging and it has adequate contact brushes to keep charging.
Take spare headlight bulb.

Brakes

Flush system with new fluid. Check pad wear front and rear.


Fuel

Install a fuel filter if it doesn't have one and take along spare pump diaphragm.


Spare

Be sure it is holding pressure.

Best wishes.

[alfagtv58]

Sheldon,

I love the idea of this, the great cause, the adventure, the opportunity to see another part of this country.....I'm very tempted to join you on this trip as another team. 

[Paul Gulliver]

Great work Sheldon ( St Jude), every washed up transaxle deserves another chance.

The Apostle Saint Jude Thaddeus is "The Miraculous Saint," the Catholic Patron Saint of "lost causes" and "cases despaired of."When all other avenues are closed, he is the one to call upon, and his help often comes at the last moment

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Some more pics of the car.  As you can see it's a bit rough, but all there.

Thanks all for best wishes and offers of parts, I'll be in touch if when things break.  That's one of the problems with buying the car this far out from the event I guess; I've learnt from experience that Alfas don't really like sitting around doing nothing.  Guess I'll have to take it on some EMRs then.  Dammit.

MD, thanks for the excellent (as always) advice.  Don't worry I'll be letting you know where to send donations once I have the link, and I'll also be expecting to hook up with you for a beer when I get to Brisbane.  A few points regarding your post....
-Why do you say to close off all heater hoses?  Just to stop another source of a leak, or some other reason?  Also, so you're saying I won't be needing the heater in May in Brisbane or Darwin (I've never been up that way)?
-It has a brand new water pump, but I still may take another one just in case (as far as I know there is no price limit on any spares you want to take).
-The ignition I'm pretty much going to renew, 'cos it's pissing me off at the moment.  Is it worth going down the electronic route, or should I just stay with the points and, er, whatever else these old cars have?  From what little I know I gather that an electronic ignition will be more reliable, but also a lot harder to fix if something does go wrong.
-fan belt?  What's that?
-Alternator is fine, and it's got an excellent battery.  It turned the engine over for probably a good half hour this afternoon.  &^%%^%$%!!!  A spare alternator and fuel pump are on my wishlist.
-I plan on taking 4 spare tyres, and I'll be making sure they hold pressure.  According to the rules tyres are a safety item so they don't count towards the $1000 budget, so I may even look at getting some second-hand rally tyres if they would be appropriate for the roads we're driving on.

Bruno suggested we run an air intake with a secondary filter for the dusty roads, probably a good idea.  We were thinking of utilising the existing air intake for the alternator, but looking at the car there's plenty of room to run another intake on the other side.

I started the car today and it fired at the third go, which was pretty good I thought, and it idled a lot better than it has previously (so putting the HT lead onto the coil properly does help apparently), but still a bit rough.  It seems to be running on 3 for the first 5 minutes, then eventually it will settle down to a quite fast idle, around 1200.  When it's running rough like that taking the lead off the no. 4 plug (can I assume it's no. 1 at the front and no.4 at the back?) hardly changes the idle at all.  I turned it off (my first mistake) while I was looking for an old "tune-up and analyser kit" which I was pretty sure I had somewhere and was no use for my other cars but which I wanted to play around with (it was either that or get under the 90 to take the exhaust off and I wasn't looking forward to that).  Sure enough the %^$*$*%$* thing wouldn't start again.  After trying for a while I looked at the plugs.  Assuming again that cylinder no. 1 is at the front of the car and no. 4 at the rear, plug no. 1 was VERY oiled up (and these are brand new plugs) 2 & 3 were moderately oiled up and no. 4 was white.  White!  What the hell is that?  Anyone want a cheap Giulietta?

In good news, the cat loves this car.  He always helps out when I'm working on my cars, but I tell him off when he jumps in the car and starts scratching the carpet or seats.  He jumped in this one today and I told him "go for your life buddy, scratch whatever you want!"  A comment I may regret at the end of the rally next year when I'm bidding on the car to buy it back.  I know I'll get attached to the little shitbox.  Damn Alfas.

To be continued......

[dehne]

wish i knew about this rally would have done it in the white 90, i found a white gulli to for $200 might buy it for 2012

[jimnielsen]

I have an air conditioning system for the Giulietta that you can have - you might need it between Brisbane and Darwin!

[MD]

Sheldon,

A few more tips and clarifications.

Stick with the mechanical ignition system. Any dumb bumb and or bush mechanic can fix it if it needs it and it wont if you fit new points and condesor of the correct microfarad rating that matches the coil.

Electronic ignition comes into its own at big revs which you wont be doing (sustainably if you want to keep your license) so its more compelxity for no gain. Points are much cheaper too.

The heater hoses are the forgotten part of the cooling circuit. Owners may change the top and bottom radiator hose over time but invariably forget to replace the heater hoses and of course its much harder to do as well and so they leave them soldier on until one day the buggers blow your coolant to oblivion and you are on the road side with bonnet up and steaming. In any case, you will not need a heater where you are going. So the object of the excercise is to replace the heater hoses if you want, but if you want to save money, just terminate them back at the engine block so they can't blow. Dig me Pigmy ?


More must do's.

Change engine and transmission oils and fit new filter.
Replace the clutch fluid at the same time as the brake fluid .

And of course this is a transaxle so carefully examine the donuts before you go and take one spare for each section of the shaft as they are all different. I think I could supply you with some used ones in good order for nix if you need them.

Last but not least, put something in the back seat with long hair and double "D" cups to share the western night sky with. It's awesome.

BTW the fridge is always loaded so you're welcome to make that hard earned pit stop.

[MD]

Forgot to make a comment on your plugs.
The oily ones suggest worn oil rings or hard and worn valve guide seals. More likely a bit of both. If it smokes going up a hill under load, it's usually rings. If it smokes down the hill on deceleration pulling lots on manifold vacuum, its ususually the guide seals (bush mechanic guide to smoke)

The one that concerns me most is the one which suggests carburation mixture problems of the lean kind which can burn valves so be sure you get this checked out by some one that understands carbies SOON.**

Oh yeah, you will want to know how fast you are going and make use of the trip meter so be sure to service the hugely long speedo drive cable by removing the core flexible cable from the outer completely and cleaning it. Run some oil down the centre of the outer cable (internally)and lightly oil the flexible cable too before reinserting. Do NOT use grease.

** Could well be from cracked carb mounts as Dr.Pep suggests above. Got some of those too for ya.

[pep105]

Sheldon,
This is a great thing your doing and its a for a good cause thats very close to my heart. Well done should be a blast.

Id be more than happy to donate once you post the details.

Those 1.8 Giulettas were a good thing and a fun drive with a shorter diff ratio and revvy 1779 donk, they keep a 2 litre Alfetta honest in the lower gears as I found out one day in a bit of a drag race from the lights between my 2 litre GTV and my mates missus 1.8 Giuletta.....took a fair while to start pulling away from her although i got her in end.......cow....... gave me a bit of a scare

Great advice from MD (Dr Transaxle), another thing to look out for is cracked rubber carbie mounts, which is quite common and results in rough idle due to a lean/weak mixture.

Anyways sounds like a great thread keep us updated on your Mario Speedwagon  

Ohh by the way love the 3RRR sticker thats gotta be worth a grand in itself! The wogbox roof racks arent bad either

[116gtv]

dont forget a spare throttle linkage!

good luck!

[Davidm1600]

x2 what Dr Pep mentioned, ditto all the excellent advice from Dr Transaxle. 

The main thing though to support you in the cause is when time let us know the details re how to donate to the cause, and absolutely we want to read and see some pics of the trials and tribulations of the white shitbox Mario Speedwagon on its journey north.  All the best with it, as it should be huge fun.

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Quick update...

Thanks guys for all the replies, still waiting on link to send money to, shouldn't be too far away.

116gtv - spare throttle linkage eh?  Good advice, can I assume you got stuck by a broken one?

pep105 - Had a look at the carbie mounts, and there a few tiny cracks, which get larger with a little bit of weight on the air filter.  Could definitely be something to look at, and probably something I should definitely change before the event.  The wogbox roof racks are great and will probably come in pretty handy (and since I'm a Kiwi, the forgotten wogs, probably quite suitable); I'm thinking I might need them to carry luggage, tent and sleeping bags.  And esky.

Jim - I actually considered that for 10 seconds, but no, I won't take the aircon.  I'll be in touch next year after I buy the shitbox back at the auction.

MD - Thanks for more excellent advice.  Will stick with the mechanical ignition.  Will block off the heater hoses (but only after looking up the average temps for the region, and deciding that I probably won't be needing a heater....).  Donuts!!  Hadn't even considered them.  I think they'll probably be on the list of spare parts which I will take with me, and not use and give back later on.  As we all know, if you take something you won't need it. 

A quick update on the rough running....(and again apologies for any moronic statements, this is the first car I've had with carbs/mechanical ignition that actually needed any attention, so I have no idea)

Was meant to be doing other stuff but couldn't with the rain...so started up Mario Speedwagon, and it started pretty easily.  As usual, took a little bit of warming up before he'd idle on his own.  As an aside I can't put any choke on because when I do it will raise the revs for a few seconds but then slowly die unless I give it a rev.  Once he was up to temperature gave him a good 5 minutes of some pretty big revs, and a bit of sustained mid-range revving.  Didn't want to take it for a drive based on it's last couple of performances, never mind that it's not registered.  It's still not idling very smoothly, even when warmed up, and going on the condition of the engine mounts ( and the fact that there were spare spark plugs in the glove box when I bought the little shitbox), maybe it hasn't for a while.

When he'd been running for probably 20 minutes all up, and the thermo fan had come on a couple of times, I shut him off and had another look at the plugs.  This time cylinders one and two (or the two nearest the front of the car anyway, no-one answered that question) looked fine, not oiled up and with a faint brown tinge, but 3 & 4 had white tips (see pic attached - that is 4, but 3 looked the same).  I attached a vacuum gauge to the brake booster line and it seemed fine, holding steady at 19in at idle, then with a big rev the gauge dropped down, then returned to 18in, but again held steady. Suggesting no air leaks??

In other news, I had another look at the map of the event, and bloody hell Melbourne to Brisbane, and then Brisbane to Darwin is a long way!!  http://tinyurl.com/24dejrp  I especially like some of the pics it has of leg D.  The roads don't look too bad, but that day is 250 km and supposedly takes 7 hours.  The next stage is 315km and apparently takes 12 hours, so that will no doubt be an entertaining day.  That's the day that starts from somewhere called "Hells Gate".  I might start my own rally next time, going through Rooty Hill, Tittybong, and Cock Wash, anyone else keen?