33Ti 1500 - Timing

[STRADALE]

It could be that your ignition is trying to fire when the cam timing has the valves on the exhaust cycle which means your cam timing and ignition are out of phase
every 720degrees the engine is back to TDC, cams rotate at half engine speed so every 2 rotations of the crank a valve will open, if your flywheel is on T your dist on 1 mark and #1 piston is a TDC then
The  cam timing is 180 out. You should be able to do what sheldon suggests and swap ignition leads or pull the dist out and move the drive at the base of the dist. There are only two ways to have the drive 0 or 180 out if you align the drive 180 out the rotor button will be pointing on the other side of the dist away from the # 1 timing mark, put your # 1 ignition lead there. This will get the ignition and cam timing back in phase or you could take off the timing belts and rotate the crank once.

[dazjaz]

Have set timing on pin and forgot to put no1 plug back in before starting. Started fine apart from the noise. Blew water out no1 so either a problem with gasket or housing under carbie. Letting water in cylinder. Very hard to compress. Thermastat housing also broken. Can't get one from adelaide until after holidays in Italy. About 2 months. Pulled the plug off 3 and found no difference. Obviously a big problem with that head. Maybe just a blackened plug. Is there anybody else that could have the thermastat? 

[dazjaz]

Runs really well on 2 cylinders.

[dazjaz]

Have replaced gasket in housing under carbie, and run without radiator but will not start with no1 plug in. Compression without oil 125PSI. Any ideas. 

[Frank Musco]

Holy shit man.

Water in the cylinder, fingers crossed, you might not have tensioned the cylinder heads correctly. I was taught by an engine builder that Fiats and Alfas have a relatively hard head gasket, therefore was told the following:

1. Put all bolts in an tighted to first of the three stages of tightening, say 30 FtLb DRY, in the correct sequence.

2. Remove one at a time, in the correct sequence, and lightly oil the thread, and under the bolt head and washer. Replace the bolt and tighten to first stage again.
Unfortunately this is impossible to do in alfa 33/suds with the engine in the car, hence why I ALWAYS REMOVE THE ENGINE TO DO HEAD GASKETS ON THESE CARS, NO QUESTIONS ASKED IT A MUST FOR A SUCCESSFUL JOB IN MY OPINION.

3. Tighten to second stage, 50 Ft Lb. using correct sequence.

4. Tighten to third stage, 70 Ft Lb, using correct sequence. By the way these are the actual torque figures I use on my race engine. Book says 60-64.3 Ft Lb for final torque.

5. Now most people leave it at that, BUT NO, I then loosen off, one at a time , using the correct sequence, and re-tighten to 70 again. ONE AT A TIME. Mark the head bolt with a texta, you will notice that the bolt will screw in further even though it is the same torque in step 4. Usually between roughly 1/12 to 1/6 of a turn any more and you have other problems.

Thats it.

So in your case, the engine is in the car so just do the last step using the book figure for torque-64 Ft Lb. Hopefully you have one of the really hard gaskets, which is the only way to go.

Do not continue to crank it if it has any signs of locking up because you can break ring lands on pistons and even bend the conrods. Take all plugs out and re- tension head and crank until no water comes out. Then re - check your timing. The cam timing to crank better be spot on at this stage or you will have damaged it. Actually just slowly spin it by hand and check before you attempt to crank anymore to remove water.

TIMING

T on the  flywheel, spot on, not half a mm out , spot bloody on, I cannot stress how important this is!!!!!!!! The other marks are for checking the advance at different revs. Eg 8 degrees at idle and 36 @ 4500rpm for total.

Same for the cam marks, must be spot on, not a little out, spot on.

Same for the dizzy, must be on the mark on the dizzy housing, meaning No 1 ready to fire. this can be a little out because you will need a timing light to get it spot on. But still very close. When the dizzy is on No 1 you should see that the cam at No 1 cylinder has both lobes away from the followers, and No 2 has the cam "rocking" the followers, meaning exhaust closing and inlet opening.

This should go, and by the sounds of things you are close.


[I noticed you posted again while I was writing this, sound like no 1 it slowing the engine down too much for it to start. Make sure no water.
Should start with 125 comp, hopefully this increases because sounds a bit low, looking fo 150 -180 psi.

[dazjaz]

bought original gasket kit from the spare place in adelaide. Hope you are right. Only stepped twiced to 65lbs/ft. Will try going through your process for tightening heads. Heads have been shaved, valves lapped. tappets set correctly by mechanic etc. Have had the heads on and off a couple of times with the new gasket. I always crank by hand a couple of times before hitting the starter to make sure I don't bend valves.