New to Boxer engine ownership.

[Joey]

Just picked up my first boxer, a very tidy Alfa Romeo 33 from Matthew Coote*. Amazingly neat little thing, great fun to drive with nippy handling. Very sweet gearbox and feels very solid mechanically and electrically. Comments are coming in about it being a little ugly and (I don't fight back). But I don't mind its appearance, although the faded plastic bumpers do let down the outward appearance of the car a bit. Any suggestions to get them back bright again?
Next is the best way to go about getting a bit lower and a bit firmer springs for it to try and get it handling a bit more flat in the corners. Suggestions?
Exhaust, it has a pretty stock exhaust which I am pretty sure I will end up doing some work on it to bring out the sound a bit better and hopefully improve the breathing, any suggestions on a good direction to go in to bring out the sound of that wonderful boxer engine?
It currently has a very sweet running 1.5L twin carb, naturally having heard such good things about the 1.7l 16v engines, is it worth looking into it? What kind of price would I be looking at for a second hand donk that runs reasonable?
I am enjoying the process of tinkering with a new toy, and I am going to put a fair bit of effort into making this 33 a very handsome little Italian sedan!

[Joey]

[Ray Pignataro]

If you go to your local repco they will have k&h bumper coat follow the instructions and mask of the bumpers

[Frank Musco]

Yep, nice looking 33.

Re engine, I would go for the 1.7 8V with the 40mm carbs, if you can find one. Mainly because your car is not set up for electronic fuel injection, and 16V engine swap is not straight forward as the 8V 1700 carby engine. Only if your really bored though, a good 1500 is very hard to beat.

[MD]

joey

Next is the best way to go about getting a bit lower and a bit firmer springs for it to try and get it handling a bit more flat in the corners. Suggestions?

I have a set of King aftermarket rear springs for this car. Came out of a Sprint that I parted. Send me a PM if your interested.

[MD]

joey,

Here's some photos of the springs. See PM for details.

[Joey]

Looks better with black bumpers! Starting to give it a bit of cleaning and tidying up and it really is a neat car!

[Joey]

Progress report: Been through all the easily reachable connections and cleaned them up, got the tacko working, don't know how. I am getting about 10L/100k, which I was hoping for better but I guess that is what I should expect. An improvement in fuel economy would be great so I guess I will start fidling around. I have also noticed it seems to be fairly common on Europe to convert 33's to LPG, any examples of this in Australia? I have a Falcon sitting here with a good LPG set in it, I know this may sound a little a concerning to traditionalists, but if it was do-able it would make for epic fuel savings for me. I am also still eying off the idea of a 1.7l engine... anyone have suggestions on where I could find one in Sydney? (most likely not going to bother with converting it to injection, although it is tempting).
I am really having a lot of fun with this car!

[colcol]

33 on LPG, in Italy you could actually buy a 33 that runs on LPG, i know because i have details in my workshop manual, Italy is very big in LPG parts, because the Italians are very good with brass and making all the valves and fittings that go on LPG, HOWEVER i would never buy a converted LPG car unless it was done by the manufacturer and was willing to offer a decent warranty, and even though the 33's are a bit heavy on fuel compared to 147's and 156's, they are hardly gas guzzlers, one of my guilty pleasures is a Falcon driver where i work and he has LPG 'conversion' on his car and the stories i hear about how things just constantly go wrong or need replaceing are endless and hilarious, such as tuneups every 6 months, new spark plugs every 3 months, new ignition leads every 6 months, the list is endless, do you really want to make your 33 more unreliable?, then go ahead and convert it to SAUSAGE FUEL, it will give you something to fix at night and the weekend, Colin.

[Joey]

33 on LPG, in Italy you could actually buy a 33 that runs on LPG, i know because i have details in my workshop manual, Italy is very big in LPG parts, because the Italians are very good with brass and making all the valves and fittings that go on LPG, HOWEVER i would never buy a converted LPG car unless it was done by the manufacturer and was willing to offer a decent warranty, and even though the 33's are a bit heavy on fuel compared to 147's and 156's, they are hardly gas guzzlers, one of my guilty pleasures is a Falcon driver where i work and he has LPG 'conversion' on his car and the stories i hear about how things just constantly go wrong or need replaceing are endless and hilarious, such as tuneups every 6 months, new spark plugs every 3 months, new ignition leads every 6 months, the list is endless, do you really want to make your 33 more unreliable?, then go ahead and convert it to SAUSAGE FUEL, it will give you something to fix at night and the weekend, Colin.

My experience with LPG is that it is generally more susceptible to misfire and does require more frequent leads/dizzy cap/plug changes. I know many examples of post factory installed jobs that work very well. To be keen to do this on my 33 I would want to go off someone else's experience. I just find that with driving 600k's week in, week out. by my maths it would be saving me nearly $50 a week, which adds up quick.
Cheers.

[Martinsifredi]

Very nice 33 . Maybe one day we will see it in Melbourne for the Spettacolo .
I f you need any help I will try and help out as much as possible .

good luck with the 33 ,

Martin

[Mat Francis]

Just picked up my first boxer, a very tidy Alfa Romeo 33 from Matt Francis

I owned this car and didn't know about it? 

[Evan Bottcher]

I was wondering that too...

[Joey]

Just picked up my first boxer, a very tidy Alfa Romeo 33 from Matt Francis

I owned this car and didn't know about it? 

Got my Matt's on the forum mixed up, please pardon me 

[philpot]

Hello Joey,

Personally, i'd just save all the money and stress of finding/fitting/modifying: LPG/1.7's, and get your boxer running as sweet as possible...then enjoy it as it is for a while and get to know it 

Forget the price of the fuel going down those twin Webers and just enjoy the sound they make instead! 

At the risk of offending others (?) you dont' HAVE to modify it to have fun driving and owning it    Wind down the windows on a sunny day and a sweet piece of twisty road, 'feel' the car....and just soak it up !

Have Fun !