Project car - 1989 75 3.0 V6 [Updated 12 November 2021]

[gergory]

shiny car
I am in need of a front bumper will you consider selling yours?

regards

ps have also sent a pm

[shiny_car]

PM replied - can sell.

[shiny_car]

October update.

I'm still working on multiple little jobs at the same time, so not much is actually completed!

Patched up holes in the chassis where the original box section bumper mounts were sawn off, using JB Weld. First time I've used this stuff, and it certainly sets rock hard! Then I painted the front section with 3M paint-on Body Deadener.







The resprayed slam panel section and clip mount are nearly finished. The 'orange peel' effect has been sanded with 800 then 1500 grade wet&dry sandpaper. It now needs machine polishing, which I'll show next month.







The underside of the bonnet has been cleaned up. I have a new rubber strip and clips for the front edge, and new latch; these will be fitted in the future after the top surface has been resprayed. I will also refit the black sound deadening piece.





The crank pulley needed sprucing-up, so I masked it off and sprayed with aluminium (colour) heat-tolerant paint.







The black mounting bracket was a little scratched, so this was masked and resprayed with satin black paint.







My car was lacking a rear brake load proportioning valve; possibly removed because it failed. Without the valve, the rear brakes lock up before the front brakes. I bought a cheap used replacement together with the short joining pipes, then decided to buy a brand new valve to ensure reliability. Prior to fitment, I've resprayed the master cylinder and servo, and sprayed the proportioning valve and bracket black. They will be fitted in time for next month's update.











The air intake plenum has been removed, together with ignition leads and oil vapour separator.





And here's all the new engine parts to be fitted!



K&N air filter kit with silicone intake pipes (hiperformancestore.com, US), oxygen sensor, oil filter.



A lot of titanium Allen-key head bolts; these will replace every visible bolt in the engine bay! Purely a cosmetic upgrade.



Plastic cambelt cover pieces (haven't found a new left-side one though), cambelt and other belts, spark plugs, waterpump, thermostat, and rebuild kit (O-rings, etc) for the hydraulic (de)tensioner (alfissimo.com, US).



Silicone radiator hoses (highperformancestore.com, US), aluminium radiator (alfissimo.com, US), 164S cams (unused, from an incomplete project in the UK), gasket set.



Ignition leads, altitude sensor, distributor cap + rotor, inlet + exhaust tappets, Bosch-plug rubber boots.



Coolant expansion bottle, stainless hose clamps, silicone coolant + vacuum hoses (hiperformancestore.com, US), bonnet latch, fuel injectors (hiperformancestore.com, US), fuel pressure regulator, oil pressure sender, silicone plenum pipes (International Auto Parts, US).



So, plenty of work to do in the engine bay. 

[ARQ164 Shane]

Wow, man .
nice stuff = lots of work .
Where did you get your S cams mate

[shiny_car]

I figured: old car = replace what I can to ensure it's reliable, and bling it up!

Where did you get your S cams mate

A nice chap in the UK sold them to me. I found him on the alfaowner.com forums, and I first bought a front 27mm antiroll bar off him. He then offered the cams, which were going to be fitted into his brother's 75, but they decided not to finish off that project. So they are unused, and were cheap (well under half the normal cost, delivered, so I couldn't say no)!

I realise they might only bring 3-5kW of top-end power, but the engine will benefit from having fresh parts including the tappets.

[ANG156]

Whats the plan for the cam covers and plenum? Where did you source most of the parts from? Ebay/Forums in Europe/America?

You might want to conider these guys for rubbers when it comes time to replace them
http://www.cicognaniguarnizioni.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=305%3Aalfa-90-75&catid=9%3Aalfa-romeo&Itemid=13&lang=en

[shiny_car]

Whats the plan for the cam covers and plenum? Where did you source most of the parts from? Ebay/Forums in Europe/America?

A combination of all: ebay (mostly overseas), EB Spares (UK), hiperformancestore/International Auto Parts/Centerline/alfissimo (US)...so far.

Cam covers and plenum will be sprayed with black wrinkle paint, with the raised lettering/ribs sanded back to bare aluminium.

You might want to conider these guys for rubbers when it comes time to replace them
http://www.cicognaniguarnizioni.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=305%3Aalfa-90-75&catid=9%3Aalfa-romeo&Itemid=13&lang=en

Thanks for the link - might be handy. I continue to find more parts to replace as I go along. Have you bought from them before - would be reassuring to hear positive feedback.

[johnnyc]

shiny, nice work.

your thread is very interesting as I expect i will need to do the same to my car down the track.

according to alfa records my car (also 3.0 v6 75) was built april 1989 and sold here in June 1990.

the "american bumpers" you refer to are the "accordion" style??

[shiny_car]

Ah, yours is built only a month after mine; my 'plate' states March 1989 build date. 

Yes, the 'America' bumpers are the accordian versions, as fitted to the 3.0 models. They are quite heavy, but presumably offer better crash protection. The styling is 'fussy' IMO, and I prefer the simpler lines of the TS/2.5 bumpers.

[ANG156]

Whats the plan for the cam covers and plenum? Where did you source most of the parts from? Ebay/Forums in Europe/America?

You might want to conider these guys for rubbers when it comes time to replace them
http://www.cicognaniguarnizioni.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=305%3Aalfa-90-75&catid=9%3Aalfa-romeo&Itemid=13&lang=en

Thanks for the link - might be handy. I continue to find more parts to replace as I go along. Have you bought from them before - would be reassuring to hear positive feedback.

Nah i havn't! I just found the link last week from some guy on the BB forum looking at buying door rubbers for his 105coupe. I have emailed them about the 75 door handle rubbers since it seems 24euro is rather cheap compared to the repro's made by the other ebay poster from the bb forum.

EDIT Just got an email back from them and it seems they want an additional 60euro to send to australia. What a joke!!

[1969read]

If your selling the rear bottom bumper piece, under the main bumper please Pm me a price Thankyou Jason

[shiny_car]

Ok, November update!

I spent a week of my spare time detailing the GT for Spettacolo, so that's my excuse for not achieving much on the 75! 

The brake proportioning valve was fitted. The mounting bracket accommodates a 6mm bolt, but the proportioning valve has a hole for an 8mm bolt. I've used a titanium Allen-head bolt and 'thickened' the shaft using a couple layers of heatshrink tubing, resulting in a snug fit inside the 8mm hole.







The fuel rail was removed, and all the fuel injectors and fuel pressure regulator replaced for brand new ones. The mounting hardware for each injector was re-used, including the mounting flange, rubber gasket and circlip.







One of the new injectors was not anodised black like the others (for no obvious reason), so this was resprayed to match, along with the original cold start injector. The flanges were cleaned and sprayed aluminium. The mounting hardware was fitted to the new injectors, then the fuel rail was reassembled together with the new pressure regulator.











With the fuel rail off, there was access to the 'V' between the cylinder heads for cleaning. The intake stub pipes were removed, and the oily carbon deposits cleaned away.







Nice and clean.





And definitely the opportunity to replace the oil pressure sender, which is otherwise difficult to access, right at the back of the V. With inadequate room for even a stubby spanner, vice grips easily helped unscrew the old sender and fit the new one.





The refurbished fuel rail was refitted, including titanium bolts to secure the injector flanges, and new stainless hose clamps.







A few of the injector plug rubber boots were brittle and cracked, so these have been replaced with new, by first removing the plugs.









The injector wiring loom was cleaned and all plugs refitted.



And finally, the slam panel is completed, after machine-polishing the area that was resprayed and sanded.





That's it for this month. Hopefully I have more time for the car in the coming weeks.

[gergory]

shiny car
I have just done my injectors and fuel rail...................I should have used the titanium bolts like you have
they look great.

good job........It will be interesting to see which one of us finishes first

great to catch up with you at spettacolo

[shiny_car]

Cheers gergory. Spettacolo was good, and was definitely nice to catch up.

[ARQ164 Shane]

shiny_car  I thought my car was costing me a lot  :obut you have take the cake ( good on you)mate 
my bumpers cost me about with paniting in 2pak 130 red $2500 Went finished .