My 33's broken

[colcol]

Speedo worked on the way to work, but stopped working on the way home, oh bother!, so got home jacked up car and replaced speedo sensor in gearbox, with good second hand one from my collection, this one has slightly higher ohms reading across white and red terminals, to remove speedo sensor from right hand side of gearbox, first remove 'circlip' that has 2 big arms coming out the end, so you can squeeze the arms and wiggle it out, then using a screwdriver, pointy nosed pliers to carefully lever the 2 lugs on top of the sensor, to pull it out of the gearbox, for your good second hand replacement, make sure the 'o' ring on the speedo sensor is ok, to avoid leaks, if you put a new 'o' ring on the sensor, don't use one that is a bit big otherwise you won't be able to push it in the gearbox, the early speedo sensors had 1 'o' ring, the later ones have 2 'o' rings, they are made in France by Jaegar, so they have all the reliability of a Renault, without the flair of an Alfa, make sure you put the circlip back, and run wire to the back of the steering tie rod arm, so it doesn't rub, a speedo 'expert' that i took the 33 to a couple of years ago managed to wrap this wire around the driveshaft, and all the wires got broken, didn't go back there @#$%^&*(), took car for drive, speedo works, [again], Colin.

[Ray Pignataro]

Colin that 33 is almost a full time job, not at all dissimilar to my sud

[colcol]

Its a reason to live and get out of bed every morning, you will fix it and all will be good again, and it will be another experience you will be able to file away for another day, and use it to fix something similar, and when you take it for a drive and it all works good, BELLISIMO!, but then you have to wait for something else, because life is pretty boring with nothing to fix, Colin.

[tony8028]

Speedo worked on the way to work, but stopped working on the way home

Back when there 33s were easier to buy, it seemed that all of them had remarkably low kms!

I'd say with a 33 you'd probably want to double the kms shown on the clock - i know with mine, the speedo only worked half of the time.

I know this is not the 147 section, but today the volume controls on my stereo started working in opposites - so turning the stereo down made it louder etc ( no i didnt have the steering wheel upside down ).

Overall though, the electrics on the 147 are VASTLY improved over the 33, as you'd hope.

As for the a/c in 33s...totally useless...with dreadful circulation just to compound the problem!

[colcol]

The electrics on the 147/156 are vastly improved over the 33 because Fiat gave Alfa Romeo money to do it properly, unlike the 33, which was Alfa Romeo, with no Fiat money, the electrics in the 33 were pretty much the same as the Sud, which were nothing to write home about, dodgy connections and plugs, wires too thin, not enough peak load carrying ability, 45 amp alternator in the 33, 120 amp in the 147/156, Alfa Romeo making 1 line of cars the 33, Fiat/Alfa Romeo/Lancia, building 3 lines of cars means cost is spread over 3 Makers, Australian installed and made airconditioning in 33, wind down the windows on a hot day, Italian made air conditioning made for 33's and blows out all vents, works quite good and is acceptable, and mine still works!, despite that, i still love the 33, driving it tonight, i thought, after owning this car for 28 years, i still love it, Colin.

[tony8028]

i still love the 33, driving it tonight, i thought, after owning this car for 28 years, i still love it, Colin.

You dont have to convince me. Of all the alfas I have had my 88 twin carb 33 was the most fun to drive and had the best exhaust note and that lovely back firing thing they do....wish i could tweak my 147 to make all those crackles and pops!

[colcol]

Lots of valve overlap as in the 1.5, 105 horsepower TI, will give that lovely crackle in the exhaust as you back off, not quite as crackly on the 95 horsepower GCL, but still good none the less, in fact going to work at 5 am in the morning with the exhaust crackling, going down a hill on overrun, the police waiting at the bottom of the hill have pulled me over for a noisy exhaust, but when they see the old bloke driving it, they send me on my way and tell me to fix the hole in the muffler, and i am not making this up, Colin.

[tony8028]

Lots of valve overlap as in the 1.5, 105 horsepower TI, will give that lovely crackle in the exhaust as you back off, not quite as crackly on the 95 horsepower GCL, but still good none the less,

mine was actually a 1.7 twin carb....as apposed the IE that was available at the same time.

It was VERY crackly!

[colcol]

And the induction noise through the 40IDF webers was glorious, Alfa Romeo must have gone close to the noise limit for ADR's on Suds and 33's, sometimes when tuning with the air cleaners off, and you go for a drive, the noise is intoxicating, but the police pulling you up would get tiresome, not to mention the extra engine wear, Colin.

[wankski]

yeppo - the best mod for double carb alfas was always trumpets and socks... or not..

[colcol]

I sometimes get pulled up by the police for a bit of noise, with the standard air cleaner and exhaust, what would happen with this setup?, apart from throwing me in jail, the extra loud engine note would turn me in to a wannabe race car driver, who owns this 33 Joe?, Colin.

[Sportscar Nut]

Yeah agree with the comment about the 1.7 exhaust note being 'crackly' - with 1 & 3/4 headers into a 2 inch exhaust system, the note on 'back off' is sensational. Is quite loud although quiet compared to the Exige.

[colcol]

Regarding the constant velocity joints in the 33, when you put the bands around them, if you get a kit from a Constant Velocity joint specialist, you get the grease and the clips to hold them on, because i purchased the boots themselves on their own from an Alfa spare parts place, it had no clips, so i used plastic cable ties, in the past i have used Subaru stainless steel cable ties, because their was a dealer close by, i was at Bunnings today and buying some cable ties for a non car project, i noticed they sold stainless steel cable ties, in all sizes, perfect for C.V. joints, and unlike the Suby dealers, they were not $10 each, but $7 for a packet of 4, gotta luv that, Colin.

[colcol]

The 33 speedo stopped working, so i have done the easy bits, such as cleaning the speedo sensor cable plug and then changing the speedo sensor, so in a time honored tradition, i have to attack the inside of the car, take the speedo binaccle out, pull it apart, resolder all the speedo connections, [in case of dry joint], the 4 pin connector that the speedo slides onto, clean the metal spikes and tighten the corresponding metal connectors, check printed circuit on speedo for broken circuit, clean all the speedo multi pin connectors, [speedo is also hard wired], so clean and check for continuity of the hard wiring, roughly put back in car and go for a drive, speedo works, boys and girls can you tell uncle col what the problem was?, no i can't either, but while speedo is apart, it has been reading slowly, ie telling me i am doing 95, when i am really doing 100, solution, carefully take off speedo needle and reposition it, and go for a drive with your GPS, and keep positioning the speedo needle until the GPS and speedo agree with each other, Colin.

[colcol]

Speedo worked ok for a week, now it has died again, been driving around for a few days behind slower drivers, and remembering the rev counter revs for road speed, to avoid speeding fines, all of a sudden, knucklehead in a Fairlane pulls up in the left lane to check Melways road maps, everyone jumps on brakes, and nearly rear ends each other, when clear, drive off and abuse Fairlane driver for being typical stupid Falcon driver and give him a good blast with horn!...... speedo starts working again, todays top tip from the Alfa Forum, when your speedo stops working, jump on the brakes really hard, swear a lot and toot the horn loudly, so much better than going to an Auto Electrician, Colin.