Transaxle Chapter and Verse

[MD]

Duk,

I dont think Phil is talking about the equivalnet of hydraulic compression and that's not how I interpreted it .

Come on Phil, you're on the mat. Explain yourself before the party gets ugly. hahhaa. 

[Storm_X]

My giulietta Uses to crunch 2nd and 3rd really really bad so I gave this product a go  http://www.lucasoil.com/products/display_products.sd?catid=7&iid=25&loc=show and the gearbox felt like it was brand new , I could basicly slam it Into any gear at hIgh revs and it slipped into gear like a glove.

[Duk]

Hi Duk,

Could you please back this comment up with more than 'Apparently?'

Not really other than seeing it mentioned a few times on AlfaBB. I searched for specifics, but forum search engines aren't my friend.
If it works for you, that's great. I would be a bit reluctant to use it in my 'probably unopened' transaxle, tho.

Duk,

I dont think Phil is talking about the equivalnet of hydraulic compression and that's not how I interpreted it .

I know he's not either, but when you get off the throttle of a petrol engine spinning at a 5000+rpm, there aint much air getting past that closed throttle body(ies) and so dynamic compression is less than squat. Manifold vacuum, however, is pretty damn high 

[Fylnn]

Storm X, like the idea of synchromesh in a bottle.  Where did you buy the stuff out of interest?  Happy to try most anything once. 

[Storm_X]

I bought it from super cheap auto to be honest. It says you can use 100% for diffs, I believe it's a 1ltr bottle so I used the lot and mixed it in. It's around $20 a bottle so it's at least worth a try.

[alfagtv58]

Duk,

I dont think Phil is talking about the equivalnet of hydraulic compression and that's not how I interpreted it .

Come on Phil, you're on the mat. Explain yourself before the party gets ugly. hahhaa. 

Yeah, not hydraulic compression lock.....it'd take a bit more than a little blip on the throttle to fix that.  Although I almost had that once, car overheating mid race, so I pulled into the pits, let it cool down and took the radiator cap off, low on water, so I thought I should top it up.  As I was pouring water into the radiator I glanced over to see water pouring out of one of the carby trumpets as fast as I was pouring it into the radiator.....glad I didnt try to start it first, major disaster avoided.

Anyway, I'm talking about braking into a corner, clutch in, select lower gear and letting clutch out while engine is around idle speed and the tendancy of the rear wheels to lock as they are unloaded etc etc.

Hopefully that is enough to get me off the mat, I'll be heading back to the dog house again.

[aggie57]

Duk,

I dont think Phil is talking about the equivalnet of hydraulic compression and that's not how I interpreted it .

Come on Phil, you're on the mat. Explain yourself before the party gets ugly. hahhaa. 

Yeah, not hydraulic compression lock.....it'd take a bit more than a little blip on the throttle to fix that.  Although I almost had that once, car overheating mid race, so I pulled into the pits, let it cool down and took the radiator cap off, low on water, so I thought I should top it up.  As I was pouring water into the radiator I glanced over to see water pouring out of one of the carby trumpets as fast as I was pouring it into the radiator.....glad I didnt try to start it first, major disaster avoided.

Anyway, I'm talking about braking into a corner, clutch in, select lower gear and letting clutch out while engine is around idle speed and the tendancy of the rear wheels to lock as they are unloaded etc etc.

Hopefully that is enough to get me off the mat, I'll be heading back to the dog house again.

I recall years ago a club member attempting to drive his then reasonably new Alfetta sedan through flood waters in central NSW.  Engine stopped half way through one section.  Bent rods was the report.....and more at a guess!

[shane wescott]

Just MHO but been driving Alfas for over 30 years and the first time I drove one and 2nd gear crunched on a downshift, the sales guy said "double clutch, get used to it, it's and Alfa"

I love double clutching and if you don't there are plenty of Hondas waiting for you.

Again, just MHO :-)

BTW. It stops yr mates driving your car.

[Duk]

Just MHO but been driving Alfas for over 30 years and the first time I drove one and 2nd gear crunched on a downshift, the sales guy said "double clutch, get used to it, it's and Alfa"

I love double clutching and if you don't there are plenty of Hondas waiting for you.

Again, just MHO :-)

BTW. It stops yr mates driving your car.

It did it for years on all of my other cars that had synchos that worked, after my old Giullietta  . Not such a habit now.

[Fylnn]

I just completed a day of rallying.  I am a member of Brisbane Sporting Car Club, and on Saturday we had a ride day in support of Camp Crystal for kids and families affected by cancer.  It is a bit hard to scare a kid who is staring down the barrel, so it was wonderful to do something for them.

We started with 16 cars giving rides, it was just a track carved out of the back of someone's farm so as the wore on it got pretty rough with big gibbers the size of half a house brick getting pulled out, so backed off a lot later one.  But I am pleased to report that of the 16 cars, only 3 ran all day, only a WRX and a V8 Commodore, (both of which owe someone mega bucks) AND THE ALFA.  About lunchtime I kept started hearing the "what is the Alfa still running" statements.  By mid-adternoon I started getting the confessions.  I used to own/rally and Alfa and I know they were cantankerous but they were tough.  So really pleasing result.  We broke all of the Hyundais, Datsuns and the Escort lost a front suspension. 

I am also really pleased with the performance.  It has a Haltech but otherwise the engine is standard.  It has been dynoed at 132HP at the rear wheels.  The rations are really good, they just keep coming and the engine is on the boil easily, and importantly for rally, the V6 has plenty of grunt across a broad band of revs.  Just love it, they are as good as people said they were.

BUT, it was all 2nd and 3rd gear stuff.  Despite lots of double declutching by the end of the day and on the way home changing 1-2 or 3-2 comes with a really big graunch.  It is almost like the synchro collapsed or something.  I have no history of the box but suspect it was not been touched in many, many years.  Has anyone had the suddenly goes bad story?

Also now thinking of rebuild options.  Can look in Brisbane, or try and do myself (I am mechanical but never done a gearbox before), or ship it down to someone like Vin Sharp.  Anyone got any thoughts about difficulty or cost? 

[aggie57]

Excellent!  Nice to get it home after that even with some "new" noises.  You've probably just chopped out the dog gears and synchro bands. Pretty common once the bands wear.

If you've never worked on a gearbox but are OK to have a go then the good news is that these are really easy to get out and pull apart.  Getting them out is straightforward so long as you can get under the car, and you don't need to remove the transaxle to remove the gearset.  All you do is drop the front on the transaxle, remove the clutch and then pull the gearset out the front.  It's mounted on the sandwich plate so what you end up with is a complete gearbox on your bench fully exposed.

I'm not saying you won't have some fun with the tailshaft and wriggling things in and out (getting the front of the transaxle low enough to give you room to pull the box out is second nature after a couple of goes but can seem odd first time).

Once it's out and on your bench replacing the failed parts is straightforward except for the dog gears which you will need an experienced person with the right tools to do.  For me I'd get Vin to do that but then he's 15 minutes from my front door and over 25+ years I've only ever known him to do quality work

[Fylnn]

So where do you get the appropriate parts these days?  Dog gears, synchro rings and all that? 

[BradGTV]

i know turin imports and maybe the spare place, here in adelaide sell most if not all parts for the transaxle

[Storm_X]

spare parts place may have it, i get all my new stuff from them if i cant find it on the internet

[Fylnn]

I suspect I will have to bite the bullet and do something with the box.  I was hoping to get to at least Christmas and do the big strip down then.

I suppose plan B is to find another identical GTV6 box and do it up instead.  One with the larger diameter bolts in the drive flange and the correct gear ratios.