New to 75 ts

[Divano Veloce]

I have sorted the idle on the 75. None of the leads that i have are good, especially the stock, origninal 75 leads. The bosch leads on the berlina needed re-terminating to get the kohms right and the car idles nicely with these, throttle response is good. I have 2 new sets on the way.

i assume that the idle/power issues has been a ht lead issue but i have also cleaned up the engine bay earths and replaced the cable from the starter solenoid to the distribution terminal as per craigs place advice. Interestingly, with the engine running and the high beams on I measured 25 amps in this cable... glad its not 6mm2 any more... if the engine fan was on too this would be around 30 amps. Add in a heater fan and a window winder....Probably within the amperage of the cable but the voltage drop would be excessive. I would have liked to have measured the voltage at the headlamps before and after...

So its onto the other big issue... the prop shaft vibration.

i seem to have made this worse by packing the rear engine mount with rubber heater hose segments. I have removed bits from above the pin and inserted below and then removed them altogether to attempt to achieve a reduction in vibration. The PO has told me that once in the time hes's owned the car the tailshaft was rebuilt by benincas.

I'll have a rwc inspection done this week and while its on the hoist I'll try to have a go at the center mount with a pry bar and see whats soft with mounts, see if the donut centering bushes are loose. I have read that loosening certain mounts then revving the engine can realign the tailshaft/gearbox mounts. I may try this too.


Other things:
PS idler pulley bearing. This is a discontinued SKF that is very expensive NOS (probably because its used on ferraris too). Does anyone have this part left over from a 105/116 conversion (might ask this elsewhere on the forum)
Oil level sensor bypassed with a 100 ohm resistor. Not really concerned about this
Thermostat may be stuck open (will check when i replace the coolant this week)
Diff drive shaft seals leaking... May have to repair for RWC
Cam cover leaking at rear distributor blank, alot.
Steering rack boot torn

I have an idea on how to implement a DIS with the stock motronic and do away with the distributors.... I may get over it but right now i don't want to look at them!

[shiny_car]

You clearly know how to trouble shoot, which is great to see. You're more likely to be a help to others, than others being able to help you!

But keep us informed. It makes enjoyable and informative reading.

[jazig.k]

Keep up the posts! I just got my TS going. Bought it for the transaxle for my 3lt, ended up being way too good to wreck so put the 3lt TA into it and now drive it to work and back. Aiming for economy, so far looking at 7.5l/100km for 1/3 town and 2/3 highway.

Still trouble shooting minor things though. Cruse control, after market central locking which won't unlock with key if it was locked by remote but of course jams locked sometimes, no heater fan etc etc.

Steering rack boots I bought a few weeks about from Bursons - $12 each.

I have a noise coming from the power steering pump myself, but noticed when I leaned on the hoses it went away.

[Divano Veloce]

thanks guys!

the ts with v6 transaxle would take a while to wind up! I should do that with my TS as i drive it or the Berlina to Bridgewater for work. Its about 75 kms each way and the Berlina has a 4.3 diff.... Good for overtaking though!

Jazig, howd you go with the tailshafts in your cars? Any experience with resolving vibrations? Have you had to replace engine/transmission mounts and did this create/fix vibrations? Thanks for the tip on the steering rack boots.
I was in Flowswerve a couple of weeks ago for a visit. Hows things there these days?

[Divano Veloce]

for troubleshooting the bosch motronic just follow the advice of Greg on his page here:
http://www.hiperformancestore.com/Motronic.htm
he refers to Beamers but most of it applies to the 75TS.

The VVT can be tested as per the alfa docs located here:
http://david.alfa-romeo.eu/alfa/AlfaRomeo75/
here are all of the docs that were hosted at craigs place (plus many more!)


For the v6 i would assume that the L-jetronic page would be equally helpful:
http://www.hiperformancestore.com/Ljetronic.htm

[AikenDrum105]

+1 on the denso iridium plugs - I run the same on my TS super (also need the screw thread posts for the COP units) 

Also the BERU UXF56 plugs (which are a little like the lodges with four tangs instead of one - not iridium though)   are a good alternative.   I fitted my spare set to replace some old lodges and cured a lumpy idle.

Great to see the super-sleuth at work

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Might be worth borrowing and putting in a propshaft that is known to be balanced and vibration free, just to eliminate (or not) that as an issue. 

What's that wagon behind the Valiant?

[Divano Veloce]

A volkswagen, 76 Golf project car

[jazig.k]

the ts with v6 transaxle would take a while to wind up!

It was a big shock after going from a modified 3lt with the TS box! But now that I'm used to it, it will be fine. Perfect for the run between Bendigo and Castlemaine. After one day to and from work I re-fuelled and worked it out to do 7.5lt/100km. 3lt was doing 20+/100km which included my 'fun' driving [I never tried to be efficient].

howd you go with the tailshafts in your cars? Any experience with resolving vibrations? Have you had to replace engine/transmission mounts and did this create/fix vibrations?

I've only ever had vibration from a shot doughnut which threw a chunk. I've never had problems with apparent misalignment. I actually put 3mm spacers under the TS box mounts to give the shifter clearance from the cross member after the conversion. The stock TS shifter touched the cross member, which I believe is the ball joint wear to blame. So effectively lifted the front of the box 3mm out of alignment. No vibration.
I think people show too much caution with alignment. Fair enough, take care if you can but I just think it doesn't matter THAT much.
I only bother marking the nuts and bolts if they are the Alfetta GTV type [shape and size is different, the 75's have the same nuts everywhere in my experience]. I do mark the rotation of the shaft halves if splitting it at the middle though. I've pulled my drive shaft out in the 3lt 4 or 5 times now?

I was in Flowswerve a couple of weeks ago for a visit. Hows things there these days?

Not pretty. It's a wonder how we are still open most days. We really only have one project keeping us floating from what I can tell. Production hours in the shop was running at 45% last time I heard a month ago. If anything we are worse now. I'm busy though, the rest of the machine shop is working one job to the next with a lot of cleaning in between.

[Divano Veloce]

On the way home today i swung into Parker St to see if a 75 was outside TKL. It wasnt... Instead i got pulled over by a friendly policeman who suggested the Berlina would look better with bumpers. He asked if it was a 1750, i replied "something like that".

The tacho died on the way home too.... that and the gearbox mount is on the list for the weekend. I think i will put the bumpers back on as it is booked for a RWC next week in preparation for club reg.

Anyway, back to the 75.

The thermostat hasnt been doing its job. The indicated coolant temperature goes up and down with ambient (for a given motor load). For instance, yesterday morning the indicated temp was about 40 degrees, ambient was about 5. Yesterday afternoon, indicated temp was about 50 degrees, ambient about 15. Radiator is working Thermostat is not

So I removed the thermostat and dunked it in a pot of boiling water. It opened. Took it out. It closed, but not quite. The valve was not closing square to the alloy body. By pushing on the guts of the thermostat from the side (through the port that connects to the cylinder head) i was able to square up the valve to the seat and get a much better seal. I cycled it a few times in the hot water and it sealed up well each time so its back on the car. Lets see how long it works for.... could be a cheap fix, could be a waste of time and coolant.

[jazig.k]

On the way home today i swung into Parker St to see if a 75 was outside TKL. It wasnt...

Nope, we now have a car park in near the pattern shop, where all the scrap steel etc. used to go for the moulding shop.

[Divano Veloce]

Ahh, sneaky! Next time im coming through Castlemaine I'll drop by.

The thermostat repair worked! Temperature quickly rose to just a whisker above 80 and stayed there all the way to work (~75kms). Lets see how long for....

[jazig.k]

A notch over 80 is where mine sits regardless of the day or weather. So stable it's almost worrying in the Alfa 

Regarding the parts you are after

  RHS headlight (no rust) - Is yours rusted? The main bucket deflector or the L shaped bit that just fills the space across the bottom and up one side?
My 3lt had rusted the L shape bit. The headlight pulls apart easily [Lense is only glued in place, lever it gently with a heat gun. Use a plastic spatula], then send it off for re chroming.

Power steering idler pulley - Have a look at it, could we machine it out to press fit a standard bearing? I'm sure I could knock something up for you...

[GTVeloce]

I replaced my Tstat with a new one from Alfa Service in Germany. Not too badly priced. Like you, mine wouldn't return to fully closed but cleaning it thoroughly didn't work either.

With PS pulley; is it just dry? If so, try soaking it in a bath of engine oil. I have found that can help it for a while. Of course that won't help if the bearing is actually worn.

I just replaced a water pump on a range rover whose bearings were so bad the pulley had almost 2cm free play!

With the vibrations, a few ideas to check. First, make sure the main rubbers are ok (three engine mounts, three transaxle mounts). Next, check the centre prop shaft bearing. Then the gap between the rear engine housing and prop shaft (should be 7mm). Don't forget to check the snubber while you are there. Look at the three donuts while turning the prop shaft and check for condition. Finally, an uneven running engine can also create vibrations so make sure that is not the cause.

[MD]

About HT leads.

The original TS high tension RF suppression goes about it in a different way to most other local makes. It does so by introducing a 5K ohm resistor into the plug connector. The HT leads are made of a multi strand stainless steel wire and should have virtually no resistance.

The reason behind this is a constant resistance presented to the HT coil irrespective of the length of the individual lead. This is very important because most other systems use an RF suppressor resistance in the lead and not the plug connector thereby causing less resistance in short leads and more resistance in long leads.

In turn this causes different HT voltages to be applied to the spark plugs depending on the length of their individual leads.

The original TS system is particularly good as the leads themselves last forever as there is no carbon conductor in them like resistive leads to fracture. They are bullet proof.

Finally a 5k ohm RF suppression is adequate for most ECU protection. The less you use, the greater the risk of ECU malfunction due to spurious signal noise interference. Too much resistance simply diminishes the quality of the HT for no gain whatsoever.

So the advice here is if you have a good set of TS original spark plug leads, hang onto them tighter than your wallet in a Moroccan alleyway.