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Thousand Dollar Supercar's 1988 Alfa Romeo 33 1.7QV


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I crashed my first car when I was under 25, and started looking for a replacement I could afford to insure. I wanted to like the sensible Mitsubishi Mirages, Honda Preludes etc but before I settled for one of those I tried an Alfa Sprint. :idea:

And so began the search for one in good condition!

Lack of time saw me wind up with this Alfa 33 1.7 for $2150:

TWOCARS.JPG

That's my previous car in the background.

The 33 is a FWD longitudinal flat-four with a 5-speed manual gearbox. Mine is series 2; 118hp-in-1988 8 valve with twin dual-barrel carbs. The facelifted series 3 gained power steering and fuel injection (not oldschool!), but went down 8hp (until they brought out a DOHC version with four valves per cylinder).

This 33 was the best non-fuel-injected one I came across, but that isn't saying much. It leaked, it had rust, the painted bog was cracking off the bonnet, and it wouldn't idle without your foot on the accelerator until the temperature gauge passed 1/4. I stalled it several times a day and questioned my sanity. :rolleyes:

The first big spend was a $700 tuneup - plugs, leads, distributor cap, rotor, air filter, carbs balanced, new carb floats, new fuel lines (ones without electrical tape bandages on) etc. Instant power, driveability and economy improvement, and instant grin. :D

Next up was the timing belts, because the car was past the belt replacement interval and the previous owner hadn't seemed concerned.

I was still pretty new to cars, and I took the car to a garage and requested they change the timing belts and water pump. Which they did. The rusted water pump was smashed with a chisel to aid removal, and I paid $440...

But the rust was still there. Here's a cosmetic bit:

TIKTOK3.JPG

But if you look, you can see a little bit of bog and a little welding seam..

Bog appears to live under most of the paint on the car. :cry:

I took the car to a guy recommended by the last garage. He operated out of a scrap yard, with no electricity, and he has his comical/crazy old mother answering the phones! I did any basic labour, and he fixed up the worst parts of the car to the tune of $1800 over very many weeks.

AFTER_1.JPG

I'd now spent well over the car's value and had the car off the road as much as on it. But I figured I'd have the decent Alfa I wanted.

For five months only little things needed doing. After the expense of the rust repair, I installed an electronic rust talisman which repels rust through the awesome powers of Voodoo and active oxygen bubbles (http://www.couplertec.com.au/).

But then a timing belt tensioner failed :!:

It gave me a week or so of funny noises, during which time I had several people check out the car but nobody picked it. Turns out I should have asked the last garage to change the tensioners at the same time as the timing belts! My Alfa bent four valves and got a ride over the harbour bridge behind a towtruck. :cry:

Engine replaced with second hand block and heads. New timing belts AND tensioners, new clutch, new fluids. Car off the road for weeks again. I did over 1000km in a Fiat Uno courtesy car and never had to open the bonnet once. When it came time to pay I found that my EFTPOS card limit is $2500 per transaction. :shock::cry:

So now that I'd spent more than my car's value TWICE, did I have a good Alfa?

Edited by Thousand Dollar Supercar
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Yes. I got a year or two of nothing mechanical going wrong, which allowed me to channel excess cash into enhancements. :D

Driving lights:

FOGLIGHT.JPG

Jaycar digital tacho and digital voltage gauge kitsets:

DIG_TACH.JPG

(The digital tacho reads 150rpm lower than the car's rev counter, but I know which one I trust. It's the one that doesn't show 500rpm when the car's stopped and sometimes waver its needle about just for fun...)

Homemade gearshift boot:

SHFTBOOT.JPG

Rice boy painted air vents and new steering wheel:

NEWWHL1.JPG

The steering wheel is smaller and is dished, and it means you're not forced to sit Italian-style with your knees wide apart getting in the way of you trying to drive! Removing the old wheel saw me almost render the car useless - the old wheel broke off its bracket but the bracket refused to budge. A gear puller tensioned till it started to bend, plus a sledge hammer and a chisel eventually persuaded it! :wink:

New speakers, new Sony CD head unit (doesn't look too out-of-place, and has decent 52W of power versus 7W from the 1980s cassette original!):

RADIO.JPG

Then I started getting into track days. So I needed some directional tyres. A K&N air filter. A fire extinguisher. And an RPS rear muffler with shiny chrome tips, from Pitstop :wink: :

EXHAUST1.JPG

And more recently Hawk semi-race brake pads, and rebuilt carburettors ported to suit shiny intake trumpets (which are superb in their role of making More Noise :twisted: ):

CARBS.JPG

Recently I had my water pump start leaking, which was an expensive exercise due to my latest mechanic struggling with it over 6 hours without resorting to a chisel.

And among the ongoing electrical mysteries was the more-difficult-than-usual speedometer failure. I obtained a second hand circuit board, which had happily worked in another 33 for 18 years. Within weeks of being installed it my car, it failed. :rolleyes: I gave the instrument cluster to specialists and drove around on just my Jaycar tacho until they'd found the faults.

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A photo I wanted to include, from when I pulled out the ventilation unit to no avail (it still sucks):

VENTMAN2.JPG

I took the 33 on arrows collection and finish timing duty on two Dunlop Targas, I've been WRC-chasing a few times, I did a Cape-Reinga-to-Wellington-and-back road trip for the sake of it, I take the car on everything from Alfa club runs to business jobs, regularly at maximum attack the way it should be.

GRAVELRD.JPG

In light of this, the present value of my 33 and in honour of my favourite Top Gear episode ever (where the guys buy old mid-engined Italian "supercars" for a few thousand pounds and put them through a series of tests which they all fail), I chose my forum name 'Thousand Dollar Supercar'.

WRCSUNUP.JPG

CARPORT.JPG

FLATDRV.JPG

THAMES.JPG

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  • 6 months later...

Just prior to the last track day in November, I accidentally filled my car up with Gull's 'Force 10' poison petrol, with 10% corrosive bio-ethanol.

I knew not to do that, but I wasn't thinking until it was too late. The guy at the counter reckoned one tankfull wouldn't hurt.

A couple of weeks later I'm smelling petrol through the cabin air vents when the car's sitting at traffic lights. I looked for the leak on a few different occasions but didn't find it - the petrol would evaporate unless the engine was running (duh!) :rolleyes:

Turns out all my 3-year-old fuel hose was completely stuffed:

picture 1

picture 2

Underneath the hose clamps where the hose didn't touch the petrol (but was still exposed to the same amount of heat), the rubber was just fine. Everywhere else it's perished half to death. There were two leaks where the hose was stretched over fittings, luckily nothing caught on fire.

I Replaced the perished hose with 3 metres of Repco stuff for $48.

Feeling safer now. :shock:

Edit: fishtailfred suggested the hose perished where it was exposed to air, and it was a coincidence it started leaking after the tank of E10 petrol. What is he, a lawyer for the petrol company? :P

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I took my car on a 'before' dyno run today. :D

Peak power was a mighty 60kW at the wheels, using the standard airbox not the noisy trumpets I often run at the track. I suspect the trumpets would give less power - their length has not been matched to the engine and they draw hot air.

60kW is 80.5hp at the wheels.

Somebody told me to expect 19.5% drivetrain losses on a 33, which means my engine's making about 100hp out of its quoted 118.

DYNO1SML.JPG

The dyno run was done up to 6000rpm, and peak power occurred from 5500 to 6000.

So anyone who wondered how this crate managed to keep up with them on the track - continue to wonder! :?

Before the shop (Shore Performance) did my car they were dynoing an EX Lancer with a boosted Lexus V8 running something like 14psi. :shock:

The dyno operator said he didn't know how that kind of stuff was legal.

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Progress report: I've now got a proper exhaust system instead of just a rear muffler. :D

The original 1988 exhaust had developed cracks at the two sharpest bends and I could feel gas escaping from these when the car was just idling. The perfect excuse for an upgrade!

The work was done at Al's Mufflers, one of the shops recommended by users of this forum in our whitebook thread.

Al (I think it was Al) replaced the final 2->1 junction of the headers (the design of which he didn't like) and the rest of the factory system back to my existing Pitstop super sports special rear muffler. :wink: Centre muffler is now a resonator, pipe diameter is increased to 2.25" and I've got a join I can unbolt to remove the headers for engine work. It all looks slick and smooth, sounds still relatively quiet at idle and on the motorway but definitely louder at big throttle openings at low/moderate rpm (for booting about town with the windows down). Drowns out other unhealthy noises from the car with an exhaust note that's an improvement on your average Honda inline 4 drone. 8)

I don't know whether I should bother with the expense of dynoing just the exhaust or wait until stage 2's complete and I'm ready for a full tune. :twisted:

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I'm losing my battle with the Alfa virus. I just bought another 33 - a grey 1988 1.5TI, for less than the price of the above exhaust upgrade. :D

I can't call it the hundred dollar supercar though because it's not very super just now.

It has no rego or WOF. :?

There's issues with the rear brakes and one of the front shocks, although I haven't investigated yet. It also came supplied with underinflated tires to further reduce control. But it does have a control so pointless, so unreliable and yet so awesome it could go by only one name:

Alfa Romeo Control.

LFACTRL1.JPG

It has many little lights to tell you all the things that may or may not be wrong with your Alfa Romeo, and on the left a big green light (for if everything's cool) or big red light (for if you're in trouble). Trouble is that the big red light appears to be broken. :lol:

Other bonuses on this car include the pancake air filters, and lack of problems like worn tires or significant un-bodged rust.

Haven't had time to take pictures of the car yet, still cleaning it.

It's messy. :shock:

http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/grey_ti/MESS1.JPG

Work done so far:

Replaced broken window

Cleaned birdpoo and Pohutukawa debris from outside

Cleaned all kinds of mess from inside but only found 40c

Swapped front seats over

Fixed, jumpered or topped up stuff until Alfa Control shows no problems

New problems found:

Drivers electric window jams

Drivers door is cracked where the door catch bolts on so door doesn't really close. I think this just happened.

Car needs a tune - once warm it idles at 2000rpm and backfires!

Plans for this car:

Finish cleaning it so it doesn't look dodgy.

Take off any bits I like.

Try to get it a WOF, then pay up the registration.

Use it as practice for the work I'll be doing on my main car, by changing its timing belts before they break (fingers currently crossed).

Use it as transportation while my main car's off the road.

Sell it for more than I paid, possibly to flatmates who all currently need new cars..

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Been busy on the new old 33.

Fixed:

Handbrake adjusted. Found a weta living in one of the brake drums... I thought this adjustment would solve all the brake problems but that would have been too easy.

Tightened self-loosening bolts on sump and gearbox.

Car's looking about as tidy as it's gonna get now, just the back bumper to do and the carpets to un-stain.

Dodgy creaking shock 'fixed' with WD40. Must have just got some dirt in it cos the protective boot's disintegrated. ;)

New problems found:

Decayed vacuum lines in engine bay have just fallen off.

There's still excessive brake pedal travel despite my rear brake shoe adjustment. Still haven't found where the brake fluid is slowly escaping either.

Needs new outer CV boots.

Really should have at least new brake pads on at least one side.

One headlight reflector is loose messing up the headlight aim.

For some reason three of the wheel bolts on one wheel have munched threads, and it looks like the wheel hasn't been fitting properly. Sockets in the hub are damaged too; each bolt only fits back into one hole. Dodgy.

Alfa Romeo Control is angry again over some more blown bulbs.

But I took some photos!

cemtary2.jpg

Most experts agree - a conservative-looking grey hatchback from 20 years ago.

Interior:

http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/grey_ti/cemtary8.jpg

http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/grey_ti/cemtary9.jpg

Sitting in the driveway:

http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/grey_ti/MNTBATNS.JPG

Trying to make the car look better than the cheap old heap it is:

http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/grey_ti/cemtary7.jpg

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The two rear light clusters are different designs from eachother, even though they look the same from outside the car. Now that's Italian.

Found one bulb wasn't going cos the bit of spring steel from the socket was missing - why bother putting a bulb in? I bodged it with a ballpoint pen spring. Spent an hour or two on the rear light clusters, and after I buy 3 new bulbs no WOF inspector or Alfa Romeo Control will be able to complain.

But I still have to deal with the loose headlight reflector.

Upon inspection, I found it was propped up by little wedges of wood inserted into the headlight. :rolleyes:

Got the headlight out, don't know how to open it. Probably glued. :cry:

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Oops.

Put the headlight in the oven, fan bake, 140 degrees for 3 minutes and a localised hot spot took out the corner of the indicator lens and the piece of trim under the headlight. :oops:

http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/grey_ti/melted.jpg

Incidentally the lens separated from the headlight body just fine, not that that does me much good now.

:arrow: Let this be a lesson to you - when baking headlights take your time, undo the rusty screws holding intact plastic pieces to the main assembly and go easy on the heat! :rolleyes:

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"Get that bloody thing out of here! The fumes!"

That's what I heard VTNZ Pit Inspection Man say about my grey car. :lol:

It did not put him in a happy mood. Between a fresh degreasing effort, open crankcase ventilation system and a motor that's really badly in need of a tune, my car was doing its best to gas him to death.

And that was after their testing of grey car's lights had sucked the tiny bit of life out of its half-dead battery, stranding the car in the middle of the inspection lane and requiring a jump-start! I also heard Pit Inspection Man grumbling about getting the owner in to push the car out. :D

But after I spent over twice the car's purchase price having basically half the brake system rebuilt (oh the crimes of dodginess that have been committed against that car!), there was nothing VTNZ could do but pass me. WOF, wohoo! They tried to put an end to my Alfa - it took them about twice as long to check it compared to the cars in the next lane, and they checked everything.

My Alfa even tried to put an end to itself - on the way to the testing station my new indicator revealed itself to have a loose connection, so I popped the bonnet infront of VTNZ's offices and convinced it to work!

But I now have a road-legal car.

Just one, mind, because a different garage failed my black car on a bunch of stuff, including rust around the windscreen, worn tires and a speedo that picked that day to pretend not to work. :evil:

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  • 2 weeks later...

My grey car has a dodgy front suspension strut, and nobody was wrecking any 33s so I ordered some brand new struts. I fitted them to my black car in the weekend - the old struts from here will go into the grey car. The replacement in the black car only took me all day. :oops:

While I had each strut apart I opened the strut pan bearings (the first time unintentionally, and I didn't quite manage to find every one of the ball bearings that fell out) and cleaned and regreased them. These bearings sit under the lower spring seat to allow the lower part of the strut to turn with the steering, and basically they get dirt in them and start to stick.

Picture of the two halves of an open bearing prior to reassembly:

http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/strut_bearing.jpg

When I eventually wrestled the whole mess back together (in a hurry to get the spring compressors back to Hirepool by 5pm) and took the car for a drive, its handling was noticeably different.

Differences:

Steering feels lighter

Feedback through steering wheel is more noticeable

Steering almost seems to want to turn slightly off centre in either direction, rather than return to dead centre as you'd expect.

Possible explanations:

Regreased strut pan bearings now turn more freely

New struts are Monroe not Alfa and may not be dimensionally identical to the originals - study the arms on each strut in this picture:

http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/new_and_old.jpg

Car might need a wheel alignment

Also, I might have put something back together wrong!

And now what do I find? Someone is now wrecking a 33 and I could have just grabbed a strut from them to use in my grey car. :rolleyes:

I'm also slightly suspicious of one of the new struts - it seemed to have much less compression damping, as if maybe the oil inside hadn't sorted itself into the right areas. I should have spent more time comparing everything before reassembling.

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The black car has had the windscreen rust repaired, a new windscreen fitted, the perishing rear brake hoses replaced, and I think I've finally found the loose connection in the speedo. Solution is to chop off every s**t quality Italian plug you find so you've eliminated them as potential suspects. Re-crimp new connectors on yourself - trust nothing.

I still haven't got a new set of tyres (last remaining WOF issue), but I'm feeling a bit poor now so I think I'll have to stick with standard mags again this tyre change. :cry:

My flatmate has put in an offer on an Alfa 33. If he gets it, we'll be one step closer to Killroy's Morris Marina museum..

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Flatmate missed out on buying the 33 and ended up with a 1981 KA Ford Laser instead.

The guy wrecking the 33 had it towed without telling me, before I'd grabbed any parts off it! :x

Black car update: Ordered four tyres (Bridgestone Grid III this time) and a battery, both of which should arrive in a few days. Existing battery will go in the grey car which needs it badly. Installed the custom-made parcel shelf I bought second hand - it's quite nicely made. Bought some Panasonic 6x9s, screwed them into the existing holes, plugged them into the existing wiring (that I ran previously for my own abandoned attempt at such a parcel shelf), sounds sweet! It was so easy I didn't even take a picture.

Grey car: Removed faulty electric window motor to replace it, then found replacement motor is a completely different design AND the cable has come off the pulley and jammed up inside it! :rolleyes:

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  • 1 month later...

Black car: One of the new struts I bought was definitely faulty. Took it back out of the car ( :rolleyes: ) and found it was responsible for suspension clunking - whenever it changed between compression or extension it had zero damping for a few cm then the damping would come in with a jolt. Got a replacement.

Bought some CV boots from Supercheap, took ages and lots of cursing to get the hub, driveshaft etc out and ready to fit the new boot.... but they were the wrong type. :evil:

Supercheap's supplier put the wrong part in the right box.

Got replacements, assembled everything, car's back together but with some damage done due to my mechanical incompetence. Tore a ball joint boot and half stripped the threads in the hub where the strut bolts on. :cry:

Black car is an oil change away from being an option for the track day - I won't get my planned head swap completed in time though.

Grey car: Got a professional tune done. Finally found a 33 at Pick-a-Part and got the right model electric window motor, which is now installed and working. Also grabbed a centre console ashtray (full of cigarette butts, eww!) which this car had been missing. Stuck a silver 'Alfa Romeo' script sticker on it once installed in the grey car. Looks much better than a hole in the dash.

Have found that the grey car backfires loudly when running on the choke in the morning. :D

Can't wait to get it all sorted so I can see what it can do.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Crash!

http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/accident5.jpg

(Bog? What bog?)

So I was running around town this morning in the rain, turned from Queen St into Shortland St and some plasterer's rusty, dented white Toyota van was ahead of me. He wandered over to the left without indicating, his one working brake light going. I figured he was stopping, so I started passing him. But no, he was u-turning, also without indicating!

Bam!

Side skirts, mudflap etc fly off, brand new tyre tread gets cut, brand new strut likely bent, every panel on the left side of the car deformed to some degree. Front passenger door won't open, and when I do right hand turns the tyre rubs on the guard because of body roll.

Two and a half weeks to Track Day. :evil:

His beat-up Toyota hardly took any damage. :rolleyes:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am now perhaps starting to approach the point at which I could be accused of having too many Alfas. :wink:

3ALFAS1S.JPG

A workmate and I are both entering the Smashfest 2008 jalopy racing and demolition derby. Because I will need some panels and indicators to repair the accident damage on my black car, it made sense for me to buy another 33 to enter in the derby. So I got this:

FIELD1S.JPG

It's a series 1 1.5QV with clear front indicators fitted. It had been stored for a few years, probably because of getting too rusty. It didn't look like the above photo for long, as after a test drive I began stripping and cannibalising it. The alloys, carpet and front seats will all be donated to my grey car for a start.

I'll post more pictures as the car gets ready to tear up the track! 8)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Black car: Being left alone as insurance claim progresses slowly.

Grey car: Received mags from silver car, and an emergency cash injection of new timing belts, tensioners, a CV boot and 3 new tires. This was to enable it to go to oldschool track day #3 in place of my black car. I quickly fitted my awful vented race bonnet and headed for Taupo, having had no time for checks etc due to work jobs and the derby cars.

First race - noticed considerable amounts of smoke in my rear view mirror under hard left-hand cornering. Solution was to tie dipstick down with wire so it wouldn't pop out again and leak oil on the exhaust!

Second and third races - car would overheat after the first couple of laps at full throttle, requiring me to coast about the place until it cooled back down. The heater core I'd previously unblocked had plugged itself up again, so I couldn't use this to help cooling. I tried wiring the cooling fan to run constantly, to no avail.

Fourth race - an inner CV boot split spilling its grease onto the exhaust. After this I decided that was enough racing for the day! Haven't driven grey car since getting back to Auckland.

Strut pan bearings are now noisy and the replacement LHS strut is making the same noises as the old one did. Suspect some aspect of the car is putting strain on it.

Silver car: Got stripped out and ready for the demolition derby, complete with company logos, revolving skull head mounted on rear wiper motor, cheesy rocket booster with light inside, and relocated windscreen squirters.

DERBY1.JPG

Ready to do battle alongside an '89 Galant

Go Speed Alfa!

http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/33profile/DERBY4.JPG

Doh! All smashed up...

DERBY5.JPG

...and taken away on a truck. Byebye. :cry:

ONTRUCK1.JPG

Despite me trying to extend my derby run by dishonestly bolting a piece of steel under the radiator support infront of the timing belts, I was put out of action when a Falcon reversing into my LHS front corner took out my ignition coil / module.

My shortest car ownership period so far! Must remember to get around to changing the ownership and deregistering it..

Last few weeks have been very busy with car stuff. No rest for the wicked though cos black car and grey car both need fixing..

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  • 2 weeks later...

Installed the carpet and front seats from the deceased silver car into the grey car, taking the opportunity to remove all the mouldy soundproofing from under the floor and to secure the centre console better so the ventilation is more controllable. Seats and carpet got well cleaned first, although now the remaining stains on the door cards are more obvious.

Old stained carpet and old seat design that sits you too close to the roof to accomodate a helmet

New (actually older) black carpet and old carpet side by side

The car now smells nice and clean, until you get out after a drive and smell the grease still leaking onto the exhaust from the torn CV boot... :rolleyes:

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