ALFAGTV6.COM

[Amit]

Hi all. I own a 1982 Alfa Giulietta 1.8l. I have recently been having a few problems with it. The car had the following symptoms:

1. It began missing at low revs
2. It refused to start

After a few tests i found that the 3rd & 4th cylinders were not functioning.

I also changed the distributor earlier.

I took it to my mechanic & he said that the valves may be bent. This cost me quite a bit of cash cos i changed the rings aswell.

The car ran for about 2days and broke down again. Same problem!!! While doing about 2500rpm it just cut the power and the car switched off.

Can someone please help me. Im a student & the car is becoming so costly to maintain. I will never ever want to sell it though!

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks
Amit Jaglal
Durban;South Africa

[matt]

Hi Amit can you give more detail on the tests done to determine 3 & 4 cylinders "not functioning" . Do you mean no compression on those cylinders? If you had the motor rebuilt recently and have replaced the destributor and have fuel,spark & compression i'd be looking at the carby to those cylinders and strip/clean both of them with a new gasket kit. (maybe during the rebilt the carbs where turned upside down and any junk at the bottom of the float chamber has become lodged some where else in the carb) I've had similar problem ,took all the jets out and cleaned to no avail, then stripped carb, cleaned and put new gasket kit through both carbs and solved the problem.
good luck matt

[matt]

Hi Amit have you had a win with cylinders 3 & 4?

[Amit]

Thanks for the earlier advice. The cylinders are firing now, seems like it was the valves that were causing the problem.

I can still feel the car missing at low revs though. Its not something major, i can live with it, SORRY, i mean i have to live with it (DAMN THAT STUDENT BUDGET!!!).

I serviced the carbs, still have to get them mercury set. Im looking for an Electronic Distributor, still in the stone age with my points and condensor.

What should i try and do about the miss?

Also of i could bother you once more please? I seem to always crack the front coupling on my propshat, i dont spin the wheels at all and its only the front one that cracks. The shaft has been balanced but i somehow think that the shaft is eating the rubbers.

Most Giulietta owners i speak to have a similar prob, what can i do to minimize the damage to the shaft?

P.S This is my BABY in all her splendour!!!

Fitted the bike filters on the carbs. What a beautiful Sound!!!

[matt]

Good to hear you re back on the road Amit, you're giulietta looks good, my old man had one when i was young up and i remember as a kid in the back seat on the highway looking out and a car over took us, i was stunned, it was the first time ever a car had passed us ....the old man quicly fixed that
those bike filters look good, i ve just got crappy ramfl* filters on mine at the moment as for the slight miss it could be quite alot of things. I'd just start with a tune up, finish balancing/tuning those carbies, set ignition timing,check spark plugs and leads etc
Tune the carbs as per these steps, works very well

I changed my ignition coil 6 months back because the old one was on the way out, my car would miss a bit @2500rpm especially under load and when i took one off ignition leads off to test it would only throw a tiny orange spark. So i did a bit of an overkill and got this giant yellow accel coil and made up some copper wire core leads and now the same test throws a bright white/blue inch spark with a crack! It defenately helped with the miss and i think the car pulls a little bit better in 3rd & 4th gears(but its seat of the pants judgement).

You could change you re distributor to a brakerless one with a kit( and that way take advantage of the better advance curve of the older distibutor)

or just get a bosch distributor off a later model 2.0
Good luck with it
thanks matt

[Amit]

Hi

I really have to thank you for all the advice that you have given me.
I took the car to get the carbs set today, it gave a good ride but gave a few scares when she missed on the freeway.

Nothing major, just a wakeup call. I service my carbs at Robin Bauer Auto Centre, he's the best with Alfas.

He took one look at the filters i had just fitted and shook his head in dismay. These filters were the supposed cause of all my probs.

He explained that the filters, although great sounding, did not allow alot of air into the carbs at high revs causing the rich petrol to interfere with the sparkplugs.

When i thought about it seriosly, i figured that he may well be right, all i was after was the sound.

He suggested i fit the K&N filters for the sidedrafts. Im goin with his idea, cant mess around with the car for a while, im taking part in the ARCSA regional rally on Saturday. Im hoping to see some beautiful cars. I will post pics as soon as i get back.

One again, THANK YOU very much

Kind Regards
Amit

P.S While the carbs were being set, i took a walk around the garage, caught a glimpse of a beautiful rally modified Alfa.