ALFAGTV6.COM

powderhoundcd · Post by **powderhoundcd** » Tue May 09, 2006 2:23 pm

Well, I've been lurking here for quite some time, so I figure that I might as well introduce myself and my dream car.

I'm a high schooler in northwest Washington, and I'll be going to college next year. I got my '83 GTV6 last September, right in time for school to start up. After two months of debate with my parents, I got it registered and all set up. I started to drive it, and the first time I filled up the gas tank, I found out that it had a leak in the filler neck hose. After two weeks of cleaning it where it sat (a friends house), I had it towed back to my house and started searching for a replacement hose. I found it in March, and am all ready to get going in this dream machine again.

The car was previously owned by my grandpa, a car enthusiast from San Fransisco, but it sat in a barn as part of his collection for most of its life. My uncle took it from him around 2001, and took it to a track day after some TLC. At the track day, they managed to blow the engine (I don't know the details, but I believe that it was either a cracked head or a melted cylinder). Afterwords, my uncle told me that they swapped the engine for a 3.0 V6.

Right now, I plan on doing a full restoration and bringing this car back to its former glory, with some modern conveniences. The only problem, is that as a high schooler, I have a very limited budget.

Carson

Now, for some pics:

powderhoundcd · Post by **powderhoundcd** » Tue May 09, 2006 2:25 pm

How can I tell if this really is a 3.0l or if it's still a 2.5l? Thanks!

powderhoundcd · Post by **powderhoundcd** » Tue May 09, 2006 2:35 pm

Sorry about having three posts in a row, but I keep coming up with more questions.

1. I'm redoing the air box because it has some light surface rust on it. Should I use sandpaper to get rid of the rust? Or should I use some kind of grinder? Also, once I have all the rust off, I want to paint it black (everything in this car is going black). What kind of paint should I use? Is there anything special that I should get?

2. The driver's side mirror is missing the original mount. Anyone know where I can find one? Is there anything else that I'll need? Brackets, mounting plates, etc.?

3. The heater box is all messed up as you can see below. How do I go about getting it out of there so that I can figure out what it needs? Does the dash have to come out? Is that valve that is hanging the part that there is no replacement for?

Thanks for your help!

Carson

Greg Gordon · Post by **Greg Gordon** » Tue May 09, 2006 3:44 pm

Hi Carson,
That's a nice car.
Answers: (with a low budget theme)
1. Use either emory cloth or a rotating wire brush on a drill to remove the rust. Emory cloth by hand will work well but take a while. Paint it with a Ceramic based paint because it will help keep the box cool. I suggest Dupi Color brand 500F Ceramic Based Engine paint. It's about 2 bucks a can at Wal Mart and reflects heat like crazy. Invest another few bucks in a 1200F can and paint your exhaust manifolds with the ceramic stuff.

2. Any Alfa Salvage yard can help with this one. Glenn at Heavy Metal Alfa, APE or any of the folks parting these things out should have that. Search Evil Bay if you have to.

3. The dash does not need to come out to remove the heater box. It's held in there with screws, nuts and bolts. Just start looking for them. I think there are 4 main mounting points. If you can't find them I will get a better explanation. The thing hanging is the heater valve. They are junk and almost impossible to find anyway. The best solution is also a low budget one. Take the heater core out and have 1/2 inch fittings attached to it a a radiator shop. Then mount any regular heater valve from an auto parts store in the engine bay. I suggest Factory Air part number 74627.

Greg
www.hiperformancestore.com

powderhoundcd · Post by **powderhoundcd** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 2:30 pm

Okay, I finally got around to looking at the heater box, and I can't figure out how to get it out of there. Am I supposed to drop just the bottom half of the box (see the first picture)? Or should I try to take out the whole box as a whole? I'm assuming that the heater plumbing will have to be disconnected, is there any specific point that I need to look for?

Also, what is the connector in the second picture connected to? As you can see, it the hose is completely rotted away and needs to be redone.

Thanks once again!

Carson

Daniel · Post by **Daniel** » Tue Jun 06, 2006 6:30 pm

From memory, the heater box comes out as a unit (the blue line in your pic).
The pipe that you are pointing to is a drain for the fresh air vents at the top of the pic. You may find rust where the fitting is pop riveted at the firewall because they get filled up with dead leaves and crap and stay wet.

patzo_3l · Post by **patzo_3l** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 5:34 am

hi hows it going. i will try to help my young friend.

in regards to the heater box you will need to take out the set of gauges in the centre (the fuel water etc gauges) im sure you can figure how to remove this. Dont worry about the plugs on the back of that unit once you take it off as they mostly can only fit onto where they are supposed to go however if you are confused im sure you will figure to mark them b4 removing. then its as simple as getting a light and having a loook in there where you will see 4 nuts from memory number 8mm. after you remove those four which are on the firewall by the way make sure you remove the 2 hoses that lead into the engine bay and there is also a drain hose on the right hand side that goes down to the floor. it all comes out as one unit and is fairly straight forward .

the other drain hose you indicate in the engine bay you can remove completely if you wish as it wont make much difference.

i hope i have explained it clearly enough for you my friend but if you need more help feel free to ask.

patzo_3l
3l turbo gtv6

MALDI · Post by **MALDI** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 11:25 am

For what it's worth I don't think this car is a 1983, I believe it is a 1984. It has '84 wheels, the '84 contrasting paint stripe at the rockers, and the larger post-'84 emblem on the grille.

What is the year code in the VIN?

VIN is of the form: ZARAA6690E100xxxx

A=1980
B=1981
etc

powderhoundcd · Post by **powderhoundcd** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:29 pm

The VIN's year code is D, so that would be 83? Maybe it was a late 83 car?

MALDI · Post by **MALDI** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:48 am

1984 starts at serial # 5501 (the last four digits of the VIN). You indeed may have a late '83 (or really one of the first "1984s").

powderhoundcd · Post by **powderhoundcd** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 6:24 am

The serial is 5079, so it must be one of the latter 1983 cars. Is the serial number just for this year? Or is it the production totals?

MALDI · Post by **MALDI** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 6:40 am

Unfortuantely they skip numbers between years with seemingly no logic. I do not have a complete serial number list but I am always searching...

powderhoundcd · Post by **powderhoundcd** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 10:29 am

Okay, I've got the heater box almost out of there!
However, I can't seem to disconnect the plumbing that goes to the back of it. I can see the two hoses covered in some kind of black insulating tape (I think), and then a third hose, probable a drain hose coming out of the bottom.

For the two in that are insulated, I'm assuming that those are carrying the coolant to heat the car. How do these disconnect? I've removed the nut from the lower one (see the second picture), but it still won't budge. Also, when I disconnect them, am I looking at having all of the car's coolant come pouring out at me?

For the drain hose, would it be safe to lower the heater box (once I've removed the other two, and then disconnect it?

Thanks once again!

Carson

Murray · Post by **Murray** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:55 am

Carson, I believe you're dealing with an air-conditioned car.The hoses that are covered in insulating tar are AC hoses.Is there any refrigerant in your system ??

powderhoundcd · Post by **powderhoundcd** » Thu Jun 08, 2006 1:29 pm

You know, I have absolutely no clue. How can I check? I've never even looked at an A/C circuit before. What do I need to do specially to remove the heater box in an air conditioned car?

I'm going to start looking this up immediately after I post this. Thanks guys!

NW GTV6