Giulia TI finds new home - Page 11

**Andrew** · #**151** (**permalink**) 10-15-2009, 07:27 PM

Back to the white TI. Took it out again today to work the rings in some more. Mechanically the engine sounds good, but it's stumbly after it warms up, and I'm guessing it's the carb. Have new points en route, will put them in next week and retime, and see if that helps. Carb sat for 20 years though, and looks suspect to me. Trans shifts nicely and overall car does not feel bad.

For the most fun you can have in latex gloves, remove and rebuild your brake booster. Each time I shut down the engine, I could hear fluid gurbling, and the sound was coming from the booster. Like everything else on the car, it sat for 20 years, so I'm not surprised its seals aren't the greatest, and leaks in the booster mean you'll never get your brakes bled, and you won't have power brakes. Further, there was no vacuum "whoosh" when I removed the vacuum line, so I imagine I have a huge intake leak on #4.

See pics below. Got the booster out and all apart, and about a cup of fluid came out of the chamber. Also, look at that sludge line inside; that's been there for decades. Finally, see the lineup of the seals, spacers, etc., in the hydraulic cylinder. I have about four kits lying around for this part, so I'm good there. I don't have an air-valve rebuild kit, so will be looking for one of those. The air-valve piston is hell to get out, because there's nothing to grab; the plunger from the air diaphragm presses on a piston whose only visible part is a shallow dished hole, with nothing to grab. I've been here before, so I'll likely figure it out. Any suggestions though would be great. Air pressure is possible, but there are about four openings to block first.

Andrew

**acurtiss** · #**152** (**permalink**) 10-15-2009, 07:35 PM

that's some vintage sludge.

**benjoys02** · #**153** (**permalink**) 10-15-2009, 08:28 PM

there's a shop in the peninsula that can rebuild your booster for less than $200. they can even cad-plate it at that price.

**Andrew** · #**154** (**permalink**) 10-17-2009, 07:23 PM

I got the air-valve piston out, rebuilt the unit with all new seals, and put it back in today and bled the brakes. So far so good. I go the piston out by jamming a 5mm tap into it and turning it just enough to bite. Came out a treat, as they say in the UK.

Bore was not rusty or weird, so putting new seal kit in was straightforward. The vacuum chamber diaphragm was in fact torn, so was creating no vacuum, and was a mondo intake leak, as I guessed. See pic.

Brakes are getting there, but solving this intake leak has not got the engine running much better. Starts and idles better, but stumbly on power, and seems to be running out of gas easily. Still suspecting the carb, but won't do anything about it til next week.

Andrew

**jarrington** · #**155** (**permalink**) 10-17-2009, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew

Brakes are getting there, but solving this intake leak has not got the engine running much better. Starts and idles better, but stumbly on power, and seems to be running out of gas easily. Still suspecting the carb, but won't do anything about it til next week.

Andrew

Alfajay · #**156** (**permalink**) 10-18-2009, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benjoys02

there's a shop in the peninsula that can rebuild your booster for less than $200. they can even cad-plate it at that price.

**Andrew** · #**157** (**permalink**) 10-18-2009, 09:26 AM

Agreed. That's half the price of a new one, though you can find Lockheed Mini ones for less at Moss Motors and in the UK.

If your bore is OK, these are not at all bad to rebuild.

I cannot imagine cam timing is the issue. The engine just doesn't sort itself out and run cleanly at any moderate or higher throttle. Ignition first, then carb I think. Maybe new plugs too.

Andrew

Peter Lundquist · #**158** (**permalink**) 10-19-2009, 06:40 AM

Guys,
I would like to put a booster back in my 1969 GTV. I tore out the original boosters in 1985 when I bought the car and the brakes have worked wonderfully since. But now I am going to install some Performatex/Outlaw calipers and am wondering if I need a booster. Instead of the original two, could I retrofit an old fluid-to-force (?) booster in my 1969? I also need a larger master cylinder for the project, so suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks,
Peter

**Andrew** · #**159** (**permalink**) 11-01-2009, 05:34 PM

Today I make beeg progress. Getting very frustrated on how poor is running. Borrowed known-good TI carb from Comrade Matt and bolted it on yesterday, to no improvement. So, following general rule that 90 percent of carb problems are ignition problems, I swap in 2000 Marelli dist today and sucker run great. Idle well, pull much stronger, and not seem to "run out of gas" after few minutes. Checked compression after driving for 15 minutes and have 170-185 across board.

Hooray. Now to motor down to Mitch's to get the exhaust welded up. Still need to re-bleed the brakes; I wonder if I've got a leak somewhere? They were very firm two weeks ago and now are not. Just to celebrate on something cosmetic, I put on a usable outside mirror, remove the front bumper and grille and polished them, and polished the rear bumper. Pro-gress.
Andrew

**jarrington** · #**160** (**permalink**) 11-02-2009, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew

Today I make beeg progress. Getting very frustrated on how poor is running. Borrowed known-good TI carb from Comrade Matt and bolted it on yesterday, to no improvement. So, following general rule that 90 percent of carb problems are ignition problems, I swap in 2000 Marelli dist today and sucker run great. Idle well, pull much stronger, and not seem to "run out of gas" after few minutes. Checked compression after driving for 15 minutes and have 170-185 across board.

Hooray. Now to motor down to Mitch's to get the exhaust welded up. Still need to re-bleed the brakes; I wonder if I've got a leak somewhere? They were very firm two weeks ago and now are not. Just to celebrate on something cosmetic, I put on a usable outside mirror, remove the front bumper and grille and polished them, and polished the rear bumper. Pro-gress.
Andrew

**Andrew** · #**161** (**permalink**) 11-02-2009, 09:00 AM

No good reason why I adopted that tone; just seemed right at the time.
Still a fair ways to go, but I hope it's not five years. Next step is sorting the driveshaft. I know I need to change the rubber center support, and definitely one u-joint. We'll see what else.
Andrew

**Andrew** · #**162** (**permalink**) 11-11-2009, 08:51 AM

No new pics, but I have moved ahead in a number of areas:
* Several more rounds of bleeding have produced a usable, not excellent, brake pedal. I forgot til yesterday that on Dunlop disks one needs to adjust the rear pads mechanically (parking brake acts on those pads), which should move the pedal up a bit once I do so. More work perhaps needed here. Helping bleed brakes is what younger family members are for, at least that's how I was raised.
* Driveshaft came out; I replaced the center bearing rubber and put the clamp in right ways up; bearing was OK. Loose rear u-joint appears to be either because holes are worn or this is one of the oddball joints for which kits are not available. I put in a new kit from Jon Norman and it's still a hair loose. I have another rear DS piece and will sub that in if I vibrations continue after I fit non-square tires (see below).
* Mitch Parella (Muffler Works in Albany, CA) welded up my bungled center slip joint yesterday and the exhaust now sounds great. While the TI was up in the air, I asked Mitch to weld up the torn-out R sway bar mount. So that's fixed and I can now install the sway bar with new bushings (old ones on body were molten; conversely, donut ones on lower A-arms were petrified).
* Bought four almost-new Pirellis 4000s last night for a song. Plan to get them mounted this week.
* Got the rear doors to open and close properly. Both on-body latches were grossly mis-adjusted, and the pot metal plunger on the outside handle on the RR door had scaled/barnacled, as they do, to the extent that it would not move. A decent used one from my stores and a little fiddle-adjusting solved that.

Car is coming along. I've had my emotional ups and downs on this project lately but slow and steady progress is making me feel better. Engine feels very good, gearbox proves to be excellent, and if it stops leaking out the front main seal I'll be happier. I've used the car two days on actual on-the-road trips and it now seems like a real car, not a jack-stand project. It got its black plates back from the stealth blue 1300 TI, and I removed the quadrifoglios from the fenders and ARA sticker from the window. Back on the road after 20+ years.

Andrew

**gmack** · #**163** (**permalink**) 11-12-2009, 11:32 AM

Love the updates. The challenges, solutions, pics and stories in total are always enjoyable, so keep 'em coming. In my part of the country there are very few Alfas, much less any sedans prior to 1969. So, to me, your little jewel is about as rare as a TZ. At least I've seen those at vintage race events.

Thanks again for bringing us along on the journey.

GMack
Minneapolis
74 GTV
69 Spider

**Il Vecchio** · #**164** (**permalink**) 11-12-2009, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmack

Love the updates. The challenges, solutions, pics and stories in total are always enjoyable, so keep 'em coming. In my part of the country there are very few Alfas, much less any sedans prior to 1969. So, to me, your little jewel is about as rare as a TZ. At least I've seen those at vintage race events.

Thanks again for bringing us along on the journey.

GMack
Minneapolis
74 GTV
69 Spider

**Andrew** · #**165** (**permalink**) 11-12-2009, 12:01 PM

Thanks all.
This is a pretty standard story in terms of getting a non-rustpile back on the road after 20 years, and 10 years deferred maintenance before that. It's a matter of patience, a systems approach, ability to troubleshoot, and willingness to tackle whatever comes up, because all the systems are likely to need attention.
If it's a rustbucket you can add a whole other huge component of bodywork, which I haven't had to do at all on this car, and I chose not to do [yet] on my Giulietta Berlina (see similar separate thread on the Giulietta forum of getting it back on the road after 30+ years).
Will post some further pics of sway bar repair, rear brake adjustment, and new tires. Got a new Solex carb in the mail yesterday and we'll see how that works, so I can give back the borrowed one the car is running on at the moment.

Andrew