Giulia TI finds new home

[Andrew]

Here is the patient, prepped for surgery. This is an early shallow-pan/short-oil pump engine, so I'll be swapping in a later longer pump and pan (the standard 10mm deeper ones available nowadays).

Got my 750 engine's guts back today, so that's project one and this will take a back burner.
Andrew

[pathung]

Your 5,000th post, Andrew - congrats on your crazy hobby!

[alfa soon]

You aren't doing bad yourself Patrick!

[Super1600]

All progress is good, and especially more so on big ticket items such as engine rebuilds. Must talk to my mechanic again soon about the rebuild of the 1600 for my Super's restoration. 5000 posts is most definitely impressive. I am aiming for 1000 but still have a way to go. At least my 500th is not too far away I suspect. Dave

[Andrew]

Dunlop brake parts showed up from AlfaStop this week.
Andrew

[Andrew]

Stuck on the Berlina engine for a few days, I rebuilt the TI's brakes this morning. Put the seal kits in the rear slave cylinders and seals and new pistons in the front calipers. Buttoned them up and bagged them, and they're ready to install along with new hoses. I still need to remove the Dunlop brake MC and install its kit.

Pics show rear slaves done, old and new front piston comparison, and front calipers done.

While I'm putting the front brakes back on, I'll repack the front wheel bearings.

Andrew

[Andrew]

More progress. Removed the Dunlop brake MC today and rebuilt it. The MC was pretty good inside; not rusty, piston clean and free, seals just worn. I put in the AlfaStop rebuild kit and all seems well. Amazingly, this is the original MC to the car; the plastic band has the build date of 10/24/64 on it.

I cleaned up the engine compartment with some Gunk and wiping. The throttle crossover shaft bushings were completely trashed; I put in a couple good used ones I had sitting around.

I had noted the repair to the left dogbone attachment bolts when I first removed the engine. After cleaning all this up, I can see there were more old repairs to the crossmember area, and current repairs needed. In the two pics, note the cracks right through the factory welds on the left front crossmember attachment, and the vertical crack in the sheetmetal behind the right shock mount. These are pretty common problems areas on 105 cars, but I've never really had to face them before. So some welding and patching is called for before I put the engine back in.

Andrew

[Andrew]

Apologies if you feel you're being nibbled to death by ducks on my two "restorations," each with baby steps of progress. But this is how it's going, one day at a time, and I'm enjoying the work; I have three running Alfas so I'm not lacking for something from Milan to drive. I'm surprised to find I like having two things going at once so I can keep moving on one while the other is bogged down for some reason.

Latest: in prep to put the brakes back on, I checked the front wheel bearings. Three of the four races (and matching rollers) showed vertical rust spots from sitting for 20 years. The car was inside, but still this can happen, and may have predated its slumber. This happens with anything that sits for long periods (e.g., light planes). I had bearings sitting around (they're cheap) so I drove out the bad races, drove in new ones, and popped it all on the car with new grease seals. The right and left had completely different kinds of grease, the right side's turning chunky and gritty, and inadequate cotter pins, so this work was all worthwhile.

See pics of rusty races, and hubs and disks back on. PO painted the hub centers creamy white. Surface rust on disk is very thin, and backside is rust-free, so I think these will self-machine smooth very quickly in use. Will install new hoses with the rebuilt calipers, and I bought all new tie-rod ends from Jon Norman.

These are Dunlops disks; the disk, upright, hub, and shield are all different from ATE. I tried a direct swap in 1985 from a 67 Super to a 65 TI and found it was easier to change the whole front suspension.

Andrew

[acurtiss]

Keep the posts coming, Andrew. I for one find it inspirational (and obviously educational) to read these; it helps keep me motivated on my own seemingly endless list of tasks.

PS: rusty races? isn't that the title of the May 3 outing?

[Barry Edmunds]

Andrew

Congratulations on the latest acquisition. Looks OK but a dose of TLC should have it looking its best. Put it all down to getting ones reward before you get to heaven altho with that many Alfas you are already there.
Barry

[Andrew]

Alfa Heaven was in Wisconsin, last time I checked, and slowly going out of business, selling everything on ebay.
Andrew

[Barry Edmunds]

I did mean the real Heaven

I have a couple of those two piece door trims in good condition if anyone is interested.
Barry

[Andrew]

I could use one if I can figure out which I need for this car. I'll have to look.
Andrew

[Andrew]

Barry, I need the bottom half of the right front door. That is, where you are, the bottom half of the driver's door. Thanks
Andrew

[Andrew]

Moving right along. Got all the brakes back on, including calipers, MC, and rear slave cylinders, and all new hoses. No fluid in yet, but bleeding brakes and knuckles comes soon.

Also changed two tie rod ends that needed it and straightened the right tie rod tube, the one that was bent.

Pull off the exhaust this afternoon and am sorry to see that all three pieces have holes. The front section appeared good, but is leaking (see black marks) in front of the front muffler under the strengthening flange. So I'll need all new exhaust parts. Luckily I have them.

Pics show the old brake hoses; right-most is the rear, which was blocked totally closed, no fluid getting through at all. That explains why the rear brakes were frozen, because they haven't moved in years. This is very common; I would guess the rear hose is original, though the fronts have been changed.

Other pic is the very sad exhaust. This car's interior and shell are good, but it sure lacked maintenance before it was taken off the road 20 years ago.

Andrew