How come I can hear the choke as a noise inside the cabin?

The noise you are descibing sounds normal to me. Dellortos are very noisey when you have the choke on. When you use the choke, you are pulling air though a separate circuit (through the jet cover from what I remember) therefore you have a very different sound that does sound very odd.

I would be worried about this "The carbs were set deliberately rich as a protective measure" - crud... If it was a standard rebuild, set them how they came out of the factory! Too far rich or lean can cause damage for different reasons.

I always used to always rebuild carbs as part of a full rebuild. Even here in Canberra (goes to -5 regularly in winter), you could give then one poke on the accellerator, pull the choke and they would burst into life and idle straight away... when everything was set up properly.

The biggest problem with the choke on carburettored Alfas was stopping the choke cable from seizing.

Yes, true, in fact the transport company who brought it interstate delivered it with a stuck choke cable - it made for an interesting idle at about 3000 rpm. I'm using the choke pretty infrequently now, and it's really only a problem holding idle at the lights when it's cold.

I wouldn't say the carbs were way too rich - just tend to drop a bit of unburned fuel when I open up the throttle under load. I had them stripped and rebuilt a year ago so I'm confident they are OK. I'll get it tuned when I get the time - wish I had the knowledge and experience to do it myself.

I've had a few sceptical responses to the "set a bit rich" notion, but that's what my mechanic told me. He did the rebuild just before we moved interstate (actually *after* we moved!) so it wasn't him trying to get repeat business. Everything else seems OK thus far (750 km on) so I guess I trust his opinion, but I know there are many schools of thought on rebuilds.

Matthew K said:

No worries Don - my personal thermostat was influenced by Sydney, but I grew up in Tas, so the climate feels entirely normal to me! I find I'm not using the choke much at all now that Hobart temps have climbed out of the single digits. 16 degrees is just fine with me!

Who do you reckon is good for carb tuning, etc? I've heard good stuff about Jedamzik but I know you were pretty keen on the guys in Collins Street.

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I don't know much about Jedamzik, apart from the fact that he used to service a workmate's Mercedes several years ago, and seemed to be OK. He also took over his garage from an ex Tasmanian rally champ, Lin Gigney, whose daughter (rallying must be in the genes!) navigated for Peter Brock in Targa in a Monaro a few years ago. Lin used to be good for buying suspension parts and Cibie lights from, prior to his retirement.

Autocraft in Collins St is a good place. The Kershaw brothers who run Autocraft are Italian car specialists, and have both owned Alfas and Fiats. One of them still owns an Alfa 33 Quattro, I think. The rally blokes don't get their cars serviced there for nothing - they are real enthusiasts, and have plenty of good mechanics working for them. Just don't go in there anytime near Targa Tasmania time, as they are overflowing with rally cars then! However, I'm sure the brothers would jump at the chance to work on an Italian car. They are pretty versatile, and also do (real) 4WD servicing, and supply and fit 4WD accessories like bull bars. If you need many car accessories, like Koni or Bilstein shocks, or driving lights, they are always the first people to try in Hobart, I've found.

Another place that specialises (or used to) in Italian cars is Fogarty Automotive Services. Terry Fogarty who used to run it died several years ago, so I don't know if they still specialise in Italian cars, although I remember his widow said that she'd continue running the business like that, in a newspaper notice at the time.

Yet another place, although I don't know much about it, is a place out in Glenorchy, run by some Italians named Bocchino. They specialise in Italian cars like Fiat, Lancia and Alfa, and VW's and Ferrarri's, from memory, and also have a highly-regarded bodyworks business, I think.

-Don