[Alfisto Steve]

Had to clean all 4 accelerator pump spray nozzles on Maser Q-porte to be able to start and move it forward enough to tuck Old Blue the Beater into back-back yard behind fence.

Next I fired off the two Maser BiTurbo Spiders and moved them nose to tail against back gate and then parked my 164B with Chevy Bu behind it.

Moved tow truck into driveway so my son could come borrow it for a moving exercise he had planned. He left his Merc AMG in its place.

Tomorrow daughter's BF and I go retrieve the non-running 164 QS2 he has had parked for some time with non-running engine.

I will have to do some trouble shooting to see what exactly is wrong with the engine that has very low compression as I tested it a couple months ago.

Life gets in the way sometimes on these projects.

Black Beauty 2 the 164S rehab project now in that later will be greater catergory, too.

 

[Alfisto Steve]

Sweat City today moving QS2 into Que

We got it done but it was a two water bottle, two brew and now a R&C moment to get QS2 moved to Alfa house driveway.

Still looks pretty good even if it doesn't now run.

 

[Alfisto Steve]

Well, took about two hours of troubleshooting to get engine to run.

Very low compression but now that it is running and smoke screen gone away I will retest compression and install new gapped sparkplugs. I added a bottle of Marvel Mystery oil sparingly to each cylinder in hopes of freeing up rings if stuck. Not sure it helped but iniiatilly it did raise compression so valves seem to be OK. I checked valve clearances on front head anyway.

Tested fuel pressure with direct reading gage teed into fuel line going into fuel rail - got 40 psi.

Tested spark got none from sparkplug wires but got it very weak from coil wire so knew Rpm/timing sensor working.

But tested rpm/timing sensor resistance anyway and got .6 kohm

Tested coil primary about 0.8 ohm and secondary resistance 5.4 to 6.6 kohm but swapped a coil anyway. Still no joy.

Everything checked good but turns out dizzy rotor was bad as I couldn't get any resistance reading from carbon button contact area in center of rotor to end tip that has to fire each plug wire as it rotates.

Once I replaced that I got car to start. So mega smoke upon start up from the oil I put into cylinders but after awhile of some hard driving around the nearby streets it seems to have cleared up. Will see how it does tomorrow.

Last night after putting car away again after test drives I had to dash off to a men's boys night out BBQ party.

Now Saturday morning and I am about to dash off to the monthly Cars and Coffee event. Then it is off to help wife clean our summer rental unit before new weekely renters show up.

Also my grandson's 16th birthday today so having lunch with him and family then we are going Karting at indoor track.

Next week may have some time in it to do more testing of QS2.

 

[donliznev]

QS2 looks just like the 164 Base automatic (Sophia) I recently acquired (saved) from a desperate nearby seller.
I see QS2 has two black (prime coat?) door handles whereas Sophia has one black and one broken.
Sophia's paintwork does not seem to be as good as QS2, although it looks a lot better now after I pressure washed the flaking clear coat off the hood, roof and trunk lid.
The engine came out remarkably clean after only one treatment with engine shampoo.
The interior leather is very good and currently soaked with LEXOL.

Sophia is now running around my property every weekend as she is not licensed nor insured at this stage.
I will restore her when time permits.

The 217K engine feels as strong as my daily 117K driver, although tuning is required to even out the rough idle, here we go again.

I am sure we will have many notes to swap on these two silver beauties....

 

[Alfisto Steve]

Well, this past week I managed to get QS2 a new state inspection sticker on it after I charged up a/c, reset air bag light, replaced paper thin rear brake pads and installed Sara's new tires and wheels off her wrecked 164B.

Have to investigate a clunk in rear end, suspect a bad top strut mount. Probably will need wheel alignment, too.

Need to change oil and filter and verify engine worthiness and re run compression test to be sure low compression issue was just a fluke as it runs like the decal on the back used to say "Drive It Like You Stole It".

 

[Alfisto Steve]

Decision(s) to make about this QS2 164L

Replaced dead R/R strut today with good spare I saved from BB2 the 164S project as it had already been converted to regular 164B/L struts.

Reran compression test and with low battery and slow starter got 185 psi with plugs out so much better than earlier 90 psi reading before I got engine to run.

I also reset plug gaps to 0.025" and changed oil and filter.

Need to drive it a bit and see what else needs attention.

Now the decision I need to make is do I buy car back or charge him a repair bill for work I have done.

Needs to have alignment checked and 3 new tires if I take off new tires from Sara's wrecked 164B I put on to pass inspection.

 

[Alfisto Steve]

What would you do?

Now the decision I need to make is do I buy car back or charge him a repair bill for work I have done.

.

Some people just aren't cut out to own a 164.

 

[Richard2]

He needs a Toyota...Oh what a feeling!

 

[SpiralArchitect]

He needs a Toyota...Oh what a feeling!

We had a Toyota U10 truck my dad bought second hand back in the 70s. He had it for almost 30 years and it didn't broke down even once. In it's last days we had an employee that loved to see how much it could haul: I remember seeing it carry pallets loaded with clay disks so heavy they made our forklifts unstable. I think it was hauling 7 or 8 tons. We ended having to trade it in for a new truck, as it was too rusted. Still ran fine though.

Have you got room for another one Steve?

 

[Alfisto Steve]

You can't have to many Alfa 164s

Ya know that ALFA stands for "Always Looking For Another" don't you?

I cleaned and treated black leather seats in it (QS2) yesterday with Lexol when I did the ones in my wife's still like new 09 Malibu.

I guess since it is silver and daughter's wrecked QS1 was silver I should buy car back and put her in it so I can get My BB1 back from her.