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friday horror show

 
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LDA
Alfa 33


Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Posts: 276
Location: France

PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 10:48 am    Post subject: friday horror show Reply with quote

hey all,

seeing as its friday (and the idea just popped into my head), what horror stories have you got involving Alfa's.

i've got 2.

1)
i had a lovely grey s2 1.5ti had low miles bigger carbs and a pair of pancake filters. no other mods i can remember.
i was doing my A level's and i had a job delivering pizza for famous mo's. i had a drop quite a few miles out in a little village.
on the way out i passed a gritting lorry just before a nasty 'S' bend in the road. i waited for the grit to hit the car but the lorry wasnt dropping any grit.
i delivered the pizza and was on my way back to town just coming up to the same 'S' bend. to my surprise the road was covered in ice and i lost control as i went left round the first part of the corner. i managed to get her straight but on the wrong side of the road and then had to go round the right hand part of the corner. the same thing happened again except i didnt catch it this time. the rear wheels got caught on the grass bank and i helplessly slid along for about 20meters until i hit a road sign.
RIP alfa.
i was doing about 50mph when i lost control and i hit the sign hard enough to jam both doors, bend the roof and sill and i remember watching the windscreen crack as we hit the post.

the car bounced back into the road and stopped as i already had my foot firmly on the brake. my first concern was for my friend who was in the passenger seat on the impact side. he said he was ok but with a dead leg, he could move his toes without too much pain so i parked the car up.
we called an ambulance as we both had a lot of glass in our faces, i had cut my hand due to flying glass and my friends leg was hurting him.

we waited no more than 3 minutes before the first police car turned up. it came from the same direction as us and did exactly the same thing that i did. up the bank but ended in a bush not a sign post. 4 other police car's turned up (must have been a slow night) before the ambulance turned up.

the coppers were not hurt as the bush was much softer than the sign i hit.

L.
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LDA
Alfa 33


Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Posts: 276
Location: France

PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 11:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

my second horror story is much less painful for me but it hurt my car.

car - alfa 33 1.7 16v

running down a fast bit of 3 lane road i was being pushed along by a nissan pulsar so i tried my hardest to get out of his way quickly.
moved down 2 lanes once i had passed traffic and kept my speed as high as i could. pushing my car for as much as it had i hit the rev limiter in 4th gear. panic! need fifth fast!
so i rammed the stick into 5th and dumped the clutch so as to get back on the power as fast as poss.
***the next few events too place over about 1 second***
as i lifted the clutch the revs went through the roof and i knew that i had stuck it in 3rd gear while doing top speed in 4th!
i put the clutch in as fast as i could but it was too late. the rev counter went off the scale in the .5 seconds it too to over rev the engine.
i slipped it into 5th a tried to see if it still worked. nothing.
***
over the next 1/2 mile the car rolled to a stop down a steep hill and i parked it up off the main road. it wouldnt start and it was making some very sick noises.
got it to a garage where they told be the engine was shot and could not be fixed and the gearbox had gone the same way Sad
RIP alfa.

this is when i got a p4 Very Happy the silver lining to this dark tale.

note to self. remember to change that naff gear change rubber bit. it helps stop things like this happening again.

L.
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tvatavuk
Gold Cloverleaf


Joined: 13 Mar 2003
Posts: 673
Location: Split, Croatia

PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 4:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can read about my here Sad

http://www.alfa-pages.co.uk/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=270&highlight=
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Tino Vatavuk
Little black dress which replaced Alfa Romeo 33 S 16v Permanent 4 GMo
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LDA
Alfa 33


Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Posts: 276
Location: France

PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

lucky escape that! is it the same p4 that you have now? did you get it working again?
think i'll leave a spanner under the bonnet next to the battery just in case!

well at least it didnt burn out and you and your other half are ok. these are the main things.

L.
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RFlower
Alfa 33


Joined: 17 Feb 2004
Posts: 432
Location: S of France

PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 7:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I just put a battery cutout switch on my Ro80, classic insurance company requirement, I think I'll put them on the other cars too!
Cutout switches are quite inexpensive - cheaper than fires, anyway.
If you can't afford a switch, fit one battery terminal with a wing nut type terminal which can be undone without tools.
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Dick Flower, Nr. Carcassonne. '94 Trofeo 1.4 ie (F), '93 Imola 1.3/1.4 ie (now for breaking) (F), '91 1.7 ie (GB)(spare car), '86 Sprint 1.5 QV (F). '87 VW Syncro camper (F), '73 NSU Ro80 (F), '99 Fiat Seicento (F)
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gritsop
Green Cloverleaf


Joined: 23 Apr 2003
Posts: 766
Location: Ekali, Athens - Greece

PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 8:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi,

Well I had a incident about two years ago - not a serious one that can cause fatal results - when the handbrake lever decided to end its life.

It was late December, freezing cold returning from a night out, car parked in a big parking lot with deep darkness around. Got into the car, wait a bit to warm up and decide to set off. Pressed the button of the handbrake lever and suddenly the lever halts and the button along with the spring and the steel wire rocketed hitting the heater panel Exclamation Shocked

The handbrake setup had been knackered while the lever being on the first scale and the car unable to move. Went to the bonnet to search for the screw driver without having a light and being in the freezing cold. Mad

After all I managed to remove the handbrake cover and relese the lever by hands, as luckily enough the teethed gear that lies under the lever was easy to slide.

No such big deal but it looks like I had done or thought something bad for her and decided to pay back... Wink

After that it was high time I had with me all the essential elements that an Alfa should have. A set of pliers, a halogen torch with spare batteries(like the one the coalminers have Wink ), a hydraulic jack, a towing rope, a new pair of jump leads and a set of spanners.

You never know with an Alfa Cool

Regards
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Thanassis Gritsopoulos
1991 Alfa 33 1.4 IE
2001 Alfa 147 1.6 Distinctive

http://www.alfa-restoration.co.uk
Parts Shop: www.alfa-restoration.co.uk/shop
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GaryUK
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2004 1:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lost two Alfa 33's to rear end shunts their supposedly dodgey brakes worked too well on both occasions and the Citroen BX (which have absolutely fantastic brakes) and Nissan Micra ended up in the boot. On both occasions I wasn't being tailgated they just locked their brakes while the 33's stopped the car rather than locking the wheels. In both cases they had well over 50 foot extra to stop but didn't I was going about 80 in both cases. The 33's brakes feel crap but if working properly do the job, you just have to stand on them to lock them up which I think is a good thing. Everyone seems to add grooved disks and racing pads and moan about the brakes where a servo recon would have sorted them. Why does none ever replace the servo? the heart of the braking system.
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paddy granger
Alfa Sprint


Joined: 12 Aug 2003
Posts: 248

PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2004 1:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The 33's breaks are obvioussly not comparable with those of modern day cars, like the Alfa 147. They do lock up if you really step on them, but a lot of people who drive these old cars don't understand that they really need to press hard!

The same goes for modern day cars with abs. The 156 has pretty good brakes, but to get the most out of them you need to exert a lot of force before the abs comes in. You may have the impression that you are braking hard, but press that extra bit and you will experience twice as much braking (especially at lower speeds of say 60km/h)!

On our 33, the brakes worked significantly better after a couple of hard laps around Spa - they must have been glazed.
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RFlower
Alfa 33


Joined: 17 Feb 2004
Posts: 432
Location: S of France

PostPosted: Sat Dec 04, 2004 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I find the brakes on the Sprint are considerably improved if I brake really hard from about 80 mph on the motorway - only when it's not busy, and I've checked the rear mirror. Probably easier in S France and Spain where motorways are not so busy as UK.

I discovered this accidently when I came over the brow of a hill at a pretty good lick on the Autopista, to see all the traffic stopped ahead for an accident. - Everybody stops to look in Spain! - not much other free entertainment there, and TV is rubbish!
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Dick Flower, Nr. Carcassonne. '94 Trofeo 1.4 ie (F), '93 Imola 1.3/1.4 ie (now for breaking) (F), '91 1.7 ie (GB)(spare car), '86 Sprint 1.5 QV (F). '87 VW Syncro camper (F), '73 NSU Ro80 (F), '99 Fiat Seicento (F)
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LDA
Alfa 33


Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Posts: 276
Location: France

PostPosted: Sun Dec 05, 2004 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

GaryUK wrote:
Lost two Alfa 33's to rear end shunts their supposedly dodgey brakes worked too well on both occasions and the Citroen BX (which have absolutely fantastic brakes) and Nissan Micra ended up in the boot. On both occasions I wasn't being tailgated they just locked their brakes while the 33's stopped the car rather than locking the wheels. In both cases they had well over 50 foot extra to stop but didn't I was going about 80 in both cases. The 33's brakes feel crap but if working properly do the job, you just have to stand on them to lock them up which I think is a good thing. Everyone seems to add grooved disks and racing pads and moan about the brakes where a servo recon would have sorted them. Why does none ever replace the servo? the heart of the braking system.


this is waht i keep thinking. i think the servo is old and worn out plus i think its a bit on the small side.
i'm a big fan of good brakes. the sort that stop you so hard your ribs have a hard time keeping all your insides in.
the alfa is going to get a large master cylinder, dot 5.1 fluid, steel hoses, 4 pots on the front and some nice discs and pads.

my project car is going to be running subaru sti 4pot with uprated discs and pads.
plus both cars will feature the best stoping aid known to man. less weight!

L.
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tvatavuk
Gold Cloverleaf


Joined: 13 Mar 2003
Posts: 673
Location: Split, Croatia

PostPosted: Mon Dec 06, 2004 12:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

2 LDA: Yes I still drive same P4. I waited for almost a year to buy wiring from LHD P4 or at least 16v, but no luck.
At that point I bought electric wires of same area square mm, and it took me few days to install them. Pictrues taken when removing burned wiring, and digrams I had, along with IPAQ helped me to put everything where it belongs.
From that day I drive with 2 keys needed to unscrew terminals + pliars that can cut wires if need.
I don't have way of buying removable terminals or cut off switch, which would be right answer, but I did install 30A fuse on that wiring from battery to key, I just hope that it wont burn while overtaking other car.

Yes I'm greatfull that everyone is OK.
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Little black dress which replaced Alfa Romeo 33 S 16v Permanent 4 GMo
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GaryUK
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 06, 2004 5:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For truly awesome brakes drive a Citroen BX or Xantia they are simply the best brakes of any car I have driven. You have to get used to them as they are so so sharp and passengers tend to end up squashed against the windscreen. They are fully hydraulic, no piddly engine vaccum required. Plus you can't boil the brake fluid as there is none, just three litres of LHM hydraulic oil which has ample time to cool on it's return leg to the resevoir.
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paddy granger
Alfa Sprint


Joined: 12 Aug 2003
Posts: 248

PostPosted: Mon Dec 06, 2004 7:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No real horror stories about our 33 yet, but some funny moments...

Leaking clutch slave cylinder - we had to fill the reservoir to the brim and drive it to the garage hoping that it wouldn't run out by the time we got there, as it would be catastrophic for the brakes! No clutch control either, so every start stop situation was a bit dodgy. I pushed started the car for the first start (got it rolling before letting the clutch up), to prevent as much potential damage. I was driving behind in the Alfa 147 backup car, and all of a sudden the 33 (driven by my bro) starts smoking! I was a bit confused, thinking oh shit the clutch is wanked, but it turned out to be hydraulic fluid leaking onto the exhuast pipe!

Had a couple of near crashes caused by idiots...but not in the 33, usually in the Sportwagon.

A typical example is on roundabouts when these twits are indicating to turn off, start to turn off, and then decide at the last minute to yank the steering wheel and re-enter.

No crashes yet though - touch wood.
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GaryUK
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 9:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You won't run out of brakes with a leaky clutch slave cylinder as the fluid feed pipe to the slave is just below the min mark on the brake fluid resevoir leaving more than enough fluid for your brakes to function 100%.
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paddy granger
Alfa Sprint


Joined: 12 Aug 2003
Posts: 248

PostPosted: Fri Dec 10, 2004 1:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice to know Gary. Thanks.
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