Alfa Pages

[lee16v]

Hi.
It's a sad day
The barge failed on hand brake efficiency and emissions.....doh!

The guy at the testing station said the hand brake failed because it wouldn't lock the wheels It never has and my previous 33 didn't either. I've always been of the opinion that the brakes are crap and drive accordingly(a bit like the oil tankers out to sea) Am i alone here or does anyone have the same problems/ cures???
Also has anyone had the same problems with the emissions? What was the cause? I realise it could be many things but whats most likely?

I'm down to my last tissue.....when does the pain end?

[lee16v]

Just thought of something. As i'll be stripping the rear drums down, can someone tell me the correct torque setting for the rear hub nut, cheers

[gritsop]

Hi,

About the emissions have you had the car warmed up and run into the traffic for some time? These cats and lambda sensors need really to be warmed up to function. My cat is near the end of its life and when I had the car MOTed a month ago I made the 10 km trip to the station which is downtown and afterwards I let the engine run about 20 mins waiting my turn for testing. The guy said that the emissions are acceptable but however high enough. I will definatelly replace the cat sooner or later.

About the rear hub nut, you don't need specific torque. You bolt it in with your hand, then apply a turn with the wrench and then rotate the hub by hand and at the same time undo the nut till you can feel the drum easily rotate without any slack pulling/pushing it in and out. Finally with a screwdriver hit the hub in the edge of it to secure it in the hub grooves.

Hope this helps,

Regards
_________________
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

[tvatavuk]

Hi,

Handbrake should be able to lock rear wheels on 33 (all except P4) if speed is low 20-30km/h.

many of us have similar problem with MOT and rear brakes.
One reason for it is that AR factory made rear brakes brake with some 10-15% power.
Except drum cyls/shoes, cabling, brake proportion valve (front-rear) is usual suspect. Make sure it doesn't leak, put 100kg of somthing it into rear boot and see if handbrake feel changed.
_________________
Tino Vatavuk
Little black dress which replaced Alfa Romeo 33 S 16v Permanent 4 GMo

[john 33_16v]

Hi,

EMISSIONS

Emissions could be lambda. The cats do need a good work out before the mot too. I usually have a good high rev thrash.

My '93 16v is on it's 2nd cat (an almost new used one) as the old one was in poor shape, but would get thru an mot. The guy at the mot place always moans that it 'was hard to get the cat kicking in', and he revs the fu**ing nuts out of the engine too! However the print out always shows the CO as being really low, 0.01% with HC at just 28ppm.

I used to work in a LADA!! garage years back, and we struggled to get those pigs under 5% co!!

HANDBRAKE

Every year I have to fettle my rear brakes pre-mot, and i only do about 2.5k in a year in this car! The rear adjusters tend not to self adjust, and so have to be manually turned up with the drums on thru a wheel bolt hole. You need a flat blade screwdriver and a good torch. You may have to remove the drums first to free these little knurled wheels up.

Slacken off the handbrake adjusters and the drums should come off easy.
While your drums are off check the wheel cylinders as they may be leaking. These are easy to change and can be done without removing the shoes.

If you have the back of the car up you can balance both drums with the knurled adjusters, then adjust up the handbrake with the wheels back on.
My car will lock both wheels on 4 clicks of the handbrake. I had to put new cylinders and shoes on at last MOT time though!

JOHN
_________________
If it aint broke, fiddle with it until it is!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
93 33 16v Mirtle Met
08 Fiat Grande Punto Exotica Red
90 Yamaha FZR600 Genesis- Silky white/red/blue

[ak863]

had an issue with emission...

Before i gave it to the garage i was driving for half an hour with high rpm.
The garage dude also did the same.
When they tested it, it was failing in the beginning but in the last moment it went under the limit!!!

Have to add that after 5-6 months i had head gasket problems, which could be a reason for the emission..

Anyway it depends when the car was registered. Cars on 91 and before have less strict emissions..

[Bellamachinna]

Hi ...

My 16v, never had any trouble, passing the IPO (Portuguese MOT), on emissions.
Yes, i always, go for a spirited drive before the test, reving it till the cut off in every gears, but my car doesn´t have cat, so the emissions tolerance is higher...
The rear brakes, are my bigest headache. In two consecutive years, it failed in brake balance (on the rear axle) and handbrake. The brake balance was due to the "valve that balances fluid pressure between rear wheels"-SORRY, dont know its name in english - and its located on the rear left side, above the rear axle, and is actuated by the panhard rod...
The handbrake, i never managed, to get it loking up, the wheels.
I´ve instaled a switch, to turn off the ABS, and even without the ABS the rear wheels dont lock.
However, i`ve always managed to fine tune it, above the minimum limit, to get it throug the IPO.
IPO`s doesn´t require the handbrake to lock the rear wheels.
However all my previous 33 (with rear drums), all locked up the wheels.
Best of luck
P.Camilo
_________________
All'interno della mia macchina, vi sedete, tenete sopra e CHIUDETE IN SU...

[lee16v]

Thanks for your replies.
I took it out for a good spirited drive today then stuck it on the emissions tester and it still failed!!
I'll have a tinker over the weekend

[john 33_16v]

Hi Guys,

When i said my handbrake will lock the wheels on 4 clicks, i mean in terms of being able to turn the wheels with human strength whilst jacked up, which then was plenty strong enough for Mr Mot.

I haven't tried pulling it up on the move!!

I haven't tried handbrake turns for many years. At 17, I span my mini off the road on a wet rh turn slide, and finally stopped about 2 feet from the window of a Chinese takeaway!

My brother had an Alfasud handbrake totally buggered by some dumbo MOT tester trying to get effort on the rear wheels!

John
_________________
If it aint broke, fiddle with it until it is!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
93 33 16v Mirtle Met
08 Fiat Grande Punto Exotica Red
90 Yamaha FZR600 Genesis- Silky white/red/blue

[lee16v]

Hi.
have got to the bottom of the emissions problem......the injectors need cleaning and the cat is stuffed. The injectors are being cleaned by my local mechanic (i think i'll put 'sonic bath' on my christmas list) but i'm having HUGE problems getting a cat. I'm told you can get a universal cat for about 50 notes and simply weld it in. Has anyone gone down this route or is it going to cause other running probs??
I stripped the rear drums down and have found the bearing seals to be leaking slightly contaminating the shoes. I can source the shoes easily but the seals are a different matter!!! Anyone know of a supplier of said seal and whilst i'm at it the bearings aswell?
Oh yeh, i was going to ask how often should the injectors be cleaned? i wouldn't have a clue when they were last done.
Cheers

[gritsop]

Hi,

The intervals between injector cleaning is usually 50.000 kms. About the cat you have two options. Either buy an original one which costs about 550€ or find a generic type one either ceramic or metallic around 300-400 €.Of course in the generic type cat it is propable that the mechanic will have to do some welding in order to adopt the new one or if the cat is designed for the 33 then it will be a bolt on job. In the second case you have easy adoptability but you lose the supposed brand name.

Since I will replace the cat sooner or later I ll go for the original one which is supposed to be better. However I ll look further on this issue.

Regards,
_________________
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