My Alfa Romeo 33 rebuild - FIRST TIMER

[WhizzMan]

From what I have seen, tappet damage is almost always due to bad lubrication, or bad quality hardening of the cam shafts on the boxer and 16V TS engines. Cheap oil, infrequent changes, bad air filters, mangled carter ventilation systems will all have their effect on lubrication.

Driving on with worn tappets will kill cams rapidly, so usually, by the time people take in their badly maintained car, cams are worn sufficiently to not be able to tell the root cause without a lot of investigation.

I wouldn't worry too much about the hardness of the INA tappets. They are OEM on several german car engines that have a good reputation for longevity.

[Guy Croft]

OE Fiat TC tappets (33mm dia shim sits on bucket) 56 HRc
Fera - 58 HRc
Wurth - 61 HRc

all good.

G

[Brit01]

Great thanks for the reassurance gentlemen.

These tappets are slightly wider than the Fiat ones at 35mm but the cam lobe area I'm not sure.
What is the contact area of the Fiat cam? (33mm dia shim sits on bucket) Are you referring to 33mm of contact area with the lobe and tappet face here?

And I guess you are talking about solid Fiat tappets and not hydraulic.
Do the solid ones take more of an impact than the hydraulic tappets?

Oil/filters will be changed frequently. Also using a panel type K&N filter which is washed/oiled periodically.

Yes next time I hear the slightest tapping/ticking noise I will be stopping to investigate (no matter what the wife says!).

My previous ignorance ended up with flat lobes and pitted oil gears just to mention a couple of issues as you have seen on this thread.

[Guy Croft]

I'm dying to know if you've fixed it Chris. I think a lot of us are.

G

[Brit01]

Patience gentlemen patience.

Head gaskets arrived just this morning from the UK. (Also ordered a second set just in case!).

This weekend I will begin re-assembling the engine and report my findings.

If you don't hear anything then obviously my wife has disposed of my body in some discrete manner and found another man with a 0 km car from Japan.

[Urbancamo]

If you don't hear anything then obviously my wife has disposed of my body in some discrete manner and found another man with a 0 km car from Japan.

LOL!

Nice to hear you order stuff from UK too. Are these Alfa head gaskets hard to find in your country?

I buy my carb stuff etc..all from UK. Mostly for price politics.

[Brit01]

Yes almost impossible to find here for the 33 boxer 1.7.

If they do come in then just 1 gasket will cost around 60 USD! Argentina have them, but I'd pay 60% import tax plus more tax from Argentina. Double tax whammy.

I have also buy many Dellorto parts from Italy or UK (got some new mixture screws/o-rings being shipped now).
They don't have any Dellorto parts here, only Weber.
They seem to frown upon Dellorto for some unknown reason. They consider them as a cheap imitation of Weber!!

Although they can make certain pieces such as the brass pump jets.
Got some made here and they did a fine job indeed.

[Brit01]

Great also got my Bosch cap and rotor arm today from UK. Original from Germany.

I purchased a Bosch cap from Brazil here recently and it was a little inferior - biggest understatement of the year! (and twice the price - money down the drain). cry.
Came in a nice Bosch box but the quality was an embarrassment to Bosch. Don't they have global quality standards?

[TomLouwrier]

Came in a nice Bosch box but the quality was an embarrassment to Bosch. Don't they have global quality standards?

Knowing Mr Bosch I'd say they certainly do.
I'm getting the feeling that although this part looked like a Bosch item, was marked as a Bosch item and boxed as a Bosch item, it probably had nothing to do with any Bosch factory! Counterfeit, fraud, fake... well, you know. And I'd be interested to learn where / by whom it got produced, but likely not surprised if you told me the answer.
Why not send it to them directly (corporate HQ in Germany that is) with a copy of your receipt and ask them what they think of it? If only just for the sake of finding out?

regards
Tom

[Brit01]

Why not send it to them directly (corporate HQ in Germany that is) with a copy of your receipt and ask them what they think of it? If only just for the sake of finding out?

Might just be tempted to do that Tom. See how much the postage costs me.

Considering the 'Bosch' supplier gave a 5 day returns policy (unused!), and it broke after 3 kms of use!! BUT I think it was the only receipt that went missing!! Murphey's law.

The plastic was 4 times lighter than the original, I commented in the shop that they were not the same but they insisted the Brazilian factory make very good ones!!

[Brit01]

Next thing for me to change is the old brass/copper radiator.

It was slightly bent in an accident and is very old. Hasn't been cooling so well after the accident.

Well they have available here some plastic/aluminium radiators.

Advisable to purchase a plastic tank/aluminium fin radiator? Not much availability for my 33 Alfa here.

Not sure.

[WhizzMan]

We put the alu/plastic ones in here, doesn't give us any problems. I'm sure you can source one from your UK supplier, if not available locally?

[Brit01]

Great good to know.

I'll order the new rad here and see how that makes a difference before I change the thermostat. (Just to compare). Then after a week or 2 change the rad thermostat to turn on at a slightly lower temp if needed.



120 USD for the plastic/aluminium rad.

Guess that's about 100 Euros or so.

[Urbancamo]

Yes, newer cars do not have nothing but aluminium/plastic radiators. Brass/copper radiators are history. These cannot be repaired so easily like older rads. But they are cheaper.

I guess shipping a radiator sized packet overseas costs a fortune!

[Brit01]

my old copper banger from 1988 I guess.