1985 Alfa Romeo GTV6 (my first Alfa)

Shipping total will be close to $10,000 when both vehicles are registered... I'll say it now: That was a mistake.

Moving on:

Still getting settled into the new place, but every once in a while I sneak out to the garage for some quick "me" time. The durations are short (under an hour) but I have been getting some tinkering done.

I've pulled about half the chassis wiring harness through the firewall. It's going to take some manipulation to get the other half through. I have a used chassis wiring harness (haven't opened the package to inspect it yet) I bought from a fellow Alfisti located on the other coast. Great guy. I've been buying a lot of parts through him.

Anyhoo, the goal is to get rid of all this melted electrical stuff, and replace it with something a little less..... melted.

Also, remember this box?:

I (well, "me" and my new Alfisti friend) finally figured out what the hell it is! It's a wiper relay!

It's all fun and games until I realized I was trying to use the wipers the one time I was driving it (see page 1). I guess that would be about the 20th time I almost caught fire in that drive...

Other than that, I've been selling extra bits to help fund the project along. First to go were the Zender Tuning rocker panel covers ($650). I may have someone in Ontario willing to buy the Zender spoiler for $150.

Good times, and god it's good to be under the hood again.

• Bill

Congrats on the successful move, change of job and making some progress on the car

Hot dog! back from page 6.

Well, here's the latest and greatest:

I've just about finished ordering everything on the list of "wrong things I noticed while taking the car apart" and I have an entire day scheduled (thanks to my loving and understanding spouse) for "garage time" on the 21st. I plan on pulling the engine out, re-painting the engine bay, prettying up the engine, addressing the "rubber" steering damper problem, and stuffing the engine back in (not all in one day mind you) before focusing my attention on the interior of the vehicle.

Anyhoo the parts list of "ordered crap" looks something like this:

• Rear exhaust section ($95)
• Chassis wiring harness ($45)
• Shifter assembly ($49)
• steering wheel ($119)
• Horn button ($29)
• Exhaust heat shield ($22)
• wiper relay ($19)
• Stock air box ($70)
• Air box snorkel ($19)
• 2x bumper shocks ($58)
• 2x door velour door cards ($90)
• 2x rear door cards to match ($50)
• battery cover ($35)
• lower battery pan (freebie!)
• E-brake handle grip ($8)
• Front and rear bumper set ($198)
• Heater vent tube ($54.27)
• 1L "Green Mark" Russian Vodka ($39)
• materials, shipping and handling ($279 so far)

Truth be told, there are still a few boxes (stuff already listed above) that are still "in transit" to my house, but they'll get here soon enough.

Still on the list to order is:

• dash cap
• GM speckled trunk spray (for engine bay)
• body work / paint
• possible truck carpet replacement
• rear parcel shelf
• rear hatch "Alfa Romeo" badge.
• misc consumable materials as required.

To fund this I sold my Zender Tuning body kit (in pieces) for a total of $1350.00. Of that $1350.00 I have spent $1278.27 which translates into "challenge money" as I got everything for STINKING FREE!!!!

A bit on the logistics: - It took 6-months since the order was placed to have all the parts pulled, wrapped, and sent to my house. - The Zender Tuning kit was sent out in four different packages to three different countries (US, Canada, Australia) and two different states. - The parts came from three different GTV6's on two continents, and one 1968 Camaro parts vendor in China (so three continents really) - I only have about 2oz of that Russian Vodka left and might spend more Alfa money on another bottle.

Now all I need is time in the garage!

Good times! -Bill

Glad to hear she is moving forward!

After the suckiness you endured bringing your GTV6 here to the States, I'm glad to hear it is getting some TLC. Too bad you are on the other side of the country, I would love to help. Ciao from another Alfisti!

Hey! I've been reading your build log on the 164 (it's been my Alfa fix while I'm away for work).

I'm on page 2 and you just found the exhaust valve on #5 dropped. The suspense is killing me (no spoilers please)

Spoiler alert: Harry Potter dies.

ERRYBODY DIES!

weeeelllllllll, I'm making a go at getting the engine out of this beast and man if she's not being stubborn about it.

To help prepare for the evolution I decided to remove the starter and alternator.

The starter was about as difficult as could be expected, but luckily I had the exhaust manifolds out so no prob. The long alternator bolt, though, was installed in such a way that I had to pick the engine up a bit to get that out. So on with the cherry picker, and off with the engine mounts.

With the engine mounts removed and the engine "tipped" up the alternator came out no prob.

So now I figure I'd remove what looks like a bellhousing, but first I have to get the exhaust down-pipes out of the way to get at most of the bolts. aaaaand Since I'm removing the down pipe I go ahead and remove the rest of the exhaust as well

So bellhousing (using the term loosely) bolts undone, and mounts out, I give the engine a tug and it tugs back!

Online research ensues.

According to Alfabb I'm supposed to remove the transmission crossmember, jack up the back of the transmission and the output shaft will slide right out.

Cross member removed, nose of transmission down, tug on the drive shaft... aaaaand no movement.

Tug on the engine again... no joy.

Looking around, I notice the bellhousing has a chassis mount. I undo that and...!

still no joy.

I quit there for the day, but plan on disconnecting the drive shaft guibos when I get back under there. Then I'll give the engine another tug. I was really hoping the engine would have had an output shaft that slid into the drive shaft, or something of the sort, but alas...

It also looks to me like someone might have broken something in the drive shaft at some point in this car's long life. The inside of the bellhousing has some pretty deep scoring. Maybe the guibo at the engine let go? yikes!

Good times.

The first thing I had to do on my 6 was the front guibo and it was not fun. Make sure you mark where the guibo bolts go and a trick I learned was to get a hose clamp big enough to go around the guibo, put it on there and crank it down. It will help when you put it all back together.

I forgot about the hose clamp! Good call.

I so want one of these...

Bill, what are you planning to do once the engine is out?

I bought some GM speckled trunk liner and I plan on re-spraying the engine bay. Right now it looks like someone sprayed some sort of dull, chalky, undercoating in there.

I originally wanted to color-match the engine bay to the rest of the car (when I get it painted) but thought that it would take some "creative masking" and thought the GM truck spray might hide a few of the mistakes and make it easier to clean. I got the idea from here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwhwwrkYMpc about 4:10

Currently my engine bay is a good example of how people with spray guns can get stuff where it's hard to get it back out.

I also plan on a good engine de-greasing, a little parts shining, and probably re-shim the valves etc while the engine is out.

All on hold while I'm away on a work assignment though. To be continued in August

Good times!

August is almost over, and I just snuck out to the garage.

To get at all the driveshaft bolts I really need to spin the engine.

Since the valves and the pistons have the potential to collide in this engine, I need to put the timing belt back on first.

I can get it "almost" on, but the last millimeter is fighting me for all it's worth.

So with my foot on the jack lever, one hand on the socket wrench that is attached to the passenger side cam, and one hand trying to pry the belt on to the drivers side cam, I eventually realized "hey, this engine isn't spinning!"

She appears to be locked up.

I called it quits there for the day. I might have a bit of pocket change coming my way soon and I'm going to ponder "to rebuild or not to rebuild".

I'm probably going to try putting the engine back on its mounts to make sure it's not doing something funny like binding on its guibo (it's currently being supported by the hoist. Then maybe I'll try dropping a little oil down the cylinders... but since I'm going to have that baby out ANYWAYS. What's a little more money down the tube for rings and bearings?

Anyhoo: Alfa: 1 Bill: 0

That sucks...

Time for a 3.0 swap maybe? Those engines are actually pretty cheap for a used long block, like finding one for well under $500 that still runs is quite possible.

Well, I are teh smart:

The car is on jack stands so I didn't even think to check to see if it was in gear. It was... and the park brake was on...

This dawned on me at about 3am (sat right up in bed).

Snuck out to the garage again and gave it another go. Had to give up about 5am to get ready for work. bleh

Alfa: 2 Bill: 0

Completely unreleated, let's call it motivation.

Alfa Coat of Arms article - ala Jalopnik

Parking brake is better than bent conrod, at least.

RexSeven wrote: Parking brake is better than bent conrod, at least.

Man, you ain't just whistlin dixie.

I was able to drive her home when I bought her, so if the engine turns out to be locked up I would suspect that a bit of MMO down the spark plug holes would get her moving again.

I went back at it this morning before work, and I'm happy to report that at 4:45am PST that the old timing belt is back on the car!

• Except I should have double checked my cam timing first. The driver's bank was one tooth off.

I'm happy to report that at 4:55am PST the timing belt is back on the car AND the cam timing is correctly set.

• Except now I can't get some of the larger washers back on the pulley assembly...

SO! I'm happy to report that at 5:15am PST the timing belt is back on the car, the cam timing is correctly set, and all the hardware is back on the pulley.

I am officially ready to rotate this engine by hand, get those guibo bolts off, and pull that baby out of the engine bay!

• Except there's no crank pulley bolt to put a wrench on...

Alfa 3, 4, and 5... Bill: 1

that's still 1 victory!

Took the nuts off the studs that connect the first guibo to the flywheel and the engine is STILL fighting me tooth and nail. I currently have it pulled forward enough that the studs are half-way through the guibo holes and no amount rage filled yelling and tugging is getting them any further along.

In an effort to go at it from the other end, I pulled the bolts off the transmission side thinking I'd just pull the drive shaft out there (thus freeing engine of the shaft's hold). Unfortunately I forgot there was a middle support that would also have to be disconnected. damn.

That's where I ran out of time today.

I must say that removing the engine is by far, the most infuriating vehicle-related thing I've ever attempted (and that's coming from a guy who's rebuilt rotaries)

For now, though, it's tequila time

Alfa 6, 7, and 8, Bill 1

man, two and a half months and no work to report. It always takes me a while to get back in to the "groove of things" after a work trip (even if they are only for 8 days).

I knew we'd have nothing to do today at work so I brought in my dash and dash cover in an effort to make some progress with my down time.

Currently my dash looks like this:

The dash cover I bought from International Auto Parts looks like this:

Unfortunately they fit together like this:

It was so close I could almost taste it! With some creative pressure points I got it to where it was within an INCH of making it work but soon I was left with the realization that even if I did stretch it that last inch, I was pushing so hard the adhesive wouldn't hold long.

Sigh.

Alfa Dash 1, Bill 0 (I had to restart the count, it was getting embarrassing)

I did buy some large hose clamps for that guibo holding my engine in. If I wasn't such a "cold weather wuss" I'd be working on that right now.

Good times.

So no real progress on the dashboard recently. I have a topic running at Alfabb and I'm thinking of two possible solutions:

• Cut the dash cap above the round vent hole and along the top or the glove box door. Essentially making this a "half cap". A person on Alfabb did this, but I haven't seen pictures of what it looks like.

• Remove the loose materials from the cracks in the dash, remove all raised areas and fill with 2-part rubber bumper filler. Then top with spray on bedliner. I've seen pictures of this and it looks good on the interwebs.

At any rate I think a refund for the cap is out of the question. IAP and I had a quick exchange of e-mails (really just saying, hey it's not fitting) but I'm waaaaaaay out of their 60-day return policy. They didn't respond to my last e-mail (with clearer pictures) and I don't intend to pester them about the whole thing.

SO!

The cowl vents on my car were painted. I kind of prefer them to be unpainted. My plan was to scrape off the old paint and then hit it with some flat black paint. That was proving to be difficult so I did some GRM searching and saw someone recommended using brake fluid on things like this.

(I wanted to remove the paint because there is SO much on there that all the edges are round and bubbly)

You can see the sum-total of my paint scraping efforts here:

I'm using an acid brush to apply the fluid, then I originally tried my scraper (thinking it'd melt off) but no... I've moved on to 40-grit sand paper with better results.

Here's after one hour of work:

Don't be fooled by the cell-phone pics, that paint is a LOT thicker than it looks! Still, I'm beginning to think brake fluid removes paint better on accident than it does on purpose. That being said, I may be in the market for something a little stronger soon (dot 4? )

Good times!