Still, I'm beginning to think brake fluid removes paint better on accident than it does on purpose
DAMN RIGHT!!! I use aircraft remover. The stuff in the big rectangular can, not aresol. Toxic, but effective.
Still, I'm beginning to think brake fluid removes paint better on accident than it does on purpose
DAMN RIGHT!!! I use aircraft remover. The stuff in the big rectangular can, not aresol. Toxic, but effective.
I've used aircraft remover with luck on engine blocks before, do you think it'd hurt plastic?
i dont think i would use aircraft paint stripper on plastic, it is some nasty E36 M3
Hey hey, I had Dr. King's day off and the kid's daycare was open so guess what! I got a day in the garage (well a "morning-till-lunch" at least). Long story short, I finally got the engine out!
The longer version? I've been trying to get this out for a while (like MONTHS of mornings before work):
I've tried hose clamps on the guibo (to no avail), tilting the nose of the transmission to drop the drive shaft only to find that there's a driveshaft carrier bearing bolted to the underbody.
In order to disconnect the carrier bearing I had to remove the shift linkage (no biggie since I had to replace it anyways).
Once the shift linkage was out and the carrier bearing was disconnected I found the guibos would bind on the various cross members so I started removing the little rubber jerks as they bound... Eventually I had them all disconnected.
Still, though, something was holding me back...
I took off the bellhousing to try to get a better look, and nothing.
I tugged and something tugged back...
Tugged some more and there was some "give" but then it'd stop.
So, there I was, running out of morning work time on my ONLY day "off" in who knows how long and I'm sick of spending my mornings removing something just to find something else catching and I'm sick of wearing three layers of coveralls because it's 4am in January and I'm sick of spending my only 20 minutes of "quiet time" before work swearing at inanimate objects that wont do what they're told...
So I quit being friendly. 
This was it, I was a 150lb (fully clothed with my work boots on) hurking fit of RAGE!!!!!
I pumped up the hoist until the crank pulley would clear the front crossmember, grabbed hold of both cam pulleys, bellied up against the nose of the car and RIPPED THAT ENGINE RIGHT OUT OF THE BAY!!!!!!!!!
(I'm not even remotely joking here. I was in full "Hulk" mode.)
But that wasn't the end of it. Oh no. The Alfa would never let me off that easy. The Alfa always has "one more trick". The Alfa is going to make me pay for my little temper tantrum. I broke something. It turns out there's something metal between the flywheel and the first guibo. No idea what the hell it is, but I DO know it's broken now 
and that guibo I was blaming the whole time for binding? fell right off.
So what now?
Well, I have a list:
(those three are all new items)
Once done, I'll do a quick run-through of the braking system and she should be ready for a run! 
(so.... like.... 4 more years then.)
After she's up and runnin, it'll be time for paint.
But a little nagging thought is still in the back of my brain: If it took me this much trouble to get the engine out, what's the reinstall going to be like? Add in the caveat that I didn't remove the engine correctly and the issue compounds exponentially... egad! 
Ah well, it's all good times.
I see you took the driveshaft apart. Please tell me you marked it's orientation before doing so.
yeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhhh... ouch 
Do you think I can but the pieces back together and have it balanced at a shop?
I knew better too. And I didn't even think about it when that aft section fell loose.
Any shop that works on big trucks should be able to do it for you, though on the other hand I did not mark mine the first time I took it apart and it was OK when it went back together.
If I remember correctly that metal part that broke is part of the drive shaft, it acts like a bearing and allows the the movement of the motor to play nice with the drive shaft. I think it is replaceable as long as someone still makes them, though I may still have one in the garage if you need it.
With some help from Alfabb I found one in the centerline catalog, but the darn thing is on backorder (and it's like $55!).
I've currently got my money tied up while I learn to weld, but if the hold hasn't lifted by April AND you have easy access to your bearing, I'd love to pay you for it.
It's always something with an Alfa, eh? 
In reply to Hungary Bill:
I will look for it this weekend, just let me know and you can have it for the cost of shipping.
I just woke up from a dream where my Alfa was running and IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! In the dream I was driving to work, but had to stop at a gas station (car was running on "old" gas) and you should have seen the crowd it drew! Ok, well the crowd was 2-rednecks and a blond gas station attendant, but still!
Maybe today I'll sneak out to the garage while the kid is taking a nap. I'm all sorts of motivated at the moment (plus the car sounded AMAZING in the dream)
Spit: PM sent
there's a song somewhere that claims anger is a gift. 
congrats on the progress
Hungary Bill wrote: yeeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhhh... ouch
You'll have to find someone that can do high speed driveshaft balancing. The driveshaft runs at engine speed. Most shops don't have the capabilty.
dbgrubbs wrote: You'll have to find someone that can do high speed driveshaft balancing. The driveshaft runs at engine speed. Most shops don't have the capabilty.
wouldnt engine speed be less then the output speed of a regular transmission in an overdrive gear? i wouldnt think it would be harder to do then any other driveshaft, but im not to familiar with driveshaft balancing
edizzle89 wrote:dbgrubbs wrote: You'll have to find someone that can do high speed driveshaft balancing. The driveshaft runs at engine speed. Most shops don't have the capabilty.wouldnt engine speed be less then the output speed of a regular transmission in an overdrive gear? i wouldnt think it would be harder to do then any other driveshaft, but im not to familiar with driveshaft balancing
Redline on the Alfa is around 7K rpm and this is also the driveshaft speed. Most shops will only balance up to 3K rpm.
I think the issue with balancing the Alfa driveshaft may lie with the fact that it's a 2 piece shaft. Not sure though. I do know that balance of the Alfa driveshaft is critical. Most owners even go so far as to keep the same bolts, washers and nuts in order as they were taken off.
dbgrubbs is correct, its the fact that it is 2 piece shaft.
dbgrubbs wrote: Redline on the Alfa is around 7K rpm and this is also the driveshaft speed. Most shops will only balance up to 3K rpm.
With good equipment it doesn't matter how fast you spin something to balance it compared to how fast it will get spun in use. You just have to spin it fast enough to pick up the forces generated by the imbalance. Wheel balancers don't spin the 1000+ rpm the tires will spin on the highway, modern ones only do about 100 rpm.
ugh. Long time no post:
So! I got a new front guibo from centerline (old one was pretty far gone), and a new centering bearing from Alfa Parts in Berkley, California(?) I think that was the place anyways. THEN I went and talked to a guy on the east coast about the centering bearing and he told me about all the guts behind it (so I had to order those too).
I poked my head in the flywheel/driveshaft area and there were no guts. Among the guts missing were a spring, locking collar, and a washer. No idea where these items are now. I'm thinking the engine was out (Ok, there's lots of evidence to support the fact that I'm not the first to pull this engine) and PO had the centering collar off and didn't install the guts. That's all I can think of. Out the door, it all cost me about $200, making this the most expensive engine removal to date...
Other than that I fill what little free time I have with little jobs like making the vents look like they were never painted (by painting them... )
Or replacing the shifter (the old one had its shift knob welded on. and the boot was cut around the base, and someone used caulk in place of the foam gasket, and a bolt was missing...)
Good times.
Concerning the shifter: Finally I'm doing something in the "moving forward" department. It seems like all the work on this Alfa has been
1) Remove part. Notice it and and its surrounding parts are broken, installed incorrectly, not the right part, or all three
2) order part(s)
3) work on something else while I wait for part(s)
Yay! Progress!
April to September... 5 months? That hurts.
So I got a little distracted with a certain old Toyota 4x4 and in all honesty it's kept me more than just a little busy.
Anyhoo, I'm glad I took the little break though because craigslist had this little gem for $100.
It's a 3-liter 12v engine from an Alfa 164. In my opinion this has to make the list for one of the most BEAUTIFUL engines ever to come out of a factory vehicle. With any luck I'll get it to go into mine.
The guy selling it said his car was stolen and hit from behind when he got it back. He pulled the engine and transmission (autotragic) and let them sit for about 3-years. I bet it will be that long before I get to installing it (either way, I bet this isn't going to end well).
Also, if you haven't seen the Toyota thread, there's another kiddo running around the house these days (term used loosely, as the poor guy can't crawl yet)
Other than that, I've just been working on cleaning up the engine bay while I have the engine out.
Good times 
Mama looks pleased!
Congrats on the engine- give us the summary of what the current to-do list is before we can hear that thing fire up?
Yay!!!!
Alfa thread ressurection makes me happy.
I would have paid $100 for that engine just so I could put it on a stand in my garage and look at it while I drink beer.
I wonder how hard it would be to swap that engine into an Alfa Spider...
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