The transmission

Today we scrubbed down the transmission  using marvel mystery oil , goo off and mineral solvant
This combination with a good brush really shines up that old corrosion , it comes off with just a bit of elbow grease.
The mounting bracket was not installed properly ,with the wrong bushing so the whole thing wore out in no time . This may be why the car did not shift well and may also be a factor ,why the owner did not drive the car after all this work was done  . The new bushing was installed incorrectly with the wrong side shims so the result, total failure of the shift linkage after a very short time.
The transmission itself was on great shape with a new throughout bearing and arm .
Lets see what the clutch plate reveals . I think its new also.

cleaning aluminum engine block

A question came up by a friend recommending a hot cleaning for the engine.
I said NO and here is why.


HOT TANK

Hot tanking is the traditional way to clean dirty cast iron engine blocks, heads etc. The hot tank is just a big metal tank with a very nasty, caustic hot water solution in it. The parts are submerged in the solution and allowed to soak for many hours with the solution slowly circulating around them. This is sometimes referred to “vatting” or "boiling" the block, because it is being soaked in a large “vat” of almost boiling liquid. A hot tank does a good job of cleaning engine parts but does not always remove all of the rust and old paint. Because of environmental rules and regulations, a lot of shops are doing away with this method of cleaning.

Aluminum parts cannot be cleaned in a hot tank as they will dissolve. 

Also on the question of magnaflux on the block, It wont work because its aluminum



Before we go into the “how” of magnetic particle inspection, let’s look at where it will work and where it will not. First of all, being magnetic, it requires a ferrous metal base. For the most part, with our oldercars and trucks, that’s not a problem. Most engines and engine parts are iron or iron-alloy based. It won’t work on aluminum engine blocks, pistons or other aluminum parts; pot metal (not used for an engine block, but frequently for components), copper or brass, and most stainless steel. The MPI has to set up a magnetic field within the metal so that the identification powder – usually an iron oxide – will react to the magnetic waves.

The engine in detail

The heart of the car is out.
It wasn't easy the unit should have come out with the head on and transmission attached.
I couldn't get the speedometer cable off the front of the engine so I had to cut it , bummer but I do have parts from the other 77 Alfa that can be used, Thats what its for.

Today i will move the engine into the shop and that will be it for the winter.
My first problem was cutting the speedo cable , that thing is hard.
Looks like some engine bay cleanup as well.

transmission

The transmission should have come out with the engine.
What i did not like was I had to disassemble the front console and remove the shift handle.
Also the tach cable broke so that has to be replaced.
Once it was separated it came out easy. Its not heavy and I put it into the shop by hand.
When it came out it rolled on the floor and a fair amount
of water came out of the upper shift housing. It must have been there for some time and it may have gotten there the first year I had the car and just covered it up for the winter.

The transmission has a newer throughout bearing as well as a new arm
 This drive train has definitely been overhauled. The bell housing was full of oil to show that the rear seal has been leaking for a while.
It needs a good cleanup and washdown.

The drive shaft came out easy

The drive shaft came out easy .It seems the engine was out of the car at one other time in its life and the hardware was not at all rusted in. This was good.
The front damper was cracked so i did not put a collar around it
You can tighten a hose clamp around the damper and it will act the same as the retaining collar that came with the new one. This makes installation a lot easier later.
I do need to replace this one ,its cracked.
When you remove it ,loosen the  the center barring support but don't remove the nuts
Remove the support plate across the shaft.

Take the bolts off that are attached to the transmission
Put your parking brake on and then remove the drive shaft from the differential
remove the center bolts and the hole unit will slide back.
Before disassemble take a chisel and hammer and mark the collars on both ends so you can assemble them the same way later.
The drive shaft is one of the most expensive parts of the car.

Engine removal overall

When i decided to pull the head because could not get the performance that i wanted . I should have made the decision to pull the entire engine and transmission at the same time . The hole processes would have been easier and taken less time than demount the engine ,pulling the drive shaft and then the transmission and engine separately.

Lesson learned.
When it comes time to install the system again i will do it as an entire assembly.

hearth transplant

The engine out of the car?

The engine has to come out of the car.
It started with the head having to come off because the seals where all dried out.
When I ran it for the last time ,i blew out the rear crankshaft seal. So out comes the engine.
There are no real instructions on removing it so in my fascinate wisdom i chose to separate the engine from the transmission and pull it that way.

Its separated but i cant clear the front cross member with the oil pan and I cant pull the transmission back without removing the entire drive shaft and the new nice center console that I spent all summer rebuilding. Two years ago I sealed up the shifter so that now also needs to be disassembled again.

 I really dont want to remove all that interior

rear drive shaft

middle section

front

All these parts are balanced so removing them is going to be a chore








I am basically stuck I should have just done the whole trans and engine together  Now i have to wait until next year. Its getting cold outside and not much time left to work on it

The heads

I cleaned the head today pulled the valves and checked clearances, this is a good head well maintained all within specs. fter some research the pitting on the cam is not an unusual thing ,seems it happens often and as long as it is on the backside, mine is, there is no issue. The problem seems to have been in the head gasket ,it was leaking aitfreeze past the holddown bolts and also an intake leak after the carb intake in the manifold. all this bares out based on how the engine was running. This created a lot of back pressure and blew my rear seal out at 5k RPM I still have to repair the seal. so the drive shaft comes out and since im down there anyway lets look at the clutch plate. FUN<FUN<FUN

Prep and paint for 2014

If you have never painted a car before,like me ,you can read all you want but until you do it you wont appreciate how hard it really is.

First safety gear. The paint suit lasted about half way through before it tore. The safety glasses didn't work at all because they fogged up fast and then of course the reg glasses also got trashed. When you take them off don't leave them in the paint booth ,mine where covered with over spray, not good.
The compressor I borrowed was still not big enough and had a hard time giving me continues volume .That is the first important item when painting or the flow will vary and so will your paint job. the second is use the water separator, I bought one and used it for the primer and first coat ,but was unable to maintain the pressure at the gun so i bypassed it for the final 2 coats to bring up the pressure, it did but it also developed a large amount of condensation . Now I have water droplets on fresh paint that i have to deal with.
This was a good learning process for me . As for the paint ,it went very well, follow the instructions careful and set aside a few hours without interruption and all will go well.
The pictures and videos are processing now and will upload as soon as they are done.

After the paint

Its time to sand the paint job down with 1200 grit ,polish it with compound ,oxidizer, and then polish , all with buffer at a variable speed. This takes time . Hand sanding is the best because you get the feel of everything you touch, but it takes time. The tail ,hood and first rear quarter panel too 4 hours to do. This will give you an idea as to the time the hole car will take . Its worth it because it takes care of all the screw ups that you did during painting.

Handle and lock repair

A minor correction on the door handle video, On the lock tumbler the small spring is placed on each side of the tab under load. I did not discover this until i took another one apart that had not been tampered with before. The little retaining tab over the spring will then sit in between the spring tabs . Its a bit confusing to explain but when you do it you will know what i mean. Also the right side handle had the outside latch cam in the wrong position. When i rebuilt it I accidentally used the left side cam and i could not open the door from the outside.
I was annoying because I had already put all the door panel back.

The engine

I tore down the engine because it was not running right ,no power and I had an air intake leak in the old webber carbs. I have a fresh set that i plan to use. This engine has been redine once a long time ago. So here is what i found

 this is what it looked like when i got it it wasnt running

Over the years we did put it together and as you saw in the earlier videos i did get it to run, but never well

When i pulled the valve cover the cam shaft was pitted. The clearances where all over the place and the timing marks where off also.

The lower section revieled some cooling leakage over the years, but the head gasket was not blown and the cylenders held fuel when i poured some in. This is a good sign that the rings are still tight and I may not have to do the lower end completely I did blow the rear seal out so it has to come out anyway.

As you can see the water jackets where all swollen and in one case partially blocking the cooling chamber

The old webbers were not on the engine very tight . I think that air was leaking past them and causing the realy craizy uncontrollable engine running no matter what i did. All the seals where dried out on them but the throttle body valves still worked  well. They will be overhauled and then IL decide what to do with them.

So this is where we are

The body and most of the inside is done.
We have a fresh paint job. The only thing left is the seats , top and the carpet.

4 years later

The car is now in the final stages of completion, with the interior and top still to go. Not really much came off the 77 alfa beside the bumpers , some trim and the rebuilt webbers and  new shocks and springs