Penn’s Alfa Romeo 1900
My normal list of professionals – euphemistically called ‘helpers’, but in reality, highly skilled workers – needs an addition. Kevin Bannister wrote the core of this article, thus letting me complete the ultimate journalistic scam – not simply writing about what others do, but now getting them to do the writing as well!
When I was heavily into Sunbeams, Kevin was an engine reconditioner by trade and a very good friend, who did my motors as ‘homers’ – not that Rootes motors were ever much of a challenge, just long-lived, reliable and moderately tweakable. Kevin was, and is still, an Alfa man and spent time convincing me of their virtues, so when I got my first Alfa I soon had him around helping me play with my new toy – a 1978 Alfetta GTV two-litre.
It’s very important to keep the drive shafts balanced and, if removed, replaced in exactly the same bolt positions, otherwise you could end up with vibration
It was always my favourite driving car, with the exception of my current Alfa 164QV – and of course, the Alfetta GTV6 I had for a while. Even the Cave Weta liked driving it and that explains partly why I’ve got a couple of them at the moment. This first Alfetta needed a new clutch and I managed to golden tongue Kevin into ‘giving me a hand’ – I passed him the tools while he did the job. We’ve kept contact over the years, even though Kevin now lives way up north in Dargaville where he works as a mechanic. He’s still into Alfas and currently has a couple of Alfettas.
My first Alfetta of the current pair came on the back of a Haulaway from Wellington and lasted about 10 minutes before the clutch gave way. Auto-Clutch (I’d not consider anybody else for clutches) reconditioned it before the winter settled in and this pennsioner retired to the fireplace with a series of large whiskeys.
Eventually, I persuaded Kevin to come and repeat his clutch changing trick to prove he could still do it. It’s a little different with these Alfettas, because the clutch is in the rear along with the transaxle.
In Kevin’s words
“In good old Alfa tradition, we braved the cold of the garage floor for a weekend with the rear wheels off and the rear of the car as high up on the stands as we could get it. ”I hacksawed the exhaust pipe behind the rear muffler and removed that section where it joins just before the bend over the half shafts. This saves heaps of time, as we’ll re-weld it after the job is finished. The option is undoing the exhaust manifold nuts and dropping it – too much complication! [Also a further opportunity for problems if you break the manifold seals. Penn]
“Next I undid the three bolts going through the rear doughnut [Alfas commonly use rubber doughnuts at the ends of the drive shafts. It’s important to mark them so they go back relatively the same. Penn], while Penn busied himself hovering. “Then with a trolley jack under the transaxle beam, I took out the three bolts holding the left and right side mounts while another trolley jack supported the gearbox assembly.
“Once the bolts are out, the beam jack is raised so that the whole assembly now tilts down and we can get to the clutch slave cylinder to remove it after the hydraulic line has been clamped. By raising it still higher, with the jack supporting the gearbox, I’m then able to remove the four bell housing bolts. It takes a bit of juggling getting the angles and the gap right to remove the clutch pressure plate housing from the end of the gearbox. This is Alfa design at it’s best and I just love this set-up.” [I admit I like it too, even though I had to get onto my hands and knees to see it after Kevin rolled to one side so I could actually look. Penn]
“I now take the clutch assembly to the bench for disassembly and cleaning. Penn had another clutch flywheel already machined up by Auto-Clutch, so I unbolted the drive yoke nut, thus removing the ghost clutch shaft from the housing, so as to change the clutch flywheel ready for reassembly. “It’s important to remember that in a clutch replacement, it’s excellent practice to machine the flywheel face and generally bring it within the required specs, wear can give further troubles with a new plate.”
[Kevin’s reference to the clutch flywheel draws attention to the fact that these Alfa transaxles appear to have two flywheels, one at each end of the drive shaft. The motor end is simply to hold the ring gear really and isn’t any sort of real flywheel, while the one at the gearbox end is for the clutch. As Kevin points out, this means there are two rotating at engine revs. The use of rubber doughnuts as universals at each end of the drive shaft, plus a central hanger bearing means that little inequalities can be absorbed, however, it’s very important to keep the drive shafts balanced and, if removed, replaced in exactly the same bolt positions, otherwise you could end up with vibrations. Penn]
“On closer inspection I noticed that the support fingers for the clutch lever were damaged, so I fabricated another one and riveted it into position. I simply looked for a piece of heavy gauge panel steel and displaying famed Kiwi technology hacked out a new template. Assembly was simply a reverse process, finishing up with a checking and bleeding of the hydraulics.”
I’m very grateful to Kevin
It’s good to have friends like Kevin. The whole job was facilitated by borrowing the various worn clutch kit bits from my own spares stock, Kevin’s old clutch kit and Dennis Marwood – another Alfa man with good taste – also lent me a flywheel. Out of all these bits, I had sufficient for Auto-Clutch to rebuild the complete kit with a skimmed flywheel face. What we – sorry, what Kevin took out, was then used to replace the borrowed items. I’m a firm believer in swapping units in the one job.
This car sat for the rest of what seemed like endless months of winter; nothing happening to it because us pennsioners prefer to sit crouched over the fire waiting for the little wifey to come home and feed us. None of this working in cold garages.
Finally, it was deemed almost Spring, so I went up to the Wendy House to give the car a start up and a test run. New problem! Wouldn’t go into gear while running and when started in gear leapt forward. I suspected a frozen clutch plate or hydraulic problems, so got my friendly towie (Brendon Price, a former school pupil of mine, who benefited from my dexterous use of the strap as a tuning tool, and now – even though he’s as big as a house – not one to bear grudges) to trundle it around to Bavarian Motors. Ernst welded up the exhaust pipe as referred to above and diagnosed a frozen clutch as I’d thought and soon had that freed. You can do this by starting in gear with enough room to drive – something I couldn’t do.
But more interesting was driving it around the corner to Millhouse Motors my favourite WOF station, where I managed to golden-tongue Daryl into putting this car through a test, knowing that without headlights it would fail, but wanting to see what else I had to do. To our mutual surprise it flew through in every area except the headlights (argument for daylight warrant?). Naturally, I drove it home and found it to be a beautiful driver. All I have to do now, is set up the headlights, which is a funny trip with these cars, due to the shortage of units. Hopefully, I’ve overcome this by importing a special set of cradles from the US that take all sealed beam units. These cradles mount in the front grills where the original lights go and were specially made for the Alfettas – and Suds I believe – so they could obey the requirements of the US market.
Incidentally, I have the other Alfetta for sale to a good home – 09 444 0424.
Alfa Romeo 1900
I have the Roycroft 1951 1900 that Ron drove for 17 years. It’s a rolling body and now nearly ready for painting. Everything is there, but stripped out, except for the front and rear wheels. There is also a complete spare 1951 car in good restorable order with a 1956 two-litre twin cam motor (we’ve had it running recently) and a five-speed ’box. Interesting projects, using Lucas electrics and mechanical items from stock British vehicles (Commer truck bearings for instance), but I’m running out of time and room and have too many other jobs to do. You can buy the lot for $3000, but I’d look at all sorts of deals where no money changed hands – very partial to busty blondes. Penn McKay 09 444 0424
Penn’s Favourite Helpers
Bavarian Motors 09 444 5312
Barry and Glen, Italian Auto Centre 09 276 7245
Brad and Craig, Auto Radiators 09 376 6212
Dave Willis, Auto-Clutch 09 849 3737
Chris, Centreline Suspension 09 376 8082
Dave Wilce, Continental Parts, Wellington, dave@contcars.co.nz
Daniel Lucas, Heritage Dry Strippers 09 826 1686
Mark Mercer, Supertrim 09 443 7400
Murray Johnson, Weber Specialties 09 443 5638
Murray Whitehead, POR15 0800 42 8282
Taylor Automotive 09 377 8404
Wayne Wassal, Enterprise Car Painters 09 443 7901
Roger and Dion, Component Powder Coating, 09 818 6883
Perry Brewer, Power Strip Industries 09 5730146
Rust prevention, Lanoline – Engineering Adhesives & Lubricants (NZ) Ltd. ph 09 627 1153 (24hrs)
Lanolin-based lubricants and rust proofers from Engineering Adhesives & Lubricants, Mike Fish 09 627 1153
Al’s Mufflers, Target Rd, Glenfield 09 444 5314
Pete, Just Brakes 09 579 4666
Spies Hecker paints, L J Smits Group 09 274 6871
Tindell’s Vehicle Recovery, Geoff 09 416 1971
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