Alfa Pages

[jobrien389]

my car needs some things for mot as just failed on few points.. I need a new frontside shock absorber as the spring cup has rusted. garage say cost £50 for it. where could i get one cheaper any links?

other points it failed on if your interested (like sure!)
1 Both headlights condenced, poor pattern - need drying out apparently
2 horn did not work (i know it is intermittant)
3 wiperblade ..(ohh that one I can fix!)
4 O side rear drum. or something like that
5 Foot and Hand Brake Effort
6 Weilding... N side floor O.side rear floor.
7. N.Side front spring cup.
8. N.Side rear light earth problem

garage quote to do all that is £250. eeek.

£150 in labor so I may do all little jobs like lights and take up carpets for weilding.

supprisingly it did not fail on front brakes which disks are v worn and stopping is a problem (have new discs in garrage!) cannot bring car to skid stop. everything i thaught it would fail on it did not fail on. mad.

any ideas where or what to do with the shock absorber.

many thanks
Jonathan

ps. try claying your car. i did. comes up magic fluid-shiny once waxed up... but does not help it pass mot !! damm.
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1.7 33 owner

[Gary UK]

If the welding is on the floor pan seams rather than a structural element you should be able to get away with fiberglassing the floor pans inside then filling the gaps underneath with cataloy then dolops of underseal on top.

Get the bit's needed yourself as you should be able to get them cheaper as £100 seems a bit steep for a spring pan and a drum (where a decent second hand one will sufice.

[Admin]

Hi

[jobrien389]

i cleaned the connectors up as suggested. seems to work better , but i can see what the failure was ; with left indicator on, apply foot brake for brake lights come on, this causes the left indicator to weaken.

i'll try another earth connection.



Horn... have not identified when it does not work. however this function can be substituted with the appropiate hand gestures to offending motorist...

Wiper blade.. highly skilled operation requires latex cloves

Welding... I shall leave that to garrage to sort out, otherwise if i attempted it my can may come out my garage looking like something out the A-team. ...gaffer tape, scaffold tubes (mortar gun operated by that crazy idiot) flame thrower, black n decker strimmer attachement (in case encounter over grown grassy areas)


am sourcing a 2nd hand shock asorber. or possibly that po-go stick has not been used for a bit (potential to A-team up a bit)

Jonathan
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1.7 33 owner

[jobrien389]

what do i need to replace to sort out the rusted spring cup.. do i need to replace the whole shock absorber? ? Anyone know any places/websites that do 33 parts used/new ? the garage can get me one for £50 (new) seems over kill too me.

thanks

Jonathan
( hates mot's )
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1.7 33 owner

[Admin]

Hi

No the spring cup is a seperate part. You will probably have to replace the bearing under it as well (on a good day they last until sunset after replacing them)

All the best

Keith

[jobrien389]

Yep the horn only works when the steering lock is on.
I took the middle of the steering wheel off to check contacts, but everything seemed in place and even cleaned up the earth contact on the steering wheel that connects to the horn switch. but not made slight bit of difference. must be something to do with steering lock that makes whatever connection better. but am pleased that at least the horn does operate and not a broken relay

I couldnt find any places that do parts for replacing spring cup etc. there must be some place alfa33 owners use to get parts. b good idea to rake all these places up and publish details of em in one location. search engines throw up v weird results sometimes. I know the parts are out there. scully, maulder?
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1.7 33 owner

[zp]

hi!

horn works only with steering lock on : that means the earth of the steering column has gone and the current goes through the lock.
it's easily repairable.

regards
zp

[Admin]

Hi

Strut pans should be available from any Alfa dealer or specialist. I bought my last set from Willy Dicks in Wolverhampton (01902 401711).

For the same problem with the horn on my 33 I put a jubilee clip around the end of the steering column and the ran a wire from the jubilee clip to the earthing point on the back of the engine. The way the steering column was earthed through the steering rack

All the best

Keith

[jobrien389]

i fixed the horn as per help above. cleaning the earth contact on the steering wheel with wet dry paper made all the difference and had to disconnect the battery to replace steering wheel cover so not to blast the horn waking up the neighbours
cleaned up the battery terminals too while at it.

for the headlights mot reported they were condensed - no pattern? so to try dry them out (finding they were near impossible to remove and are possibly sealed units to clean inside) i left them in situ , pulled the bulb acesses off and put headlights on for 10 mins with engine running.... and if my calculations are correct . any moisture should have been heated evaporated and excape out back of light unit.


Quick Q
is the Strut pan the same bit as what garage called the spring cup. ? hopefully fairly inexpensive.. a garage recond a new complete shock was in order. seems a bit ott.

Jonathan
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1.7 33 owner

[Marcin]

[BILL]

Or you can use a hair dryer to do it Its much more easy .

[Admin]

Hi

Glad you got the horn sorted without the faffing around I needed to do (there was no earth on the steering column).

The headlights might be OK. When I had to clean them out I took them off and took the bulb out along with the metal reflector just in front of the bulb, then taped a piece of cloth to a screw driver and used that to wipe the inside of the class.

The strut pan bearing lives under the bottom spring pan, and a spring pan is also known as a spring cup

All the best

Keith