Hard Luck Day/Advice Needed. Long but plenty of Alfa content

[djbender@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

     How's this for a hard luck story.
     
     It starts yesterday (Friday) as I was getting the GTV6 ready for this 
     weekend's time trial at Willow Springs.  Brakes rebuilt, now just some 
     details to attend to.  First is tape up the connection between front 
     and middle exhaust sections where it keeps spring a leak.  Car is on 
     jacks.  Then, put the wheels on, let it off the jacks, and roll it out 
     of the garage into the driveway so I can start packing (not starting 
     the engine yet, the muffler tape needs to cure).  It's important to 
     know the driveway slopes down toward the street, and I just left the 
     car in first gear to hold it, something I have done with every car I 
     have ever owned since my uncle the farmer taught me to drive tractors. 
     I seldom use the handbrake, but may have to start now. Anyway, then I 
     remembered I still needed to tighten the lugnuts.  As I tightened the 
     ones on the left of the car it started to roll slightly downhill 
     backwards against the compression, so I put the handbrake on.
     
     OK, an hour later, car is packed and I'm almost ready to head off to 
     the monthly Alfa club meeting before going up to Willow Springs.  Now 
     I remembered the muffler tape directions said start and idle the car 
     for 10 minutes.  Start the car up and there is the most awful racket.  
     Seems when the car rolled against compression the timing belt slipped 
     a cog and there is not piston to valve contact.  Engine runs but will 
     not idle.  Drive the car back into the garage (it's running anyway, 
     another 10 seconds won't make much difference...will it?).  Get the 
     timing belt cover off (not easy with all the hoses etc in the way) and 
     take a look...yep, the passenger side cam is ahead by 2 notches.  Now 
     I'm frustrated and irritated, not in a good frame of mind to do 
     delicate work, and anyway an hour late to the club meeting.  And if I 
     go to the club meeting, there's a chance my mechanic Fabio or someone 
     else is there who can come back with me to help or at least give some 
     advice. I need to talk to Jerry Lomas anyway about the engine 
     rebuilding class and my brilliant idea about where to hold it 
     (although I'm feeling not too brilliant at this point and wondering if 
     I should chuck this whole Alfa thing).
     
     So I go to the club meeting.  No Fabio.  Jerry is there, also Charlie 
     Thieriot, but no one seems to know much about GTV6 timing except to be 
     interested to hear my story because some say it's an old wive's tale 
     that holding the car against the engine's compression can cause the 
     belt to go out of time.  All right, enough of this, I've had time to 
     calm down, now let's go back home and look at it again.
     
     I forgot so say the way I got the club meeting was in my '71 Mercedes 
     300 SEL 3.5 (the Staff Car).  I've had it 2 1/2 years, it's been 
     utterly reliable the whole time.  Well, on the way home it decides to 
     remind me of its age...stalls and won't start at a stoplight.  So, 
     have to wait for AAA to come and tow me to South Bay Imported Cars 
     where I get it worked on.  Towtruck driver is nice enough to give me a 
     lift home...free tow, free ride home, care of AAA, not bad.
     
     Now I've got 3 dead cars...the 74 GTV (actually driveable, but 
     registration has run out and needs an engine rebuild), the GTV6, and 
     the Mercedes.  Wife's Jeep still runs but she needs it for work.  That 
     leaves just one option...a 67 Lancia Fulvia I bought last summer for 
     eventual restoration, body and interior are crap, but runs like a top. 
     So that's what I'm driving now...better call the insurance company and 
     tell them to add one more car.
     
     Back to the GTV6.  Got home, looked at it some more, figured out I can 
     remove tension from the mechanical tensioner with my 4-cylinder cam 
     turning tool, turn the camshaft with a screwdriver, and slide the belt 
     back on with both hands and some grunting.  Do this, get the timing 
     right, turn the engine thru 1 rev, and the engine encounters some 
     resistance, then pops thru and back up...and the timing is off 
     again!..Do this one more time to be sure, and now I know I'm really 
     screwed (at least I think so...here's where the advice comes in).  
     Seems like for this to happen (resistance at one point in the engine 
     cycle and the belt goes back to 2 notches out of time) means one of 
     the valves is badly bent, and the head has to come off.  Also what I 
     forgot to mention is following the few seconds of running to get the 
     car back into the garage, there was a bad smell, like something 
     burning...valve guides? head gasket?
     
     Anyway that's where I'm at.  Might drive up to Willow Springs tomorrow 
     to watch the time trialing.  This just wasn't my year.  I'm proud that 
     my friend Art Russell, in a GTV like mine, and who I used to beat by a 
     second or so every time till this year, is in a tie for first place in 
     Class D so far, tomorrow will decide...he's tied with Randall Higa, 
     another friend (and AD'er), in another GTV...I really need to get the 
     GTV back together!  (although I had a secret hope that the GTV6 would 
     give them a run for the money at Willow, it's the one track where it 
     could).
     
     Doug Bender

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End of alfa-digest V7 #215
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