Alfetta Clutch and Tailshaft Questions

[Sasha Nackovski <snackov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

G'day Alfa owners,

As this is my first post to this excellent forum, an introduction may be
in order. I recently became the proud owner of a '79 Alfetta 2000 Sedan
which is currently sitting in my garage just begging to be registered
and driven. How I managed to became the owner of this car is a long
story (involving deceased estates etc.), but it cost me very little, the
catch being that I didn't get to start or drive it before taking it
home. Anyway, all its vital signs were good, it had minimal rust (a tiny
bit in the rear doors and rear apron), had low k's with history, and the
interior and body were in remarkably good condition. The adjustable Koni
shocks fitted by the PO are worth more than twice what I paid for the
car. The only apparent problems were a cracked windscreen, broken wiper
stalk and a rooted center muffler.  So I thought it was worth the risk,
and if the risk didn't pay off I could use it for parts for another
sedan or GTV.

Anyway, two weeks after I brought the car home I finally got around to
starting it and assessing its condition. Did the usual pre-start up
things, kicked it over, and she fired into life immediately. I was
amazed how well it ran, and after the black smoke cleared (it obviously
hadn't been started for a while) it was clear that the engine was in
pretty good shape. The same could not be said about the rear of the car
though, with a suspicious rumbling noise coming from the clutch cover,
and after finding that there was no drive to the rear wheels, I stuck my
head under the car and listened to the clutch cover with my stethoscope.
This confirmed my suspicion, the flywheel bolts had either come loose or
had snapped off completely.

I finally got around to pulling the clutch last weekend. Yes indeed the
flywheels bolts had come completely undone. It was clear that the clutch
and bearings had been changed recently (thankfully I was saved that
expense), and the genius that changed the clutch also refitted the
flywheel with the wrong bolts and washers, resulting in the bolts
working loose and causing the problem. Damage to the clutch housing was
minimal, and apart from needing a new clutch fork (broken retaining
spring), everything else seemed ok, so I put new bolts in the flywheel,
put the clutch back together and reinstalled it in the car. Which
(finally) leads to my questions;

1. The car has developed the dreaded drive shaft vibration at 2000-2500
rpm. This leads me to conclude that either (i) the clutch assembly needs
to be balanced, especially considering the position of the flywheel in
relation to the input shaft has changed, and in which case I am an idiot
for not consulting this digest  beforehand (neither the Haynes manual or
Owners Bible mentioned this had to be done, so I did not bother), or
(ii) that the vibration is tailshaft related, but was not apparent when
I initially started the car as a result of the shaft not being connected
to the flywheel (i.e.. less load on the tailshaft due to it not having
to turn the clutch/gearbox assembly over). Which seems more likely? Is
it absolutely essential that the clutch assembly be balanced when
changing the clutch? Or is this obviously a tailshaft problem? I should
point out that all the rubber donuts are in excellent condition, so I
have eliminated this as a possible cause.

2. I am having trouble getting all of the air out of the clutch
hydraulic lines. So far I have only tried to bleed it with the car on
flat ground. I assume the problem is the nipple on the slave cylinder is
facing downwards, meaning all the air is not being removed from the
slave. Would bleeding the system with the car jacked up from the front
be more effective? Or is pressure bleeding the way to go?

3. I have bought a new rubber boot for the front shifter linkage.
Buggered if I know (sorry, aussie slang :-) how that tiny boot fits over
the shifter housing, the rim of the boot seems a hell of a lot smaller
than the shifter housing. Is there some sort of Italian magic required
to get this thing over the shifter housing?

Any comments/opinions/idea's greatly appreciated. Stay tuned for my next
(shorter, I promise!) posting where I attempt to replace my standard
points ignition with an electronic unit from a later model GTV.......:-}

Cheers,

Sasha Nackovski - Whittlesea, Victoria, Australia.

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