Marelli Plex quick fix,women and cars,Alfa tool kit.

[Milanogold@xxxxxxx]

Greetings Alfisti!
    Me and the missus spent today getting the '79 Alfetta Velocissima ready
for inspection at the Ft.belvoir auto shop.7 hours with lifts and all tools
provided,$11.00.Had a bit of a problem with the points and I thought I'd pass
my solution on to fellow Alfisti,in the hopes it will help. 

My SPICA pump,after cleaning the dust bunnies from around  it;appears to be
either new or recently rebuilt.I cleaned off the electrical contacts on the
pump using contact cleaner and 220 grit sandpaper.I also removed a lot of
varnish from the throttle throats,my wife gave up a bottle brush made of stiff
foam for that.
          To add my .02 about women and cars,I'm (Terry) the youngest of 9
kids.I have 6 sisters and ALL of us were taught without reservations regarding
gender to work on cars,hunting,
canning,cooking,quilting,sewing,gardening,etc.My own sewing skills put me into
a 3 year career as a professional tailor (now retired from that except when my
wife wants new dresses). Women can do anything.
                 The throttle throats looked pretty grimy,but theyr'e clean
enough to eat off of now.Checked the SPICA pump belt;it looks to be brand new.
Checked the timing, and it was right on the marks;but when Sharon pulled the
plugs all 4 were rich mixture fouled bigtime!The PO gapped them at what looked
like .040,rather than the factory .025-.028.After Sharon replaced the plugs, I
went to check and replace the points, and found one of the Marelli Plex dual
point setups.Wow! Neat! Never saw dual points on a car before.When I removed
the black cap from under the distributor cap, I saw the source of the poor
idle when hot,rich running and other unsavory habits I'd been recently
experiencing.One of the springs on (the advance unit?)was missing, just
allowing one set of points to fire.I'm assuming I wasn't getting enough
spark.Of course I didn't have a replacement spring.So, I made a spring from a
allen wrench holder. My allen wrenches out of a $9.00 "made in Taiwan special"
tool kit  were attached to what looked like a keychain,and had spring holders
to keep them on.Took one of these,bent a clip for the straight side of the
spring with a pair of needle nose pliers and some choice Italian words thrown
in, and made it work.I tensioned this homemade spring to approximate the stock
spring,and put it on.After we put the oil in the car -20/50 castrol, 6 1/2
quarts and all the shop had was 5 quart drain pans available.OOPS! I scrubbed
oil off the floor for 30 minutes!
               I fired it up and noted an IMMEDIATE change.The car holds a
steady idle hot and cold now at about 850rpm, has zero hesitiation and runs
out perfectly.No backfiring when you let off the gas now, either.The exhaust
fumes don't smell like it's running rich anymore, either.The emission
inspection next week should tell of the results. 
           For my Alfa emergency tool kit, I'd keep JB weld,a 10mm and 13mm
box end wrench and socket/ratchet in the same sizes;duct tape,electrical
contact cleaner and an emery board on hand.Iv'e never had an alfa leave me
stranded,after driving them daily for almost 3 years now.But, this is what I
keep on hand just in case.
I drive, she's happy to ride;
Terry and Sharon Akins
Alexandria,VA
1987 Milano Gold (Alfie)
1984 GTV6 (Vito)
1979 Alfetta Velocissima coupe (nameless)  
     

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