Re: alfa-digest V8 #156 - oxygen sensor goes bye-bye

[AlfaNeely@domain.elided]

       Did the O2 sensor come unscrewed?  Or did the fitting rust / tear out 
of the side of the head pipe?  The latter would surprise me and would 
indicate a need for new head pipes.
       Why not take it to a muffler shop and have them weld the fitting for 
the O2 sensor back in place.  Any competent muffler shop should be able to do 
that.  They may even have an assortment of fittings.  Point out to the shop 
that your head pipes are Stainless Steel.

       It will not hurt to run the Alfa Spider with no O2 sensor.  It might 
make the mixture rich enough that your catalytic converter will go toast.
       I run my 82 street racer and my 84 track racer with no O2 sensor, but 
neither has a cat.  One of my wife's 91 Spiders started surging on the 
interstate.  I unplugged the O2 sensor and it quit.  I have not gotten around 
to replacing it and it is getting better gas mileage than ever.  But the cat 
may be self destructing as we speak.
       My personal preference would be to fit 74 or earlier cast iron 
headers, fit the catalyst from a mid 1970's Alfetta / Spider and connect to 
your existing exhaust.  You will have to weld an O2 fitting to the new 74 
head pipe.  Again, any muffler shop should be able to build such a system.

Ciao,
Russ Neely
Oklahoma City



In a message dated 10/20/2001 11:33:12 PM Central Daylight Time, 
owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided writes:



> 
> Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2001 02:55:33 +0000
> From: "Kyle Chenier" <klyde67@domain.elided>
> Subject: oxygen sensor goes bye-bye
> 
> The story so far...
> I was driving to my dad's house to start working on the Alfetta that i just 
> purchased, and all of the sudden my Spider got extremely loud. i got there, 
> lifted up the car, and the o2 sensor was just hanging there. It tore out of 
> the exhaust system.
> Now what? Is it okay to just pull the sensor out and weld something over 
> the 
> hole? I think that means horrible gas mileage and such. Truth to this? Any 
> other problems? Where it screws into the exhaust system is, i think, FUBAR. 
> I removed the sensor completely (wire connections in engine compartment), 
> and it still has part of the exhaust system attatched. Is it possible to 
> purchase a new one from Autozone, Pep Boys, etc? Or should i just remove 
> the 
> exhaust (center section), weld new pipe in place, and attach a new 3-wire 
> sensor?
> Has this happened to anyone else before?
> I guess i should've known that something was amiss since my gas mileage 
> dropped by a factor of 4 earlier today.
> Any ideas, suggestions? I have until Tuesday to get it back together. Hm.
> please write directly to me, as i don't have time to sort through digests.
> 
> kyle
> - - '87 Spider - sleeping because she's exhausted (har har)
> - - '79 Alfetta - in driveway awaiting complete rebuild of everything

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