[alfa] Quarts, pints, litres etc

["John Fielding" <johnf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

I know that the Alfa Digest is predominately an American thing, but when I read some of
the posts I wonder?

Recently a digestee stated:

"The empty Alfa four cylinder will hold 7 1/2 to 8 quarts, including
the cam galleys.  Pour half a quart in there before you replace the valve cover."

Now half a quart is a pint.  There are 8 pints to a gallon, 2 pints to a quart  and hence
4 quarts to a gallon.

Seems to me when using units you should use the smallest one.  Nobody says "half a
hundred" they call it "fifty".  Maybe it is an American thing?  What is the correct unit
for a half  gallon?  Two quarts or 4 pints?  (The American gallon is quite a bit shy of
the Imperial gallon, it being only worth 80% of the real one!)

In this country I am always amused when the filling station attendants (most filling
stations are manned by a swarm of attendants  most are from the black members of our
Rainbow Nation, nobody except me, being an Englishman, pumps their own fuel) asks how much
oil you need for a top-up.  Being a Metricated country all units are from the MKS or SI
units system.  Oil here at filling stations is sold in 500ml cans.  I have a bit of fun
with the attendants.  They ask "how many pints?"

 I reply, "No, not pints, I need 500ml".   (500ml is approx 1.375 pints).

 "OK boss,  you need 1 pint".

Similarly today someone was quoting figures for the new Alfa Romeo engine.

Note: I used the word "engine".  Most Americans use the word "motor", when they refer to
the thing under the bonnet (hood for our colonial friends) that powers the car.  But the
electric gizmo that turns the engine/motor over to bring it to life, noboby calls it a
"starter-engine" - Why?

Back to the Alfa Romeo engine.  It was stated that it produces 45kg of torque.  This means
nothing to me, and I am an emigrant Englishman who was taught both imperial and metric
units at school and college when I under went my engineering apprenticeship.

Torque in the imperial system is usually quoted in "foot-pounds", in the metric system it
is given in "Newton-metres". (1 Newton-metre is a force of 1kg applied to a bar of length
of 1 metre).

If the 45kg is converted to Newton-Metres this would be 45Nm, which is extremely crap!  I
think somewhere along the way the journalist got his/her units mixed up and really meant
450Nm, which is more in line with an engine of this calibre.

I do however agree that some of the American names for engineering terms make more sense.

For example:

A spring ring used to keep parts together in English terms is known as a "circlip",
Americans call it a "snap-ring" a better description IMHO.

John Hertzman ( a good German name?) who I have a great deal of respect for, will probably
rise to the bait!

The American members of the digest lust after owning one of the new Alfa Romeo cars.  Here
we have had them for all time, good and bad.  Recently I have worked on several of the
newer models.  Last week I had a 145 and a 147 in for electronic maladies.  They are no
better than the older generation, only different faults.  Beware the "throttle-by-wire"
versions (145, 146, 147, 155, 156 etc ) these are really quirky and have expensive
throttle servo-motors which disintegrate due to the high under-hood temperatures.

The 145 had a engine management fault.  No replacements units available anywhere in the
world!  After three attempts to source one, each time FIAT sent the incorrect version, the
owner sold the car and bought a Nissan, the local agents are also Nissan dealers.

The 147 was a nightmare!  This is the Selespeed version.  It has a gearbox which is
possessed by all the demons.

The local official agents told me that the 147 has 6 ECU's in the main body.  The
Selespeed version has 7 ECU's which all "talk" via the central ECU that then displays the
fault indicators.  The clutch in the Selespeed is a conventional unit and the gearbox ECU
does the disengaging and engaging of the dry plate clutch whilst shifting the gears via
hydraulic actuators!  The symptoms were clutch slip under heavy acceleration.  The clutch
was removed and found to be in fair condition and not the cause of the trouble.

The ECU some how got it into its "brain" that under hard acceleration it needed to slip
the clutch to relieve the transmission of the extra load.  The units have to be sent back
to Italy to be reprogrammed to cure the problem which Alfa admits is a "design flaw".
The Alfa diagnostic software is a real joke.  The Bosch system we have is far superior
but has no Alfa vehicles as Alfa refuse to allow Bosch to incorporate them in their
versions.

You really want to buy one of these Fiat nightmares?  They look really nice standing still
(which is what most spend their life doing as they always in the workshop for obscure
faults)!

My 2cents  worth.

If you disagree, hit the delete button.

John
Durban
South Africa
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