Are 33s allowed.....?
- Thread starter dickyb
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mjheathcote
Centenary Club
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I ran a Permanent 4 as my everyday car for 3 or 4 years in the early 90's
Sounded lovely with a full autodelta stainless steel exhaust, that quad cam flat four was certainly musical!
It had air conditioning, but according to the dealer at the time, that option was never available to the UK market, but on the parts lists, typical Italian!
I had a few problems though. Transmission windup on a tight full lock turn (torsen centre diff, common problem apparently), noisy rear diff which I never solved, and the usual rust.
The grip was fantastic, powering out of a roundabout it just gripped, the 4 wheel drive eradicated the usual front wheel drive torque steer.
If you pulled the fuse for the electromechanical clutch (this disengaged the rear drive under heavy braking for better car control) it would be front wheel drive only, good to demonstrate how good the 4 wheel drive system actually was!
Cheers
dickyb
Member
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- 433
thanks for the kind responses, I wondered whether I'd be shot down in flames for mentioning my humble 33 on a Maserati forum!
About 3 years ago I totally stripped the car and sent it to a bodyshop that had been recommended to me for a re-spray. I paid £4000 and here are the results, pretty shocking I think you'll agree.
Most of the car wasn't even cleaned before they applied the paint and then proceeded to fall off! They told me they'd stripped the underside to bare metal and had addressed all corrosion before applying new underseal. I supplied them with some new wings but they said they'd cut out the rust and let in new metal, the last pic shows what I found when I removed the wings...
Needless to say I'm currently pursuing this cowboy for a considerable sum but he claims that he completed the job to a very high standard!!!
About 3 years ago I totally stripped the car and sent it to a bodyshop that had been recommended to me for a re-spray. I paid £4000 and here are the results, pretty shocking I think you'll agree.
Most of the car wasn't even cleaned before they applied the paint and then proceeded to fall off! They told me they'd stripped the underside to bare metal and had addressed all corrosion before applying new underseal. I supplied them with some new wings but they said they'd cut out the rust and let in new metal, the last pic shows what I found when I removed the wings...
Needless to say I'm currently pursuing this cowboy for a considerable sum but he claims that he completed the job to a very high standard!!!
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dickyb
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pic in my post shows the car as it is now, its in the process of having the other bodyshop's complete mess sorted out.
Spec will be as follows:
16v engine bored out to 1800cc with JE forged high compression pistons, lightened flywheel, gas flowed heads, Colombo & Bariani cams, complete CSC exhaust system including manifold, Omex ECU. Everything repainted and all brackets, clips bolts etc replaced with new or replated:
Will have trick suspension, brakes etc etc and I've sourced as many new parts as possible so this will be as close as you can get to a new 33, I even have a zero miles speedo to install.
I am also fitting a/c which is a very complex job. Interesting what mjheathcote says about a/c, I've become a bit of a 33 a/c expert. UK cars were offered with a/c as an option but it was retro fitted by the dealer and was not very common. The dealer fitted system is fairly basic and you may remember having a manual thermostat under the bonnet that you had to adjust according to how high the fan speed was set. Not sure if you ever tried it but if you pulled off the a/c switch you would see the defrost instructions of the standard heater panel underneath. They drilled a hole in it to fit the a/c knob.
I have managed to get all the parts from a European spec car with a factory fitted system which has an electronic thermostat and a different control panel. Unfortunately it was never designed for RHD and has a facility to increase the revs when the compressor kicks in. I had to find a LHD engine loom and modify it to fit my RHD car, quite a job. I also had to source new condensers (there are 2!) which weren't cheap or easy to find.
Interior will look like this:
Hope you like it
As for the driving experience, in my opinion they are awesome, the boxer engine sounds lovely and pulls really nicely. Its quite a light car and handling is excellent although can be a bit tail happy sometimes which is unusual for FWD. Brakes are pants! (but on the list of upgrades). If I sell it I'll never get anything like what its going to cost to build but I guess you'd never start a project like this if you thought like that.
I guess its something a bit different and when did you last see one on the road? I think they're a great little car and very under rated, plus they give modern hot hatches a good whipping!
I'll post some more updates as things move along if anyone is interested to see?
Spec will be as follows:
16v engine bored out to 1800cc with JE forged high compression pistons, lightened flywheel, gas flowed heads, Colombo & Bariani cams, complete CSC exhaust system including manifold, Omex ECU. Everything repainted and all brackets, clips bolts etc replaced with new or replated:
Will have trick suspension, brakes etc etc and I've sourced as many new parts as possible so this will be as close as you can get to a new 33, I even have a zero miles speedo to install.
I am also fitting a/c which is a very complex job. Interesting what mjheathcote says about a/c, I've become a bit of a 33 a/c expert. UK cars were offered with a/c as an option but it was retro fitted by the dealer and was not very common. The dealer fitted system is fairly basic and you may remember having a manual thermostat under the bonnet that you had to adjust according to how high the fan speed was set. Not sure if you ever tried it but if you pulled off the a/c switch you would see the defrost instructions of the standard heater panel underneath. They drilled a hole in it to fit the a/c knob.
I have managed to get all the parts from a European spec car with a factory fitted system which has an electronic thermostat and a different control panel. Unfortunately it was never designed for RHD and has a facility to increase the revs when the compressor kicks in. I had to find a LHD engine loom and modify it to fit my RHD car, quite a job. I also had to source new condensers (there are 2!) which weren't cheap or easy to find.
Interior will look like this:
Hope you like it
As for the driving experience, in my opinion they are awesome, the boxer engine sounds lovely and pulls really nicely. Its quite a light car and handling is excellent although can be a bit tail happy sometimes which is unusual for FWD. Brakes are pants! (but on the list of upgrades). If I sell it I'll never get anything like what its going to cost to build but I guess you'd never start a project like this if you thought like that.
I guess its something a bit different and when did you last see one on the road? I think they're a great little car and very under rated, plus they give modern hot hatches a good whipping!
I'll post some more updates as things move along if anyone is interested to see?
mjheathcote
Centenary Club
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- 9,038
I remember the a/c well!
When I bought my 33, it was not working, no belt, the condenser link pipe was missing across the front of the car linking the condensers, and both fans on each condenser where seized. The car was only 3 years old.
Anyway bought a belt, had some new pipes made up, fitted new fans, and had the system charged up.
I remember it ran on R22, a bit naughty for a 1990 car if I recall, but fortunately at the time the company I worked for used R22, so I got it filled up for free!
The stat as you say was a fridge stat! I remember adjusting it and it was super ice cold!
It worked very well, I remember fitting a couple of LED's on the dash to indicate when each fan cut in so I knew what the system was doing. It was rewarding getting it going.
The funny thing was, the heater was really rubbish, super cold in mid summer...and super cold in mid winter too!
Cheers!
When I bought my 33, it was not working, no belt, the condenser link pipe was missing across the front of the car linking the condensers, and both fans on each condenser where seized. The car was only 3 years old.
Anyway bought a belt, had some new pipes made up, fitted new fans, and had the system charged up.
I remember it ran on R22, a bit naughty for a 1990 car if I recall, but fortunately at the time the company I worked for used R22, so I got it filled up for free!
The stat as you say was a fridge stat! I remember adjusting it and it was super ice cold!
It worked very well, I remember fitting a couple of LED's on the dash to indicate when each fan cut in so I knew what the system was doing. It was rewarding getting it going.
The funny thing was, the heater was really rubbish, super cold in mid summer...and super cold in mid winter too!
Cheers!
Andyk
Member
- Messages
- 61,175
Me too Matt......but hang on and bought a 155....
Welcome Dicky....Looking forward to seeing this one unfold....
Paulm
New Member
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- 372
Oh the joy of restoration !!!!
Fully sympathise with you Dicky....I've had a s2 RS turbo in welders for 10months and still not happy with the work done on it ! if I had the time I would do all the work myself. Some people don't get the restoration thing.
There is no excuse for bad workmanship when it comes to spraying....The spray shop I use gives me a call all the way through the job, asking if I would like to come down and check the work carried out. This gives me piece of mind, plus it gives you faith in another mans work.. Good luck in pursuing them for compensation, keep up the good work
Fully sympathise with you Dicky....I've had a s2 RS turbo in welders for 10months and still not happy with the work done on it ! if I had the time I would do all the work myself. Some people don't get the restoration thing.
There is no excuse for bad workmanship when it comes to spraying....The spray shop I use gives me a call all the way through the job, asking if I would like to come down and check the work carried out. This gives me piece of mind, plus it gives you faith in another mans work.. Good luck in pursuing them for compensation, keep up the good work
Last edited:
dickyb
Member
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- 433
]Thanks so much your responses, I'm genuinely flattered by your enthusiasm for my humble 33.
Yes someone has made a V6 33: http://www.grupposportivo.net/AlfaRomeoS3e5.htm
It is also possible to fit the Subaru Impreza engine into a 33, its not quite a straight fit but isn't too bad. A good way to get lots more power for not much cash (the Alfa flat four is expensive to tune) but some would say its sacrilege putting a Subaru engine in an Alfa Romeo. The Subaru flat four is actually based on Alfa Romeo's design but they cleverly didn't tell Subaru everything hence Subarus having lubrication problems which the Alfa design doesn't suffer from. Apparently Alfa Romeo were developing their own 2 litre version of the flat four but then Fiat took over and shelved it.
33s make great track/race cars and are used extensively in the Alfa Romeo owners club championship and were used in touring cars in Italy. Here is some footage of an ex Italian touring car now in the UK and owned by Adie Hawkins of AHMotorsports:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ynAg27a2sY
This car is now a 2 litre boxer with a supercharger with around 300bhp!
My car is a 1994 16v (2WD) but virtually everything has been upgraded so it'll be a bit quicker than standard. I could list everything if you're interested but I didn't want to go on and on about it if no-one was bothered.
Hopefully the engine will be developing somewhere around 190bhp, pretty puny compared to a lot of more modern stuff but the car only weighs about 980kg.
Here's a pic of the pistons that went into the engine:
I've owned the car for 14 years and it was the first car I bought - I'd had a company Vauxhall Vectra before that and used to pass a 33 on someone's driveway every day and I promised myself one when my circumstances changed. My 33 has huge sentimental value (pretty stupid I know, its only a lump of metal) so I guess that's why its having so much time and money thrown at it.
After the previous fiasco, my car is being sorted out in another body shop, its been there for quite some time but I know they'll do a perfect job.
I've bought myself an electroplating kit and have been refurbishing all the brackets, pipes etc, here is an example of the results, I'm quite pleased with it:
Now worked out how to make pics smaller so won't be taking up so much space!!
Yes someone has made a V6 33: http://www.grupposportivo.net/AlfaRomeoS3e5.htm
It is also possible to fit the Subaru Impreza engine into a 33, its not quite a straight fit but isn't too bad. A good way to get lots more power for not much cash (the Alfa flat four is expensive to tune) but some would say its sacrilege putting a Subaru engine in an Alfa Romeo. The Subaru flat four is actually based on Alfa Romeo's design but they cleverly didn't tell Subaru everything hence Subarus having lubrication problems which the Alfa design doesn't suffer from. Apparently Alfa Romeo were developing their own 2 litre version of the flat four but then Fiat took over and shelved it.
33s make great track/race cars and are used extensively in the Alfa Romeo owners club championship and were used in touring cars in Italy. Here is some footage of an ex Italian touring car now in the UK and owned by Adie Hawkins of AHMotorsports:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ynAg27a2sY
This car is now a 2 litre boxer with a supercharger with around 300bhp!
My car is a 1994 16v (2WD) but virtually everything has been upgraded so it'll be a bit quicker than standard. I could list everything if you're interested but I didn't want to go on and on about it if no-one was bothered.
Hopefully the engine will be developing somewhere around 190bhp, pretty puny compared to a lot of more modern stuff but the car only weighs about 980kg.
Here's a pic of the pistons that went into the engine:
I've owned the car for 14 years and it was the first car I bought - I'd had a company Vauxhall Vectra before that and used to pass a 33 on someone's driveway every day and I promised myself one when my circumstances changed. My 33 has huge sentimental value (pretty stupid I know, its only a lump of metal) so I guess that's why its having so much time and money thrown at it.
After the previous fiasco, my car is being sorted out in another body shop, its been there for quite some time but I know they'll do a perfect job.
I've bought myself an electroplating kit and have been refurbishing all the brackets, pipes etc, here is an example of the results, I'm quite pleased with it:
Now worked out how to make pics smaller so won't be taking up so much space!!