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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ OT: Alfa Carnage

Posted by: McMark Jul 22 2005, 01:33 AM

user posted image

That picture was taken from under the car.

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/showthread.php?t=13946

Posted by: ematulac Jul 22 2005, 03:50 AM

Insane damage. The bell housing on his tranny was literally blown apart!

Posted by: qa1142 Jul 22 2005, 06:13 AM

See
this is why we like alll this stuff behind us and not under you

Posted by: SGB Jul 22 2005, 07:20 AM

Least we ain't got no doughnuts!

(check yer cv joint bolts - a completely unrelated observation)

Posted by: tat2dphreak Jul 22 2005, 07:38 AM

when transmissions attack, next on FOX

that is jacked!

Posted by: URY914 Jul 22 2005, 08:28 AM

That will leave a mark. (on his wallet)

Posted by: lapuwali Jul 22 2005, 09:32 AM

QUOTE (ematulac @ Jul 22 2005, 01:50 AM)
Insane damage. The bell housing on his tranny was literally blown apart!

It wasn't the bellhousing that blew apart, it was aft of that. On most Alfas, rubber donut flex joints are used on the driveshafts. On the GTV, there's one connecting the output flange of the transmission to the driveshaft. There's a conventional U-joint connecting the driveshaft to the diff. You have to keep on top of these joints, and replace them roughly every 50K miles. If they split, you often get away with it and just suffer lots of vibration until you fix them. Sometimes, they fly apart, and this kind of thing happens. The damage was from the loose driveshaft flailing around.

The Alfetta-based cars were much worse. They have a front engine/rear transaxle setup like a 924/944/928. There are THREE rubber donuts connecting the two-piece driveshaft from the engine to the gearbox, and the clutch is on the gearbox, not the engine. So, that driveshaft is spinning at engine speed the entire time the engine is running. The donuts are really hard to get at (you have to basically remove the gearbox to get the shaft out, which has to be done to get the donuts off), and shops charge $750-1000 to replace all three donuts. Every 40-50K miles. Or this kind of thing can happen.

That said, I owned two Alfetta cars and put lots of miles on them with no worries. I just inspected the donuts regularly. I only had to replace them on one car once, and it took me three weekends to do it.