V6 12V Super automatic - An old dream come true...

[Artiz1]

When inspecting the fuel hoses for possible fuel leaks, I noticed that there was a roll of scotch tape hidden behind the plenum... I thought maybe someone forgot it there, so I removed it and put it in my drawer. A few minutes later I decided to take the car for a spin and after starting it and driving it out of the garage I turned the engine off to close the garage. After comeing back and trying to restart it - it did not want to. Not on petrol not on LPG. Nothing. Next day I told my friend about it and he said that roll of scotch was there on purpose And in fact it was It held the old busted backfire flap in palce. Normally these have a spring that holds them in place, but after serving for (possably) over a 1000 backfires over it's life, the spring was loos and the flap was constantly open, making the plenum not vaccum tight anymore. This has to be sorted. Because a 12V plenum is different and barely impossible to find locally, I had to weld this one for the time being.

Here's it being removed:




Seems normal? Well untill you take a look at it's back side:


Both flaps removed and the weldable area exposed:


Amazing what you can find in old italian cars:

I never knew that Weber had done throttle bodies.

While the plenum was removed, I thought it would be a great idea to install the sequential LPG injectors. So I removed the intake runners and the fuel rail:


And the manifold spacers:




Had the local gasket shop to make a set of gaskets for me (about 25 Eur for a full set):


Drilled the spacers and installed the LPG injector inlets:


Assembled them:


Bought a set of new injector o-rings and had the injectors cleaned with ultrasound:


And imediatly noticed that they are from a wrong car! They are GM units from Astra/Vectra. I quickly took a look at my V6 manual that I had:



Which confirmed that these injectors are not original. I left them for the time being because the car ran fine with them.

What I also found in a local junkyard, hidden away from everyone - was a full V6 12V engine, exactly like mine for the srap metal price. I've agreed to buy it next month and after I do, I'll prepare it for some proper power gains. That's why I'm not bothered too much with the engine in the car as it is only required to do some test driving of the transmission and the car itself right now.

So I assembled the fuel system:


Also found the cause of the petrol smell:


And the genius engineering behind it:


Not without the help of my three year old daughter :

[Artiz1]

Last weekend I removed the old LPG systems wiring and it's reducer:


In order to make way for the new, much more sophisticated wiring loom:


This had to be done in order to pass the new control wires to the interior:


And the car currently looks like this:


I hope to have everything assembled and running the this weekend

[ALFAHEIDA]

Nice work done.
Let us know when it's running.

[Alfan]

Lots of work! So have you enjoyed driving it by now??

[Artiz1]

In fact I did! The few kilometres I have driven it, put a huge smile on my face. It's an amazing car with an amazing engine to complete the package!

[Alfan]

[Artiz1]

Ok, so on monday evening I finally got some time to continue my work on the car. It has to be roadworthy and have a valid annual inspection (MOT or whatever) until the 4th of June. Since there is a huge show called "Memel motor fest" that features tuned or just unique vehicles. There is an audition for participation and not everybody can participate. This alfa has made it's way in and it's participation was approved. Two of my friends with a 159 and a 147 also wanted to get in, but until now there is no answer... So it looks like I'll have to defend the Alfa honor alone out there in the world full of BMWs and Japanese rockets
Anyway, let's get back to work.
Since the front wheel was taken off, I might as well can try the Brock R18 wheels that I bought a few years ago. They are 8.5J with an ET35 (from a 156):




Don't look at the chrome as it will be sandblasted and the outer lip will be polished and the inside will most likely be painted black. Anyway, I immediately came across a problem: even without the tire on, when turned, the rim touches the wheel liner. This means spacers are required. I have read somewhere in this forum that somebody has used 15mm spacers on 8J R18 ET35 wheels and it was fine. I will have to experiment with that but I may need some larger ones... But that is not my main concern right now as I can always drive on the original ones

Old wheel on, car on the ground and I can continue on the LPG wiring connection.

I've removed the transmission tunnel cover on the driver's side to rout the wires for the switch:


While I was there, I found an original cigarette lighter for the ashtray, which must have fallen in there a long time ago And I also found the ECU for the phone. I'll later have to google the manual for it and see what am I missing.

There was an old switch near the window and mirror controls, which covered a nasty hole, so by removing it I really had no choice but to install the new one in it's place:


I could go for a flush mount look, but I really don't want to ruin the plastic bracket for all the switches...

Later that night I also connected the wire for the lambda probe signal (to the LPG ECU) and installed the coolant tank back in place. This evening I'll most likely figure out a spot where to mount the LPG ECU and connect most of the wires to whatever is needed.

[Artiz1]

Ok, despite me having to travel to Sweden at the beginning of this week, I still managed to do some progress.
First things first, I got the wheel back on and got the car on the ground:


Then I replaced the old broken brake vacuum pipe with a new polyurethane one, that is just perfect for this application:


It was a b@#ch to installon the L connector, but after heating it up I eventually managed to get in on as it was done at the factory.


I then fabricated and painted a bracket for the LPG ECU:


And installed it all:




I then assembled the welded plenum:


I was gonna put it back on, but then remembered that the firewall's heatshield looked like this:


This was due to constant LPG backfire I guess. So I had no choice but to make it look a bit better:


For some reason I then thought that it's time to connect the LPG injectors and so I did:


They are not in their place yet as they require a bracket of some sort, so I just left them like this and went home.

[alfa east]

Good progress; I keep following it with interest!

[Artiz1]

Ok, so last sunday I plowed on. Made a bracket for LPG injectors:


Installed everything in place:

Unfortunately the rule of thumb for LPG installation is thay the hoses from injectors to the nozzles won't be more than 20cm long. Otherwise the injection sequence will be delayed and you can get rough running. So for this I had no choice but to mount the injectors on the front rocker cover. It's not beautiful, but the engine will run smooth.
Then I was ready to install the plenum only to realise that my old rubber sleeves are perished. Normally it would not be a problem for me because I manufacture silicone replacements for these. But to my surprise I had none in stock, so I spent the sunday afternoon to make these:


And that was the end of my workday. Hope to finish it all within next few weeks.

[Artiz1]

As soon as I came to work on my car yesterday, I once again took a look at the LPG injectors that I recently installed and noticed that I first had to connect the petrol injector wiring, because it should pass under my new bracket. I had no choice but to remove my new bracket and connect the wiring to the LPG ECU and tidy everything up:


After all was nice and tidy, I once again installed the LPG injector bracket and tucked away all the injector wires:


Then I finally could use my own product and see how it "feels" for myself:


I always do all silicone hoses by 0.5 or 1mm smaller diameter in order for them to grip better. These sleeves are no exception. In fact I noticed that the bit that is installed on the chrome pipes is so much better to install than the original hard sleeves, that I will try and see if I can use them without the clamps. The plenum side will obvoiusly have to be clamped, but the runner side seems very tight.


I also made some different variations for the Logo position and the side sleeves are without logo's at all just to see how the different sleeves look like when installed.

And here is the plenum without the clamps yet:


Breathers, hoses, pipes, ground points - all have been connected:


Left the workshop like this because I need to solve a small puzzle where to connect the ignition signal wire for the LPG ECU. Since this particular engine is very rare, so are it's wiring diagrams...

[Artiz1]

Right. With a quick help from a 164 facebook group members, I got hold of some wiring diagrams for the ignition coil and could sort out the wiring. Next up was the LPG reducer (vaporizer) and the multivalve.
Before I proceed, I guess I should explain the basic theory of LPG operation, just for those who are interested in this. For those who are not - well, I'll try to make this column short
LPG (liquid propane gas) is as the name implies - liquefied gas, which means that it is pressurized and cooled so much that it's state is converted from gas to liquid. This liquid LPG is filled up at the gas stations into the metal LPG tank. There is a pipe running underneath the car from the tank to the engine bay to transfer the LPG like you have one for petrol or diesel. The tank has a electromagnetic valve, called a multivalve which is normally closed and when energized it opens up and enables the flow of the LPG from the tank. For safety reasons there is another multivalve in the engine bay. The liquid LPG flows to a device called the vaporizer (or reducer in LPG terms). The vaporizer is heated by the car's coolant and is a device where liquid LPG becomes a gas.
Then there are two (actually more, but let's stick to two basic ones) types of LPG systems - old and new. Old system in essence is like a conventional home cooker - as soon as the vaporizer evaporates the liquid gas to gas, it is then fed to a venturi type mixer nozzle (usually found before the AFM, carb or just the intake manifold) and that's about it. The vacuum created by the engine sucks the gas in and you have propulsion. Because the system is so simple, it has loads of drawbacks and problems. Backfire, powerloss, engine damage. You name it - it may create it. My car had that type of system installed
Now what I am doing right now, is converting the car to a modern new type system, which is a fully standalone system with it's own ECU, that is integrated into the cars electrics and uses data from various sensors like Lambda, MAP, ignition coil, various additional temp sensors etc. The data is assessed by the ECU and then the LPG injection is sequenced for the perfect match for the required driving conditions. Yes, LPG is now injected by injectors. Not the petrol ones, but special LPG injectors (which you may already seem me install earlier). The modern LPG system does not backfire anymore, nor does it create powerloss or engine damage. Plus currently in the tuner world some prefer to use LPG and their ECU's instead of Megasquirt's etc because of the programming easiness and of course cost of ownership.

[Artiz1]

Ok, so back to the project. The reducers (vaporizers) differ on both systems. The new system uses an additional temp sensor to know when to the reducer has reached it's programmed temp for the switchover to LPG. Lucky for me, I had a used unit on my hands:


The main thing in them is the diaphragm (or membrane) for vaporization process. Over the years it cracks and the reduced does not function anymore. So I bought a repair kit to overhaul the soon to be new reducer:


Removed the cover and exposed that diaphragm:


Took it out:


Inspected the internals:


Cleaned everything, replaced and installed the diaphragm back in place:


And installed the reducer into the car as well as connected it to the coolant circuit:


Next up was the multivalve. They also differ. Since the new system uses fragile injectors, the gas needs to be very clean. So it has two filters - one for liquid LPG, the other one for gas phase. The liquid phase filter is mounted on the multivalve, which I also had as a used unit:


Obviously it needs a new filter. So this is what you can find inside. The washer beneath the filter is a magnet to collect the metal particles. It seems that the filter has done some 30 000 km's without replacement, or poor quality gas was used


You can see how it should look when it's clean and how much stuff it held:


All assembled and ready to be installed. Just the old multivalve needs to be removed. And here I found out, that the car has only one valve connected (a second one at the tank is disconnected). As soon as I loosened up the LPG pipe's connection to the old multivalve, gas started to escape, which is normal as the system is pressurized. However, normally it stops after a few minutes. Since it's pressurized and cooled, it is normal to have frozen wrenches:


The leak looks like this:


Then I noticed that after some time LPG continued to rush out. Eventually I understood that now I'm in trouble and that my full 40L tank now had to be emptied the hard way... So I had no choice but to open the garage door, go outside and carefully wait for two hours for the tank to drain. Despite it being crazy dangerous because even the slightest spark could have set my workshop on a journey to the moon, it was fun to see ice smoke under the car:


After waiting for two hours, eventually the LPG tank was emptied and the workshop vented. It was late and so I had to end my work. I hope that tomorrow I not only will be able to continue work, but also will start the car and finally hear it's voice!

[Artiz1]

While I was browsing my facebook, I accidentally cam accross some pictures of my alfa which were taken by the guy who tinted my windows. I somehow forgot to mention that I tinted them just before the engine disassembly:




This was a very rare occasion as the car looked clean from the rain

[Artiz1]

Before I clamped the sleeves in place, I thought I will play around for a bit more with them:







I know, one clamp is missing. I'll order it from the dealers tomorrow...

[Artiz1]

After securing the plenum in place, I continued with the assembly. Next up was the gas phase filter:

It's not yet connected to the reducer, because I need to buy a special MAP sensor that is mounted in between those two.

But the new multivalve is there:

Just needs a special pipe to connect it to the reducer. So even if I get the car started it will have to be fed only with petrol for now.

Next, I needed to feed the wire to the LPG tank level sensor (which is not yet present). First I got in the boot and took a look at what's going on there for the first time:

Loads of rubbish there...

I quickly took a vacuum cleaner and hoovered what I could:


While routing the wiring under the car, I also inspected the floor pan (again for the first time) and noticed some major rust on the left rear jacking point:

It will need attention, as it may later spread to the part which holds the lateral link.

The famous subframe however was not that bad. With rust only on the outside. So it can easily be refurbished:




I also noticed that someone recently replaced the rear brake lines, which is very good:



So to at least temporary stop the rust, I applied the rusty part with some hammerite direct to rust paint. At least it won't become worse before I fix this:


Since the car was jacked up, I once again played with my rims. This time with a 1cm spacer and a tyre:




To be happy, I need 15mm spacers, so that the tyre would not rub on the wheel liners. The tyre and wheel size is ideal for me, but I'm yet not quite sure about the wheel design. I still need to shop araund...

Anyway, I continued with assembly and now it was the AFM's time - I removed all the crappy LPG stuff on it:


Installed it in place, cleaned the engine a bit and there we have it - a tidy (as much as it is possible at the moment) engine bay:


Connected the battery, turned the key and... Yes! That sound! That wonderful V6 sound is there! I checked everything and drove outside for a test drive:


What I noticed was that my idle was unstable. That may be caused by the faulty air flow meter, which I'm sure it is. So I need to find me one from an Omega A (identical unit). Once that's done, I can go and try to pass the local car inspection

[Alfan]

Can't see the latest photos, but just reading your description, a lot of work is going on

[Artiz1]

Strange... The photos seem to be displayed fine on my pc and mobile...
Today I discovered something interesting My engine uses BOSCH 0280 202 201 air flow meter (or MAF, whatever...). Anyway, this part number and this particular sensor was used on Opel/Vauxhall Omega A/Senator B with a 3.0L engine and on an E30 BMW 316 and 318 M40 engine... The Opel seem to use the same 5 pin flat rectangle connector, while the BMW uses a round (typical BMW) connector. But all three manufacturers use the same part number. Since a MAF/AFM from my alfa is impossible to get, I tried to look up an Opel for spares. Again, they are so old, that there are none for spares at the moment. But a BMW is the national Lithuanian car (a favorite one) so even an old E30 spares can be found within 5 minute reach. So I went to a local BMW breaker and bought the sensor from a 316 with the same 0 280 202 201 P/N. Came back to the workshop and guess what? The intake diameter is 60mm while my alfa uses a 70mm. Of course it should be this way as I work with intakes and 60mm would kill a 3L engine, while 70mm would do the same to a 1.6 I can't explain how on earth is this possible to have identical part numbers on different sensors, but Bosch did surprise me there...

To make things worse, I started my car this evening and found out that it runs on 5 cylinders... Don't know yet the cause... But I'm pi@#%d....

[Alfan]

I see the photos now...!

Annoying with the difference, even though the number is the same - but good to know. I am sure you will get that part solved and I can only agree that it is lovely to listen to all 6 cylinders

[Artiz1]

Sorry for me not being so up to date, but after two sleepless nights and living the whole week before the event in a rush, I was so beat up afterwards, that I did not even look at my workshop for a few weeks...
So here is the in depth story of the two sleepless nights:
2nd of June. 23:20 - got the car washed by hand (possibly it's first wash in 5 years or so...) and clay'ed it fully. Since I done this outside, the wet surface attracted loads of mosquito's



While it dried, I detailed my leather with some wax. Can't really see the difference from the pic, but they really needed this:


1:16 AM: Started the first polishing step with a 400 grit polish:


2 AM: already can see the difference:

You can see my friend under his E32 assembling the clutch for the 10th time. His car is also attending the same event.

2:52 AM: First step nearly done:



4:30 AM: second stage with a deep polish done:





End of work day. Or should I say work night/dawn/dusk/whatever...

[Artiz1]

3rd of June or the last night before the big event.
22:17PM - been waxing the car from 6PM, but the result came out even better than I could ever imagine:


Now I can proudly display this:


Then spent the rest of the night till about 3AM to assemble the interior:


And to solve the fuel pump issue. I even bought a new replacement relay but that did not help... So the jumper was left...

[Artiz1]

It started out really good - the car started easy, ran on 4 maybe 5 cylinders, had a wandering idle, but was drivable All it had to do is make it across the city about (15 km) with one stop for petrol and then it would be parked the whole day for the event.
The petrol station part went good. Stopped the engine, then started again without any problems. The 15 km drive was amazing! Despite being underpowered, that 12V is still a very very strong puller at low revs! And the sound just blanks off everything else!
Since all cars had to be parked according to the alphabet, I had to be there first. So I set off a bit earlier just in case. I made it there...Just to find out that I was about half an hour too early. So I was redirected to a nearest parking lot to park and wait. Fine. When the time has come, I started the engine and set off for the event... As soon as there were about 300 meters left to the entrance, the engine died... It just did not want to restart... So I arrived in a true Alfa fashion :


I got towed accoss the event stage and parked in my designated place:


And got a sticker:


During the event I really did not bother to think what was wrong, but just enjoyed the actual event and admired the other cars (some of them were very unique).
You can actually find more pictures of most of the participants in the gallery here:
http://automanas.tv3.lt/memel-motor-fes ... vingesnis/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As I thought, after the event, the car started as if there was nothing wrong So I took the opportunity to drive back to my workshop as fast as possible.

Parked it in a convenient place:


Next to a nice poster:


And to her other sleeping friends (dad's C6 and my 300M):


And that's the end of that.

Despite my car not being so eye catching as other's, and despite the typical entrance, I still am very pleased of the small contribution I did to the local Alfa Romeo community, because my 164 was the only Alfa of 246 hand picked participants and it drew the local alfisti as it supposed to. I also had a chance to admire it's body and condition in the daylight and to apply some expensive products to keep it in a good state.

Now it will rest for some time until I find myself an Air flow meter to start with...

[164EVER]

WHAT A SORY, HOW IMPRESSIVE WORK AND COURAGE
I wish you the best with your V6.

[Alfan]

Awesome that you made it! And what a representative for Alfa - both you and the car

Thanks for all the photos. I hope the get the small stuff fixed without too much trouble.

[alfa east]

Yes, indeed; great report. Enjoyed that a lot!