What about opening a technical thread on this iconic car? A well known issue in these cars is the apparently soft suspension setup matched with a rather high front axle load (heavy engine placed quite far in the front). When braking hard, you typically can see the sky through the rear window , this is the actual "factory original" condition reported in contemporary car tests as well. Another indicator of this excessive diving is that at least one handbrake cable comes into contact with the end silencer upon braking, although when taking a look at the cable with the standing car you would never imagine that to happen, it is far away. Apparently for this reason Alfa put a reinforcement onto the respective part of the cable, but this nevertheless becomes rubbed through and burnt after years due to these contacts with the hot silencer . Some years ago I completely rebuild the suspension on all four corners. Front axle is somewhat straightforward, but doing the full (!) job at the rear axle is äh fun . By this occasion I replaced the standard shocks by adjustable Spax shocks at all four corners and after finding a good setting the car was really transformed. Almost no diving upon hard braking any more, just a little bit more firm and really sporty to drive along twisted secondary roads. Since then I enjoy the Monti even more (yes that is possible ).
I think this would be a thinly subscribed thread as there'd be few posters from the US. There just aren't that many Montreals over here, ~100. Better would be AlfaBB.com. There's an entire section dedicated to Montreals. It's not nearly as active as FerrariChat, but there's a wealth of knowledge on the board about Montreals.
Yup, what he said. Ask me how I know. Just finding some key parts can be a nightmare. Easier from Europe though, I'd imagine, since all the parts for my car have been sourced from Europe . . . so far.
Well, when you have gone through the car, then there is not too much work to do for some time, just proper maintenance. In the 7 years and about 30,000 km of ownership (and after the initial repair of all kinds of gremlins) the suspension recon was the only mayor job needed, other than just service. For service I found a distributor test stand helpful, since the flywheel seems to have a mark for one ignition circuit only. Luckily I had found one for small money on Ebay, although it had to be repaired. Indeed some parts may become a problem. Although many technical parts are available in Europe rather easily, they tend to be quite expensive, e.g. distributor cap and finger. Or the ingintion box, which by the way is exchangable with those used in contemporary Porsches and Maseratis (no real help with respect to asking prices ;o)).
Bernhard - Since you mention the distributor, there's a pretty good thread on AlfaBB where Don Peterson goes through his conversion of the points to a Pertronix electronic ignition. The thread is real time so Don hasn't worked out all the kinks with Pertronix, but it's worth looking through if you're interested. Apparently, Pertronix will be listing the upgrade in their 2015 catalog. Fwiw, I'm all for keeping as much originality with my Montreal as possible, but I'll be upgrading the brakes (Wilwoods) as well as eliminating the points in the distributor. I'd love to convert the SPICA to EFI but that's just too much and would impact both the value and the character of the car. Mark
Hi Mark, Thanks for the hint with respect to the Pertronics. Since adjustment of the points is rather easily done with the distributor test stand, I will nevertheless stick to them, for the reasons you mentioned. Maybe I am somewhat biased anyway, and after dealing frequently (around every 1000 to 1500 miles) with the four points distributor in my classic Lamborghinis I find the Monti system rather relaxing and, in particular, reliable ;o))). I have observed in the years that the points do not really show changes over many miles. In most cases the service comprised only very slightly grinding-off of an oxide layer from the surface of the points using 1200 grade grinding paper. Ignition problems may arise, somewhat surprisingly at a first glance, due to the original electronic ignition. Since ony very low currents go through the points for providing the signal for the power electronics, the result is that they do not permanently "burn free" like in conventional points ignition systems. They instead build up slight oxide layer on the contact surfaces with time, which may become sufficient to lead to bad input to the electronics and ignition problems, consequently. Over 30,000 km I changed (and adjusted) the points once only (aside the initial going through the car after purchase), and merely did the above mentioned "surface cleaning" upon the regular services every about 5,000 km (no intermediate adjustments were necessary, everything kept constant). I only once in that time had ignition problems and it turned out to be a bad plug (a newly fitted one, bad material). I also will keep relying on the Spica system. Once in proper order and provided that the car is used regularily, I believe it to be quite reliable. And adjustment is also rather straight forward, compared e.g. with the Lucas FI of the 50s/60s . And, as you say, greater modifications negatively affect the value. I was also thinking that it is somewhat improper to replace the standard shocks by adjustable ones, since the car originally had this interesting diving effect and less than stable cornering behaviour. But I excuse myself by thinking that the standard ones are swiftly refitted by anyone prefering the "original driving experience" ... ;o)). Cheers, Bernhard
Thanks Bernhard. I believe that the Pertronix upgrade will be fairly invisible externally as the mods - i.e. the Hall effect triggers that replace the points - are all under the distributor cap. I struggle with the pros/cons of some mods vs no mods. That said, some of the Montreals that have crossed the blocks at Goodings, RM, Bonhams and Auctions America have had mods to one degree or another. So I've decided to go gently whereby the mods are limited to those that improve safety and/or the driving experience. My Montreal has adjustable Konis all around, which help the handling quite a bit. There are handling kits out there that take it to another level, but I believe that rebuilding both front and rear suspensions to stock, while dialing in the handling with the Konis, should result in a decent handling car. While I haven't done the swap yet, I have rebuilt front calipers from a 1980 BMW 733i in my garage waiting for installation. I also plan to upgrade the alternator to a higher amp Delco. Otherwise, my car will be stock when completed right down to the original orange paint color and not so nice looking light gray carpeting.
Tip regarding the ignition boxes: they are very easily repaired. A friend of mine who makes a living out of repairing old amps and synthezisers laughed out loud when opening a faulty one. "Stone age electronics" as he put it. So instead of sourcing expensive replacment units, give it to your local amp guy. Helge
Indeed! Good ol´ 2N3055 for example (power transistor), less than 1 € ... . Here is a valuable link showing board layouts, charts, variants etc. Had this existed 10 or 15 years ago it would have saved me one or the other hour drawing a chart from the blown ignition box I then repaired.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/226517-history-bosch-cdi-toubleshooting-info-parts-list-changes-schematics.html P.S.: Ups, are these boxes, in working condition, indeed traded at around 1.000,-- € in the meanwhile??? I apparently have gold items in my garage, did not know and should perhaps now install a safe ....
