ALFAGTV6.COM

Rear in my 5-speed Milano with 161,000 miles rumbles around 40-45mph and whines above that. I have access to an auto Milano with under 100K miles and was wondering if that rear would bolt in without any problems.

Could you post a pic of that box? Never seen an auto box from a 75...

That makes two of us. The car is in a barn and I have not seen the underside yet. Some of the problems with driveline noise might be wheel bearings. Growls at 45mph but steering bias to the right makes the sound disappear, bias to the left makes it louder. I'm used to solid axle Fiat spiders with 99% of the time the front wheel bearings being bad. At 161K miles can I assume bad front bearings or are the rears suspect too?

The sound that varies with steering inputs sounds like wheel bearings. I don't know about anybody else, but I have found that GTV6's seem to be tough on them. I think the wheel cup seals leak, and moisture does the rest. Now that I have spacers on the racecar, I really need to watch the front wheel bearings closely. The car makes so much noise, that I would never hear a bearing whining. But I digress.
I would check the front bearings before I embarked on any kind of transmission swap. Also, consider changing the transaxle fluid. The magnetic drain plug might tell you if you have an impending internal catastrophe. My street GTV6 makes a WHOLE bunch of different sounds. A little rattle at idle, the valvetrain is noisy, the cotter pins in the rear wheel hubs jingle, etc. etc. Funny thing is that after 19 years, I ignore all of them.
Anyway, remember that an automatic transmission is going to open you up to a whole host of other problems. Sometimes it is best to stick with the evil you know.

If you need any more deep philosophic advice, let me know

Al in South Carolina

Thanks for the philosophy, it seems Italian car owners hand out equal amounts of philosphy and tech advice. I changed front wheel bearings this weekend and it made no difference. Milano buddy said he thought it was coming from the back of the car. Like you he said these cars make all kinds of noises. Probably should have left the dual glasspack/side exit exhaust on!

Hi-
I would consider checking the rear wheel bearings. If you jack the car up you can check the wheels for any play. The rears are a bit of a pain to swap out.
Hope that helps,
Al

lift the rear wheels off the ground and try to feel any play in the rear wheels, this would indicate a bad rear bearing.
It's a b***h to change but at least you don't have to drive an auto...

Just drop the whole de-Dion including the box and change the pinion shim while you're at it, not difficult at all, really.

wat do u mean if the auto rear end is the same? if u r thinking in regards to the de-dion then they r exactly the same. or are u thinking of doing an automatic conversion? the only difference being the rear spring and shocker self leveling system which can easily be removed as they are mostly by now all well worn. this system in turn bolts onto the rear watts linkage which basically all u have to do is remove the nut that is connected to it and fit a normal one.


patzo_3l (been away for a while)

12v 3litre turbo

jeez, wonder how you know that? :p

lol i knew even b4 doin the conversion on ur car. by the way how is that beast of urs goin... when are you gona go the 3litre turbo route. when ur ready come and see me and we may be able to work something out.

patzo_3l