ALFAGTV6.COM

[Fernando]

I have been meaning to ask the others on the Forum what warmup procedure they go through prior to giving your GTV6 some serious stick?

Don't laugh,but years ago I read an article by an Aussie bloke living in SA that had a Ferrari 330GTC.His warmup procedure for the V12 was first a 1 minute idle at 1500rpms then another minute at just over 2000rpms.After this he still didn't use full throttle for at least the first 10kms.Barry was kind enough to explain to me why this would be very pudent on the old V12 Ferrari motors with their incredibly high oil pressure.

His procedure was similar to that of a German Porsche dealer principle whose 'winter' car was an Alfa75 Turbo. He reckoned you needed to consider the fact that the transmission is seperate from the motor and needs to be properly warmed up to minamise abusing the synchros.

With my 3.6 I now always do a 1500rpm fast idle for at least a minute before driving off.Then I use only part throttle and never exceed 3000rpms for the first 10 kms.I warmed up all my previous Alfa's by taking it easy for the first 10kms.

Overkill or sound advice ?

[SimonB]

I don't exceed 3000rpm until I see the oil pressure gauge drop significantly at idle, unfortunately the aggressive driving style of other road users and the low low 1st gear can make this very difficult in town! I think the new type head gasket is much more robust but the hydraulic cam belt tensioner is very sensitive to excess oil pressure. Mine is a standard 2.5 12V GTV6 although the guy that sold it to me said the engine came from a 75.

[Fernando]

SimonB I had to learn the hardway what can happen when a bunch of idiots rev the hell out of a V6 Alfa motor on a cold winter start up.

I had a Glenwood Motors 3.5 12V in my GTV6 when one fine morning sitting in bumper to bumper trafffic some low life rear ended me with a bus. This particular numbnuts proceeded to inform me his brakes had failed.End result is my baby is off to a panel beater my insurance company insisted on.Bear in mind the engine barely had 5000kms on the clock. About three months later I get to collect my car and by now you can imagine how I was itching to drive my beloved GTV6 again.So I drive it the short distance of about 8kms to my home.Had to fetch something I forgot.As I am walking back out towards my car I see this massive puddle of oil underneath... Open the bonnet to be confronted by an engine coated in oil.Couldn't even tell you from where it was leaking so bad was it.I wanted to cry AND kill someone right there and then.Livid wouldn't even begin to describe my emotions at the time.

Long story short both Barry and Div confirmed that the one oil seal was blown and oil was forced out of the side of the head due to over reving from cold! Most people know me as a very calm person but not the day I went back to the panelbeaters...My language was very colourfull to put it mildly.

The plus side is that disaster led me to getting my current 3.6 24V so it proves all clouds have a silver lining...

[rz]

i never exceed the 6500rpm the first ten yards

[lucass81]

Thanks for the advice, I never took in mind oil preasure when cold, anyway I never pass 4000 rpms before the temperature needle is in the middle. My GTV6 has autodelta cams so driving it under 3000 is not an option since it has no power. Other thing I learned only a few years ago is to not rev the engine even if its warmed up. We know that when you downshift you dont have other choice but if you want your engine to have all the power it has for a long time you have to drive it carefully, specially Italian motors.
With this cars we have another problem, you cant leave them at any place were someone can drive it, for example, valet parking, car wash, machanic, etc. I had more than few bad experiences with this, it seems that every guy that has an oportunity in sitting behind the wheel of my GTV6 whats to rev it to 7000rpm and make donats like Alex Zanardi. So after having to fix what mechanics and body repair guys broke in my car more than once I decided that my GTV6 and M3 would never be left in a shop again. In the last 2 years I spended more money repairing what they broke than for what I leave the car there. This happens to every guy that owns a sport car, employees at repair shops use our cars at full throttle without warming them up, they drive fast over bumps crashing our suspension, etc. In my M3 in a repair shop they cracked the left rear wheel, I had to buy a new one, it cost me 1000 us dollars. The other thing is that they deny driving it, saying that I broke it. If someday I know I´m going to die, I´ll have all this people in my lasts things to do before i´m gone list jajajajajaaj seriously.

[SimonB]

How are the autodelta cams higher up the rev range? Is the motor modified in any other way? Fair comment from Fernando, I never rev the nuts off it from cold but it can be hard to stay below 3000 it gets there very quickly in first. Maybe I should use 2nd for the first few Km...By the way I have done over 100000Km on this engine with no problems apart from changing the old type head gasket in 2000 and the tensioner in 2004. The car as a whole has done over 300000 Km!

[lucass81]

My father bought the car in 1991, its an 84 that was modified in 88. It is euro spec since it was imported directly from Italy. The mechanic that did the job in 88 was my father mechanic too since my dad from 88 to 91 owned a blue 79 GT 1.6 and a 81 red GTV 2.0. The car has Autodelta cams, valve springs and piston rings. The pistons and valves are original. It has some work done to the block and heads but cant specifie. Intake is stock as well as exaust manifolds. Exaust is custom from the middle to the end. The injection was tweaked as well and the rev limiter was removed. It doesnt idle with the A/C turned on. The mechanic said it had close to 200hp. The car pulls hard to 7000 then the power drops. Perfect shifts are at 6750rpms. In fifth it reached a top speed of 225km/h at about 6600rpms. In the early 90s my father spanked MB 300 and BMW 325s everytime. I started driving it in 2001 and have some stories that shared in this forum in those days. Like when a 33 Q4 and a 01 VW GTI were racing and aproached me from behind, I was doing 120km/h, downshifted to 4th and floored it with the GTI in my tail and the 33 Q4 besides me, when I reached 215km/h they were about 150 meters behind me, in a close race between them. I slowed down to 160km/h and let them pass. The guy in the 33 Q4 lowered his window and gave me a big thumbs up and floored it again to chase the GTI. I put 5th 120km/h again and let them go since enough was said. Ah the memories. Today it has 150.000km and its burning oil badly, also loss of power is very noticiable since now in 5th it only reaches 190km/h.

[Barry]

i never exceed the 6500rpm the first ten yards

No problemo !! Just warm it up first,ok ?

[sh0rtlife]

in all seriousness what would one recomend for warming on a 2.5?...i have to admit to being a bit...abuseive..course i useualy let the engine warm up for a god 3-5 mins but were talking 70+deg weather......as for shifting...a few blocks and i start leaning on it...i know im in the wrong but i hadnt stoped and thought about it untill recently...since i exploded a diff spider in my gtv6...now with a fresh TS box sitting here cleaned, clear coated, and ready for a sender to show up to install it

course i can probably be a bit more abusive than most as i dont put to many miles on my cars..hell my "mule" turbo caravan ive only put 30k miles on it in the 7+ years ive owned it and its been driven the most

[Mats]

Start it up, build oil pressure, drive.

Letting it idle is bad, driving normally (i.e. not hard and no high revs) is the best way.

[sh0rtlife]

ahh baby till warm then

[Greg Gordon]

Like Mats said, just idling isn't really good enough. You have to be driving the car to fully warm up the transaxle and everything. As a general rule I say about 10mins of easy driving, make sure all the temps are up and go for it.

Greg Gordon,
www.hiperformancestore.com

[Mats]

Also when idling it takes too long to varm up the engine so it stays in that cold running period that is wearing the engine faster.

[Greg Gordon]

Hmm, never thought of that...

[Evert]

Now Its in the Netherlands polular to use fully synthetic racing oil in stead of the "normal" fully sythetic oil.

For example:
- Racing Gastrol 10W60 in stead of
- Normal Mobil1 0W40

If I read the numbers correctly it means that the Gastrol is in warm condition 50% thicker than the Mobil and in cold condition even 60 % thicker.

When combined with the old trick of the washer utnder the spring of the oilpump the pressure build will be even higher. This might be the killer combination with cold starts and high revs.