33 Fuel consumption

I wanted to see how many miles i get from a full tank, so i filled her up then drove till she cut out. The fuel light came on at 180 miles, i didn't think she was going to even reach 200 miles before i run out of petrol. I finally ran out at 230 miles.
This really doesn't seem very good to me. Surely it should be doing about 300 miles on a 50ltr tank, I'm losing 70 miles somewhere.

What Alfa 33 would that be then? Ah the 1.7. Sorry.

Is that injection or twin carb? Sorry for my ignorance.

Alex has a twin carb 1.7.
I do too, and currently I'm getting around 10l/100km, or 450km (280 miles) to 45 litres. I'm beating you Alex!
What kind of driving are you doing, lots of sitting in traffic?
What engine and exhaust mods do you have?
Have you tried reinstalling the standard airbox and cold air intake?

Over the years of owning my 33 I've noticed the fuel economy can vary considerably depending on how in tune the engine is. When I bought the car and it was running like rubbish, it got 350km to a tank. Some garage replaced sparkplugs, leads, air filter, distributor cap and rotor and the carb floats and did a tuneup including balancing the carbs properly, and the improvement was massive. We're not dealing with fuel injection which (so I gather, I'm yet to own an efi car) either runs perfect or reverts to a failsafe open-loop fuel-rich mapping if it loses a sensor. There's shades of grey, skill and magic involved in old Italian cars with twin carbs!
There might be some problem with your carbs (air leaks at the throttle shaft bearings, worn needle seats or somesuch carb tech I don't understand) causing incorrect fuelling.

Originally Posted by Alex_Alfa33

I wanted to see how many miles i get from a full tank, so i filled her up then drove till she cut out. The fuel light came on at 180 miles, i didn't think she was going to even reach 200 miles before i run out of petrol. I finally ran out at 230 miles.
This really doesn't seem very good to me. Surely it should be doing about 300 miles on a 50ltr tank, I'm losing 70 miles somewhere.

The last time i managed to get through a full tank in the 33 i got to 270miles (1350cc with 2no. D'ellorto's).

Even the leon (1.4) only does 320 to a full tank, regardless of short/long runs.

Ive a very heavy foot though. Especially in the 33.

As ben says, whats your setup like? There was a noticable difference on mine when i ran it without an airbox for a few days last year.

Originally Posted by Ben_NZ

Alex has a twin carb 1.7.
I do too, and currently I'm getting around 10l/100km, or 450km (280 miles) to 45 litres. I'm beating you Alex!
What kind of driving are you doing, lots of sitting in traffic?
What engine and exhaust mods do you have?
Have you tried reinstalling the standard airbox and cold air intake?

You'd get probably over 300miles on 50 a litre tank then.
I tried to drive as economical as possible, every now n then i let my lead foot get the better of me.
The only mod I've got on my engine are a pair of K&N filters n some high performance HT leads.
I'm also missing my back box atm because it fell off the other week n i like the sound of it now, especially when it pops n bangs
I think it really needs a tune because it stinks of petrol and I timed its 0-60 n it was 11.5 seconds It should be like 8 or 9 seconds shouldn't it.

Mine varies betwen 27 and 33 mpg. Best ever was in France on long roads and no traffic 45 mpg. Its all this stop/start in this country.

I think it really needs a tune because it stinks of petrol and I timed its 0-60 n it was 11.5 seconds It should be like 8 or 9 seconds shouldn't it.

In a perfect world with a perfect 33. I lose about 3 seconds shifting from first to second gear, because otherwise I'd overpower what's left of the synchromesh!

Are your air filters sitting directly ontop of your carbs or is there some form of velocity stack (?) between the carb and the filter? I think this has a significant effect on the power and torque output of your engine - different length intakes work best at different rpm etc.
You should find some independent Alfa specialist and see if they can get your car going a bit better.

Obviously check for leaks if it stinks of petrol. Sometimes the carb gaskets go.

and the fuel lines themselves.

if my suds are anything to go by....a bit on the porous side !

Apparently it's the benzine in the unleaded fuel that cooks the old tubes.

Originally Posted by eagle3

Apparently it's the benzine in the unleaded fuel that cooks the old tubes.

I didnt know that, I just assumed it went with the territory so to speak.

The rubber pipes on my '84 33 QO went the same way and I renewed them for not much money. The new ones are benzine-resistant so I'm told.

Originally Posted by eagle3

The rubber pipes on my '84 33 QO went the same way and I renewed them for not much money. The new ones are benzine-resistant so I'm told.

i suppose it would make sense that new fuel pipe would be compatible with modern fuel... (He said hopefully)

thats one of the next jobs on my list is replace the fuel (and brake) lines

Yes, I had heard that the high aromide content in unleaded was bad for fuel hoses as well. Best to replace if in doubt. Also, when I switched to K&N's on the Nova, the blurb that came with the filters suggested a change in jetting to compensate for the improved airflow to the carbs (more air=leaner mixture?), which might also blunt your performance. Another possible cause of fuel smells may be a clogged float chamber needle valve. Especially if you have run the tank dry, when the pump picks up all the sediment at the bottom. Some of it is fine enough to get through the standard fuel filter gauze.

Lauren

Hi all. Filled up tank of the "new" 33 16V today after its delivery run home. Did 395Km of (some city) but mostly 110Kph country driving and only took 28 litres to fill. According to my maths this is 40mpg or 7L/100km. At that rate I would get 700Km to a tank! No doubt the mpg will drop now its doing 50/50 city/country driving.

If any of you need any rolling-road or carb rejetting or tune ups doing I can reccommend a guy called Dave Young who runs Mech Motorsport which I think is part of Mech - Repairs in Cheltenham. He runs Alfa's himself including a 33 last I heard. He worked wonders on my rally car and is going to be setting up my 1400 16V engine aswell.

rsfruitbat

Hi everyone

Bit of an old post but it relates to what I'm experiencing at the moment.

I'm not getting very good fuel consuption either and my engine stinks of fuel - I think this is definitely the fuel pipes leading from the fuel filter.

Just wondering if anyone knows where to buy these from??

Many Thanks

Matt!

I'm not sure where you would get the solid plastic fuel lines that were used originally but if yours are leaking then I'd replace them with standard fuel lines you can get from any motor factor for the time being. last thing you need is petrol leaking over a hot engine/exhaust .

Hi All
I've just had my 1.5 Sprint engine running after its been stood for X years and the fuel is pouring out of the petrol lines all over the place! They are the original cloth covered type - only 24 years old!! and yes there is a strong smell of petrol

It took only a couple of years for my car to turn new fuel lines into this: http://www.axys.co.nz/ben/alfa33/FUELHSE2.JPG
I blame a tank of biofuel I accidentally ran, because I noticed fuel smell begin a few weeks after this. I couldn't work out where the smell was coming from until I checked while the engine was running - the fuel lines would soak with fuel near the carburettors and it would drip off! A scary thing with the exhausts underneath to ignite it.
I bought a few meters of standard fuel hose from an auto parts place and replaced it myself.

@ben NZ: very lucky you caught that mate, that was a terrible accident waiting to happen!

Wow I should replace mine asap then as when stood I can see fuel dripping off my fuel lines......!!

Thanks for your help I'll go to my motor factors tomorrow !!