Intake Hose

The hose between the air cleaner and the throttle body has to absorb all the engine movement. As the engine mountings wear, and the rubber begins to perish, the hose may start to crack.

If the hose lets air in, the engine will run lean and may refuse to start when cold.
Inspect the hose carefully for signs of cracking. It’s not an expensive item and is very easy to replace.

Tappets

Standard bucket & shim stuff which means you can’t really adjust them at home.

It’s easy enough to check the clearances though. Bear in mind that the clearance is quite large (16-18 thou inlet, 18-20 thou exhaust, 26 thou max), so it’ll always be a bit noisy.

My car suffers from worn cam followers so it rattles even more. I can’t really justify new cams & followers yet, so I’ll just have to ignore it. The clearances were wide, so I got my dealer to adjust them. You have to remove the cams, so it’s a bit of a faff.

Variable valve timing

The valve timer is a remarkably simple device. It is powered by engine oil pressure and is operated by a solenoid on the front of the engine. It’s so neat it makes you wonder why all engines don’t have one.

The valve timer advances the inlet timing by some 7 degrees at 1200 RPM. Below this speed, the inlet cam is retarded, reducing overlap. This improves idle and reduces emissions, while permitting wilder cam timing at higher revs.

The operation of the valve timer is opposite to the one described in the Alfetta manual. To check it, remove the solenoid wires with the engine at idle. This should have no effect.
Now hook up the solenoid to the battery. The engine should run roughly or stall. Be wary of the HT leads while doing this.

If there is no change, remove the solenoid and check that it operates correctly when hooked up to the battery. If it is OK, then the variator may have packed up. I’m not sure if it can be easily repaired.

As a final check, reconnect the solenoid wires and connect a voltmeter to the terminals. You should see no volts at idle, and 12 volts above 1200 RPM. If not, suspect a wiring fault or the relay (second from the front of the four near to the battery)

If the variator isn’t working, the car will run fine but will feel underpowered.