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Lancia Gamma Forum
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Lancia Gamma Forum
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From: Theo Kyriacou
email: theo@lanciagammaforum.com
Date: 16 Nov 2006
Time: 04:22
Hello Denis. You will obviously get only favourable comments for the Lancia Gamma on this forum as we all love our Gammas! Let me be the first to welcome you to (possible or probable) Gamma ownership and assure you that a well sorted Gamma will be a delight to own and drive. Apart from the classic and timeless good looks, a Gamma will give you the perfect blend of comfort, performance and incredible road manners that will make you searching for excuses to go for a drive! I started by saying "a well sorted Gamma" because unfortunately the cars suffered slightly from under development and earned the unenviable but not fully justified reputation for unreliability. The power steering problem is perhaps the most serious (cam belts breaking due to too much stress in driving the power steering pump). The problem was almost eliminated in the later cars by the addition of an extra idler bearing but the bad reputation remained which is why many cars (including mine) have had a power steering conversion to drive the power steering pump from a crankshaft mounted pulley. The normal Gamma power steering pump driven from the back of the camshaft is facing backwards and so turns the opposite direction to 'normal' pumps. Power steering pumps are directional so when mounting a pump at the front of the engine to be driven in the 'normal' direction by the crankshaft, a different pump to the original Gamma needs to be used. So the pump is good news on 'your' car but the lack of a cooling fan is very bad news! The Gamma's cooling system is marginal at the best of times so I would say a Gamma needs to have a cooling fan regardless of the ambient temperature and you'll certainly need one at 42 degrees C! I am surprised that the power steering conversion has been done is such a way that it does not allow for the cooling fan to be fitted; there's normally plenty of space to fit a power steering pump and keep the fan unless the car is fitted with air conditioning. I assume 'your' car is not fitted with air conditioning as that wouldn't work without a radiator fan. But don't despair, the solution is simple as you can fit an after market (kenlowe or pacet) fan on the front side of the radiator. There's plenty of space between the radiator and grill to fit such a fan. If you expect 42 degrees C and traffic jams I'd go for two fans mounted in front of the radiator! Regarding the windscreen, as far as I know all Gammas had a tinted front screen with a top tint. It's a very slight tint and I am surprised that it may be a problem with the authorities. I am also surprised that the car is a 2 litre and not the usual export model with 2.5 litre engine. The 2 litre cars were intended for the Italian home market because of heavy taxes on cars with engines larger than 2 litres. There may have been some RHD cars with two litre engines destined for places like Cyprus where there was also high taxes for larger engined cars but I would have expected Australian cars to have the 2.5 litre engine. Is the car LHD or RHD? I thought LHD cars are difficult to register in Australia and can only be done if you can prove the car to be of "Historical Importance" (or am I getting my countries confused...) Please keep in touch let us know what you decide to do with the car and email some photos if you have them. I’d be interested to see how the power steering conversion was done necessitating the elimination of the cooling fan.
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