An Alfa will attract a lady, they have been doing it for years, just watch this video, Alfa Romeo and pretty girls  :love:    :p

 

https://youtu.be/rsjwnYM3pUU

An Alfa will attract a lady, they have been doing it for years, just watch this video, Alfa Romeo and pretty girls  :love:    :p

 

https://youtu.be/rsjwnYM3pUU

 

Ooohohohohhohohohohoho

 

 

Id love to have a '73 GTV 2000, or a '71 GTAm 

 

but mega bucks!

An Alfa will attract a lady, they have been doing it for years, just watch this video, Alfa Romeo and pretty girls  :love:    :p

 

https://youtu.be/rsjwnYM3pUU

 

Off to browse CarAndClassic.

Off to browse CarAndClassic.

 

How did you know that i did that? :P

Thought i should update this.

So last Sunday driving home from my mums i had to do an emergency stop because of a fox in the road which i admit i didnt see until the last second. So i jumped on the brakes only to hear a massive bang followed by the car veering off to the right hand side nearly hitting a park ford focus.

Wheel was jammed in the wheel arch as the wishbone sheared as it went into the front wishbone bush.

All at 30 mph which was the biggest eye opener.

As the arms were changed two years ago i pressume budget parts were used as the casting looks very very poor. Pictures to follow.

Two new lower arms bought and delivered for £80

Then i fitted them, off side was easy, nearside wasnt so easy as the track rod end ball joint nut wouldnt come off despite my attempts at loading the ball joint to stop it spinning. So i just cut if off.

Called up AR for a price on a new one... £102 inc VAT. HA! No one could believe it.

Phone call to SC Motor Factors, £20 for the same delphi (OEM) part.

Fitted it but ive obviously got the tracking off a bit as the wheel isnt straight.

So its booked in for tracking and alignment next week as well as an AC regas.

I also ordered some Performance Friction brake pads to hopefully get a bit more bite from the brakes. Generally its regarded the 305mm brakes on the GTV are not quite up to it so the 330mm brakes from the 147/156 GTA are used instead. But at £1000 for a new conversion kit so when i found a set of used calipers and carriers being sold 2nd hand for £400 by my Alfa parts man or £500 including a new set of mintex discs and he would straight swap my new unopened PF 305mm pads for a set of 330mm pads.

Needless to say i was so tempted!

But due to the wishbone break down its going to have to wait so i can get some money together.

Scary! But just imagine if it snapped at 70!

Good job can fix stuff otherwise you'd be a bit deflated.

Bad luck again Taylor, but it could have been a lot worse. You've fixed another problem, wonder how many more you have to do to make it perfect and then you sell it?!

Haha not yet steve!

 

To be honest, all thats on my "to do list" so to speak is:

 

New Struts/Springs all round

330mm Disc Conversion.

Fix Paint/Respray.

 

Then i think ill be ready to sell it LOL

Here's one for you Taylor..

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/2006-3-0ltr-V6-Luego-Viento-Kit-Car/161731587027?hlpht=true&ops=true&viphx=1&_trksid=p5197.c100068.m2280&_trkparms=ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140211130857%26meid%3Dee76f5bf98cd4f80809b3bd30c37af4a%26pid%3D100068%26clkid%3D6883668280560195939&_qi=RTM1793693

 

Half tempted myself as a stop gap run around until my things on the road.. the only thing putting me off is the sh!tty V6 under the bonnet..

 

Wowza!!!

 

This is when i need a spare 6K! not too keen on the blue, but that can be changed! hahaha

 

thats pretty much what i was thinking of doing Mike

Bit of Preparation for the National Meet, after the near miss/break down i finally got around to having the tracking done:

 

 

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

The Camber angle spec is -2 Degrees, but this car has Poly bushes in the rear, which push the suspension slightly out at the bottom, where as the normal bushes would just compress. It does mean im running 3.6/3.3 degrees of camber on the rear, eats the tyres more but if my understanding is correct, it should assist a bit in the corners.

 

I also presume that although the camber is mis matched from one side to the other, once the driver is sat in the car it will load up the suspension and increase the camber by that -0.3 degrees on the front, and rear. The rear track rods (adjustable toe on the rear) didnt look like they have ever been touched, so as i know the manager, i was able to spend a few hours (yes hours) at the garage removing the rear track rods, breaking them free, greasing them then refitting, both came out and were put back in in one piece no breakages despite looking 17 years old!

 

 

But what a transformation! before there was a lot of instability and the rear was twitchy, now it feel alot more planted (although the understeer is now more noticable) but in all, id say it was a massive improvement.

 

 

I have a set of Performance Friction Pads to fit to the fronts, bedding in is done in a few miles, and then she just needs a clean and polish, then im ready for Sunday!

 

Bring on Rockingham!

Where did you get that done Taylor, was it local?

Where did you get that done Taylor, was it local?

 

It Was local indeed, I wont mention the company name, but they are just down the road from the Alfa/Jeep/Harley Davidson dealer in Aylesford A20. 

let me have a go!!! (you can drive mine!!!)

 

Wowza!!!

 

This is when i need a spare 6K! not too keen on the blue, but that can be changed! hahaha

 

thats pretty much what i was thinking of doing Mike

Not sure it's worth £6k, looks a bit neglected to me and a bit of a money pit. A few tell tale signs.. Windscreen surround is corroded along with steering arms and interior chassis members. Dash is a bit pony and wheels on rear are undersized tyres are crapT1R's I think which are not suited for car. Front grill aperture needs cutting out properly with a decent grill fitted. Brakes are probably marginal and would benefit from an upgrade. Also needs a 3.0 duratec on bodies and the boat anchor Alfa unit dumping lol. Other than that it's perfect lol might do him a favour and tow it away for a good drink..

Lol to be fair that is the 3.0L 12 valve enginr which is a bit pants anyway.

Sortof thing i was thinking of but perhaps a different application

Time for an Update methinks!

 

So before Rockingham I fitted Performance Friction Z Compound brake pads. was fine until a near side brake pad jammed on the caliper shim on friday. Many obscenities and new drop of brake fluid, I had got the caliper working properly.

 

Drove to Auto Lusso at Houghton Regis Saturday morning, for a 1 hour Health check, All was very positive, Ned at AL is a top bloke who complimented me on my work, and pointed out the little details i can adjust to make the car perfect. Probably a days worth of work and it will be sorted. He noticed a Rubbing Break line (which i adjusted there and then), a Patch of rust on the floor pan (I knew about) and a rusty Radiator mount (again knew about that)

 

Being an amateur/hobby spanner turner, every so often there comes a time where i say "hmm is that actually Ok?" and the only way to get an answer is for an experience eye or ear to have a look over. The Fact Ned said the car look pretty solid, it filled me with alot of confidence. 

 

Which led me onto Sunday..... Rockingham was exciting!

 

 

I said i would take it easy... HA! I got excited to finally have it on track and cained the nuts out of it! It performed flawlessly all day (unlike a few Skodas and one funny sounding Golf :p ) with the exception of a PAS Overflow leak. As the fluid got hot it expanded and bled out of the Overflow on the PAS reservoir. 

 

Power

 

I was very happy with the performance, carrying about 105/110mph through the bank, overall a few of my gear changes elsewhere on track could ahve been improved, running some parts in 3rd but was too low in the revs to be on the power band, 2nd would have been more appropriate but the 2nd Gear Synco doesnt feel the strongest out of the 6 in the box, so i wasnt too happy about risking it. Then again finding 3rd Gear was a bit vauge at times, so i may need to upgrade the bushes/realign the linkages etc.

 

The Sound of the Busso V6 was epic, i loved it, i hoped someone was video'ing it passing, but so far apart from trevors video, im yet to see any more clips of it! :(

 

 

Handling

 

In general for a 17 Year old car on pretty much standard suspension, I was very impressed. Its only suspension mods are Poly Bushes on the rear suspension, which as previously stated pushes the rear camber to about -3.5 Deg both sides. That aside, it does show quite a bit of body roll on Track. Now that could be solved with stiffer Front and Rear ARB's, New coils and struts all round (Fronts are certainly OEM, so after 113k it will be a bit soft). Alot of Understeer in general, but on the limit it was very controlable, lift off for oversteer, or boot full of gas for more understeer. 

 

A New Diff Could also be fitted to help dial out some of the Understeer

 

Brakes

 

The GTV is still underbraked, 305mm just didnt seem up to it, 330mm from the 147/156 GTA models would be the upgrade, but is an expensive mod.

 

So my Shopping List:

 

Eibach Springs - £160

Bilstein Shocks - £400 ish for non adjustable

Uprated ARBs - ?

Quaife/Q2 Diff - £650

330mm Discs & pads - £250

330mm Calipers & carriers - £750 (new, or £400 2nd hand in need of Recon)

 

Which all tots up to over £2000 in mods....

 

 

So heres the Dilemma, also at Rockingham was an Alfa 147 2.0 TS. The owner came down to find me and we got chatting for a bit, and they took me out for a few laps in their 147.... Which was great... 

 

All they have done to it is:

 

Strip it out (down from 1200kg down to sub 1000kg) 

Fit a Roll cage, buckets, 5 point harness etc

Remap to 160bhp from 150bhp.

fit BC-Racing Adjustable Coilovers.

Uprated Discs and Pads on standard sizes (Twin sparks haev different hubs etc to the V6's and therefore the GTA 330mm discs wont go on without alot of work)

 

And it was a great hoot to be in, cornering speeds greatly out performed the GTV, which has me thinking! Because if you buy a sub £1000 147 2.0 Twin Spark, refresh/renew bits, and to build a car to the same spec as theirs, id be able to do it for alot less than the value of my GTV, and then have I mentioned to a few of you about a 2.0L Twin Spark Turbo, fit a Garrett T28 turbo and on stock bottom end your looking at upto 240bhp safe, aftermarket ECU, Injectors, boost pipe work, exhaust (turbo back as the manifold from the 1.9 JTD fits the 2.0 Block/head).

 

But that cobbled together in a 1000kg car. On top of that It would still need an uprated diff as well as alot of the GTV mods ive stated above. I feel the 147 would be alot more capable as a track car as its so light whereas my GTV is too nice to strip out, so it will always be hindered by its weight.

 

But then i dont have the 3.0 Busso V6 screaming when im blasting around track!

 

Tough Choice!

keep the GTV, keep it and get it exactly how you want it IMO

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

If I was you, I'd keep the GTV. You've poured plenty of cash into that car and it's all come together nicely.

You will lose too much money if you sell it and get a 147 as you'll end up putting ££££ into that one too.

And it makes quite a goooood noise. A 4 banger turbo will never sound like that, or have instant throttle response.

Problem is 99% of the Engine technical work has been done now....

 

so im getting itchy fingers! 

 

I need some engines to rebuild!

Is there a rwd gearbox readily available for the 2.0 twinspark if so what power can it take?

The Old Alfa 75 had a Twin Spark, but that also had a Trans Axle with the gearbox mounted at the rear. Plus... that twinspark was the early 8V model, im not sure if they are interchangeable with a 16V twinspark from the GTV/147/156/GT

I think you should build a kit car.

 

The main appeal of the Alfa seems to be the Busso V6 to you.

So getting a 4 pot just because you can make a bit better track toy makes no sense to me at all.

Track days are about the experience, not outright speed.

 

If you are going to ditch the V6 you might as well do something that will keep you busy for some time as I suspect going to a 4 pot 147 or GTV will result in you just getting bored after some time.

You'll bolt on the bits to make it more of a track day car, do a few days in it and fancy something else.

I think you should build a kit car.

Agree with you there.

Alfa V6 mid mounted, proper Ariel Atom style kit car. Plus you'll love doing it and it will be a full on track weapon. With that sound.