South African 3 Litre GTV6

[Frank Failla]

Hi John, GG105
I am currently in search of a set of pistons for a GTV6 SA. Who did you use to make the pistons for your car?

Globally we can get hi comp domed pistons, but these are not really suited to the GTV6 SA.

Hoping you can assist.

Thanks,
Frank

[GG105]

PM sent.

[GG105]

Help needed!

The GTV6 is now running and has been road tested. It goes very well and the noise, even at 4,000 rpm is epic. The addition of power steering and the ball joint risers has made a great difference to the driving experience. We still have some stuff to sort, the usual washer bottle dilemma, some new pads, bonnet lining and some detailing to complete, but we're on the way.

But I do need some help to complete it. Does anyone have an inside drivers door handleand a pair of the plastic slide on surrounds?

[GG105]

Some earlier photos before we put the engine back in.

[GeeTV]

Sorry I can't help with your requests but what I will say is 'WOW!'..... Absolutely love your work!
Hope I get to see & hear this in the flesh.

[GG105]

Here are a couple of photos of the extractors we fitted. We couldn't use the ones on the car because one side had 44mm fitted, whilst the other had 40mm. Go figure. We ceramic coated them before fitting them.

I thought you might want to see a better picture of the carbies installed. We estimate the engine is producing around 250 flywheel hp, but of course this is a guess.

[GG105]

This side is better.

[GG105]

I thought it might be useful to detail the differences between the Arese built 116 GTVs and the SA built cars, to the extent I am aware of them and understanding that I only have my car and pictures on the web for reference. As I haven't seen a pre one piece dash car, these comments will be limited to post 83 cars. This isn't specific to the 3 litre cars. Happy to stand corrected on any of this.

Exterior.

The most obvious difference is the wide side moldings which are unique to the SA built cars. I think the red tape on the molds, bumper inserts and grille is unique to the 3 litre cars. Ignoring the specific 3 litre differences, I think the exterior is the same as Arese. I have seen the long whippy centre roof aerial on a number of photos of SA cars, mine has one, so I suspect this may also be standard. As has been discussed elsewhere, I think, with the possible exception of red, the colours are unique to SA. My colour is called Ice White

Interior

There are differences here. My car is a non sunroof car (thank goodness) and its interior is largely original. Unlike our cars, the headlining is black cloth, the seats use the same velour material however, the mounts are quite different and the seats are mounted higher than ours, particularly the passengers seat. We thought they had been modified but on close inspection look factory. The pattern in the vinyl of the headrests is different as are the armrests. The armrests don't have the little silver plastic insert. Otherwise, it all looks the same. Interestingly, at least some of the split dash cars have the later Recaro seats, I assume these are late 82/early 83 cars, with the new interior but using up the supply of split dashes.

The earliest 3 litres, built in 82, have split dashes, most have the single piece dash, like mine, which was built in 83. I suspect most were built in 83, there may be some 84s, they ran out of wheel sets so the last cars have GTV6 wheels.

[GeeTV]

^ Don't forget that famous bonnet!

[carlo rossi]

sportiva stop it and hear the gears in your mind you dont want to mod your motor to 3 ltr put a 3.2 in and be done with it
PS love that motor and workshop
great to see the carbs would be a fabulous sound love to hear it post a video

[Dna Dave]

Copied from Wikipedia

0 SA (Autodelta)   Edit
The original 2.5 engine as used in the Alfa Sei was bored and stroked by Autodelta, the former Alfa Romeo racing department to match the racing rules for South African and Australian championships. Bore was increased from 88 mm (3.5 in) to 93 mm (3.7 in) and a new crankshaft stroked to 72 mm (2.8 in). The total displacement was 2,939.5 cc (179.38 cu in) and it's a totally different engine from the later 3.0 (2,959 cc (180.6 cu in)) that powered the 75/Milano models. It was, too, a 2-valve-per-cylinder design with a single belt-driven camshaft per cylinder bank and six carburettors fitted. Special camshafts and carbs were used giving a power figure of 176.4 PS (130 kW; 174 hp) at 5800 rpm. Torque was 222 N⋅m (164 lb⋅ft) at 4300 rpm, while compression ratio was 9:1.

Only 174 complete GTV6 3.0 SA cars were produced in 1984 plus 68 more in 1985. the last ones were fitted with EFI.

[carlo rossi]

Dave the 3.0  I was told used the same crank as the 2,5 but cleverley they offset the bigend by 2mm and the piston gudgeon the same amout giving it 4 mm extra stroke
so special pistons and 5mm bigger bore as you said
is this true?

[GG105]

After one of the most alternately frustrating and depressing restos I've done. The GTV6 is 95% finished. 95% because there's always a bit more to do. Apart from the obvious and usual GTV6 issues setting it up to run properly was a mission. My car has big cams, Dawie de Villiers who built them in SA tells us that mine is probably one of the race engines as most of them had the road 2.5 cams. The carbs were set up on a bench, which is pretty much the only way you can do them without spending a lot of money and sending your favourite mechanic, engineer and dyno operator around the twist! This is why so many you see for sale os have engines and/or carbs in pieces.

This is what we did. Finally we got it right, after far too much time and money. It really needs an idle step up for the a/c but its ok. It now runs really well, the a/c is excellent and the power steer transforms the car.   

[Citroënbender]

I'm curious about one cosmetic detail; you have the rear auxiliary reflectors as were mandated in ZA, but none on the front?

[GG105]

Correct, and I'm going to take them off.

For those who are interested, on the dyno it made 134kw at the wheels, or around 190hp. At a guess, that's about 220hp at the wheels.