1982 GTV renovation

[Anth73]

A lot of activity over the last month focussing on engine management, engine mounts and brake setup amongst the on-again, off-again COVID lockdowns.

Firstly let's discuss engine management and the decision taken to ditch the 1990's technology Motronic ECU and go with a fully programmable Motec M84 ECU. Taking the leap into a modern engine management setup opened up the prospect of also getting rid of all the high tension leads and distributor, replacing them with a modern coil on plug (COP) setup fired directly by the Motec ECU.

I trawled the internet forums for information about tried and tested setups. The few 12V COP conversions I was able to find used a Volkswagen / Audi COP. The drawbacks with this approach in my mind were:

1. Significant COP reliability concerns with the VAG units and their cost. VAG released many updates to the COP over the years. There are a few aftermarket options from the likes of Bosch and NGK to try as alternatives.

2. Cost is quite high for new units and I would be reluctant to use secondhand units given their reliability.

3. There is no way to attach the COP to the cam cover. They just slide into the spark plug cavity and rely on the tighness of the attachment to the spark plug to stay connected. This is far from ideal and still allows moisture to enter.

So my search continued and I came across a GTV6 COP conversion completed a few years ago by another tuning engine business. A few emails and friendly phone calls later and I had a box of six COPs and connectors being shipped to me with some helpful advice about their mounting. In quite a surprise, the COP units are those used in the locally made Toyota Camry 2.4 from the early to late 2000's. They're relatively cheap, reliable, readily available and fit the 12V motor's cam cover beautifully. You'll see from the photos below that the Toyota spec COP also has a rubber grommet that fits nicely around the spark plug cavity to minimise moisture entry and a mounting tab to allow the COP to be affixed to the cam cover. Factory units were made by Denso and there are several aftermarket options also from reputable brands like NGK and Bosch.

It's also recommended to use the BKR7ES spark plug in the NGK family instead of the usual BP7ES. What's the difference? The BKR7ES is an ISO standard spark plug with 16mm hex size and overal height from the seat to the top of the terminal of 50.5mm. The BP7ES is a JIS standard spark plug with 21mm hex size and overall height of 53mm. The slightly shorter ISO spark plug allows the COP to sit flush on the cam cover. The photo of the test fitting below is with presumably a standard GTV6 BP7ES spark plug. The BKR7ES version will allow the rubber grommet to sit flush on the cam cover.

I also ordered a distributor cover and bearing from AHM Motorsport in the UK. This is required to cover the distributor hole and keep the oil pump in place once the distributor is removed. Beautifully made but eye watering expensive.

Photos below are of the Toyota Camry spec COP, connector, test fitting on a 12V motor (left is the VAG COP, right is the Toyota COP) and the AHM dizzy cover and bearing.

[GTVeloce]

Looking good Anthony! I just bought this for my V6 conversion;
https://www.catch.com.au/product/davies-craig-ewp-lcd-controller-kit-aluminium-electric-water-pump-115-l-min-7503194/?offer_id=37994203&ref=gmc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwsSrm72o8gIVmzArCh29cQLpEAQYASABEgLNAvD_BwE

I figured I need to buy a new water pump and thermostat so I'd give this a go. It offers many benefits which appeal. Might be worth a try? I think this controller is an old version but the difference in price between here and Davies Craig direct is about the same as the price of a new controller! So I might as well try this one and can buy an updated controller later if needed but I feel it should be fine as is.

Is there room to get a 21mm socket down the spark plug wells of a V6? It seems pretty tight but I haven't tried yet so maybe its ok. If not it could make servicing difficult...
Changing a Spark Plug:
Remove engine
Remove heads
Replace spark plugs
Assembly is a reversal of the above

[Anth73]

Now onto engine mounts...which had been the source of much anxiety until Renata, my donor Alfa 90 V6 sedan, entered my life. Fair to say it was love at first sight given her precious engine mounts would live on in the engine bay of my GTV. Come to think of it, do I refer to my car as a GTV6 once this post is complete?

Enough about semantics and back to the significant goal realised this week after more than two years of planning. My V6 engine mounts are in!

Using a special jig the mounts were carefully positioned and temporarily bolted in place. With a collective gasp I'm sure, a 12V busso V6 was then lowered into the engine bay and fitted to the mounts to confirm their positioning. The motor was then removed and the mounts welded into place and primed.

Whilst the engine bay is being prepared for painting by Rankins Restorations we're also going to test fit my aluminium radiator. From my measurements there is a small lip near the bottom radiator outlet that may need to be removed so best this is done before painting.

The guys at Monza Motors also need to test mount the 305mm GTA brembo front brakes so we can measure up the caliper spacing and confirm if I can get away with 16" wheels or not. My vented rear rotors and caliper spacers arrived from Chris Snowden Racing during the week to complete my brake setup.

Photos below show the jig used for positioning the engine mounts, the trial fit and the finished mounts ready for painting.

[shiny_car]

That's exciting progress!! 

[Anth73]

A busy few weeks on the GTV renovation! I continued to evolve my front brake setup following a trial fit of the 916 series 305mm Brembo calipers and rotors. Whilst they comfortably fitted within a 16" diameter rim the caliper needed about 6mm of spacers to clear the rim face and the mounting points would have needed modifications to my uprights of the cutting, grinding and welding variety. As I want to get the car VASS certified at the end of this I decided a better solution was needed. If only I had read Julianb's posts on the alfagtv6.com site from last December as he went down the same path initially as me only to find the same issues:

"Brakes: front are 147 GTA series 2 Brembos (330mm) I thought I would go down the path of using 147 GTA 305mm discs, but these are a different arrangement to the Alfetta and mount from the outside. This loses a lot of wheel well space, so I bit the bullet and went with some Tarox 330mm floating discs."

Fellow forum member gtvsix86 pointed me to Tarox who sell several 6-pot bolt on big brake kits for the Alfa transxle cars, so I decided on a 298mm kit with grooved rotors. They're made to order and mine is currently enroute from Tarox Italy to Tarox UK and then to me. A test fit of gtvsix86's 310mm kit with a 16" diameter wheel passed....just!

BTW...I have two new 305mm front rotors going cheap if anyone is interested, just send me a PM. They were bought new from Italian Automotive Spares.

Photos below are of the Tarox 298mm brake kit I purchased, the test fitting of the 305mm GTA Brembo brakes, and the "oh-so-close" test fitting of the 16" rim over the Tarox 310mm brake setup.

[Anth73]

We've also been getting busy in the body shop! After a 16-year hiatus my GTV is reunited with Paul Rankin to have the engine bay painted prior to fitting the V6. Whilst there and with a reasonably good lower radiator support panel available from Monza Motors, we thought it best to address the missing lower radiator panel in my car. Below are photos of the lower front panel provided by Monza Motors and the missing piece I needed that Paul Rankin cut, cleaned and test fitted to my GTV.

[Anth73]

With a test fitting done next was the real work to strip it all back to bare metal and weld it into place.

[Anth73]

Very happy with the end result and a nice before and after shot for comparison.

[Anth73]

Next task on the list was welding closed all the unnecessary holes in the engine bay from the previous twin spark conversion. Hugh was able to pinpoint these from memory, who knows how many GTV6 engine bays he's seen to be able to play GTV6 engine bay bingo like that!

[Anth73]

Did I mention there were a lot of holes to weld closed?

[Anth73]

It was worth the effort being fastidious about preparing the engine bay for painting though. Next step was primer!

[Anth73]

And then onto paint! Isn't it gorgeous!

[bazzbazz]

And then onto paint! Isn't it gorgeous!

yeah, but then you drive it and it gets dirty . . . . . 

[GTVeloce]

Wow! This is looking great! Both the brakes and the engine bay.

[shiny_car]

Nice progress! Engine bay looks great.

Tarox are amongst the few that offer anything 'off the shelf' (sic) for our cars.  As you discovered, Brembo's with the axial mounting points ('ears') can be tricky to fit; radial mount calipers (ie: from the 330mm versions) are ok with a bracket.  I've had good results with Tarox brake discs over the years for street cars, so I imagine you'll be pretty happy.