1982 GTV renovation

[Anth73]

Nice looking tip!

[Anth73]

Finalised the tyre setup today. Decided on 225/50R16 tyres on the back, 205/50R16 tyres on the front. Wheels are Borbet Type A 16x7.5 ET30, centre caps still to go on. Don't fret about the air gap over the front tyres, there's still 40kg+ weight to go over that front axle.

Overall diameter of the rear wheels is larger than a standard GTV6 but is offset by my lower 4.1 diff ratio. Gearing ends up slightly lower than a SZ and quite a bit lower than a 75 Potenziata, both with similar power to what I'm expecting to achieve...maybe somewhat less 

[shiny_car]

Looking great!

[Anth73]

Lots of fun this month working our way through the Motec M84 wiring loom and confirming setup options with Melbourne Performance Centre. Our approach to configuring the ECU and wiring to support sequential injection has been giving us some grief. I understand that normally you would use 60-2 timing wheel along with a cam angle sensor so that the ECU knows exactly where the timing is and when to fire fuel and spark in each cylinder. A cam angle sensor requires some form of timing sensor and pickup to be fitted which I'm reluctant to do at this stage as it would mean the camshaft having to come out and drilled. We are following up on using a hall effect sensor in the distributor but the sticking point is that the distributor's "chopper" wheel currently has six slots. This needs to be modified so that it only has one slot and from there the ECU can work out timing in conjunction with the 60-2 timing wheel. Stay tuned (no pun intended) for how we resolve this issue in a timely (oh I'm bad!) manner.

We're trying to keep the engine bay tidy, so plenty of discussion about where best to mount the ECU, cooling fan relays, other required relays and how to run the wiring. We decided to mount the ECU under the glove compartment and use the "V" of the engine to hide the wiring to the injectors and sensors on the front of the engine. At this time we are also taking the opportunity to clean up the factory wiring loom and eradicate unnecessary wiring, remembering that this was the loom for the twin spark four cyclinder patched into the original GTV wiring loom.

We'll also run the wiring loom on the passenger side going to the coil and washer bottle via the underside of the front left guard to keep that tidy. Speaking of washer bottles I'm not too sure on the look of the factory plastic bottle and it's size. What have others done? Use a washer bag from a 105? The loom on the drivers side (RHD remember for our O/S friends reading this) will stay tucked under the front guard water channel and shouldn't be too visible once the modified GTV6 airbox is fitted, just waiting on the custom throttle body to be made by the machinist.

Whilst all this wiring activity has been going on I've had Paul Rankin prepare the GTV6 hatch I found in Brisbane and had shipped to Melbourne after 20+ years in storage. Thanks to David Schmidt from alfagtv6.com fame for his care and dilligence in packaging the hatch for me, greatly appreciated and it's come up beautifully after some fresh paint.

[Anth73]

Wiring just about sorted and injectors, fuel rail and plenum fitted.

[Anth73]

Mmmm...love your work Rankins Panels!

[Anth73]

After a lot of back and forth discussion with Melbourne Performance Centre and meticulous measurements by Mick to get the loom absolutely perfectly fitted out without excess or short wiring, I finally have an engine loom! Well it was 90% done in the attached photo sent yesterday and was actually completed today. We resolved the issue about providing a timing signal from the distributor using the standard "chopper" wheel and removing five of the six protrusions, leaving one small protrusion and one large gap. The Motec ECU is able to read the position of the remaining protrusion, instead of the gap, to determine the camshaft timing. Far easier than trying to maching a new chopper wheel with only one small gap. We also decided to mount all the relays needed for the ECU and cooling fans on the passenger side under the dashboard. I'll grab a photo next time I'm at Monza Motors.

Whilst the engine loom was being completed we started to fit out the cooling fans and the rather large AC condensor. Hard to believe I completed my custom fan setup and wiring in July 2020! It was premised on using a two stage thermo switch but we since went down the path of using the Motec ECU to trigger one fan at 85C and the second fan at 90C, as well as the AC compressor signal input.

Next update should see the cooling system and AC setup complete, and hopefully a video of the engine running.

[shiny_car]

That's awesome!  Great work happening there.

[TEE Z2]

 Ordering replacements parts for this car in the future might be a problem. A well documented history of the bespoke parts and the suppliers of other non Alfa parts for future owners might be a consideration. This is a well put together project that is so far removed from an original 2000 GTV that any future owner must be connected with the current builders to keep the car viable.   

[Anth73]

Ordering replacements parts for this car in the future might be a problem. A well documented history of the bespoke parts and the suppliers of other non Alfa parts for future owners might be a consideration. This is a well put together project that is so far removed from an original 2000 GTV that any future owner must be connected with the current builders to keep the car viable.

Thanks for the feedback TEE Z2. As Monza Motors can attest to, I've been very diligently managing this project, including keeping a detailed specification of all the components used for each vehicle sub-system. I'm not at all concerned about the future viability of my GTV6 conversion nor the need for Monza Motors to stay in business for it to remain viable.

Any Alfa specialist who knows their way around the GTV / GTV6, Alfa 75 TS LSD transaxle and power steering (both a common GTV6 upgrade) won't be out of their depth maintaining this car. Any Motec dealer can provide support if required and I don't expect Motec to be an orphaned brand anytime soon.

All consumables are standard Alfa parts other than the Tarox front rotors and pads. I would not expect the Brise starter motor or C&B cams to give me any grief and if so, they are current products with vendor support or have viable alternatives available.

The Bosch fuel injectors and alternator are based on existing Porsche and Mercedes specs respectively and readily serviceable by trade specialists if required. The AC system is made up of modern industry-standard parts, so no need to be concerned about future AC servicing either.

[Anth73]

A quick trip out to Monza Motors today to drop off some spare coil packs and the AHM distributor cover bearing to Frank, a lovely guy who plans to put them to good use on his supercharged GTV6 3L project....yes supercharged and it should be awesome!

It was a nicely timed visit as my air intake hose and custom alloy adapter plate to connect it to the GTV6 throttle body arrived. The intake hose will marry up to a GTV6 air filter housing base with a custom top half to accept the round tube. The increased size over the 50mm x 50mm square cutout for the standard GTV6 air flow meter is substantial. This should also nicely complement my ported and polished intake runners and inlet manifold without hurting driveability.

My distributor chopper wheel was also back from the machinist and just like a Collingwood supporter (which I am) it's now missing five teeth.

Next week we should have the AC sorted out and the radiator plus cooling fans mounted. Then onto the engine loom and hopefully the motor's first start. Mmmmm I can just about smell the hydrocarbons!

Get well soon Simon!

[Anth73]

In a lovely coincidence I decided to fill up at my local servo in Fairfield on Saturday morning and noticed parked on the forecourt was a pretty clean looking Alfetta GTV. The owner had just picked it up from Mount Martha and was struggling to get the petrol cap off, so I went over to help. Turns out it too was a 1981 build  "Grigio nube metallizzato" metallic grey with a "Velluto beige rigato" velour interior, just like mine was when it left the factory.

In hindsight I should've checked his VIN to see how far apart our GTVs were built. Lovely original Momo Star mags and the interior was still the original split dash. I managed to scavenge a photo of it from the Google cache of the Gumtree ad.

[Anth73]

Installation of the Motec ECU, engine loom and throttle body continues in preparation for a date with the Melbourne Performance Centre dyno next Friday! So happy to be at the business end of this journey.

[Anth73]

Great news received last Friday with my V6 fired up for the first time. It was only a very short run late Friday evening as the cooling system wasn't fully commissioned. I posted a video provided by Mick on the Best Tuned Alfa 75 and GTV6 facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/1027764315/videos/1157879371801289/

The car is booked in for dyno tuning next week.

[shiny_car]

That's awesome news!  Well done.