116-58 Alfetta rework

[redalfaracing]

Haven't used my Alfetta Rally car since november last year, after an altercation with a shrubbery. Landed after leaving the road on the lh rear wheel and bent the cast piece on the end of the de-dion, tore the watts link bracket from the rear cross member and pulled the rhs drive shaft to bits. With 20 kms to go on day 2, 380 kms total. worked out if i held the hand brake on and dropped the clutch the slippery would ramp up and lock in, giving me forward motion. We finished that stage , then cut and run to the finish so was classed as a finisher. 51st out of 109 starters. We were 16th when the wheels fell off! To keep the car going it required a lot of handbrake use... the effect was a small fire and partial loss of brakes. The stage finished in the bush at Nowa Nowa, we had to drive to the Kalimna Hotel ( rally HQ ) to finish. Scarey stuff doing 20 kms down the Princes Hwy, Sunday afternoon, with very little brakes, Nothing holding the de-dion central in the wheel arches, and every time that i lifted my foot the thing just free wheeled until i could pump the hydaulic hand brake enough to clunk the diff back in.
Last Christmas hols i stripped it down to a bare shell and started doing the repairs. Like any job you ever do on an Alfa, it snowballed! Now 1 year later i finally have some time to finish the job. The plan was to drive it to the bbq on the Yarra , Jan 14th but it is starting to look unlikely the it will be finished by then... but i will give it my best shot. Currently it is lying on its drivers side in the shed getting a new lhs sill. Cross members are done and most rust is removed. I plan to get the underside primed and painted by Tuesday night and tipped right way up so i can put some new seat mounts in, tidy up the inside and repaint.
Here is a pic taken today...
I am happy to keep you updated on progress if you are interested... let me know 
And, there is something a bit different under the car... look carefully, see if you can spot it.

[alfagtv152]

Hi Greg,
I think you have made the the center cross member removable across the tail shaft tunnel and changed to the 75 style torsion bar which fits into a bush in the cross member instead of the yolk behind the cross member,is that it?.
cheers
Andrew Scadding

[redalfaracing]

Give Andrew the cigar, The reasons that i changed it to that type is this, with the original cross member the exhaust has to run under it. I have crushed that many exhausts on rocks and i reckon i can run the exhaust through a hole in the removable center section and get it up out of the way. Just need to find a way of running through or around the front gear box cross member. As a side point, i thought it would be lighter, you would think not lugging that cast torsion bar bracket around would have to be lighter, but putting the old torsion bars, cross member and bracket on the scales it is about the same weight as the new set up. The alfa 90 cross member is easily twice as heavy as the 116 cross member. so it doesn't save weight, just gets the exhaust out of the way.

[alfagtv152]

Thanks Greg,
Are you going to use the two pieces of square tube across the rear floor section like the 90?.
Vin Sharp makes some extractors which come down between the fire wall/floor and the stearing rack which I reckon you could shape to go where you want them,you may have to modify the floor slightly above the rack but that wouldnt be much trouble for you while the car is as it is.Is oval pipe a possibility under the car?
Cheers
Andrew

[redalfaracing]

Andrew, I have looked at those square tubes from every direction, i can't imagine that they would be strong enough to enhance anything. If some one can give me a really good reason to put them in i will think about it again... but for now they are in the recycle bin.
I didn't know that Vin had those extractors or i probably wouldn't have bothered making a set from mandrel bends. Very first time i autocrossed the Alfettta at Bagshot i crunched the front header pipe and thought what a ridiculus spot to run the pipe. I perservered with that setup until i turned it into a prc car ( as i was running in standard class) then i piffed the whole system. Mandrel bend extractors above the rack, 2.5 inch pipe down the tunnel over the drive shaft and large muffler where the fuel tank normally lives. I use a datsun 1600 tank in the book mounted between the shocker towers. When i redo the exhaust i will go down to a 2.25 inch pipe as i dont beleive it needs larger and 21/4 is a fair bit lighter. I'm looking at the flattened section of a v6 to go under the g'box cross member. maybe with a guard around it it will be more satisfactory.
here are some pics of the car when we first got it. one at pac and one at boisedale

[Mat Francis]

are they the old 1800 series bumpers? dad always said i should consider putting the one we have lying around in the garage onto my car. i can see why now, i reckon it looks great!

[redalfaracing]

Yes Mat, i was using 1800 bumpers. the rear bolts straight on no mods.. the front is another story. it is not wide enough to go around the guards, either you cut it in the center and add about 40 mm or do as i did and cut the labt bit of the wrap around off . if you do it on about a 45 degree angle it doesn't look too bad. Alas i only had 1 set and i wrapped the front one around a big tree ( i'll take yours if you don't want it) so i was using 1800 rear and a 2000 front. I'm with you Mat, i think they look way better plus they are less than 1/2 the weight. The rubber coated steel wrap arouds way a ton. I am using a 2000 front center with Subaru leone wrap aronds now. They are just plastic and 10 minutes with the agle grinder and it's hard to plck. For me, light is evrrything! Turning and stopping in the dirt is no fun in a heavy car.

some pics from the alpine, pic the subaru wrap arounds?

[alfagtv152]

Hi Greg,
I dont know how much those tubes do but I always thought my 90 felt stiffer than the standard GTV.I have to say my hats off to you for figuring out how to make the car drive on one axle and being able to confidently control your Alfetta on dirt.Before I turned my GTV into a track only car I did a few grass motorkahnas and thrashed around some forest roads and while the car is inherantly neutral I found it impossible to turn it hard on the dirt without lots of hand brake and on throttle turning mostly produced understeer.I find I have it perfectly balanced for me(many mods) now on tarmack and can make it oversteer or understeer at will,off throttle/on throttle etc..Good Luck and keep up the good work!.

[alfagtv152]

 PS,I forgot to say the 75 has a flat twin pipe section between the headers and the cat.

[Mat Francis]

Thanks for the info there Greg, most useful, as my last good 2000 bumper got wrecked the other day by some idiot backing into me. so excellent to know the 1800 will go on no worries. As for a front one, i thought we had one lying around, but it wasn't with the back one. I'll have a poke around the shed in the next few days, but i wouldn't get too hopeful.

[redalfaracing]

Mat, i have quite a few spare bumpers. if you need one let me know.

[redalfaracing]

Andrew, more on those tubes and body stiffness, pre caging my Alfetta i stiffened it up a lot simply by removing the front and back screens, fixing the rust around them then sikaflexing the glass in. Why Alfa used push in rubber screen surounds is beyond me. As the body flexes on bumps and hard cornering you can see the screens move in the holes, thus rubbing the paint off and ensuring they rust in the bottom corners. If any of you do sprints with out a cage and want a stiffer body, do this mod. Sikaflex is about $23 a cartridge at bunnings and i'm sure 3 cartridges will do both ends. Of course with a coupe, glueing the hatch glass in wont help but it may stop future rust when the drain holes block up!
You are right on handling, when i first hit the track it was a dog to turn. Standard trim it would understeer into most corners and the mechanical hand brake wasn't good enough to set it up. Being in standard class i couldn't change anything so i found the best way to set up for corners was a down change with a clutch side step. and we all know how tired transaxles love to down change into 2nd, dont we! Now with the suspension stiffened and better brakes with a biaser, hydraulic handbrake, tightened lsd and way less weight, it goes where i point it. I have found that it is way better without any rear sway bar, keeps both back wheels on the deck and is way less taily. It doesn't do big power slides at spectator points easily, but that isn't fast anyway. And i reckon it doesn't need to to look good, it's an Alfa, comes naturally.

[Mat Francis]

Greg, if you have a useable rear 2000 bumper, would you consider a swap for an 1800? not 100% sure of the condition, but about to go down to the garage so i'll get some snaps while im down there. also, where are you located?

[redalfaracing]

Mat, I'll have a look for a bumper, 90% chance i have an ok one. I am in Officer, just shy of Pakenham.

[redalfaracing]

Mat, Yes i have a bumper for you. Maybe you could ring me on 0429382368 to organise.