Preparing a 75ts for some club sprints.

[Evan Bottcher]

There are local suppliers listed on the front page of the website (http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/).  Try Maranello Pur Sang, Mauceri, Monza Repairs, and the Spare Place.  Click through to their contact details.

If unavailable locally, try EB Spares in the UK: http://www.ebspares.co.uk/alfa75/suspension.cfm

[MD]

Darren,

If you are not successful in obtaing original spares. You may care to try this crowd who should be able to assist you. They are in most states:

Fulcrum Suspensions Pty Ltd
20 Swanston St
PrestonVIC3072
Tel: 9480 0338

[redsky]

Hi all,

I'm taking the 75 to Winton on Saturday, but i'm scratching my head as to the second bonnet fastening method, any suggestions welcome.

thanks
Darren 

[jimnielsen]

an old seat-belt strap threaded into the bonnet pressing and tied to something fixed and handy should get you past scrutineering...

[Anthony Miller]

Our Chief Scrutineer (Bruno)tells me that if your car has a working remote release, that qualifies as one of the fastening methods and then the catch that you pull to physically lift the bonnet qualifies as the other, I.E. if your car is stanard and unmodified, it already has two fastening methods, no belt required. I did two sprints last year like this and wasn't pulled up on it by the scrutineers

[Neil Choi]

For the sake of $3 tie down strap from Bunnings, I would use one.  In fact I have always carried a spare one which I loaned to somone at the track and never got it back.

If you have ever seen a bonnet fly up from being uncatched, hitting your windscreen and your roof, the amount of damage is enough to write off your pristine Alfa. 

The chances of it happening is low but..............

You can say the same thing for other requirements.

My two 2cents

Neil

[hammer]

And that's just the damage from the bonnet flying up - damage from lack of vision can be damned ugly.

Cheers,

Brent

[redsky]

Thanks guys for the responses, i'm sure i've got a strap somewhere that will do the job.

Cheers,

Darren.

[redsky]

Well, things didn't quite go to plan & i never made it to Winton last weekend. I'll have to put it down to a learning experience, i had thought starting 6 weeks out would have given me enough time but there were a few variables i hadn't accounted for. Most importantly though, i need to mention that the support and advice from forum and club members has been teriffic, and enabled me to succesfully do quite a lot of the preparation myself. It was only the bits i outsourced that i had problems with - brakes and suspension.
In summary:
Bad -
- Well known brakes place (with 3 initials) who decided that having replaced my master cylinder that the brakes were 'fixed', despite the car having a softer pedal that when it went in and refusing to flush new fluid though the system because it (quote)"can cause problems and make the brakes worse"
- Overseas (US) parts supplier who neglected to tell me that he hadn't actually processed or sent the order for the swaybar bushes......at all
- Price i had to pay locally for the above bushes, between 4 to 5 times what you'd expect for a similar car, or than the OS price.
Good -
- UK parts supplier for the powerflex watts linkage bushes.
- local 'no bull' suspension people who managed to source, replace rebuild & fit as neccessary the remaining bushes, brake hoses, proportioning valves etc. in a very small window of time.

Unfortunately the last of the brake parts didn't arrive till the day before Winton & once every thing was back together it was found that i still have a soft pedal that goes within an inch of the floor on any decent stop.

So not the start to motor sport with the 75TS i was looking for, but hopefully i'll see you all at an event soon. i'll probably know a bit more about brakes by then too...

Cheers

Darren

[redsky]

G'day Paul,

Hope you had fun doing the recce for September, i was doing the Melbourne traffic thing...

The Federal semi slicks were like some of the other parts, after a month on order they still couldn't give me a delivery date better than 'a few more weeks' so i found a set of Falken RT 615's at Tempe Tyres in Sydney & they arrived in 3 days. They aren't R spec, but should be fine for what i'm after.
I might have to take you up on the offer of bleeding the brakes, as that's what the problem feels like. The brake light on the console does flash a couple of times after a firm application. All a bit odd really.

And yes Mel and I (& Patrick, as his sitters are overseas) are looking forward to Le tour de north east.

Cheers

Darren

[MD]

Just to dovetail into Pauls' advice, I suggest having a read of these two simple articles about brake fluids and flushing techniques.
Fluids
http://soarer.ace.net.au/brake_fluid.html

Flushing
http://soarer.ace.net.au/bleeding_flushing.html

With regard to using higher end fluids like Lucas Grand Prix 600, keep in mind that the existing system must be flushed with the same fluid first otherwise the performance of your new fluid will be downgraded to the performance of the fluid that is in the system. Hardly what you want.

Quote from Lucas label:
"For best results bleed the system with fresh fluid before each race, especially if the brakes are excessively hot and/or the conditions are humid".
Now if you are going to follow that advice, be sure there are plenty of moths in the wallet.

If you intend to flush the system before each race then you should install the highest DRY boiling point you can afford. If on the other hand you want to change the fluid 3-4 times year, you should install the highest WET boiling point fluid.

Here's the specs on the Motul RBF 600 for interest sake as a non silicon based compromise.
http://www.motul-oil.co.uk/pdfs/brake-fluid/RBF_600_TDS_%28GB%29.pdf

(No disrespect intended Paul).

[MD]

Hi Bird Brains. 
The only way you know which way is up after sniffing all that oxygenated Alpine air is with the help of your good Alfa mates down there. Geez they are good to you.

Anyway fella, when you go to brake school, pay attention will ya? I have already posted the tool kit ages ago. Here's the link:http://www.alfaclubvic.org.au/forum/index.php?topic=5929.0

Any more foul ups from you and you will need to spend an hour at St Kilda beach with your pants on back-to-front. (with apologies to the good people of St Kilda for having to put up with ya)

[redsky]

Well i got the 75 back from the workshop today, The clutch had developed a problem, pedal was sticking half way down & pick up point was near the floor. that's all sorted now.
The Brakes are better too, it pulls up straight repeatedly on a firm stop around town. Still a longish soft pedal compared to what i'm used to in other cars, not sure if this is an Alfa trait or just my car.
The tour de north east will be a good run for me to get used to the 75 on real roads. i hope we get good weather, so far i've taken the car up Lake Mtn, over the black spur and Tawong gap and its been wet and foggy each time.

cheers Darren

[redsky]

A mate of mine got pinged for flex this year at Mt Tarrengower hillclimb in his Triumph. the fix for those is a brace from master cyl to strut tower, a bit harder to do in a 75 though...

i'll have a look and see if i can measure the deviation, but before that i think those rears need bleeding again.

I'm still getting used to the car, particuarlly the pedal placement & changing back into second, but overalll the car felt well balanced and was great fun to drive quickly.
That volvo conversion sounds tempting for some time in the future....

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Just personally, I think the firewall flex is overstated.  It's definitely there, but you need to be pushing pretty hard to get the flex, basically an emergency stop.

Far more important is to make sure all your calipers are working well, and that all your hoses are in good condition.  It's a PITA to get the rear calipers off, but worth it in the long run to get them off and rebuilt.  Rebuild kits cost very little, and brakes are very important.

I fitted the Volvo calipers (rebuilt), rebuilt my rear calipers, and fitted braided hoses all round, and have a very solid pedal at all times.  I've done 70 minutes non-stop at Winton and not lost the pedal at all.  I think good condition standard calipers and new hoses would be more than sufficient for a road/occasional track car.