Alfasud TI Suspension

[henry7]

Have a 1983 Alfasud Ti that I would like to put back on the road. I bought the Sud back in 2004 from SA and had it shipped to NSW
The Sud was set up in SA for club sprints - enlarged baffled sump/high volume oilpump/close ratio gearbox/strengthen front suspension and lowered front and back running on 16 inch mags 205/45/16 tyres. The Sud has been garaged since 2006 after I lost a front disc (no drive and brakes) [since repaired] and lost confidence in driving it.

On the road I found the suspension very hard and it would skip on rough bitumen corners.  Any advice or information as to soften the suspension
would be appreciated

Many thanks

[colcol]

Put back the original suspension, ask the old owner, if they still have all the original springs, or put an add in the buy and sell division of this Forum, or try some Alfa Romeo wreckers, they might have some old sud springs lying round, they might even have a old sud that they haven't sent to god, but don't buy 33 springs, as they are different and won't fit, an Alfasud Sprint springs would work too, but not a 33 based Sprint, as they are different, Colin.

[Frank Musco]

Sounds like a serious race car so it may have adjustable shocks which you may want to decrease the damping to match the softer original springs. For example some front and rear shocks have an allen key hole at the top, so you push the shaft all the way down into the strut/shocker and turn the shaft using the allen key, which adjusts the damping. If the shocks are too stiff for the springs the car will continue to skip over the bumps.

Also replace your rotors and drive shaft bolts with brand new ones to restore your confidence, otherwise you have to do quite a bit of work to change the cars entire brake and suspension systems with those of a 33 with outboard brakes. This is not as easy as it sounds.

[colcol]

The cap screws for Alfasuds are a common course thread available from engineering supply places, get a good well know brand, such as unbrako, what broke on the suspension?, its usually a constant velocity joint that sends braking from the gearbox to the wheel, but the cap screws have been known to break, [usually by overtightening], usually its 25lbs, with a good torque wrench changing the brakes in board to outboard, requires new struts, hubs, calipers, rotors, front control arm, rear control arm, etc, you could have the springs re heat treated to make them softer, but its a bit of a black art, and there is no more Lloyd Moss's around anymore, so you are best to try and get a standard set of Sud struts and springs and shockers, Colin.