Type - R Gtv6

[julianB]

Hi there all-

I'm from Sydney, been around transaxles about 12 years now- my first car being a clean 1985 GTV
With a Serpent GP kit, 16x7.5 Dtm mesh rims (bbs copies)- purchased straight out of school.

This is still the only Alfa I've owned- i love it

Initial work included upgrading to 75 front brakes, a 75 3.0 transaxle (bought a ts one but the crownwheel was pitted with rust- so i swapped it) and locked up diff, custom clutch, 105 castor
Rods, bilsteins and springs. All work done by Fab at Autosprint.

Then the search for more lead to the idea of a TS turbo. It turned out to be too expensive, so I abandoned the idea, around the same time Fab offered up his 2.5.

This was in his Alfetta sedan. His dad was the chief mechanic to Colin bond and Alan jones in 85, and was given access to a whole bunch of stuff when Alfa left Australia in 92-
So they made the call to build a replica of the GpA 2.5-
Specs:
Ex Bond Luigi racing cams
11.3:1 venolia forgies
S/s oversize valves and double springs
Ported and flowed heads
Ported runners
Shot peened / lightened rods all balanced to crank
Lightened flywheels
Running on modded dizzy with ancient fuel only haltech f-7 I think.
Made 185 rwhp at 7800
Ran it with a serck 16 row oil cooler, swapped the diff to ex bond 4.3:1

Drove it for about 6 years like that. Did 5 trackdays.
Included study in coffs harbour- back and forth from Sydney about 20 times, I always took the long way

In 2008, I moved back to coffs or further study and must've got a bad batch of fuel.
I was in the top of third, about 7500 when it pinged. I backed off, but the damage was done- a week later, I blew a head gasket.

It was too hard to get it fixed there- no one knew their way around one, so I went with Andrews transport to send it back to sydney, because they apparently offered transit insurance.

Two weeks later, no car.
I called them, and found out that it had fallen off the truck, rolling into another, while being moved from one to another.
A year and 3 consumer claims tribunal hearings later, no damages were awarded.

Fast forward to last year, and I needed to make a call on a new car.
15k doesn't get you a fun, different rwd car- maybe an old clio sport?

So I hatched the idea of what someone on gtv6.com would label a type R style car:

If I was going to do it, I had to live with it for at least 4 years.
It had to be liveable, meaning full interior.
But I wanted it to be reasonably light.
Ride height adjustable, great handling for trackdays- I have a great work-life balance, so I've got the time off to do at least a few per year.
Big brakes.
More torque and power.
Had to look Hot 

I'll post some more, including pics, tonight.

[julianB]

So here are some pics of how it looked, with the carbon fibre skin bonnet that was held on by sparco pins (don't get these- they're really soft alloy and suck IMO!). And the damage. And the inspiration for the completed project.

The solution to the must haves above were:
I acquired:
* A repair rear section, so that the beaver could be removed and stitched in.
* 5 bolt hubs, because I want some 5x100 wheels- part of the trackday car solution is to have a spare set of wheels with semi slicks on them, this won't be my only car (I have a shitbox wagon for "wagon" duties ), but I will want to drive it on road trips and sunday drives, as well.
* GTA brembos (anyone with disc recommendations, please tell me- looking at getting some GTA discs- they're 5x98, so one less thing to worry about....)
* Complete Zender kit (for that bad boy 80s/Lambo style), including the bonnet bulge. Plan to use the original 2.0 bonnet with this.
* 156 Superturismo 17x7s (will eventually get semi slicks)
* Haltech E11v2- so I can run direct fire, sequential injection and finally get full digital ignition happening- I'm looking for some efficiency gains through the midrange and hopefully a bit more peak rwhp. Probably use less fuel, too.
* Found (via alfagtv6.com) a roll of remaining tan velour material.
* LX Recaros with mesh headrests- at some stage in my car's past (i'm 3rd owner), the 85 style seats were stolen. The insurance company replaced them with some old style (solid headrest) recaros re-trimmed to factory. These are crap. I could've gone with buckets, but I guess I want the 80s street machine look 
* RS racing coilovers. I'm looking at getting some V6 torsion bars- yes I overlooked this in the original conversion. Couldn't find any at the time, and ran out of $$. My study was expensive. And some PACE knuckle risers to help sort roll centre out with lowered car.
* Car has had all sound deadening chipped out and has been painted with Lizard Skin www.lizardskin.com ceramic heat and sound deadening. THis stuff is insanely good. And weighs nothing. Should offset things like the seats etc.

The car is nearly ready for paint. Hoping to have a full car at around 1100kgs.

[julianB]

more of how it was

[julianB]

How it sits, currently- with lizard skin painted on and dusted with the finished red. Bumpers on, rust removed, nearly ready for paint.

[julianB]

more- including one of the inspiration

[shane wescott]

I've seen a bonnet like the one in your inspirations before.

Some german site i think.

catch ya

Shane

[julianB]

I's a Zender moulding. It was meant for the 2.0, part of the full kit- just a bit of a "rice" add on- the GTV6 obviously didn't need it.

I got a full kit, so I have the piece. I'm cutting the vents out.

Dependant upon how the tuning goes with the ECU, I may try to run it on TPS vs RPM and make a six throttle manifold out of GSX-R throttle bodies- MD is my inspiration for this (and a good portion of my inspiration for the whole build!).
The vents will give them some fresh air to breathe.
I'm convinced after speaking to Vin Sharp and my friend's dad (they run a BMW F1, M10 engine in a sport sedan- used to be on quad throttles revving to 10k), that the throttles will crispen the engine up and liberate some good throttle response, mid range and top end. I've got to put the thing back together, first!

[shane wescott]

interesting. As I say, I have seen the bonnet before but it's never really blown my skirt up.

I have a Zender body kit on my GTV6 and the other week I bought a 1989 Zender catalogue - unfortunately the photo of the GTV's in it are quite small :-(

It does however include very nice examples of the Zender logo which I plan to scan so I can get some new Zender stickers for the kit made up.

Some method in my madness.

Catch ya

Shane

[Beatle]

I think that bonnet, or something very similar, was used on the 'Chapparal' GTV6???

[julianB]

The Chaparrals used a full Zender kit- that's the bonnet add on. Mine will have the vents opened up.

Hoping to have painted shots up in a few weeks

[Beatle]

I often wondered why Alfa, or the aftermarket, didn't simply reshape the coupe bonnet along the existing seam lines of the original (i.e. a rear-facing 'scoop').  Everything, including the factory GTV6 hump, all look like afterthoughts to my eye.

I still recall my first thoughts when I first sat in a 116 coupe.   "I can't see the bonnet.....at all...."

[aggie57]

Or simply engineered the induction so it sat under the existing body line.  Others since have proven that is entirely doable.

Congrats Julian on bringing a nice car back from the brink.  Look forward to seeing the finished job.

[julianB]

Thanks Alister. The proof will be in the driving

[julianB]

Ok all - I need some pointers for rubber seals- all of them!

I Know about
Highwood Alfa in the uk
MrFiat.com

Are there any others?

[festy]

Clark rubber for the generic seals, much cheaper.
They sell stuff like Bailey channel etc off the roll.

Also Scott's in Vic carry some seals for the Alfettas, see http://www.scottsoldautorubber.com.au/ALFA%20ROMEO%201974-85%20ALFETTA%20GTV.htm