More GTO look, EFI, AMG supercharger, Supertrapps and Magnaflows.

Show us some pictures! Would be nice to see a completed shiny car. I know Jim Carpenter, I ordered GTO copy mirrors from him 4 years ago but he never sent them, though he took my money. Never answered my emails until the creditcard company had gotten me my money back.
I would like to have my seats redone in Daytona style black leather/red nomex while I wouldn't care for exact GTO like headrests, but for now that is out of budget.

 

So I went to the engine shop today. The guy was happy to get a work order for a Ferrari he only had a few before, but I guess the parts look like just any other car. He was surprised to find that the cast original pistons were English made (Is it really from a Ferrari?) and when he picked up a conrod he said, ow, that's heavy.
No other surprises. The inlet valve guides were like new, just like all the in/ex seats, crank looked fine, he thought the exhaust valves were fine too and when I told him they were prone to break he thought I was exaggerating, I said they can break when dropped on the floor, he said, they don't drop on the floor when they are inside an engine do they?, anyway I will replace them with either the ones superformance UK has or Norwood but also the engine guy will see if he can find some from his suppliers. Superformance and Norwood offer the forged JE pistons, SPF in 82.00 mm size and Norwood has 81.36 mm size or custom size. I'm choosing the Norwoods 81.36 I think, will email them first. So what we agreed upon was crank checking, measuring, magnafluxing (I almost wrote magnaflowing) and polishing, bore and hone the liners to the required size for the forged pistons I will supply, reem small end bushes to the proper size for the new pistonpins (the Norwoods have an oversized pin) and remove exhaust valve guides and install the new ones, about 650 Euro total, flywheel machining was 35 Euro if I decide that, depends of what clutch I will get. Still interested in the Norwood one, found a company over here but Norwoods has a product that is proven for the 308 and his price is sharp (because it is in $$$ hehe). So I'll inquire with Norwoods, await the call from the engine guy tomorow if he has found exhaust valves or not, and then I will place orders with Norwood and Superformance. The engine shop can start the work when the exhaust valves and guides and pistons are there.

 

Welcome! So were was it were we can the progress reports on your Bertone?

 

I'm back to 10 hour shifts at my job which is good $ wise but between travel eat and sleep doesn't leave much time to work on the car. Did some cleaning to the engine parts and sprayed some with bright silver paint, it seems to have a metallic effect too much bling but once back in the car it'll be more in the dark so probably allright.
Ordered the JE 8.8 81.35 mm pistons from Norwoods, there is a 4 week wait because they are build on order also ordered their kevlar clutch. Couldn't find a local source and my plate and pressure plate is probably 28 years old, Norwood does normally exchange these clutches but he will sent me the parts without exchange but I will have to do the flywheel surfacing locally, no problem. James Patterson at Norwoods was very helpful and takes time to answer emails. I asked about thier copper headgaskets and decided install and potential problems were to much a risk for me, so I will get regular Elring headgaskets. The pistons are listed 1680 at the Norwood site but that is without the slightly larger pins that are needed, that makes 1860, 2570 with clutch ouch.
I will bring the crank and flywheel to the engine shop today so they can check the crank and I know if I need the standard size bearings or oversize (probably not) and I can order the rest of the parts (another $2500, another ouch).

Also received the Ford explorer 5.0 throttle bodies (65mm each). There is a guy on ebay selling these blasted and powder coated. These seemed to be the most simple basic TBs I could find without brand specific extra casting that needs to be cut off, I can just mount them on a plate and connect inlet air with a 80mm hose coupler. Looked at the IAC things, powered them but nothing happens though the motor wants to turn, decided them to much trouble will probably stick with the Kjet bimetal extra air valve or sort it out later. Each throttle valve had a hole for idle air, I soldered one of them shut. I'm thinking a staged (if that is the proper word) setup were the first valve starts to open, then with the first 1/2 open the other one starts to open at twice the rate, so they'll both be fully opened same time. Put the TBs on my scanner to make a mounting plate template.
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Scanned the dial from my boost-o-meter and reversed black-white and printed it on a stickersheet -> cool. Not so cool I dropped and broke the glass but I think I saw a similar one in some waste corner at my job. Breaking glass...I removed the rear window from the car without a problem and later decided that the savest place to keep it was in it's original position...NOT. When trimming the new rear lid I touched the glass with a file slightly and pats. Will see if I can find another one cheap or else make one from lexan.
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Prepared some parts for selling, they are on the German ebay from this evening (feel free to bid US citizans!):
Fuel distributer, fuel lines, digiplex boxes and warm up regulater. Don't try to read my german (even germans will have a problem) I just say that all the parts are ok and working before removal, 1980 US GTSi.
http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300251564657
http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300251565733
http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300251566421
http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300251569529

 

If I can sell the stuff, eat only rice bought in large bags and drink water for 6 months, I can plan a brake upgrade. Saw some Porsche 996 calipers for 550 Euro with only 15000 km, discs and universal hats can be had from Wilwood, handbrake calipers from some Pantera site, estimated total cost 2000 Euro. Also there is a Wilwood 4 pot caliper now with handbrake function only 120 GBP ex VAT that looks perfect for the 308 rear, though the handbrake mechanism looks a bit flimsy and the notch taken out of the caliper wall weakens the caliper I think. Future project.
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Actually were I put the Ferrari script it said "Made in Bulgaria", must have been made in a time when they were proud of craftmanship because the inside looks like a well made watch. Today, similar to Dolce Gabbana clothing from Bulgaria, it would probably be a fake "Veglia" or "Jaeger".
Sorry no visitors! I'm a guest there that is barely tolerated (no really) and my parents don't like the Ferrari and the attention it draws. Roel "Dino208GT4" once visited me in is big roaring Mondial and they fear what the neightboorhood will think with all the quarter million cars visiting (though the neightboorhood are the same people for 60 years).
However once the car is ready next year (hmm) I plan to visit some meetings, if there is a Fchat local gathering or other events.
About the brakes, I haven't bought them yet and didn't plan to, however the price is very good so I sent the seller an email if he still has them...I will go get them if he does. My friends always tell me I should get rid of all the old junk and buy 1 decent 911 but I say the only thing good about them are the nice big Brembo brakes. So driving around with Porsche logo on the brakes would prove that point...however Bulgarian writing on the boost gauge is fun, "AMG" on the blower (visible through the louvers) is fun but not "Porsche" on the brakes. I will just put Brembo stickers on them, because that's what they are.

No, not these. I choose standard 8.8:1 ratio because of the supercharger. However you can get them anyway you want from Norwoods.

 

I couldn't resist and bought the Porsche brakes. Of course I immediatly had to test fit them, made a temporary adapter from an angle iron, made alu "fakediscs" for taking sizes. First made a 330 mm disc. I thought that would fit but seemed a little too much, so i went for 310 mm. Later I found out I couldn't really fit bigger discs because of the enormous width of the calipers, with a smaller disc the caliper moves inside were the wheel has more room.
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The above pictures were with the 330 mm disc. After I cut the disc to 310, that looked better, the caliper will sit closer to the original mount which is good for strength and the 310 discs will be more than enough. I have smaller wheels than the Porsche 996 turbo so the rotational speed of the disc through the caliper will be about the same, well, it would be if I could get my car to 300 km/h. After careful measuring I was ready to order discs and adapter. The Porsche has 330x34 and 330x28 discs, I ordered 310x35 and 310x32 from wilwood through summitracing. The hats I'm ordering in the UK, they are universal with a 50 mm center hole and undrilled pattern, available in 10 mm steps 0 to 50 mm offset, I will have the 30 mm offset were I need a 5 mm spacer between disc and hub in front and the 13 mm face width needs to be machined 5 mm down for the rear. Also the center hole needs to be enlarged to 58 and 67 mm and the bolt pattern drilled, a guy at my job will do that for me. I found this document very helpful: http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/pdf/designing_4_pot_brakes.pdf
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Then I was thinking about the handbrake. I have some worn Alfasud front calipers with build in handbrake (yes) they are the same ATE as the Ferrari rear only handbrake lever different position. I split them but I soon saw it wasn't going to work, to heavy, not a supple mechanism. Then I remembered my Lancia Montecarlo has nice aluminium lightweight sliding calipers with a good handbrake (for discs). If you remove all the sliding stuff a nice solid and light piece remains. These are Fiat calipers as used in sporting versions of the 124 and larger saloons, very rare today. But when I did a search for Fiat calipers I found similar ones are still used today and I bought a used pair from a Coupe Fiat Turbo, they look like alu but not sure. I have some ideas on how to adapt them but I have to have them in my hands first. I did drill and tap the front side mounting ears on the rear uprights and decided I am going to put the main brakes in front of the wheel and the handbrake behind.
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See post #60!

 

I bought my first Sud when I was 18, a 1.5 3 door, after a 1.5 Sprint QV and now I have since 12 years a 1.5QO with the ultimate Alfa boxer, the 4 cam 16 valve, retrofitted with a pair of Dell'orto carbs. Nobody expects 1/3 Testarossa engine in a small family saloon.
Yes, I replaced many front calipers during the years and I make sure I always have a spare pair of them. But... the rear 308 brake is a different casting but the same internals, handbrake mechanism and pistons as the Sud, from ATE. That they are mounted in the wheel makes service easier of course, when the Sud was current, mechanics at the dealer did neglect the front brakes due to their mounting position. BTW, I once read your story about racing Suds on the Alfa BB.
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