The Alfa Thread

[LateFan]

That guy has some cool original Carello lights on that car.....

[LateFan]

Sliding block

For those who haven't seen it, this is the "sliding block" rear suspension on the Giulia chassis race cars, such as the GTA. The trailing arms locate the axle fore & aft, the solid axle keeps the wheels / tires always parallel, and the sliding block is attached to the back of the diff case and makes sure the axle only goes straight up and down - no lateral movement.

The tracks needed to be re-greased before every race, and it needed a lot of maintenance.

[LateFan]

So, what if you could modify the Milano / 75 to take some of that funkiness and rear end damage out of the design? Would it be an improvement?

The underlying body shell structure is the Alfetta Sport Sedan. I've always thought that apart from the weird kink just past the rear door opening, the whole rear portion of the body seemed heavy and thick - the deck is too high, the lower skirt is thick, there's a lot of sheet metal from the top of the wheel arch rearwards.

So, this is a VERY crude attempt just on pic monkey with big thick markers, but I've taken off that extra piece of C-pillar sheet metal that holds the rear window. The seam / panel gap you see on 75s is where the old Alfetta body stopped, and the window was farther forward. I lowered the rear deck lid. I straightened the black trim strip and the lower body crease - the crease would align with the 2nd row of rear light lenses instead of the top. Then I shortened up the bumpers front and rear to have less overhang similar to the euro bumpers (which also don't have that heavy accordion piece). Last, I tapered the bottom skirt at the rear so it rises up to the bumper trim instead of hanging there like a fence. Trying to make the whole back end thinner and less bulky / heavy looking.



Now that I've already saved it, I see from the perspective angle that you'd see some of the red trunk lid surface above the black trim, but you get the idea.

Go ahead and razz my lack of skills! - I just thought it would be fun to try it out and talk about it. (See original image page 30)

Better?….

[LateFan]

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[LateFan]

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[LateFan]

105 head ("It's a HEMI!")





with dos sparkos...

[M-technik-3]

Been a large amount that have shown up on bring a trailer lately.

[BlackbirdM3]

105 head ("It's a HEMI!")

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with dos sparkos...

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Yes, yes it is a hemi. I made that comment to someone once and they gave me a blank stare. I think I said something like "yeah its got a 1.8L all aluminum twin cam Hemi in it" The guy could not comprehend that someone other than Dodge had a hemi head. Sadly, the Alfa head just doesn't flow well. The hottest of hot ported Nord heads flows far less than my Datsun wedge shaped head.

Will

[flyboyx]

posting this with you in mind blackbird!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alfa-Romeo-Other-Sprint-1963-alfa-romeo-giulietta-sprint-1-3-l-/231475430741?forcerrptr=true&hash=item35e502c555&item=231475430741&pt=US_Cars_Trucks

[BlackbirdM3]

posting this with you in mind blackbird!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alfa-Romeo-O...US_Cars_Trucks

Hey the nose section is in better shape than mine. Those dents would be easy to fix. The rust issues however... The rest of my car wins that one. Still, a '63 Sprint is a rare creature so I couldn't bring myself to cut up a savable car.

Will

[2mAn]

ummmmmm

http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/carsforsale/alfa_romeo/6c1750/1678827.html

[mark1991]

Common sense dictates that I shouldn't love Milanos/75's but dammit...

I purchased a new Milano back in 1987. It was fun to drive and I kept the windows open just to hear the engine. Sadly, it was a maintenance nightmare. Within the first two years, it needed head work( o ring seals in the head as a recall) and after having the head pulled twice for the repair, I once again noticed the tell-tale "chocolate milkshake" in the coolant overflow tank. The engine loved mixing the oil into the coolant.

I sold it after I noticed rust forming on the lip on the underside of the trunk lid. This was in the mild Northwest climate and with the car only being about two years old.

[flyboyx]

Hey the nose section is in better shape than mine. Those dents would be easy to fix. The rust issues however... The rest of my car wins that one. Still, a '63 Sprint is a rare creature so I couldn't bring myself to cut up a savable car.

Will

since its just a rusty body shell with no other parts, i would take the nose off this one and the one off your car, swap them and resell this one. you would probably get most of your money back even with having it shipped to you. there is probably someone out there that wants to restore it even worse than you want to restore yours. its hard to imagine what a restored sprint sells for these days.

[BlackbirdM3]

since its just a rusty body shell with no other parts, i would take the nose off this one and the one off your car, swap them and resell this one. you would probably get most of your money back even with having it shipped to you. there is probably someone out there that wants to restore it even worse than you want to restore yours. its hard to imagine what a restored sprint sells for these days.

Swapping noses is not as easy as it sounds. Since Sprints were largely still handbuilt and fitted, one nose isn't necessarily going to fit on another body. Since my car is a very early 750-101 transition car, I've been told that swapping noses could be even more tricky, especially with an end of the run car. This is likely the reason there are no aftermarket noses made. The Pininfarina built spiders were far less individually unique for some reason. Perhaps Bertone just wasn't as modernized as Pininfarina in terms of production. I'm watching the auction, I might roll the dice on it, the trouble is delivering it someplace convenient, then moving it to where my car is (I can't just have it delivered there because its on a ranch way back in the hills, up a very tight twisty road that no car carrier would even attempt to drive up because the truck wouldn't clear a couple of the corners.) I also don't have a plasma cutter to remove the front ends of either one. Also, if I buy the other body and have it shipped out here, odds are I'm in it for just as much as having someone do the bodywork for me. Its a tough call.

Sprints are cool because they were so largely hand built. Heck I find notes and peoples initials written all over as if the builders were signing their work. On the back side of the interior panels, on the insides of fenders and other out of sight places. The unfortunate thing is that parts from one car might not fit well on another. On my car, they were pulling from the 750 series parts bin quite a bit. I have open rocker panels like a 750, an uncovered metal dash like a 750, and a few other 750 touches. On one hand, its really cool, on the other, its a serious PITA.

Will

[benz-tech]

I purchased a new Milano back in 1987. It was fun to drive and I kept the windows open just to hear the engine. Sadly, it was a maintenance nightmare. Within the first two years, it needed head work( o ring seals in the head as a recall) and after having the head pulled twice for the repair, I once again noticed the tell-tale "chocolate milkshake" in the coolant overflow tank. The engine loved mixing the oil into the coolant.

I sold it after I noticed rust forming on the lip on the underside of the trunk lid. This was in the mild Northwest climate and with the car only being about two years old.

Surprisingly the '87 I had a few years back had no rust, and a solid running engine. 2nd gear wasn't even bad (by Alfa standards, at least) and the LSD still had some lockup left in it. Sometimes you get a good one, sometimes you get a lemon and with Milanos, it was usually the latter. If they were well maintained they could be a decent car. I miss the roar of that V6, tho...