One very special Alfa Sud Sprint.
Summary
A much modified and much loved Sprint, one owner from
new. MOT’d to August 2001. Driven daily until 1992 when it was taken ff
the road and put into dry storage for 8 years.
Going a bit tatty in a few places but due to extensive
rustproofing in its earliest years the basic structure is sound. Would restore to a very nice car for not a
great deal or make the basis of a very fast race or road car.
This car HAS gone to an enthusiast who will love it
as much as I do! It has to go because I
now have a family and a business and the days when I could spend all my money
and time on the Alfa are a long way gone!
I can’t bear to break it up and so if I can find a good home for it I shall
be happy knowing that someone else will get a lot of fun out of it.
Basics:
Original Specification:
AlfaSud Sprint Veloce 1.5 model with Brown interior,
chrome bumpers. Red (Rosso Alfasud),
First registered May 1983 (Y plate), bought from Amersham Motors, London.
The car was dealer serviced during the warranty period
(all records available) and then maintained regardless of cost by myself. For instance, due to daily town use I used
to change engine oil and filter at 3-month intervals whatever the mileage. For the next 5 years it was lightly
modified – it had some fast road cams fitted (diabolical for town use as there
was nothing below 4000 rpm.), the original 36mm Dell’Orto carbs were swapped
for 40 mm and a gas flowed exhaust fitted.
Nothing much – I was still paying loads of insurance at that time so
could not go too mad.
In 1987 I met a chap called Peter Haworth who was and
is something of an Alfasud nut – his piece de resistance being a twin engined
Alfasud hill climb special. He introduced
me to supercharging and I became hooked – this led to the total rebuild of the
car over the next couple of years into a very fast road car that was still
perfectly usable and was driven daily.
Bodywork:
Mods:
Series 3 Bumpers with Red insert strips. ("Side
planks" never fitted) – unfortunately I did not keep the chrome bumpers.
Series 3 grille with red shield surround (original
grille and lights available.)
Series3 sill covers fitted.
Series 3 front wing liners fitted.
Series 3 rear light units fitted and series one
reflectors removed and holes welded up.
Rear wiper fitted from Series 3.
Custom made fiberglass bonnet in black coloured GRP
with bulge to clear supercharger (resembles GTV6).
You can tell that really I would have liked to have
had a series 3!
Condition: The car was rust proofed by the factory –
this being the tail end of the “rusty 'sud” years so it was done by Tuffkote
Dinol on import by Alfa GB. Once the
warranty was up, I went somewhat over the top and firstly waxoyled throughout
on a really hot summers weekend so that the stuff ran out of every seam and
ruined my Mom’s drive. I also used a
mixture of Supertrol 001 injected as was the Waxoyl using an 80psi airline to
ensure full internal coverage. I am
convinced of the stuffs efficiency – it hasn’t stopped rusting happening from
the outside but it looks like nothing has rusted out from the inside and where
external rusting has started (e.g. the infamous rear jacking points) the rust
has been stopped when it met the internal Waxoyl layer.
So what is going?
Door lower edges flaking but rust is from exterior. Sill bottoms a
little flaky in places but basically solid internally. Rust around the rear
hatch drain holes. Rear valance rusted along lower edge. Small amount of rust
in spare wheel well and in isolated spots around the shell. The passenger side wheel arch rusted out
around 1988 – I discovered an internal foam filling strip that had stopped my
Waxoyl from getting to the very bottom of the seam. The wheel arch was replaced by a specialist Alfa body shop in
Bham and is fine. The driver’s side
arch has followed suit but was never replaced.
Wheel arch sections are fairly easily obtainable I believe but if not a
Morris Marina one (yes really) can be made to fit quite closely.
All the Paintwork is a bit duff now, sections had been
resprayed before but it never had a full all over job done. It’s all pretty sound though – just not
particularly even. There is some rust
around the lower windscreen but it’s from outside again – I have had two suds
before so knew all the dodgy areas to treat.
Interior:
Original orangey seats in rear. Fronts replaced (and
thrown away) with Designer 2000 units by Recaro.
Mountney steering wheel. Series three air vents on
dash top. New instrument panels made and fitted housing Oil temp, pressure,
clock and supercharger boost gauges plus electric window switches.
Electric Life Window conversion fitted.
Britax Sunhatch.
Clarion Radio Cassette, booster amp plus 4 Pioneer
speakers.
Suspension:
Lowered using BLS spring kit back in late eighties.
Koni Special-D adjustable shock Absorbers all round – D’s chosen as I thought
the Koni Sports might be a bit harsh for a road car. The D’s are firm enough.
Transmission:
The original box (which will be included if you really
want it) was one of the 3.55:1 final drive jobs that Alfa used c. 1982. The car would actually go faster in fourth
than fifth so when supercharging, a close ratio box from a 1982 1350 ‘sud salon
was obtained form a breakers – the donor had been written off in a rear end
shunt at 20,000 miles. This box has a
3.88:1 F/D and is just about perfect.
Like the engine, the gearbox was regularly refilled with the correct oil
(Shell Spirax) as recommended by Alfa.
Steering:
2.5-turn BLS rack fitted - steering is heavy and a
little noisy as you go from lock to lock due to the straight cut gears but
incredibly precise at high speed. On
the move it doesn’t feel heavy – more like a go-kart. A Mountney deep-dished 13” leather steering wheel was fitted to
minimize the Italian Ape driving position – original wheel is still around
somewhere.
Engine:
Where do I start?
Original engine replaced at 40K by purpose built
supercharged unit spec: The intention
was to build up the supercharged unit and swap over in a weekend so as to be
able to continue using the car for work.
1490cc block from crashed 1.5 ‘sud Super (approx 20000
miles) used as donor engine. Crank balanced, conrods lightened, shotpeened and
balanced by Oselli Engineering Oxford.
Flywheel lightened and balanced.
Standard clutch which has proven more than up to the job.
Vandervell Main and big end bearings – spare set
included. Crank did not need
regrinding.
Pistons balanced and tops machined to reduce CR to 8:1
to allow for supercharging.
Heads not extensively altered but fast road Tornado
Cams installed (higher lift).
Induction: Sprintex screw type supercharger driven by
HTD belt from crank. Sucking through a
1.75" SU HIF44 carburettor. Max boost 12 psi - approx 150BHP at the
wheels. Water heated induction
connection to offset fuel cooling under high induction conditions.
Existing ‘sud type manifold modified for boost
operated water injection (was used but
not currently fitted. Methanol was
added to the water to stop freezing), and fitted with all hardware to allow
eventual fitment of Bosch K Jetronic injection setup from a Granada 2.8.
Distributor modified for boost retard on ignition
timing. Standard points and coil system, NGK multielectrode plugs fitted.
Exhaust - Standard except for Stainless center box.
Fuel system - electric pump mounted (temporarily) in
boot.
Wheels and Braking System
Brakes - All flexible hoses replaced with Aeroquip
lines. All pipework replaced with “Handy” Copper type. Silicone (non hygroscopic) brake fluid used.
Discs - never had a problem with braking efficiency so
left as standard.
Wheels - revolution 5 spoke Alloys with Pirelli P600
185/60 tyres.