ALFAGTV6.COM

[Mats]

The design of the caliper is similar in size to the GTA, same base caliper but with radial mounting points instead of axial. Makes it easier to adapt to our spindles.
Will go for a 315mm disc though, 28mm thick.

[MR2 Zig]

What? we aren't allowed to see the rest of the garage?

[Mats]

That's correct.

[MR2 Zig]

AWWWW That's just sooooo wrong. waaaa wwwaaaaaaaa.

[rz]

this one?
second series gta
disk 330mm and 32 mm thick

[rz]

brembo

[Mats]

Nope, but similar. Mine has the crossover internally so no pipe and the brake line goes in at the end. Takes up to 28mm thick discs, slot is 30mm wide.
These are not originally from an Alfa.

[MD]

315mm disc though, 28mm thick.

Good choice Mats.

These specs are on the money for the reduced weight of a racer. Plenty of radial leverage and enough mass for heat absorption. Going bigger I think is deminishing returns due to unsprung weight and then its alloy hats, blah blah. Not needed.

(advice to other than Mats)
Spend some time working out what you are going to do with the rear brakes so you can make better use of this unique car and its weight distribution advantage. Don't just concentrate on the fronts..

[Mats]

Exactly, no use going nuts about the specs. These units weigh ~1.5Kg more then the 75 5 lug discs I have today. Will hopefully be enough thermo mass for my little lightweigh (the car that is ) even though the power will be higher.
This time I will add ducting to cool them too, something I haven't bothered with before.

Did some Clutch investigations yesterday for my upgrade + propshaft/driveshaft job.

Sometimes it's good to save some junk under the work bench...



The boys that will be the stars of the final assembly



Just a quick mock-up for reference, slinger not included in this pic.
The spline on the CV-flange is the right diameter but is one (1!) spline off...



Just making sure that the newly installed press works, and as you can see it quickly demonstrated that it can turn anything into junk in a hurry.



Further investigations showed that the casting is really crappy, large contamination pieces and porosity beyond anything I've seen before. Not easy to spot in these pics though.



So why are these parts so difficult to pull apart? They don't go "snap" and then are loose like regular press fits.
Well, they probably had rattling issues (anyone who had a pinch-bolt issue knows this one) during the development phase and dicided to glue the flange spline interface, clearly visible in the pic below.


So why did the cover crack? Well, on the old units (this one being a -73 Alfetta) they glued the bearings too...
Notice the retaining ring in the cover.


The new ones also seem glued at first but I think it's just overflow from the spline because it's only at the end of the spline and not on the bearing surface, it also comes loose easily.
No retaining ring on this one.


The axle itself has evolved quite a bit too, old one at the top, new below.
Spline and pilot is different (same spline data though so everything is interchangeable), heat treatment is obviously different too. Notice the glue on the bearing surfaces on the old shaft.



Somewhere along the way they learned how to cast flywheels too, the old one on top of the new one. Notice the balancing holes...


The cracked cover turned out to be quite a feature in the end, inspection/measuring cut.


Interesting to see that the old covers had a small indentation for the emergency brake cable routing. None of the new ones have that feature, they even have a machining tab almost in that location to make it even tighter for the cable.


Just got a message that my intercooler has arrived, nice!

And btw, the correct procedure of removing the clutch axle without destroying anything involves blocks of wood and a large mallet.

[MALDI]

I believe that the broken clutch cover is magnesium. Can you confirm this? Sad to see it is such a poor casting.

[ar4me]

Mats,

I recently disassembled a couple of clutch covers, input shafts, and bearings. An original 68k mile clutch cover had the transaxle input shaft and bearings come out easily with my press. However, a 205k mile cover assembly (which has obviously been apart) put up a major fight. A previous person had been in there and decided to use red loctite on everything - no wonder it was all stuck - like yours the input shaft was stuck, glued to the bearings with red loctite. I only got it apart without damaging the clutch cover by heating it. BTW, the 205k mile cover had lots of hairline cracks. Anyway, I think stuck/glued items may the work of mechs or DIYs and not Alfa. Alfa does recommend blue loctite on the two nuts on yoke (but only at rear yoke, not center yoke - wonder why).

My V6s clutch covers all have the indention from the handbrake cable. I wonder if it gets worn that way over the years - mine seem to have the pattern of the spiral sleeve of the hand brake cable...

Jes

[Giuliettaevo2]

Mats,

My V6s clutch covers all have the indention from the handbrake cable. I wonder if it gets worn that way over the years - mine seem to have the pattern of the spiral sleeve of the hand brake cable...

Jes

That is exactly what happens... the handbrake cable is tougher material as the clutch housing and it 'eats' its way through it.

[Mats]

The "Magnesium castings" the myth talks about is probably aluminium with some magnesium in it. No idea if this has any magnesium in it, feels light though.

Glued splines are quite common if you can't afford a helix spline. It's to get zero lash, NVH thing.

None of my other covers have a groove in them and they have seen their fair share of use, this one had a good 3-4mm deep groove and only had about 40000Km on the clock. I'd say it's unlikely it's from wear.

Anyway, as I said earlier the intercooler arrived today so I snapped some pics for you.

Intercooler fitted where the radiator usually sits, this is just for now because I need to do some metal works for it to fit in front of the radiator. The core is more or less identical in size to the radiator. Good for the airflow through both the intercooler and radiator.
Fits perfectly in the opening too.


The snug fit is clearly visible in these two pics.



This is what it looks like fron the other side.


Chucked the Turbo in there just to show how nice and compact all the plumbing will be. Very short routing to the intercooler (through the front plate though).
Nice and compact downpipe too. V-band clamp is a nice touch too. Very close to the oil feed out of the main gallery too.
This is a mock-up engine by the way, old 1750 block I think, hence the oil filter location and the water pump.




Hopefully I can get my engine stuff back from the machine shop any year now...

[fedezyl]

Excellent mate! I really like the way things are looking!

It's nice to see how the design was improving on the transaxles, i'm using an old Giulietta 1.6 box now but i'll be switching to a TS box soon...

[Mats]

Thanks!