ive come to a point in my project where im needing answers to questions that require someone willing to help..and well that rules out the purists who cant look past the end of there nose pointed into the clouds. i need help from the guys who use and abuse there cars drive em hard and put em away dirty and wet
soo if you can lend me some help along the way GREAT!! hell even some kind words is good too
sit back and enjoy the read and the pic's its a long one
i joined this site looking for information to repair a 83 gtv6(actually its a "leftover" ballocco in every detail) for a friend and got a good bit of info enuf to help me put the car back together (driveline and engine had been swapped but nothing bolted up or plumbed)..i had NEVER worked on an alfa let alone seen one short of a spider..after figuring out the car and taking it for a test drive i was in love with its Italian nature ...and ive always been into muscle and 50's stuff like my 58 ford or 67-69 cudas...the gtv6 was HEAVEN in comparison...another friend was perched to buy it..few months later the seller re-poed it due to lack of payments and was owing me money and gave me the car
the PROJECT
started as a ROTTED OUT 1958 lloyd Alexander TS which well is VERY unimpressive in stock form 600 cc 2cyl 4 stroke air cooled 25hp...0-60 in 60 sec with a top speed of 61mph a SCARY leaf spring front end and tiny drum brakes riding on 15x2.5 tires weighing in at 1200lbs with a 78 inch wheel base..the car is capable of sitting on a 4x8 sheet of plywood or in the bed of most pickups..its small enuf to make a 70s mini cooper look big
last year feb 7 2007 a friend of a friend had a 87 milano platinum that would not sell for 6 months and was going to be impounded unless it had a home within 2 hours..i was called and it was offered to me for basically free ..i jumped up got a u-haul tow dolly(yeah i know BAD for a transaxle car but didnt have a choice) drove it out of the apartment parking lot around the block and onto the dolly...the LAST drive the car would ever have in its "stock" state..sad but i have FAR to many projects that will never be finished and lacked the space and need for a 4dr...to me the car was to be the PERFECT donor car(first 4dr ive ever owned actually not counting the Lincoln my wife had when we got married which we cut up, parted out shortly after getting married)...the milano itself i was not aware of the platinum status until deep into the project... the status on the milano..120k miles and a HUGE oil leak(initially told it was blown cam seals its actually the oil pressure sender), desperate need of a tune up and only 2 rust spots about 1/2inch in size..almost perfect paint just miner dings and scratches(yes i know a shame to do anything with it but drive it)
lets face it if i fell in love with the gtv6 the milano is nothing more than a bigger heavier longer gtv6...it only seemed right to use it for the lloyd
to those worried about me not finishing it...i will...it has FULLY taken over my shop ALL other side projects, ideas, and hobbies have taken a back seat to this thing...and there is ZERO expense on it well very little anyway as i dont have to pay others to do any work..i do it all myself, fabrication, welding, body, paint, anything mechanical or electrical...lets just put it this way..the lloyd cost me a mustang 5spd i had laying around and ive put a TOTAL of less than 600$ into the lloyd project and that INCLUDES the brand new tires 300$ and a set of the early gtv6 13lb wheels 150$ most of the rest is piece of steel
onto the pic's
day one of the lloyd with me by its side(im 6foot 4inches)
a shot of its VERY scary engine, trans, front suspension, steering, brakes
the main frame of the car was pretty much rotted out to the point of not save able but i did save it initially before the idea change to use another engine/trans which the original idea change was to be a 2.5 turbo from a FWD mopar...rockers and floors were a total loss...the bonus with a lloyd is the ENTIRE body of the car comes apart with about 300 10mm bolts and screws...roof, hood, fender, rear lower quarters, rear upper quarters and window section, windshield frame..you name it, it unbolts down about the same as a VW bug chassis does except the lloyd body comes completely apart...i focused on alot of the body work early on and have made some minor changes
onto a few shots of the milano
at this point if you have a weak heart/stomach for injured alfa's turn back now
the primary trouble with the milano is its FAR to long for the lloyd 78inch wheel base(2000mm) this meant the milano needed to not only go on a HUGE diet but also 20 inches had to come out...but first i had to do a few things..i tuned the engine tracked down the oil leak, pressure washed every inch of the car including the engine and transaxle..and went hunting for a "small" 15inch tire settling on the smallest in my budget a 195/50/15...this would net me a very level car...drove it into the shop and started building a level jig in which to cut the car..i basically made a "crude" limo/hurse frame jig where the car gets 100% leveled then the front of the car welded to the jig, the rear half of the car gets welded to a sliding jig attached to the main jig frame..this results in a 99% perfect alignment of the front and rear half of the car to either add or remove floor and frame...the milano had to lose 20 inches to bring it down to the right wheel base......once the car was level i striped the car to the bone, double checked my measurements and welded it down to the jig
now for the diet
20 inches before and after no photo chopping here, take note of the perfect alignment of the rocker NOTICE the lloyd in the back ground of my 20x20foot shop
the next obvious step was to temp weld the rockers together and brace the car as much as possible and then take it on the EXTREME diet(i took alot of care into how and where i cut thinking someone somewhere could use any part i cut off the car figured someone who races would eventually want/need a core support or tail section)
with all of my braces in place it was a moment of truth..to cut the car off the jig and see if everything was still straight square and true...everything came out within 1/16th of an inch of perfect...that better than when the factory built it in the first place
a needless test fit to plot my next move...with HUGE tire problems but it planted a picture into my head on where to go
the OBVIOUS solution was to shift the wheel wells up 3 inches so the body could sit lower on the milano and move the fenders out 4 inches the full length of the body to accommodate the width of the milano chassis
next i spent some time here looking at most of you guys race cars drawing ideas and placement of tube frame support to further diet and support the remaining milano as well as the ability to further remove even more of the remaining "fat" after extensively studying the modifications most of the "caged" guys do, i decided that the shock towers MUST be re-enforced and tied into as much as possible..the next spot was the strut rod and sway bar mount and came up with this
next the rockers of the milano were only a temp and had to go..with the structure heavily braced and the front end tubed it was time to cut out the rockers and replace them with some square tube and tie them into the new front end cage work
another needless test fit pic from the rear with a 4 inch gap in the rear fenders...but its off the jig completely and STIFF
with the rockers replaced with square tube i tied the front frame rails, rear frame rails, cross members, front cage, and tube framed up to the rear shock towers..which let me remove all of my "extra" brace work except a precautionary center brace wich is temp welded to the center of the front cage and what i would call a "mini" rear cage(wich is nothing more than a tube tie-ing the rear towers together then down to the rocker tubes and down to the rear rail extensions
back to the front cage..i "was" going to remove the sheet metal rail that runs from the bottom of the shock tower up to the windshield and replace it with some square tube..decided against it and braced it into the front cage
heres a shot of the rear tower tie and brace
if you want to go thru my 400+ pics of step by step with all of the rust repair, and custom body work, etc etc etc.....just bear in mind if your not on a quick connection it may take a while to load
the "guest" password is:
lloyd
http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/sh ... ?start=all
i always took it with a grain of salt 
