ALFAGTV6.COM

[grease]

haudy folks!

I'm a long time reader of this forum, but only now I've decided to join in and contribute my humble 2 cents, if they are worth something, or just participate in chats with people who really understand the beauty of alfa transaxles.

This forum has been an unbelievable great source of knowledge - it helped (and I am sure it will help in the future) me a lot - thanks to all of you!

So, a quick introduction.
Firstly, I'm from Lithuanian Alfa Romeo Owners' Club - a community of 30+ alfisti, who are actively participating in the club's activities. We gather up a whole bunch of people with their alfas and organize some sort things to have fun, f.eg. orientational rallys (the idea is to drive according to a legend/pace notes, but obeying all traffic rules), track days, rent go-kart champs, fun days with real sports go-karts, etc..

Besides that, our club has a racing team - 4 years ago we started participating in endurance racing (4h and 1000km) racing in a 155. Firstly it was a 3.0 V6, then, last year we put in a 3.2 V6, etc..
Also, last year we've decided that one car is not enough, so a GT racing project was born. We have a 1000km race on July 23rd, so it is quite busy in the shop now..
More info - http://www.alfaracing.lt and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alfa-Rom ... 7638327551

Now about my cars.
My first contact with alfas was, of course, with the 156. It turned out to become my very first owned car. So I got hooked up on alfas. It was (only) a 1998 2.0 TS, but I really liked and drove it for 5,5 years. At some point, predictably, I got quite bored, so I started thinking about a car that would be really great to own. So, 2,5 years ago I bought a 1986 GTV6 in Germany.

It was already restored in ~2005, so I had only some small niggles to sort out. However, it turned out to a complete engine, suspension and brakes overhaul, as well as some other stuff. It was not because of something going seriously wrong with the car - it was my wish to have the car in a pristine condition and because I really enjoy being around cars. I did everything myself, although I'm not a mechanic and I have never taken apart an engine earlier, so it was quite a challenge. Also, it was a great school, I've learned a lot and I am willing to learn more and to drown deeper into this whole alfa transaxle quagmire.
This is the only GTV6 in Lithuania, so I'm really quite proud of it

Some pictures of the GTV6 and the process of my work - http://www.alfaklubas.lt/forumas/index. ... ic=63130.0. Everything is in Lithuanian, but the pictures speak a unified language
It has been my daily driver for 2 summers, drove ~15k km, a joy to drive.
I want to keep this 1986 GTV6 in this "almost original" condition as it is now - no further mods or upgrades, just lots of smiling while driving

Predictably, this was not enough for me and started to get bored.
And so, a few months ago, I found another GTV6 in Germany. Got some friends, jumped into a car and drove to Germany to check it. It exceeded my expectations both in terms of the condition and in terms of money that the owner asked for it. So I had no choice but to buy it.

This one will be purely for fun - track days and maybe historical racing. Roll cage, probably RSR suspension, stripped interior, etc.. Just have to find time to work on it.


Turned out to be not that quick of an introduction, probably everyone got bored whilst reading this huuuge chunk of text..
Still, I'm really happy to join this great community

BW
grease

[Greg Gordon]

Welcome aboard, and nice car! I like all the pictures in the first two links. I looks like someone over there really likes red! This link doesn't work for me: http://www.alfaklubas.lt/forumas/index. ... ic=63130.0 . Well it probably works, but the sign in page is written in some language I can't read.

Greg,
www.hiperformancestore.com

[kevin]

It's defiantly ideal if you have the space and finance to have a standard road gtv and a track gtv. One is always a restoration project and is just as fun as track preparation so enjoy and post picks of your build .

[grease]

Welcome aboard, and nice car! I like all the pictures in the first two links. I looks like someone over there really likes red! This link doesn't work for me: http://www.alfaklubas.lt/forumas/index. ... ic=63130.0 . Well it probably works, but the sign in page is written in some language I can't read.

Greg,
http://www.hiperformancestore.com

the link was actually correct, but the forum did not allow guests to see that particular discussion board. But I've fixed it, you won't have to sign in - http://www.alfaklubas.lt/forumas/index. ... ic=63130.0

and yes, red is the color the cars, the drivers, the mechanics and the fans are all red. And when everyone gathers to a crowd it really leaves an impression.

[MD]

A warm welcome to you grease. Make no apologies. You are the exact kind of guy this Forum has on board and lots of them. You have the passion and the right Alfas. What else do you need?
Love your cars and the black beauty is lovely. Visit the racing section for ideas on preparing the project weapon..

Cheers. MD

[grease]

got our GT on the dyno.
tuned the ecu - 297 bhp and 315 nm torque, can spin up to 8000 rpm, although it will rarely be reved that far during racing.
you could play around with the ecu to get quite a lot more out of the 3.2, but it is tuned to be "on the safe side".
imho, it's really enough for a fwd endurance racing car. you could probably win (or loose) lots and lots more time during pits stops, driver changes, refuelling, etc.

crappy quality, had only my cellphone in hand, but you get the idea..
http://youtu.be/QTs_ubrp2zg

the exterior is almost ready, there are still some small bits left to sort out.
the race is on July 23rd - looks like we're gonna make it!



(the number plates will surely be removed, they are just for transportation. the car is actually street legal... )

[grease]

update.

had our first 20 minutes on track - then rain soaked it.

http://youtu.be/qN3zxKuJAcI

first impressions are great, but, of course, suspension is to be fine tuned.

[75evo]

What is the specs for the GT? Compression, pistons, heads, cams, ecu? Did you I'm building a 3.0 24V and I'm curious how you got it to go to 8K rpm reliably.

[grease]

C&B AR24.CM1 cams, C&B sourced valves (intake 36mm; exhaust 31.5mm diameter) and reinforced valve springs.
bigger injectors - don't know the exact specs.
ECU - KMS MP25
everything else - stock.


we've been racing with a 3.0 24V for ~4 years prior to the 3.2 - I'm not really sure about the exact specs of that engine - it had ported heads, cams and ecu from a 164, I believe, with Squadra tuning chip. It spun up to 7k max, usually shifting @ 6.5k, and only once we had a problem when a valve dropped due to fatigue, as the valves were taken from a donor engine - i.e. they were not new to begin with.

[Giuliettaevo2]

Hydraulic followers with 8000 rpm is not a very nice combination.

AHMotorsport sells hydraulic=> mechanical conversion kits but they're not cheap.

Squadra sets the limiter for the 164 24v engine at 7350 rpm, 156 2.5 24v goes to 7200 and 156 GTA also the 7350 rpm.

[grease]

oops, yes, of course, forgot to mention mechanic followers.

[grease]

update.

had a longer, normal test session.
http://youtu.be/CeLz8HvdzFg

the car is too stiff for this track (actually, the one and only permanent circuit in Lithuania.. which is in a seriously bad shape ).
but the next race we'll be participating in will be in a different temporary track, which is a lot smoother.

here's a short video from 2009, a very successful year for our team.
http://youtu.be/v4v2yd_otWs

[kevin]

What have you done to clutch unit and diff ?
GT is such an awesome car in track set up with that wing

[grease]

i'm not really sure about the exact clutch properties.
what i know is that the disc is without damper springs and the friction material is re-riveted ceramics.

diff - Kaaz DBA2510 lsd. although a Quaife lsd is on it's way, haven't received it yet.

[grease]

soo, after the race...




throughout the free practice sessions we had some slight overheating issues. so we "tuned" the car a bit - drilled some holes in the front bumper to maximize the airflow to the radiator and raised the back of the bonnet to allow the hot air to escape the under bonnet area.
this solved the overheating problems.



qualified only in P19, due to half of the slower cars had a chance to post their times in a dry circuit, whilst we had to do it in the rain.



the race started. for the first three hours the car was perfect - we steadily climbed up to 6th place overall and 1st in our class. mind you, we had a Spyker C8 Laviolette GT2, an F430 Challenge and a pumped up Dodge Viper ahead of us, but they were in a league of their own.




but then problems - the driver told about some intermittent strange noise from the front, but it did not slow down the car. we waited for the mandatory driver change and changed the tires at the same stop. unfortunately, while changing tires we noticed that the both of the axle cv-joint boots are ripped to shreds. the reason was the back engine mount - it overheated from the exhaust (although we did not have such problem in our 155 for 5 years) and the engine dropped down a bit, allowing the cv-joint boots to rub against the a-arms.
it took a bit more than 1 hour to "fix" the engine mount, changed the axles and the car was good to go.



unfortunately, it was good to go only for another 1,5 hours - the gearbox fell apart - it was the only thing we were actually expecting (but not willing ) to happen.
only about 3 hours of racing were left at that moment, so we decided not to change the gearbox - it would have taken us 1-1.5 hours, and 1.5-2 hours of racing would not allow us to move up the order, since we were already way down due to the engine mount/axle problem.

anyways, bearing in mind that the car had only done ~2-3 hours of testing at race pace before this 1000km race, the whole team is very very pleased with the result - 6 months of intense work exceeded expectations - the car is fast!
everyone in the team is eager to further develop the car and win some races! the spirits are high



here are some galleries of the race:
http://www.15min.lt/gallery/gazas/Omnit ... 11-m-18880
http://www.15min.lt/gallery/gazas/Omnit ... 11-m-18881