'78 Alfa Giulietta 2.4 20v JTD, new addition..

[giuliettaevo]

Hello,

After my unfortunate crash with my '74 Giulia I'm now at the point where I'm looking to start the new project.

Since I really liked the 20v JTD engine and I happen to still have 2 of these engines the decision was easy to use one in my Giulietta.

I'm starting with some simple stuff as I'm still recovering. I'll try to document as much of it as possible.

The car will get a front mount mercedes/bmw 6 speed gearbox, bmw LSD in the rear, 330mm Brembo brakes up front, rear discs in the wheels(original against the gearbox) and possibly some custom control arms in the front.

Some pics of the car;
















Today I put the rear hubs in the lathe to make them fit some Alfa 156 rear discs.

[biturbo228]

Great to see work on this start in earnest! Definitely interested in the rear disc conversion. Will you use the 156 rear calipers too?

[giuliettaevo]

I'm going to see if i can use the golf MK4 alloy callipers i salvaged from my Giulia.

If not i'll most likely get a set of the 156/166 rear callipers.

Both options have an integrated handbrake system which is ideal for me.

[ducklooker]

Very cool project!
I've bookmarked this one!

[biturbo228]

Those alloy Golf calipers are nice pieces of kit. Nice and lightweight for unsprung weight.

[giuliettaevo]

Not so much to report unfortunately. I'm gathering parts i need, looking for the info i need and planning different things.

Yesterday i took my lower control arms and front discs to be machined. On the Alfa transaxle models you have torsionbar suspension in the front and those sit in the lower arms. If you lower these cars you can end up with a rollcentre situated under the ground. The arms point upward. To prevent that i'm going to flip the balljoint.


This is the original setup.

And this is what i'm looking to build.



The arms get the correct type of balljoint as they're loadbearing.

The spindles have received a collared bushing with the correct taper on the other side. Had those spindles modified a long time ago when i build some tubular arms. But those arms can't be used with torsionbars so aren't an option.

[giuliettaevo]

Besides suspension and brakes i'm also looking into the dashboard.

The original cluster has a cable driven speedo which reads 200km/h. Cable won't work for me and the car will easily reach 240+km/h.

Revcounter will also not work with my ecu but that could be solved.

As i don't like the general look and layout of the gauges i'm looking into making my own version. I'm planning on using the gauges I recovered from my Giulia for it. I will put the speedo on the left and the revcounter on the right. In between there will be the tank and temp gauges in the same style. There is a plate being cut for me with the holes so i can see what i can build. Really liked these in my Giulia so i'm happy to be able to use them again in my Giulietta.

[biturbo228]

I was looking into that balljoint swap for my 75. Would be interested to know what the balljoint is that's used, or if there's a kit somewhere.

[giuliettaevo]

Opel Rekord C or Commodore😉

Those are the correct type and only about a mm larger in diameter.

Need to machine the arms to make them fit and need to modify the spindles for a taper the other way around.

I've never seen anyone offer a kit for it.

[Woofwoof]

Great you're back with new project. Hope all goes well for you. 

[giuliettaevo]

My mate collected the machined parts today.

With my parts i also had some parts machined for a project he's working on. Mercedes W123 with some om606 power going in. It needed brakes as well. The shop it was at before had tried to make some 300mm discs fit with some Alfa 166 4pot callipers. They made a bit of a mess of it. I upgraded to 330mm discs and drew a new adapter up for the callipers. The discs are of a newer Mercedes and are the same as i'm using on my Giulietta.

My mate fitted it this afternoon and send me the pics. Well chuffed it worked out this good.






Now let's hope my own stuff works out great as well..😅

[giuliettaevo]

I just got a special little delivery for my dashboard project.

The red dials are salvaged from my Giulia and are most likely the ones to be used. But that might change as I like the other ones as well..😅

The facia will be made satin black.

[giuliettaevo]

My lower control arms have been modified for the other balljoints. These are press-in type. I'll press them in when the arms have been blasted and painted. Will also replace the bushings for bearings then.

Discs have been modified to fit the hubs. Will order some front wheel bearings and start cleaning up the spindles and hubs so i can put it all together soon. Will also have to clean and paint the callipers, not looking forward to that.🙁

[Woofwoof]

Is there enough metal left on the control arms after modifying them for the new ball joints?

[giuliettaevo]

The picture makes it look way thinner as it really is. The original hole in the bottom is only enlarged by about 1mm in diameter.

People have done the same for balljoints from a Volvo 140 which are about 3mm bigger than mine. That would be even more scary to look at. But it's done on a racecar and has survived for quite a few years already so even that is strong enough.

[Woofwoof]

Yes, you are no doubt correct the photo could be deceiving and there's more metal supporting the new ball joints than it looks. Personally, I don't think I'd be happy with the modified arms, just saying even if I'm usually more wrong that right.

[giuliettaevo]

I'll take some better pics the next time. It's a very strong arm compared to the arms you see on modern cars.

But i have no problem putting this on my streetcar. If i had any doubts about it being safe it wouldn't go on. I was very lucky to survive my crash last year and i don't want to put my family through something like that again.

[biturbo228]

Yeah to assuage anyone's concerns this is a relatively common modification on transaxle cars. Not that that necessarily makes it a wise thing to do just because lots of people do it, but it does add a bit of weight to it being safe in practice.

[giuliettaevo]

Today i made some sleeves to replace the lower control arms bushings with roller bearings. This is also a racing upgrade. You can actually buy a kit for this but i found £229 ex Vat and shipping a bit steep. I've spend €35 and some time and got the same.😎

I've also measured the wall thickness around the machined holes for those who fear it's not enough.

At the lowest part there is a small ridge on the outside of the arm, thickness there is about 9mm. Above the ridge it's 6mm. Total height of the hole is over 22mm. Nothing to worry about.😉

[giuliettaevo]

Left some suspension parts to get sandblasted and epoxied. While I'm waiting for it I prepare some other parts. Hubs, spindles and a few other bits have been cleaned and painted black. When I get the other parts back they'll get painted black as well and then new bearings and bushings can be put in.

Most of the suspension and front brake work is the ready to be swapped over to the car. My mate will be away for a few days in the beginning of July, that means the lift is free and I can get a lot done then😊