Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Australia Forum

Racing => Transaxles => Topic started by: MD on August 29, 2011, 10:18:35 PM

Title: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on August 29, 2011, 10:18:35 PM
It all started with an itch. Greg Summerville and I were sitting around his workshop dining table on a typical Saturday afternoon knocking back some wood smoke oven meat pies for lunch and listening to the Goons Show on radio. After nearly choking on my food from the jokes, we decided to settle down and just talk shop like guys who love cars always do. Pretty soon the subject turned to race and rally. It had been around 10 years since Greg gave up rallying and he felt as his life was going stale. Me on the other hand had never been racing but was also looking to recharge the batteries with some sort of new activity.

Before too long we looked at each other and said, why don't we go club racing with the Alfa boys? It took about two minutes to decide on the car and who was going to do what. A week later I bought a clapped 2 litre Alfetta sedan, put it into a corner of the workshop to give it is new home and the birth of the Flying Brick had commenced.

While Greg worked on earning a buck and finishing jobs that were headaches through the week, I soldiered on with doing all the goffer jobs like stripping the car down to its last nut and bolt. Removing all the sound deadening materials inside and out in preparation of fitting a roll cage and full seam welding. Installing re-inforced front sway bar mounts that usually break off with big bars.Fitting rear dedion strap fixings to limit suspension droop. Engine bay cross bracing mounts and a host of minor body improvements.

Before all this happened, I made a body rotisserie so we could fit the car body to it and work on it with ease. This proved to be a great asset for making the roll cage, seam welding and overall fabrication work. It was also used in the paint booth to thoroughly paint the car inside out and top to bottom –literally.

Of course panel defects were repaired along the way and some serious weight reduction was also done at this time as the photos will show.

My design for the roll cage made strong emphasis on the rear suspension as the transaxles do all their driving from the rear. Get this right and the front will be a lot easier to sort out. Under utilise this small advantage and you may as well be driving a front box car with a live axle. So fixing the roll cage to the rear inner guard as it most often is, is not the answer. The cage should be tied to either the spring bases or the damper towers and reinforced accordingly to prevent flexing of these areas.

Why did we choose a transaxle sedan of all things? Well, it is sightly less weight than the coupe by some references. It has a 100mm longer wheelbase so that it is less twitchy. More headroom. Much cheaper to buy and runs the same mechanicals and suspension. With speeds of around 160kph (debatable) at the end of the Lakeside main straight for most Alfas, the air drag of the box verses the wedge seemed almost irrelevant. However the main reason we settled on the transaxle was that most of the winning club cars at the time were 105's. None of the transaxles that were competing seemed to have been developed to their full potential and so the time was ripe to set cat amongst the pigeons and have a crack. So we did. Here's some pics.
To be continued...
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on August 29, 2011, 10:20:24 PM
Continued photos..
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on August 29, 2011, 10:21:43 PM
..and some more.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on August 29, 2011, 10:22:55 PM
Last of this batch of photos.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: scott.venables on August 29, 2011, 10:36:58 PM
Boy have I been looking forward to this thread!  Thanks for posting MD.

Cheers,
Scott
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on August 30, 2011, 08:47:42 AM
Thanks fellas. Hopefully by the time the topic reaches the end, some inspiration will flow onto guys who are a bit tentative about starting a project of their own as we cover all aspects of this car.

I had a vision once that considered what an interesting experiment in Australia wide collaboration it would be if we all collectively contributed what we know to build an AROCA car of a certain capacity and class to challenge other clubs who support other makes in what might be called  "The Australian Auto Clubs Challenge". Love to see it happen in my lifetime to see how Alfa would fare.

Back to reality, stay tuned for other instalments as I have time.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on August 30, 2011, 10:04:10 PM
A couple of weeks later the body came back from the paint shop. Here we see the car taking some sort of shape and some clues to its eventual set up.

From the outset, I had a fixation that we had to retain the torsion bars otherwise to me it wasn't an Alfetta. We did give it coil overs as well to get the spring values up but that decision cost me an extra 14.5 kg of weight - something to keep in mind if you have the same puritanical views.

This body was eventually fitted up with acrylic windows all round except for the front screen. The headlights were just visual thing to allow more air flow into the engine bay and this proved to be too much of a good thing in later life for it but was eventually fixed I think.

The original fuel tank was retained as it had a perfect placement. Due to the removal of the rear divider, the filler neck and breather were fully encased for fire protection. The tank itself was modified by installing an in tank lift pump (VL Commodore) and a return line connection.

You will see that the front and rear bump stops were removed as the suspension only had 35mm travel. In race trim, the front rails were 80mm above the ground which made the car very low. Now this was part of the overall handling specs which we shall discuss in the suspension part of this topic. However, it was the biggest pain in the butt as it wouldn't go onto any hoist without first getting a lift up from an ultra low racing jack! And lets not talk about getting it onto a trailer. We needed 4.5 metre long ramps especially made to get it on and off the trailer. As they say, no gain without pain. Lesson here, if you want it low, be prepared for some issues.

The so called "air dam" was deliberately installed as a conversation piece. It had no other practical value whatsoever. It had supporters and others less than enthusiastic about it .With my sense of humour, I naturally had to give the 105 boys a bit of a rub up given all their wins and so I quickly named it my "105 nudge bar" and that's how the shit fight started..( as the joke goes) ;D ;D
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on August 30, 2011, 10:06:26 PM
some additional detail.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on August 30, 2011, 10:09:35 PM
a bit more cause this is the only way I can cover the topic
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on August 30, 2011, 10:11:41 PM
and to round off..

I will be covering the suspension next.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on August 31, 2011, 08:11:25 PM
Perhaps a list of the set up is as good as any approach followed by some photos that should be self explanatory.

·   Modified and adjustable roll centres front and rear
·   Inverted lower control arm ball joint.(ex Gemini) (needs 16" rims)
·   105 castor rod ball joint
·   SZ bushing to rear "A" frame
·   Adjustable watts links with rose joints
·   480lb Coil over Koni yellows together with 22mm torsion bars at the front. Total 600lbs.
·   420lb variable rate Springs at the rear and Koni yellow dampers
·   All dampers adjusted to match spring rates.
·   Modified bump steer geometry (about 80mm)
·   3.5* rear camber 0* toe
·   Hub conversion to 114.5mm PCD to facilitate much greater wheel selection
·   16x7 wheels, 35–ve  offset and fitted with 205x45x16 R series medium hardness tyres
·   No rear sway bar

I had envisaged a swanky adjustable front sway bar that would need a lot of experimentation to get the handling right. Before I did that  we fitted an original 22mm sway bar to get some idea of how much bar it needed. It turned out perfect straight out the of the box !! So it was pointless to do any more.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on August 31, 2011, 08:12:51 PM
Suspension continued..
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on August 31, 2011, 08:14:12 PM
Continued some more..
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: pep105 on August 31, 2011, 08:29:44 PM
Great thread MD

What a smorgasbord of Alfetta modification delights. Love the interesting and methodical approaches to the development of
the flying brick. Can only inspire others.

This is transaxle porn!  forget big naturals.com  ;)

As you were

Pep

Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: Ads on September 01, 2011, 04:55:04 PM
Great thread- keep up the good work!
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 01, 2011, 08:52:17 PM
Hey pep! You and me must have gone to the same reform school. I get my Penthouse mags in BRAILLE just like you.  ;D ;D

Yeah Ads, I will try to keep it going..Here's some more for ya.

..and so we come to the brakes. Probably my favourite subject on cars funny enough. At this stage I was still interested in keeping the inboard rotors but determined to make them more effective. Initially it all seemed straightforward.

I dispensed with the booster transfer bar and booster assembly. This saved around 14kg. The original pedal box was altered to accommodate a 4 bolt 25mm Toyota tandem master cylinder. The brake foot lever was reworked to provide a 6.5 lever ratio as there was no boost.

Conversion plates were designed and made to fit a complete Nissan GTR twin turbo set of alloy callipers and original rotors. The front rotors are 296 x32mm and the rear rotors are 300x16mm ventilated of course. Whilst the front rotors are not as big as is currently fashionable, I can tell you at 920kg, I cannot recollect any other Alfa out braking the Brick.

An in-line bias adjuster was installed but found to be completely unnecessary even though it might seem odd as the rear rotors are in fact larger than the fronts. However, bear in mind that the available friction area of the rear pads is considerably smaller and therefore the balance is restored.

It is common knowledge that transaxles generally have inferior brakes compared with say the 105 in their original make up. I know this for a fact as I have owned both. However, potentially they should have better braking owing to their better weight distribution and this set up takes full advantage of that.

The rear rotors are so big that I had to cut service panels in the boot floor to change pads !! The original Nissan rotor centres were machined out and grafted onto the ATE previous centres

The entire braking system is provided with new tubing, stainless steel braided flexible lines and the hard lines are routed well away from the drive tunnel to prevent breakage if the prop shaft gets loose and cuts the brake line during the process. The original location is actually in the tunnel and this was a foolish move from Alfa.

To reduce weight, the handbrake was dispensed with. After all, it's a racecar.

The actual brake pedal had some perforated mesh welded to it to provide additional grip and the configuration was set up for best heel-and-toe I could come up with.

As I said, it all seemed straight forward until I installed the engine and started to configure the induction side of things. What a nightmare!

The engine mounts were already custom made to level the engine in the hope that the ram tubes would not go through the bonnet as it would be a bad move to put a bend in them but that wasn't the only problem. The plenum was going to interfere with the master cylinder and so a solution was needed to that would satisfy both the induction and the placement of the master brake cylinder on the induction side. Another month of delays and $600 later, I had a solution. A master cylinder that was activated by a 90* plunger mechanism. This was designed by a good friend of mine who shall remain anonymous to protect his virginity. ;D
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 01, 2011, 08:54:08 PM
more of the brakes..
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 01, 2011, 08:59:05 PM
Still rolling..
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 01, 2011, 09:01:03 PM
Putting the anchors on with this lot..

Transmission soon...
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: Sheldon McIntosh on September 01, 2011, 11:24:18 PM
This is great stuff MD, thanks for sharing.  It's funny how, after about twice on the track, brakes become a very important topic to you all of a sudden....  I'm constantly looking enviously behind the wheels of 911s and and EVOs and so on these days.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: BradGTV on September 01, 2011, 11:57:42 PM
thaks for sharing mike, great infomation!
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 02, 2011, 09:51:11 AM
The transmission of the Alfa transaxles is the Achilles Heel of these models. This is because: -

1.   It effectively has three flywheels
·   The engine flywheel
·   The prop shaft
·   The clutch flywheel
2.   The prop shaft is an extension of the crankshaft and the balance issues are critical
3.   The gear selection is woeful with a long throw and large selection gate. Yes there are lots of different attempts to fix this and different owners claim that their shift is great. That is until they shift a Mazda MX5 or a competition Escort. (you get the idea)
4.   The need for a two-piece shaft because of where the gear selector is placed in the tunnel.

So if you had budget like the Super Cars do, this can all be fixed even without a torque tube like the Porsche 924 has.

Here's what you would do to minimise the problem: -
1.   Install a flex plate at the back of the crankshaft with ring gear on it.
2.   Fit a one-piece carbon fibre prop shaft with a BMW front coupling and a universal joint at the rear. (CV's are better for balance but push and pull the crap out of the rubber coupling during acceleration and deceleration)
3.   Make a custom shifter mechanism inboard to accommodate the one-piece shaft and fix the general selection issues at the same time.
4.   Install a custom clutch flywheel of about 125mm diameter with a multiplate miniature pressure plate ( like motor cycles)
5.   Selection refinements inside the gearbox itself.

This will get the power robbing spinning mass down to zip and get the gear selection to equal any "stick-in-the-box" set up.

So does the Brick have that? Well in a sense it has about 50% of that which is mostly due to budget constraints. It does have revised flywheels, custom shafts and couplings, competition clutch and inboard gear selection. One of the biggest problems I have had in designing and making custom prop shafts in Brisbane is a lack of machine shops that have the necessary skills and equipment to correctly balance them once they are made up. A huge frustration.

I am not going to dwell on gear ratios and the lightening of gear sets as these have already been discussed elsewhere on this Forum.

If any of these modifications are of interest to you and you want to adopt them, please bear in mind that to make the components and or adaptations involves some serious bucks if you cannot do it your self. What you are seeing in this topic of modifications has in effect cost many thousands of dollars to finally implement satisfactorily. It seems like machine shops have their own financial language and their prices are usually quoted in telephone numbers.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 02, 2011, 09:57:07 AM
..more
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 02, 2011, 09:58:14 AM
.and some more
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 02, 2011, 09:59:01 AM
continued..
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 02, 2011, 10:00:44 AM
This thread is longer than pep's wish list  :)
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 02, 2011, 10:02:06 AM
and to conclude the transmission stuff.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: alfagtv58 on September 02, 2011, 10:04:52 AM
Really enjoying this thread, thanks MD.

Quick question, you mentioned in your initial post you were building this to go and play with the AROCA boys.  Did you also have in mind an existing CAMS/AASA category?  i.e. were you just building it to go as quick as possible or building it with racing in improved production/2L Sports sedans or similar in mind also?
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: aggie57 on September 02, 2011, 10:22:23 AM
MD - great thread. Keep it up.

Not sure I agree with your comment that the transaxle is the designs achilles heel though.  The front suspension geometry would have to run that close......
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: Neil Choi on September 02, 2011, 10:31:13 AM
I am envious on the build, keep it coming and I am learning something all the time from this.

Cheers
Neil
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 02, 2011, 10:53:42 AM
alfagtv58,

Unashamedly I must admit I planned to build this car to be a front runner from the outset in an effort to challenge the dominance of the 105's in our local Club competition.Once the initial bugs were sorted out, it proved that it could outpace even the likes of Bill Magoffin's lovely 105 for example.

To be competitive in today's improved production, these cars would have a power to weight problem for example against the Lotus Escorts and the like. Having said that, when I took it to Morgan Park racetrack which is a CAMS site for scrutineering, it passed with flying colours and  I was invited to log book it but I never did as at that time Club competition was paramount.

I hope that answers your question.

aggie,

the front end is a cheap fix compared with the transmission as a whole.

Neil,

By the time topic is concluded, you will see that the only original thing on this car that has not been refined is the front windscreen. :)
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: BradGTV on September 02, 2011, 03:44:55 PM
any chance of putting a picture up of the gearbox end of your shifter?
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 02, 2011, 05:10:56 PM
Absolutely.

This version also dovetails into the diagrams to sort of explain a few more things.

Anybody dares to criticise my brilliant artwork can stand in the que for a jelly bean. ;D
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 02, 2011, 07:49:20 PM
Approaching the home stretch now so lets talk about the electrics.

For my purposes, I don't need headlights and parking lights or indicators. Nor do I need dip switches, and indicator assemblies. I don't need hazard warning. I don't need wipers cause I never get on the track when it rains ( I am too chicken shit and I hate spending money on wet tyres) so naturally all that stuff is gone.

In its place is a hand made lightweight loom that manages the engine, charges the battery, keeps the engine at optimum temp and puts on the brake lights.

It uses a Motec ECU. An ultra light battery which is for running only. To start the engine, there is a 150amp Andersen plug coupled to a mother of a starter battery that would start a tank in Siberia. This is removed after firing. The alternator is a midget 40amp Denso from a Barina.

The coils are double ended ex Commodore that have been rewired for the job. The igniters are new M&W. Everything fully relayed and fused. No ignition key lock.

Apart from that, the office has a basic binnacle for temp and oil pressure. There is a tacho large enough that Stevie Wonder could see and a shift light bright enough that even Ray Charles could have changed gears with. ( I have no doubt if the Brick was in the Blues Brothers movie, he would have) ;D

I used a wasted spark configuration. The fuel pumps and surge tank live under the boot floor. There is a VL Commodore lift pump in the tank and an ex Volvo/Bosch EFI delivery pump for injection.

My final instalment will be about the engine, induction and exhaust system.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 02, 2011, 07:52:21 PM
A few more..
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: giulia_veloce on September 03, 2011, 06:50:40 AM
Hi MD

A great thread which I enjoy reading,as im sure many others are also.
Lots of great modifications which a lot of thought has gone into.

I get a bit concerned about comments made about certain cars being able to beat other cars.
Bill magoffins 105 is a very fast car,but it is built to a set of rules=NC
I would look forward for your car to beat his car in any competition,provided it met the same rules as his is.=NC.

It looks like you car will be logged as a Sports Sedan,which has far more freedom as to modifications allowed etc.

Lets see what lap times your car does at circuits like Lakeside,Eastern Creek,Phillip Island,Wakefield Park etc and compare them to Bills lap times.

Robert
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 03, 2011, 10:17:05 AM
I think you make a good and valid point and I support it.
Bills' 105 is a great car and he is an excellent driver and hopefully nothing less has come across from what I have said already.

In terms of compliance, this car under AASA rules complied for competition at Lakeside . The Brick and Bills' car were at the same venue in the same ECC event. My comment is based on relative performances of that event that I was present at. Best lap time for the Brick was 62.57 in July 2009. That's the good bit. The shitty bit is that it had DNF due to the track supplying the wrong fuel on the day which leaned out the mixture to the shit house unbeknown to us and this had a nasty effect on our brand new engine!!  >:(  (our normal fuel was avgas) Whilst Bills' car was a whisker slower on the day but it had a finish!  :)

Regrettably I cannot find all the Natsoft results for the ECC in 2009 at Lakeside so the best I can do is put up Bills' qualifying pace at the ECC in 2011 which is 63.35. If anyone has his data for 2009, please feel free to post it in this topic.

I am not aware of just what class Bills' car does/can fit in but you would be correct in your assumption for the Brick being a Sports Sedan. Having said that, it should be understood that the level of development for the car was only intended to beat the local club racers. The budget did not stretch for a world beater and no such claim is made. Under our Club competition rules there are no such classifications and there is a great freedom and variation in the level of modifications permitted. The space framed rear engined Sud developed by Bob Whitehouse for example races in the same class. The Brick complies with all of these club rules.

Perhaps I should put it in a different perspective. The Brick  is not the quickest 2 litre in Australia. It was the quickest 2 litre Queensland built Club Alfa transaxle that I know of.

As Bill's car is very well known, I used it as benchmark comparison to give the reader some reference to it's performance and  I hope that you will accept this indulgence. I should also point out that under new ownership, the Brick does not run its original specifications and the tables have turned in so far as Bill's car is now faster.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 08, 2011, 06:54:41 PM
The Engine

So finally we come to the engine. This involved a lot of planning as I needed to pull the rabbit out of the hat to make any gains on the good performance of existing engines of my future club competitors. There is a rule of thumb that says it is readily achievable to obtain around 180-185bhp by modifying a typical 2 litre Alfa engine. This much power is very cost effective and with sufficient body weight reduction, can make a good mid-field runner and certainly one that is reliable.

Going above this "glass ceiling" calls for some voodoo and serious bucks. You would imagine that getting 100 bhp per litre these days should be a cake walk. Perhaps it is with better combustion chamber shapes, 4 valves per cyclinder, good squish areas and other modifications. However as tough as the Alfa twin cam engine is, it remains a tall order. Now I know that Auto Delta came up with around 220bhp on carburettors and I would love to know the precise details of ALL the modifications but that's more of a pipe dream than a likely reality for a club racer's budget without sponsorship.

Anyhow I though I'd go for broke and aim high and do the best I could with a 2 litre twin spark. I imported this engine from Holland together with some complete transmissions. Normal engine wear was not an issue as it was all going to get renewed anyway. When I stripped it down, I noticed that the liner wells were beautifully clean without any mineral deposition and the head water galleries were like I had opened an new engine. More mechanics should learn to use distilled water in the coolant to end up with a pristine cooling system. So far so good but it didn't last. Having the crankshaft checked, it was noted that it had defects in the journals and was basically a throw away. Not too much of a problem as I had a spare Alfetta crankshaft which was promptly checked, the oil galleries cleaned and socket head screw plugs fitted and balanced.

There are a couple of differences between these two crankshafts. The nose piece on the TS is longer to fit the 3 gang pulley whilst the Alfetta one is shorter and smaller in mass which is a good thing. A single front pulley is all you need for a race motor and this fits without any problems. In my case I used a custom harmonic balancer fitted with an aftermarket 60-2 crank angle wheel. The second difference is that using the Alfetta crankshaft increases the stroke by 1mm but in my case this was beneficial as I was aiming for 13.5:1 CR. Never actually got there as around 12.5:1 is all I wound up with due to piston valve pockets being made larger than necessary. (you get that when they make them in California and you are Brisbane.)

Let's start with the head.

The head received port enlargement, polishing,  47 x 7mm inlet valves, 38x7mm exhaust, 12.5mm lift cams and matching valve springs. The variator  was locked up on the inlet cam and some machining was necessary around the cam lobes to allow an interference free rotation. All new exhaust manifold studs were installed and the intake manifold was modified by welding into it 90mm inlet runners from the throttle bodies. As part of this modification, the runners also had provision to mount the throttle bodies as one group. The throttle bodies had 46mm butterflies.

Testing the head flow with all its modifications was an anxious moment I can tell you. Months of planning and labour and parts sourcing was about to reveal the worth of the effort. Would it be gold, silver or lead? Well at 12mm lift, it flowed
147.61cfm.( Superflow flow bench CMF rates @ 10" of water ) After doing some number crunching, it seemed in theory at least the sucker might make 220bhp + but of course it never did. However this was all good and positive info at the time and provided good vibes to carry on with.

more..
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 08, 2011, 06:56:07 PM
more pics..
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 08, 2011, 06:57:18 PM
few more..
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: Duk on September 08, 2011, 09:26:18 PM
Did you do anything special for the crank case ventilation like a vacuum pump or a pan evac set up? Or was it dry sump?
I always have this thought that a long stroke engine could really benefit from having as little windage in the crank case as possible, even with a windage trays or crank scraper.

Any way, cheers again for sharing MD  8)!
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 09, 2011, 09:27:39 AM
Hi Duk,

You learn a lot each time you go all out with what you think is all the information you need but find out later you know Jack Sheet. I am sure we are all a lot wiser following that model. If only it didn't burn such a hole in the wallet to get that wisdom !!

You are on the money. Somebody out there will contradict me I am sure but from what experience that I have gained as an amatuer, the only way I could get this engine to go beyond 100bhp/litre (N.A.) is to dry sump it for a start plus a total review of all the critical parameters. This would take things to a different torque band, higher rpms, different gear ratios and so on goes the money trail. This sort of thing goes into the realms of engine development rather than just engine building and its why touring car engines cost such huge bucks.

I went part of the way and installed a windage tray from Paul Spruell. Hard to quantify what difference it made. Unrelated to power gain, I also relocated the crankase breather discharge from above the timing chains to the LHS rear of the cam cover due to excessive oil throws in this area. (not show in early photos)
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 09, 2011, 10:04:29 AM
Hi Paul,

I have had some nice Alfas in the past and always a brisk peddler but like lots of guys of my vintage, always the best man but never the groom.ie. never been on a race track before I built this car. This was part of the motivation to built it and to receive driver training from my original partner who was both our mechanic and former rally driver and minor champ.

What was it like? Well it could have been orgasmic but it was more like pants wetting. Especially when I did 180* on the first major corner I gave it a boot full. Something unrelated to my lack of driving skills and more related to a major oil leak from my transmission !! The person who left out the 13mm bolt at the top of the tranny that could not be seen from a pre race inspection shall remain nameless to protect them loss of sleep at night.  ;D Two weeks of searching for the oil leak, I found the problem.

Now back to your question :)
Because everything was so different to any Alfa I had driven before including the environment that I was in made it all surreal but a huge thrill. Lots of squirt and over 3,000rpm of linear torque, handling to burn, unbelievable brakes and "G" forces I never experienced before would sort of sum it up and this is just a club car!

The experiences of a REAL race car must be awesome.

No I personally didn't do the porting but I did prescribe the dimensions and shape. It was done at a Brisbane machine shop.

Ultimately, apart from doing a few test runs in the car to sort out issues with it in its early life, I never got to campaign it myself for complex family reasons and this was left to my new partner and eventual owner, Mark Jackson.If I remember correctly, he won the overall club championship with it in the first year of ownership. In truth, this is likely a result of good driving from Mark and the attributes of the Brick as much as it is the absence of the Brick's main rival at the time being Andrew Wilson and his fabulous TS powered 116GTV during the year of competition.

Once again, I hope names named shall be understood to have been done so with total respect.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 13, 2011, 06:38:14 PM
The Exhaust side of things.

Decided to retain the original exhaust valve size of 38mm based on intake to exhaust valve ratios. All valves were re-profiled and lighter overall. No sodium valves were used without any detriment.

I made the extractor set for it and used a commercially available four-into-one merge collector. The balance of the system was fabricated to my specs by a local custom exhaust shop.

The headers are 38mm ID x 860mm and secondary pipes is 62mmIDx 720mm.
The pistons are CP brand custom made in the US and coupled to Carillo rods.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 13, 2011, 06:39:45 PM
A few more pics to round off the exhaust stuff..
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 13, 2011, 08:27:34 PM
Well I think I have covered pretty much most of the key modifications without going into every nuance which is not necessary. I hope you have enjoyed the evolution. As you can see, with some determination even the humble four door brick can assert some aggression in a racing sense.

It was a lot of work and cost some serious bucks. Was it worth it? Are these toys ever worth it?

I will leave you to be the judge.

Cheers, MD
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: scuzzyGTV on September 13, 2011, 08:43:13 PM
MD thanks very much for sharing, I certainly appreciate it  ;D
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: Evan Bottcher on September 13, 2011, 08:54:42 PM
Thanks very much for sharing all this MD.  I remember seeing the car at Alfesta in Mooloolaba in '08 and marvelling at the level of detail.

I hope you'll share some more details of your new project soon ;)
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: pep105 on September 13, 2011, 09:28:10 PM
Thanks for the insight MD I think you covered this in the right amount of detail

Thanks for sharing, questions will follow no doubt would love to hear the details of your new project GTV (?)
one day when your ready

MD = Dr Transaxle

Quote from: MD on September 02, 2011, 10:00:44 AM
This thread is longer than pep's wish list  :)

My wish list is pretty long  :) difference is this thread was just the right length 
and it got completed...

Cheers
Pep
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: Storm_X on September 25, 2011, 10:40:14 AM
OMG i only seen this thread until now. I am so jealous.

I have a few questions The brake pedal box where did you get it from / who made it?? I need one so BAD,also where did you get your shockers from?

Thats the exact same brake rotors and callipers i am putting on the front of my Giulietta.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on September 25, 2011, 11:43:06 AM
StormX

Happy to see you are enjoying the topic and getting some inspiration. I must admit jealousy is not a reaction I ever anticipated. You certainly have an alternative take on things. :)

Now, the pedal box is the original factory unit modified hugely to fit my special circumstances. It can also be the basis for your own project.

The dampers are Koni yellows re-valved for my spring rates front and rear. They have coil over adaptors for the front set.

If you are using my rotors and calipers, consider installing a 25mm bore brake master cylinder with a minimal 6.5 lever ratio on the brake pedal.

Best of luck with your project.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: Storm_X on September 25, 2011, 04:32:00 PM
I might try a bm44 or a bm50 with the Nissan callipers on the front and Alfa 75 brembros out boarded on the rear. I will try and see if i can get my pedal box modified like yours, i was planing to just keep the booster but after taking it out i dont want to put it back.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: Duk on October 23, 2011, 01:05:00 PM
Hey MD, is there anything in the rules that says you couldn't move the engine and/or driver back and down?
I was thinking about this when watching something about the V8 Poopoo cars (I actually like  the racing  ;)), get as much of the mass as central and as low as possible, and thought it could be applied well to a purpose built track Alfa (prolly need a dry sump to move the donk very far, though). Floor mounted pedals (like in the V8's) would save some grief with inlet system clearance.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on October 23, 2011, 09:53:17 PM
Yes Duk you are in the swim with these ideas but off course it has all been done before and probably the best approach is a space frame front end but how far do you want to go? Why stop at half a space frame?,,,I think you know what I am saying.

As for the pedals, well, all you have to do is look at a 105 for the answer. Have them come up from the floor as you have covered already.

Nothing in local rules say that you couldn't do all these mods and still compete in AASA comps. Look at the rear engined Sud for example being campaigned here. The ex Jim Nielsen Giulietta comes to mind regarding a "hybrid" approach along the lines you are raising although it is more to do with weight saving from what I can recollect as it has the original firewall from memory. Perhaps Jim will clarify it for us.. :)
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: hammer on October 24, 2011, 10:54:04 AM
Giulietta's engine is a little lower than standard but I think it's position in relation to the firewall is the same.

Cheers,

Brent
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: Sam on November 07, 2011, 12:42:04 AM
Hi MD

Great build,  very inspirational.

I wonder if you can provide some info on the Rotisserie you built.

It looks like you used the car's  front and rear Bumper mounting points, to attach it to the Rotisserie is this correct?

I'm thinking of building one for an Alfetta GTV and I was thinking of using the same mounting points,  but I wasn't sure if they were strong enough or if there were any issues supporting the weight.

My car is currently only a shell, but I may want to mount suspension and gearbox bits while it's on the Rotisserie.

What are your thoughts?

Sam
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on November 07, 2011, 06:44:05 PM
Hi Sam,

Yes I did use the bumper mounting points front and rear. Please see photo of the front mount which bolted on via some 10mm plates extending through to the rotisserie support frame.

The rear  is a bit more tricky and  I am sorry to say I have no photos of how to do it. Basically you have to alter the body work to make it strong enough with some plating and then bolt onto that.

There is no problem with the mounts holding the chassis only and the roll cage. Putting other mechanicals I have no experience with and cannot really advise. Please remember that it is not a hoist and shouldn't be used as a substitute for one. Also think of how you will remove it from the rotisserie once you are done.

About the only useful thing to do that doesn't involve any weight to speak of is to relocate the brake and clutch lines away from the tunnel in case the prop shaft munches them up if it gets loose. (and they do !)

I just remembered the GTV front bumper mount differently to the sedan and I would think you would need to weld up that front box section well so that you could bolt onto the captive nuts securely.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: Sam on November 07, 2011, 09:06:01 PM
Hi MD

QuoteAlso think of how you will remove it from the rotisserie once you are done.

I was thinking of building it like this one  ...

http://redwingsteelworksplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/100_0571.jpg

so raising and lowering should be easly done !?

Sam
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on November 07, 2011, 09:31:51 PM
Well Sam from my viewpoint  I would be keeping it much simpler than that. At the appropriate time  I would be making arrangements with a hoist owner and simply pushing the whole thing into the hoist and letting the hoist hold it whilst you remove the rotisserie from the body and fit some suspension components to move it off.

I used 100mm tube only because I had it lying around. I may be wrong, but the example you provided appeared not to be able to rotate the job being held and isn't that the whole idea? It all seems welded up?.
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: Sam on November 07, 2011, 09:42:42 PM
its not obvious from the picture, but it can rotate.

The 2 nuts (& bolts) on the round pipe are used to stop it in the position he wants it on.

Personally I think he went a bit thin on some of the material.
If you look close you can see a couple of supporting wheels on the centre rail. I think that may be because it was sagging in the middle so he put them in to provide some support.

Anyway I don't have a friend with a hoist, but I do have 2 spare car jacks   :)

Sam   
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on January 16, 2013, 11:05:46 PM
Finally ?

Here is the Flying Brick at the hands of the current owner playing with other Alfas at Lakeside Park.

http://youtu.be/qSG1jeBWw6Y (http://youtu.be/qSG1jeBWw6Y)
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: Sam on January 16, 2013, 11:56:29 PM
hey MD,
I noticed the laptop, is the brick running on EFI? whats the controller ? is it on ITB?
Title: Re: How I built the "Flying Brick"
Post by: MD on January 17, 2013, 07:34:55 AM
Motec, 46mm TB's