Alfetta GTV John French Turbo delta

[Mike]

For those intrested, here are some pics of my John French Turbo Delta No.1.  Please excuse its current state, it has not been washed since I bought it and instead is being stored in my shed awaiting a comprehensive overhaul to bring it back to its former glory....I will try to resist modifying anything...except maybe the ignition control to avoid the nasty retard issues...and maybe a turbo compressor highflow....other than that, I'm looking to have it present as new.

As you can see she's a bit of a diamond in the rough, rust free and straight, but untidy.  It came complete with:

Oil cooler (which needs repair),
original turbo and wastegate as spares,
vented front rotors with bigger callipers,
coil overs in the rear,
28mm torsion bars,
koni reds,
5*3pc simmons alloys,
momo steering wheel and VDO autodelta boost gauge,
vented bonnet,
turbo kit,
engine bay inner wheel arch vents

All in all quite a comprehensive kit for its time and not cheap, having added about 30 percent to the purchase price at the time.

[Mike]

A few more

[Mike]

A few more

[Mike]

and the last of them.  Stay tuned for a full rebuild but don't hold your breath...my plan for this one is to do it over 5 years to avoid too much hair falling out in the process!

Cheers
Mike

[BradGTV]

very cool car
whats the deal with the kit? was it imported then installed in australia or installed by autodelta?
if it turns out half as good as you GT it should be a sweet ride.
look forward to updates.
cheers, brad

[Mike]

They were improted from autodelta and installed in Aus by Alfa dealers, John french in Brisbane being one of them.  There are a couple of actual imported steel bumper autodelta cars in Aus for racing, but they are a different kettle of fish.  These cars were built as customers ticked the box, how many were made I do not know.  All I know is that mine if john French's first one and was used as a test car, with the engine being in out out many times as they got to grips with the conversion.

[JOHN G]

So the car was the village bicycle, everyones had a ride.

Because his car is numero uno you are calling Mike's car  "una Puttana" LOL.

Mike the romans called prostitues lupa as in a female wolf, probably from the howling.

You should name your Turbo Delta "Lupa"

John.

[Mike]

   Lupa, I like it...maybe not a badge though, could get the odd weird look/offer!

Yep, she's been well 'used' I am sure, as have all old Alfas I'd hazard a guess.  Lupa can have a rest for a bit while I get the lipo and collagen ready. 

Chowderboy, can you tell me what turbo specs you are runnign and boost, and whether you are happy with it?  Any hp figures?  Just trying to work out what turbo I should go with...stock, stock modified or roller bearing gt28 or similar.  I don't want to go to silly so plan to stay below 14psi.  Can you confirm that these cars had 7:1 comp originally?

[Darryl]

Hey Mike,
I've been meaning to ask - what do you think about that (non original) airbox? Small? flow across carbs? Hard to tell from pics, and what would I know anyway - interested in your take on it.

[Mike]

I'm not a real fan of the non original airbox.  I have the original one but I really want to run an intercooler, so it's s tough one...I think I would probably have to make up my own box and add some volume.  The rule of thumb I have heard it about 2*the engine displacement in the plenum for turbo cars, but I'm a bit like you...not really sure what the majoc volume is.  I've seen plenty of factory turbo engines that make good hp and are modded to much more with factory small inlet manifolds...take nissan fj20 as an example.

As for flow across carbies, it's really not much of an issue when boost is involved, especially when relatively low flow rates are involved...I mean a factory turbodelta does not flow a great deal.

Take what I say as my opinion only, its not based on any proper testing!

[Mike]

Factory kkk turbo specs for the turbodelta / autodelta for anyone chasing them:

Grosse K26-2470R4:11....at:R61:5670293.....ausfNR 5326.9707002....RAT2869....RAT12241

[Mike]

I'll be hopefully getting a chance to start my turbo replacement this weekend.  My ball bearing turbo has arrived from a S15 JDM SR20 engine.  The turbo is good for about 300Hp and will suit the engine very well.  In fact it is the same turbo that was on the engine but for some reason had expired throgh worn bearings.  I am not sure why the previous turbo failed, but I have noted one trap for young players on the new replacement turbo and that is oil restrictor position.  The factory turbo for the S15 is low mounted (upsidedown) and the turbo delta factory position is on the side.  This position means that if the oil were to come in on an unmodified S15 turbo mounted to a delta manifold it would come in the bog hole and try to leave via the restrictor.  In this scenario I would worry that the bearings would see far too much oil and in addition would have real trouble getting rid of it.  So I'll be clocking to the turbo front and rear covers relative to one another such that the turbo center is rotated 180 degress.

I also noted that the turbo I removed had a water line that had a 90 degree hard mounting that was touching the body.  This probably had somethign to do with the noise the turbo would emit when the engine was turned off, resonating through the body and makign the turbo sound even worse...kind of like marbles ina  can :-).

Fingers crossed this turbo will transform the car....we shall see.