Peter Dyrelund from Denmark has owned five Alfasuds, and he still holds three of them. The first one is a white Alfasud Ti 1.5 which had been totaly diassembled, sandblasted and metallised. It is used for clubracing. The second one is a red Alfasud 1.2 ti series I which is still a hundred percent original. The third Alfasud is the one you can see on this page - Peter's masterpiece for the use on road and track.

The green Alfasud here was build upon good knowledge about the Alfasud and its weak spots. The intention was to build an Alfasud as good as - or better than - a new one straight from the factory. It should not ne kept as original as possible (for that reason, Peter owns the red series I Alfasud ti) but should be improved concerning roadholding, built quality and power.

Peter found a metallic grey Alfasud 1.5 ti QV in Germany in 1995, not far from Düsseldorf. It was advertised in the German Alfaclub magazine. The car had 100.000 km on the odometer, and it was almost without rust and never repaired. That was a good basis for a perfect Alfasud. The car was taken totally apart, sandblasted, reinforced at the weak spots (e.g. front rails), metallised and painted in a smart metallic green colour. The paint job is very well done.

Suspension:
Shorter springs made by Eibach were mounted together with yellow Koni shock-absorbers which can be adjusted individually for traction. All rubber bushes were renewed with the good old, massive type, not the ones with moonshaped holes. The front stabilizer-bar was changed to the thick one of a series I and II Alfasud, and at the rear an anti-roll stabilizer was mounted, the one of of the Trofeo Alfasud kit. But the one mounted is 20 mm thick (instead of 18 mm). The final finish was the wheels, BBS RC shotblast polished 7,5x16" rims with 195/45ZR16 Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres. Actually, the rims should be specially made ones in order to suit the car, 4x98 mm, ET 35 mm, with a centerhole of 58,5 mm. But Peter could not get them and so had to take the same rims only with 4x100 mm which were fixed with special off-set bolts (available from BBS and OZ). At the rear, special made 7 mm thick spacers with center guidance are mounted, so that the tyres can clear the rearward facing reaction rod. With the new set-up the already good roadholding was further improved.

Brakes:
All brake parts were new or renewed. At the rear it got new calipers, new discs, and a new brakebalance valve. Knowing that the brake tends to fade when it is used real hard (e.g. on the track), Peter exchanged the solid front discs against specially made ventilated discs. They were mounted with modified calipers with spacers inserted for the necessary gab. The basic discs came from a Mazda B2200, but they have been modified, and also connected to an adapter.
The brake hoses are steelbraded and the brake pipes made of copper. Peter chosed Mintex 1144 brakepads for both, front and rear axle. They give a good compromise between cold and hot performance. Brakefluid is DOT5.1. The braking system now performs well at club-meetings on racetracks.

Powerpack:

The best version of the Boxer-engine is - in most enthusiasts’ eyes - the 1.7 version with carburettors. Such an engine with low mileage was mounted at first. In the beginning of 2005 Peter has changed this engine to a much more powerful version. The engine has been built without regarding the cost to be the very best for a road going Alfasud.

Peter has modified a 1.7 litre 8V boxer-engine with 90 mm JE forged pistons which have raised the compression ratio to 11,5:1 and the volume to 1832 cc. For better airflow bigger inlet valves (41,5 mm) were fitted. The camshafts have been changed to Colombo & Bariani 280S, and adjustable cam belt wheels have been fitted, so that the adjustment of the cams can be fine tuned. The first version of the 1.7 boxer-engine still had mechanical valve lifters, and such cylinder heads are used. The shape of the combustion chambers is optimised and the inlet channels are enlarged, polished and optimised in a flowbench. The polished valve covers with "Alfa Sport" text are single productions.

The normal 40 mm Weber or Dell'Orto carburettors have been changed in favour of 40 mm Jenvey throttle bodies fitted with Weber Marelli 330 ml 4-hole injection nozzles. An EFI Technology Euro96 engine management system with self-learning function manages injection and ignition. The EFI manages full sequential injection, powers a shift light, limits the rews by soft and (later) hard cut, and can also manage pit-lane-speed and anti spin function. The setup of the EFI is done by a laptop computer. The EFI Technology system comes from the race world and is used in the German DTM, ETCC and all the Formula 3000 race cars. The EFI module is fitted in the service part of the engine compartment behind the McPherson strut fitting. The old Bosch ignition system has been replaced by the EFI and a four-point ignition coil. The EFI gets information about the fase of the engine (for the sequential injection) by a Hall-element which is built in the modified distributor and by another Hall-element placed at the flywheel.

The exact power has not been measured yet but should be in the region of 150 bhp at 6.500 rpm and 180 Nm at 5.000 rpm. The flywheel is purpose built of aeroplane-aluminium. The aluminium main part of the flywheel has been fitted with the original starter ring and a high strength steel plate for the friction part of the flywheel. The weight of the total flywheel has been reduced from 7,3 kg to 4 kg. The extensive modifications do not reveal themselves at the first glance in the engine compartment, which looks like a normal twin carburettor boxer-engine. The gearbox is the one of a 33 16V and it is fitted with a Quaife Torsen limited slip differential. Provisions for the inboard brakes have been made, and the drive for the speedometer has been changed to the mechanical one. The whole powerpack has been mounted using new parts everywhere. That includes driveshafts, 16V clutch, clutch slave cylinder, engine mounting rubber, fuel hoses, camshaft belts and tensioners, gear-starter motor from an Alfa 33 16V, alternator, a special small American SBS battery and a K&N air cleaner. The exhaust is an Iresa-one with cross-over manifold and a diametre of 60 mm.

Bodywork:
The colour is metallic green (a colour from the Audi/VW Group), and also the wheel arch extensions and frontspoiler are painted and mounted with Zender rubber to give the best finish. The front part of the rear wheel arch extensions has a 3M transparant protection tape because it tends to be marked by stone chips. The black side protections are the old ones with "Alfasud" written on them.

Every light front and rear is new and also the headlight surroundings. A new windscreen and new rubbers at the front and rear have been mounted. The car has been rustprotected with Dinitrol 1000 waxoil everywhere during and after the completion and with Dinitrol ML4 underneath. At the front there are Alfa 33 plastic inner wing protections and at the rear there are plastic inner wing protections from an Opel Kadett D. Almost every part has been mounted with stainless steel bolts (bumpers, frontwings, doors, bonnet, hatch, tank, etc.).

 

Pictures made during the restoring
During the sandblasting...	The ready-metallized body waiting to be painted	The front-end after being painted

Cabin:
Normally such a Ti QV has a red carpet and black seats with "ti"-letters all over. But in this car all has been changed to black. The seats are Recaro Sport specifically ordered with holes for harness belts. The hight is electrically adjustable and the lenghth of the seat squab is adjustable, too. The lumbar support adjusts with air. The seats are fixed to the floor only with the help of a stainless steel plate which also helps to move the seat over 1 cm to the centre, making the driving position better  (more aligned to the steering wheel and pedals). The rear seats have been made with the same fabric as the front seats. The fabric on the doors has been changed to Recaro fabric, and also the inner roof has been changed to black soft fabric. The floor carpet is a black one, and there are additional floor mats with a nice Alfasud logo from the Justsuds company. At the rear, two three-point inertia belts from an Alfa 33 have been mounted. The steering wheel is a Momo Champion with suède on the top quarter. The steering boss is bought from the company Tritschler in Germany, which can deliver bosses for every old Alfa. The steering wheel moved a little closer to the driver, which improves the driving position.

The music system consists of a Sony RDS radio with 10CD pack and four Pioneer speakers. The antenna is electronic and hidden behind the rear wiew mirror.
Many other parts are new, including the gear lever knob and the pedal rubbers.

Conclusion:
Peter's greatest wish - to get a "brand new" Alfasud 20 years later - was fullfilled, and in addition the car has got numerous improvements. The longevity is vastly improved, the performance is better, the roadholding improved, the car just "talks" to the driver in a way no modern car does. The driving environment is better suitable for large persons (Peter measures nearly 2 m), and on top of that comes, that the design of the car is still not old fashioned. Peter loves to take his Alfasud for a quick ride on the small country roads where the car's abilities really shine.

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Last Update: February, 27th 2005     Created: April, 18th 2002

© Layout by Tim Rauen. Text and photos by Peter Dyrelund.