People who often visit this site maybe already know Peter Dyrelund from Denmark and his fast Alfasuds which are all in a better condition as at the time when they left the factory. In 1978 he bought his first Alfasud - a used 5m he used for one year. In 1979 he decided to buy a new one to be able to preserve it in as good a condition as possible. It was a 1.5 Super, the model with 84 bhp. It was just introduced to the marked. As it is well known, the stronger engines were always initially fitted in a ti or Sprint model, but then a year later were introduced in the 4- or 5-door models. Now a row of improvements began. Peter had to use the car as an everyday transport for a distance of almost two times a 100 km, so the improvements might not jeopardize normal driving quality. The car was also used for hobby in slalom, trackdays and driver courses (Nürburgring and other places). At first the car

was fitted with front inner wheel guards and got a rust protection with a 10-year warranty.

The car got sound deadening material under the bonnet, between the engine and passenger compartment, under the rear seat and in the luggage room; also an additional carpet was installed on the front and rear shelf. This made the car very silent inside. The engine was optimized on a roll-bench, and in fact it was revealed that it had only 74 bhp when first tested. After modifications to the carburettor, ignition timing and ignition advance curve, the engine reached its quoted performance of 84 bhp. The Golden Lodge spark plugs were changed to NGK B7ES. This change in spark plugs is a very advisable decision. All the hick-ups at low revs and starting on three cylinders disappear. At first the Compomotive wheels from the old Alfasud were mounted, but soon the wheels where changed to 5,5x13" Wolfrace rims and (later)

185/60 HR 13 Pirelli P6 and the shock absorbers to Bilstein Sport (gas). The front and rear spoilers and wheelarch extensions from the ti-model were mounted too.

When driving on the tracks, the car was fitted with 6x13" steel rims for rain tyres and 7x13" Ronal A1 for slick tyres. The first major change came after Peter made a wrong gearshift (from 2nd to 1st, instead of to 3rd gear) on a racetrack. The outlet valves were bent, and instead of repairing the engine, Peter found an almost new 1.5 95 bhp engine (the first with the double Webers) and the "95 bhp gearbox" which has a slightly higher 5th gear. This was a very good engine. In fact among Boxer-lovers the two engines considered best are the 1.5 95 bhp and the 1.7 118 bhp; the most disappointing engine being the first 1.5 105 hp, which in fact had only about 93 bhp and was not as flexible as the 1.5 95 bhp.
A little later two of the top model Recaro seats were mounted. The Recaro pattern on the seats was matching the yellow paint and brown interior very well. Also extra instruments were mounted and an Indianapolis steering wheel plus a top of the range Clarion radio with four 3-way Pioneer speakers. After some more years (we were now around 1983) Peter decided that the engine should have some more power. The cylinder heads where flowed, bigger inlet valves mounted and a Gleich camshaft (292 deg.) fitted, which had shown to be very good in other Alfasuds (the same camshafts were used in Dieter Gleich's 106 bhp special edition Alfasud ti and Alfasud Sprint). The 36 mm Weber carburettors where changed to 40 mm Dell' Ortos which were known as more sophisticated carburettors than the Webers. The Dell'Ortos have a better midrange system and a better acceleration system. For better cooling a Gleich big capacity finned oilsump cast in aluminium which  looked like a model of the oilsump from the traditional in-line Alfa Romeo engines was mounted. The engine also had anti squab plates to prevent the oil from running away from the oilpump when cornering hard. And as a finishing touch, a cross-over CSC exhaust system completed the engine conversion. On the suspension side the Bilstein shock absorbers (which actually raised the car a little because of the gas) were changed to yellow Konis and the springs to lower Eibach springs. The front discs were changed to ventilated discs and the steering got a faster rack and pinion. The suspension was now great, but the engine was a little disappointment. About 108 bhp was the outcome, and the low rev torque was bad – no hiccups but just "flat". The fuel economy dropped from 8,3 l/100 km to a little below 10l /100 km. What was wrong? The guess was that it needed a raise in compression ratio, because wilder cams in fact give a lower effective compression. In search of a solution Peter found Harry Schulze (who was several times German Trofeo Alfasud Champion). He was able to deliver the necessary forged pistons with a higher compression ratio. It was agreed that Harry Schulze should deliver an engine block with high compression forged pistons, polished conrods and balanced crank (still a 1.5). That proved to be a perfect solution. Changing the engine block – the only difference in power was in fact the higher compression ratio – brought back the low end torque, the economy (again 8,3 l/100 km), and gave more than 120 bhp after optimizing on the roll-bench. This engine was a joy driving. Good low end torque, free revving and very smooth.

Now the technical specification was perfect, but the bodywork was showing some signs of rust. It was rust- protected every year, but it now turned out, that the rust protection station had not protected all parts that they should, because they thought that they were filled with foam. But that was not the case. In many places the body parts were plain empty (no foam) and they should have been protected. Now the 10 year warranty displayed its worth. Many parts were changed at no cost. yellow but now with three layers of transparent coating (high quality paint). The window frames were painted black and so was the area between the rear lights, which were blacked out a little. The black pin stripes which were already fitted before were fitted again, and these stripes accentuated the form of the body. New BBS 6x14" rims with

185/60HR14 Pirelli P6 were mounted. Some time ago Peter had tried 5,5x15" with 195/50VR15 BF Goodrich, but that was terrible, the car sailing from one side to the other and the ridges on the road deciding where the car should go.

Now the car was as perfect as a street Alfasud could ever be at that time. The only possible improvements at that time (1985) was that you could get a special crank with 70 mm stroke and 85 mm pistons, creating a 1.6 engine. But that was very expensive.

In 1987 Peter moved to new premises, where he should not use the car for every day transport, so new plans developed. The result of one of the plans was a series III Alfasud 1.5 Ti with Sprintex supercharger. The yellow Alfasud now had 250.000 km (!) on the odometer, and it was sold for 8.000 Euro, same as the price of the new car in Denmark in 1979! Many years later Peter decided to make a new perfect Alfasud, an Alfasud 1.5 QV with 1.7 litre engine.

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Last Update: May, 27th 2004    Created: March, 7th 2003

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