From: welty@balltown.cma.com (richard welty)
Subject: race car project: ITB Alfetta Sedan
Organization: New York State Institute for Sebastian Cabot Studies
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 21:26:48 GMT

in an effort to provide some `doer' content to the general voyeuristic
rec.autos.sport, i thought i'd send this here instead of to one of the
several email lists that are kicking around out there.

after some pointless flailing, my long-envisioned IT car project
is taking shape.  i now have a somewhat cosmetically lacking 1975
Alfetta Sedan to use as a basis for the project.  it needs paint, and
has a stuck intake valve and a marginal throwout bearing, but other
than that, it is a functional car.

so i need advice on how to set my priorities.  my general plan of
action is to run about a year of marque club track events, developing
and debugging the car, while keeping an eye on the IT rulebook.
ideally, i can go to SCCA driving school with a working, reliable
race car so that i can focus on the school rather than fixing a
breakage prone car a lot.

classification is a minor issue; the alfetta sedan is not currently
listed in the IT rulebook, but the alfetta coupe is listed in ITB,
so i'm told that getting the sedan added won't be all that tough.

performance priorities to be set:

engine
handling
braking

where should initial (limited) money go?  i have substantial
OE spares; alfetta motors are plentiful and cheap, as many early
alfettas have gone to rusty graves.  i have a cylinder head at
the machine shop right now; i'm inclined to have my machinist do
a fairly tame piece of work, as $400 for the flow bench seems the
wrong place to put cash right now.

i'm looking for torsion bar/spring upgrades rather than sway bar
upgrades, as front sway bar mounts in alfettas are weak, and according
to IT rules, may not be reinforced.  i have a set of somewhat stiffer
GTV-6 torsion bars that i could bolt in, but i can get still stiffer
torsion bars for this car.

there is one sway bar upgrade i'm considering; taking a stock rear
sway bar and modifying it to become an adjustable bar, to give me
some ability to control it.

brakes?  not much you can do with them.  adding cooling ducting
is inexpensive, and based on my experience with an alfa milano
on the track (an enlarged alfetta sedan with a v-6), worthwhile.
Fred Puhn (the brake handbook) talks about adjustable proportioning
valves; the tilton he describes is $85 from Pegasus.  is this truly
worthwhile in an IT car?

an accusump seems almost mandatory as an engine saver.

safety?

i probably won't find a suitable commercially available roll cage for
this car.  does anyone have any cage fabrication hints? (weld in cages
are legal in IT, which could be a useful simplification.)

the window net/fire extinguisher/5 point harness/etc issues all
seem clear cut; i've already aquired a sparco seat for the car.
what size fuel cell is appropriate for IT usage?  there is a wide
variety of sizes in the pegasus catalog.

anything that i'm missing from this list? (i've omitted driving suits,
etc., as that will mostly wait until i'm ready for SCCA school.)
any suggestions about what order to do things in would be greatly
appreciated as well.

cheers,
  richard
-- 
richard welty                            518-393-7228
welty@cabot.balltown.cma.com
  ``if you can read this, mario, you're too close''
    -- bumper sticker seen on a CART safety truck
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport