Alfa Pages

Ken McCarthy · Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 5:16 am Post subject: Scott Sander

Hi Scott

I have sent you a couple of PMs recently and to others with no reply. Would you let me know if you received them please? Maybe they are not going through.

Thanks
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Ken McCarthy - 16V Sprint

Admin · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 11:19 pm Post subject:

Hi

If the messages is still in your outbox then it has not been received.

However, looking on the member list Scott has not been on since the 18th April.

All the best

Keith

Ken McCarthy · Posted: Sun Jul 04, 2004 11:38 pm Post subject: Scott Sander

Thanks Keith

I haven't heard from him and have no idea what has happened to him.

In the meantime I have gone ahead with replacing the front springs on my 16V Sprint with the original 16V springs (slightly sagged) and I have had the original Sprint rear springs reset. I now have Koni yellows on all four corners. The car is now 20mm lower all round which is what I was aiming at. I haven't had the wheel alignment done yet as I have some more to do (front bushes and new 15x6.5 wheels this week) but from rough measurement it looks to be just within Alfa tolerances for camber.

The car rides OK and is quite flat on corners but the steering is not quite as sharp with the softer front springs. It also seems to be riding on the shocks as much as the springs at the front so some experimenting with slightly stiffer front springs seems to be in order.

Regards

Ken
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Ken McCarthy - 16V Sprint

Admin · Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 10:26 pm Post subject:

Hi

At least you managed to get some 16V springs. I have now pretty much given up and bought some 2nd hand struts to get the springs!

All the best

Keith

Ken McCarthy · Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 11:36 pm Post subject:

Keith

I bought the whole car (as a wreck, although not badly damaged), mainly to get the drive unit but I used a lot of gear out of it.

I tried the rear springs but they were a bit stiff for the Sprint. They were also at the limit of spring catchment so couldn't be lowered any further. They were about 10mm lower than the Sprint rear springs at their original setting but I wanted to go down about 20mm. Note that this is a road car not a track special.

I have been chasing a set of Series 2 front springs which should be between the Series 1 and 16V for stiffness according to the data in the Manuals but haven't been able to find them here. Maybe in Australia they stayed with the stiffer spec from the Series 1.

Regards
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Ken McCarthy - 16V Sprint

Eddie W · Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2004 10:06 am Post subject:

Surely the S2 is stiffer as it has the same wire dia. same coil dia. and less coils. Less coils means stiffer, yes.
Regards Eddie
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A LITTLE FURTHER A LITTLE FASTER

Ken McCarthy · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 8:23 am Post subject:

The information I have from the manuals is that the Series one front spring has a rate of 0.4 mm/kg, series 2 is 0.455 mm/kg and series 3 (16V) is 0.5 mm/kg. I have had the Sprint springs (series 1) and the 16V tested and they are close to these numbers. Wire diameters are given as 13.6 mm, 13.0 mm and 12.8 mm respectively. I don't know if the number of coils are exactly the same but the Sprint and the 16V springs are very close.

Regards
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Ken McCarthy - 16V Sprint

Admin · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 7:46 pm Post subject:

Hi

Buying a car for the springs is really desperate!

To be honest I just want standard length springs. My front ones are now rather shorter than they should be after 13 years of wear.

All the best

Keith

Ken McCarthy · Posted: Sun Jul 11, 2004 11:47 pm Post subject:

Keith

Why don't you just have them reset? A spring specialist with the right equipment should be able to reset them to original or whatever length you want. I had the rear springs reset 20mm shorter but the same process is used to make them longer. Cost was about AUD45 each spring.

Regards
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Ken McCarthy - 16V Sprint

paddy granger · Alfa Sprint Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 248

How is that done, does it involve heating?

Ken McCarthy · Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:31 pm Post subject:

Paddy

Yes, it is a controlled heating and cooling process where the spring is heated until it is not elastic can be worked, the length is adjusted evenly over the coils and then cooled at a controlled rate so the metallurgy is not changed. If they are properly set up, it should only take a day or two.

Regards
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Ken McCarthy - 16V Sprint

Admin · Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:26 am Post subject:

Hi

Never heard of such a process, and getting someone in the UK to do it might be difficult. There are plenty of things that can still be easily done in Aus / New Zealand which nobody in the UK will do (such as rebuilding the gas struts for the hatchback).

Worth a thought though.

All the best

Keith