Alfa Romeo Guila Sprint GT teardown

dondarnell · 02-10-2013, 07:03 AM

Started on my 105 project. Tear down to take the car to the body guy. I was going to tackle it myself, but a shop owes me a considerable amount of money for legal fees, and its not exactly paying it down quickly, so here we go.

The body looks fairly solid so far. We shall see what happens when they strip the paint back.

Taking the car apart was quite unsettling. The driver's seat was bolted through the floor and sat on dimensional lumber. Wish I were kidding.

The fuel tank, taillights, front signal lights, vapor barriers, and rear parcel shelf were all caulked in with household caulk. The fuel pump was hanging in the truck by a single bolt on a strap of some sort. The driver's floor rusted away at some point, and a piece of sheet metal is grafted over it, probably with painter's caulk.

Good news is that I seem to have a complete car, less only a few items, such as a proper fuel pump and and the air filter part that goes over the engine.

I would very much like to meet and have a conversation with the fella that did this to this car, if only to interview the criminally insane.

Any Alfa guys out there? The rear quarters are either f'lared, bondo'd out or "massaged" so that the fender lacks definition and is no longer welcome. I see that alfaholics has a replacement to weld in. Perhaps there are other sources or ways to fix it?

Seahawk · 02-10-2013, 07:09 AM

Sub'ed.

Any pic's of the car before the tear down?

I love this bit: "Taking the car apart was quite unsettling. The driver's seat was bolted through the floor and sat on dimensional lumber. Wish I were kidding."

Covers the waterfront in a nice, understated, manner.

Shuie · 02-10-2013, 07:13 AM

Congrats on the new project. Have fun with it. I am looking for one of these for my next project

Buckterrier · 02-10-2013, 07:29 AM

Hello Don. Have you visited the Alfa forum yet? Pappajam is the resident guru of that forum and a very good friend of mine. He is an expert on all things Alfa and a wealth of knowledge. He also is the forum librarian and has a full library of wiring diagrams that he made. Another Porsche guy I know bought an Alfa and has been in contact with Jim.
Good luck on the project!

ZOO · 02-10-2013, 07:32 AM

Thank you for saving one of the all-time classics . . .

dondarnell · 02-10-2013, 08:26 AM

I have checked out the Alfabb, but have not really participated yet. I pushed her back in the storage garage yesterday, here's a better pic of the whole car. Thanks for the heads up on the guru, and I was wondering about wiring diagram.

I lived in Vicenza, Italy for two years, as a guest of the US Army (D - 4/325 Airborne Combat Team). Bought a brand new 1983 X1/9 there (Bertone badged), and shipped it home and drove it all the way through college. Changed my taste for cars forever, sold my Trans Am when I got home. Kinda wish I still had it though. A few guys bought these Alfa's, as enlisted soldiers, we couldn't afford Porsches (I few officers were buying 928s), so I always had much respect for the cars, but they are not easy to find in Michigan. This car came from WA.

The white stuff on the car is soda. I use a soda blaster to clean parts, sometimes too close to this garage.

chicago_82sc · chicago_82sc's Garage

Congrats on the project. Love Alfas too. Here's mine from when I was in Italy in the 90s. Just a driver, but boy, what a driver.

RWebb · RWebb's Garage

wow! maybe the world's most beautiful coupe!

this is your chance to have leather seats too...

can you explain the differences between the GT and GTV?

onewhippedpuppy · 02-10-2013, 01:35 PM

She's going to be a beauty! Will it still be green when you're done? I love Alfas in green vs the rather cliche red.

dondarnell · 02-10-2013, 04:10 PM

Struggling with the color. Have red 951 and a Mex blue swb 911. Car was white originally. Tossing around Porsche cream white from 60s, or modern seal grey.

Rick V · 02-10-2013, 04:18 PM

That car would be sharp in Arena Red

dafischer · 02-10-2013, 05:34 PM

Those are GTV seats. Sprint GT's didn't have the side bolsters. A nice plus.

Buckterrier · 02-10-2013, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dondarnell

Thanks for the heads up on the guru, and I was wondering about wiring diagram.

You got it. Jim will have it or make the wiring diagram.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dondarnell

Tossing around Porsche cream white from 60s, or modern seal grey.

Pappajam has a white GTV, (at least I think it is). I'l have him send a couple pictures of it and post.

onewhippedpuppy · 02-11-2013, 05:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dondarnell

Struggling with the color. Have red 951 and a Mex blue swb 911. Car was white originally. Tossing around Porsche cream white from 60s, or modern seal grey.

I vote white. Anything but red.

weseeeee · weseeeee's Garage

I'm hooked. Cool car and great project. Keep posting pics. As for color I like silver or gun metal gray.

Scott Douglas · Scott Douglas's Garage

That looks like a cool project car.
Also looks like you have a Mark 10 ignition box on the fender well there.

That'll help when you get it back together. I used to run one on my old 1600 BMW. Saved a lot of points with it.

How's the engine run?
Took me a while to get the SPICA injection dialed in on my Spyder, but it was a nice running engine once that was figured out.
Good luck and keep the pics coming.

stevepaa · 09:09 AM

Nice car, back in '83 I was working with a Marnix Delinius here in Mountain View who raced his Alfa TZ.

He took me out one day in his daily driver: a well prepped guila sprint GT. WOW.

Damian in NJ · 02-11-2013, 04:38 PM

I had a few Alfa's-Andretti edition Alfetta GTV, 74 Bertone GTV, brand new GTV-6, and my Duetto, shown here. Thinking about contacting Alfaholics about a Spider R if a real estate deal goes through later this year. I had an offer from Bobcor Alfa to do a straight swap for a Sprint Speciale for the Duetto, wish I'd done it and kept the SS-they're over 150K now-I think the deal was 6K in the late 70's.

fred cook · fred cook's Garage

As I remember, the GT was a 1600 cc engine with webers and the later GTV was either a 1750cc or 2000cc with Spica fuel injection. Back in the late 70's when I worked at Autoveloce in Atlanta, we built a tubocharged 2 ltr GTV for a young lady that liked fast cars. At the time it was one of the faster cars in the area.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RWebb

wow! maybe the world's most beautiful coupe!

this is your chance to have leather seats too...

can you explain the differences between the GT and GTV?

dafischer · 02-11-2013, 05:56 PM

In strict Alfa parlance, the GTV didn't emerge until 1968, with the 1750 engine w/SPICA MFI. The Giulia Sprint GT was in the US 1965 - 1967. The Giulia Sprint GT Veloce was here 1966 - 1967. There were some differences...the GT Veloce had 3 horizontal bars on the grille on either side of the heart grille, while the GT didn't. There was a Quadrifoglio badge, both left and right, on the C pillars, and a Veloce script on the rear panel.
There were slightly different cams and timing in the Veloce, which resulted in 3 more HP and better torque.
The driver's and passenger's seats has side bolsters as in Don's pic, vs. regular seat backs on the GT. Also, the dashboard was faux woodgrain vs a grey crackle finish in the GT.
Don's car apparently has some GT Veloce features. A pic of the underhood serial # plate might help.