My Lancia Delta Integrale 8V restoration project

[samo]

Conrods are original Fiat/Lancia 2.0 Turbo items. Stamping are on the other side.

They are not modified. I just had the small end bushing replaced, big end has been ground true (they were oval if I remember correctly 0,05mm).

[samo]

Rear axel build & gearbox revision.

Gearbox housing looked a bit rough because half the "protection" has peeled off so I could't leave it like that and I painted it. I did try to get it eloxated again but the company that does this told me that I have to ither assemble it 100% sealed so acid doesn't get inside or risk problems with machined surfaces. So I gave up on that and just used some paint.

[Guy Croft]

Some very skilled stuff going on there, I'm impressed.

GC

[samo]

Thank you for the compliment. I have to admit that I have a strong support from a local Lancia guru. Because I don't have much experice and I would not be able to re-assemble the gearbox by myself. Today I continued with the engine built but I ran into a problem. I noticed that on one of the pistons the 1st compression ring doesn't "float" around the piston ring groove. On 3 pistons they move freely around the piston but on one it gave a bit of "spring" feeling. I switched two rings and two pistons to make sure it was a ring problem and finally rememberd to press the problematic ring against a mirror to see if it's flat and for sure it was coiled (looks a bit like a spring washer). So I had to order one new set of piston rings... I think using this ring would bite back.

[samo]

The build continues! It's funny how long it takes to find the right screws for every small little thing when you have all your screws in a bucket.
TOP TIP: If removing any part (and if like I you suffer from the gold fish memory simptom) take a photo of the screws in their original position. It can literally save you a LOT of time.

Intersting feeling on the balance shafts. Before they rotated freely if spun by fingers they continued to rotate for another 3/4 to 1 full turn. Now with new end ball bearings and a new center journal bearing it's much more solid. There is no free-play and can not be spun to rotate freely. This should improve the oil pressure.

[samo]

Some more details.

[Abarthnorway - Remi L]

Hi Samo!!


Fantastic car You have there!!

How many hours spent so far........!!?

Anyways if you have any ideas on how to make good torque witouth chasing high BHP i am opened to suggestions.

As i cannot find any pictures of headwork I will suggest the following:

I used to have an Integrale 8V cat - now in my brothers hands. During my time I took off the head to have a look and it was really not the best in finish and dimensions.....at least compared to what I had seen before (124s/Ritmo Abarths)

Take out the guides and clean up the ports properly and enlarge a little - install a set of bronce guides (check this site). Do the valves, seats and combustion chambers and put it back together and change the probably warped exhaust valves.
The head work will take a some time, I struggled especially with the combustion chambers, but it was worth the effort!!

With a fuel pressure raised approx 0.3 bar it now went very much better - it really flied!!
I have not experienced such a difference in any car before - the gains were enormous in response and power.

If You havent ported before now is the time - You cannot go very wrong on an Integrale 8v head in my opinion - they are easly made better....!!

Take a look at the pics underneath - the Integrale is a fantastic car, but the heads I have seen are not very nicely finished.... and that makes them easy to improve:-)!!!

Regarding remap/dyno I have no clue - If allowed I would convert to blow thru carbs any day........


Best regards

Remi Lovhoiden





Combustion chambers finished




Closeup




Finished exhaust port




Intake port and chamber before....... not the best looking I should dare say




Before After




Flakes of aluminium around the valve guides among other things.....




Valve seat vs head mismatch machining.....

[Guy Croft]

This head of course is covered as one of the 'step-by-step' exercises in my new book.

Inlet deshrouding and the right CR forged pistons (see Sales!) are a must-have in thorough prep of those heads.

The porting should be done with guides out, this one has GC ones fitted in readiness for seat prep.


G

[samo]

Hi Guy and Remi,

Thank you for the good advice! Guy your new book has found a place on my wishlist for my upcoming 30-eth birthday and as soon as a "donator" is found I will be ordering it. With this build beeing so long I at this stage can not afford any more tuning on the engine because I am just runing out of time and since the recesion hit close to home I now have a bit of a funding issue. So I have already decided to work on making the body of the car 110% and the engine more or less standard except the parts that I bought in the golden days :) And after I finish the car (at least to a drivable state) I will start a seperate project with the engine. I am in fact much more interested in engine building than body work but as allways sacrifices had to be made and I decided that an engine is easier to remove, rebuild, tune up.... than the chassis. If you do a bare metal resto you better do it right the first time i guess.

Here is just an example how time consuming this type of work is. The "problem" was that i decided to instal a rear diff carrier strenghtening bar. And this is made in sutch a way it's bolted to the chassis under the rear anti-roll bar. And since I changed the rubber bushes in the ARB it becam a bit disstorted and with the strengtening bar the chassis bolts became just a wiskar to short. I managed (after 5 hours) to instal one side but when finaly I managed to get the nut on the second screw of the other side it just gave in. You can imagine after so many hours spent on the body work realisation that the nut you are tightening just feels too loose and isn't providing the right resistance, the desperation in knowing that the thread is gone. And immediatly I lost to afternoons sorting this out...

[Guy Croft]

You are very wise to do the car before the engine,

G

[tricky]

Those top ARB mounts are a pain, I know I've been there before !

Keep up the good work, I'm watching closely.

[samo]

I am still waiting for the piston rings to arrive. In the mean time I am trying to get the car back on wheels so it will be transported to the mechanics garage where I can continue the build on the lift.

In the mean time I wanted to share with you a movie of the crankshaft fited in the block being spun by hand. The crank at this point was torqued to 20Nm (but I don't think the final angle tightening will make it any harder to turn.) It was hard recording with one hand and trying to rotate with the other. But when my habds were free and I spun the crankshaft it continued to rotate for about 3/4 of a turn by itself.

Do you advise factory crank torque settings:
2daNm + 90°(130° on central cap) and conrods 2,5daNm+50°

Or do you suggest any special torquing procedure?

[Guy Croft]

Like the films.

I myself stick with the old 2 liter setting of 83lbf ft (10x 12mm). That torque-twist sequence is pretty harsh on the block threads and can lead to severe embedding on the main caps. I've had a case where the bolts just never settle.

Lubrication - copper anti-seize on bolt threads and oil underheads.

G

[samo]

I have managed to obtain a pair of NA camshafts. Unfortunatley the guy who brought them to me forgot which engine he took them from and he mixed them up. One pair is from a 1.8 engine and the other is from a 2.0. I did a bit of DIY measurements with the basic tools I have and have measred cam lift.

My original turbo engine inlet cam lift was 8,9mm (Fiat claims 9,1mm) - some of the difference is wear also my measurements are questionable.

The unidentified inlet cam has lift of 9,65mm. Also from the picture you can see the longer duration profile. Can somebody verify whats the 1.8 cams Fiat quoted lift? I know that for 2.0 it should be 10.03mm.

[samo]

Forgot to add that the cams are ither from a Lancia "nuova" Delta 95 1.8 8v or from a Fiat Croma 2.0.