1977 Lancia Scorpion - Vx
Posted: February 21st, 2013, 6:16 pm
Greetings. I am new to the forum and looking forward to participating with my 77 Lancia Scorpion project. I’m grateful to Guy for helping me in a myriad of ways over the last couple of months including emails, phone consultations, this forum, and his two outstanding reference manuals (the first dog-eared, finger printed, smudged, and full of notes to self and reference data, and the second still for clean-hands reading only). Guy has advised me privately over the last couple of months on motor matters, but I thought it time to attempt to give something back by actually participating on the forum. I’ll describe a bit below, post a few photos now, and try to keep the thread reasonably current over time. Given the purposes of the forum, postings may splinter off occasionally with a specific topic, but it seemed reasonable to have one central thread for the project overall in Readers Cars.
I am new to Lampredi twin cams. In fact, I’m pretty new to car work in general. But I was a motorcycle roadracer for over a decade and did some motor work and all other bike preparation. Age and sense took over in 2006 and I stopped racing. Needing a new passion I turned to Italian cars. I also have a 1960 Lancia Flaminia Sport Zagato in full ground-up restoration in Seattle, but I claim no value added there other than sourcing some hard-to-find parts. While that car will be rare and interesting, the Scorpion is my baby and much more fun. I’ve planned this project for some time, having purchased the car in 2007 and begun procuring various parts back then, including a complete Volumex setup from Stan Ramirez in the US. And now in 2013 I’ve finally begun actual work. I lifted the motor and have now stripped it and am ploddingly working through Ops per Guy’s references, assembling parts, and having a ball.
The car is targeted fast road with track days sprinkled in. Runs around California byways. Coastal highways. Sears Point and Thunderhill. It will look like a Montecarlo with euro valances and such (thinking “Laguna Seca Blue”). I bought it in a converted state to 2.0L with a Fiat bloc. It ran but the interior was stripped so I only drove it once in ‘07 by plopping my mechanics seat onto rags to keep from rolling around as much. Still, what a blast! Like a street-legal go cart.
The 2.0L crankcase is good and will be bored to 85mm and 0.005” decked in Berkeley, California at Hasselgren Racing when Guy’s CP LC pistons arrive here. Pairing with Pauter rods. My crank is 0.003+” bent so I’m going whole hog in asking Guy to supply a keyholed crank/steel flywheel/Helix clutch balanced assembly. I’ll stay with the Vx exhaust cam and go with Guy’s Stage IIA intake. Guy is also currently rebuilding the Vx blower unit and working with Eric Weston on an adapter setup to tilt the blower down from the Vx intake manifold to fit under the Scorpion package shelf. (I believe Tom McGaffigan is the pioneer on that, and we do it again.) I have a new 45 DCOE and a nice aftermarket fiberglass airbox made for a Mazda rotary IDF that I will make fit and duct fresh air from the center tunnel with an in-line Spectre filter, per Guy’s strong advice that I avoid drawing hot engine bay air made all the warmer here in California. I’m relocating the fuel tank and spare tire to the front boot, using a 15 gallon fuel cell and a Honda Insight mini-spare that fits nicely. The spare is 4x100 and I’ll have someone machine it to 4x98 and bore the hubcentric opening to 57mm, but otherwise it’s pretty sweet and will serve well as a spare tire. There’s the chance a passenger might have to give way to the flat tire while I go get help! Anyway, there will then be room in the bay for an oil cooler, remote oil filter, accumulator, and ducting from the air tunnel to the DCOE and the cooler. Don’t ask about California SMOG, as I have not solved that yet. But the smog stuff is gone. This is not a daily driver and I expect maybe 3000 miles per annum so I don’t feel too guilty. I will start in on cleaning out the engine bay and ripping out unnecessary brackets and readying the surfaces as best as I can for outside help in blasting, fabricating mounting tabs, and coating. A fairly large sealable access panel will be cut into the rear firewall to get at the DCOE and such. It’s looking like I may have to develop the panel with some passenger intrusion to clear the airbox, as I’m coming up an inch or so short. I’ve sourced all exhaust components except tubing for a nice 304 stainless 1-5/8” to 2-1/2” header (4-1) that Hasselgren will fabricate (thanks to Anthony 037_beta for advice and parts references). A close-ratio Bacci Romano gear set and 3.12 final drive are on the way. I will seek help in working out new pulleys and an alternator bracket later…
Note on work. I wish I possessed a shop. I have great respect for fabricators, machinists, builders, etc. St Francis of Assisi said something to the effect of: “He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his mind is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his mind and his heart is an artist.” I do possess air, a press, a reasonable selection of specialty tools and power tools, precision measurement instruments, and parts cleaning ability. But machining, welding, media blasting, coatings, and fabrication are usually beyond my capabilities. So I just make a go with what I have and get help where necessary.
I have just commenced stripping down the suspension, steering, brakes, plumbing, etc. Some reusable parts will be blasted and coated and join a whole mess of new fasteners, bearings, bushings, seals, tie rod ends, etc to make the suspension and stopping good. That includes the Montehospital stiffened rear cross member, a Whoa brake kit, Leda/Eibach coil over struts, some new wheels from Image, and Dunlop Direzza Z1*'s. Cooling will be stainless water tubes/silicone hoses/in-head stat setup (all sourced from TMH) and an aluminum radiator in fabrication at Wizard Cooling in New York right now. Heater/AC are both goners. No need for either here. Braided fuel and oil lines. Given my limitations, once I redo the underneath and reassemble and re-plumb, I’ll be sending the car out for bodywork/painting (likely need floor pan work and maybe sills), bracket fabrication to locate various new components, strut tower cross-bracing, a simplified wiring harness, and a stripped down “race-oriented” interior. The original interior will be scrapped and a metal dash and panels will replace the 70s stuff. The intrusive center consol will be nixed to allow room to work the pedals. It gets Sparco seats (they fit!), 6-point Sparco harnesses, a half cage, a 5lb FE-36 automatic extinguisher, and a full complement of the normal gauges plus oil temp, fuel pressure, accumulator pressure (inside cockpit as well as the one on the unit), and boost.
Why go so far on a car that starts off as not too valuable, is not at all a restoration given the behind the scenes butchering, and is not for competition? No rational answer. I have no delusions about the financials involved. No hope of recoupment of costs, no need to treat as an investment, and just want something to which I make a substantial contribution rather than buying a toy already made. Part of the fun...
Lynn
I am new to Lampredi twin cams. In fact, I’m pretty new to car work in general. But I was a motorcycle roadracer for over a decade and did some motor work and all other bike preparation. Age and sense took over in 2006 and I stopped racing. Needing a new passion I turned to Italian cars. I also have a 1960 Lancia Flaminia Sport Zagato in full ground-up restoration in Seattle, but I claim no value added there other than sourcing some hard-to-find parts. While that car will be rare and interesting, the Scorpion is my baby and much more fun. I’ve planned this project for some time, having purchased the car in 2007 and begun procuring various parts back then, including a complete Volumex setup from Stan Ramirez in the US. And now in 2013 I’ve finally begun actual work. I lifted the motor and have now stripped it and am ploddingly working through Ops per Guy’s references, assembling parts, and having a ball.
The car is targeted fast road with track days sprinkled in. Runs around California byways. Coastal highways. Sears Point and Thunderhill. It will look like a Montecarlo with euro valances and such (thinking “Laguna Seca Blue”). I bought it in a converted state to 2.0L with a Fiat bloc. It ran but the interior was stripped so I only drove it once in ‘07 by plopping my mechanics seat onto rags to keep from rolling around as much. Still, what a blast! Like a street-legal go cart.
The 2.0L crankcase is good and will be bored to 85mm and 0.005” decked in Berkeley, California at Hasselgren Racing when Guy’s CP LC pistons arrive here. Pairing with Pauter rods. My crank is 0.003+” bent so I’m going whole hog in asking Guy to supply a keyholed crank/steel flywheel/Helix clutch balanced assembly. I’ll stay with the Vx exhaust cam and go with Guy’s Stage IIA intake. Guy is also currently rebuilding the Vx blower unit and working with Eric Weston on an adapter setup to tilt the blower down from the Vx intake manifold to fit under the Scorpion package shelf. (I believe Tom McGaffigan is the pioneer on that, and we do it again.) I have a new 45 DCOE and a nice aftermarket fiberglass airbox made for a Mazda rotary IDF that I will make fit and duct fresh air from the center tunnel with an in-line Spectre filter, per Guy’s strong advice that I avoid drawing hot engine bay air made all the warmer here in California. I’m relocating the fuel tank and spare tire to the front boot, using a 15 gallon fuel cell and a Honda Insight mini-spare that fits nicely. The spare is 4x100 and I’ll have someone machine it to 4x98 and bore the hubcentric opening to 57mm, but otherwise it’s pretty sweet and will serve well as a spare tire. There’s the chance a passenger might have to give way to the flat tire while I go get help! Anyway, there will then be room in the bay for an oil cooler, remote oil filter, accumulator, and ducting from the air tunnel to the DCOE and the cooler. Don’t ask about California SMOG, as I have not solved that yet. But the smog stuff is gone. This is not a daily driver and I expect maybe 3000 miles per annum so I don’t feel too guilty. I will start in on cleaning out the engine bay and ripping out unnecessary brackets and readying the surfaces as best as I can for outside help in blasting, fabricating mounting tabs, and coating. A fairly large sealable access panel will be cut into the rear firewall to get at the DCOE and such. It’s looking like I may have to develop the panel with some passenger intrusion to clear the airbox, as I’m coming up an inch or so short. I’ve sourced all exhaust components except tubing for a nice 304 stainless 1-5/8” to 2-1/2” header (4-1) that Hasselgren will fabricate (thanks to Anthony 037_beta for advice and parts references). A close-ratio Bacci Romano gear set and 3.12 final drive are on the way. I will seek help in working out new pulleys and an alternator bracket later…
Note on work. I wish I possessed a shop. I have great respect for fabricators, machinists, builders, etc. St Francis of Assisi said something to the effect of: “He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his mind is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his mind and his heart is an artist.” I do possess air, a press, a reasonable selection of specialty tools and power tools, precision measurement instruments, and parts cleaning ability. But machining, welding, media blasting, coatings, and fabrication are usually beyond my capabilities. So I just make a go with what I have and get help where necessary.
I have just commenced stripping down the suspension, steering, brakes, plumbing, etc. Some reusable parts will be blasted and coated and join a whole mess of new fasteners, bearings, bushings, seals, tie rod ends, etc to make the suspension and stopping good. That includes the Montehospital stiffened rear cross member, a Whoa brake kit, Leda/Eibach coil over struts, some new wheels from Image, and Dunlop Direzza Z1*'s. Cooling will be stainless water tubes/silicone hoses/in-head stat setup (all sourced from TMH) and an aluminum radiator in fabrication at Wizard Cooling in New York right now. Heater/AC are both goners. No need for either here. Braided fuel and oil lines. Given my limitations, once I redo the underneath and reassemble and re-plumb, I’ll be sending the car out for bodywork/painting (likely need floor pan work and maybe sills), bracket fabrication to locate various new components, strut tower cross-bracing, a simplified wiring harness, and a stripped down “race-oriented” interior. The original interior will be scrapped and a metal dash and panels will replace the 70s stuff. The intrusive center consol will be nixed to allow room to work the pedals. It gets Sparco seats (they fit!), 6-point Sparco harnesses, a half cage, a 5lb FE-36 automatic extinguisher, and a full complement of the normal gauges plus oil temp, fuel pressure, accumulator pressure (inside cockpit as well as the one on the unit), and boost.
Why go so far on a car that starts off as not too valuable, is not at all a restoration given the behind the scenes butchering, and is not for competition? No rational answer. I have no delusions about the financials involved. No hope of recoupment of costs, no need to treat as an investment, and just want something to which I make a substantial contribution rather than buying a toy already made. Part of the fun...
Lynn