Alfa 155 Q4

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LeoM
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Joined: July 8th, 2011, 8:51 am
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Alfa 155 Q4

Post by LeoM »

Hello Everybody,

I would like to introduce you all to my Delta Integrale based Alfa Romeo. Lauched as an executive sports saloon the Q4 was a very rare sight in the UK. It had the Delta Evo running gear mated to a 155 shell.

I brought the car over from Milan last September, having bought it to enter sprints and hill climbs. The car is practically completely rust free but have been an early pre-production factory car it does display a few bruises from its time at Arese in north of Milan.

I don't want to build an all out competition car as it will also be used on the road. I am sharing the car with my brother and so we will have our own battles - the fact that we will be grouped with modern 4WD machinery such as Mitsubishi's and Subaru's means that we would be unlikely to be quicker than them anyway.

The improvements have started together with refreshing various components as the drive back practically destroyed anything made of rubber !

The list so far :

Removed the electronic dampers and replaced them with Koni Adjustables. I have also lowered the car 30mm.

Removed the engine and gearbox to enable easy replacement of the clutch, all fluid hoses and the leaking steering rack.

Polybushes for the front suspension.

The engine at this stage has got a hybrid turbo, a Tipo 16v n/a inlet cam and 630cc injectors. There will be a 3in exhaust system and I need to get an uprated fuel pump but I believe the weber fuel regulator can be adjusted for pressure. I have removed the aircon and will fit a slightly larger front mounted intercooler. The car will then be mapped on a rolling road. The clutch is an uprated ceramic paddle type.

Here are a few photos and as the project develops I will add more.

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Leo
Last edited by LeoM on February 27th, 2014, 9:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Will01
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Joined: November 26th, 2012, 3:50 pm
Location: Dumfries, Scotland
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Re: Alfa 155 Q4

Post by Will01 »

Very cool car and I do like my Alfa's. Last 155 I saw was a twin spark at a local Alfa meet at Carlisle airport with us all parked underneath a Vulcan bomber.
A Q4 is something pretty special and like my GTA many people have no idea what lies beneath. cannot quite believe you have a rust free version, you are lucky. Keep up the good work I will be following with interest.
Will
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LeoM
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Re: Alfa 155 Q4

Post by LeoM »

Thanks Will,

After restoring more than my fair share of rusty Alfa and Fiats this comes as a welcome change.
This photo shows the biggest surprise - an ABS sensor which simply pulled out of the hub on a car that over 21 years old. You can still see the paint on the hub too.

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The GTA is a beast of a car and the V6 is a wonderful engine.

Leo
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Will01
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Location: Dumfries, Scotland
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Re: Alfa 155 Q4

Post by Will01 »

I even more jealous now, i tried taking out the ABS sensors on my GTA a few months back when i was stripping down the suspension and polybushing & i could not for the life of me get the abs sensors out as the hubs had rusted up and stuck them in!
The locating bolts all sheared aswell so they are just held in by rust. Something i will be sorting out properly when i am fitting new shocks and refurbing the brakes etc
The V6 is a great engine in my opinion aswell, it always is encouraging you to put your foot down a bit more and wind it up.

However a turbo delta engine is a jem of an engine and will sound awesome when you are giving it stick.
Does look like you have a great car there, enjoy.
Will
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LeoM
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Joined: July 8th, 2011, 8:51 am
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Re: Alfa 155 Q4

Post by LeoM »

It has been a while since I have posted an update on the forum but as I am now at the point of ‘stage 1’ completion I thought I would write up the theory which will soon be followed by the practical results of a rolling road mapping session.

To recap the Alfa 155 Q4 is an Alfa Romeo fitted with the Lancia Delta Integrale EVO2 running gear. It was aimed at the executive saloon market and so was not as wild as the Evo having around 190bhp and with various extras was also quite a heavy car at approximately 1455kgs.

I found a rust free early car in Italy with the view of taking part in a few sprints and hillclimbs. Not the best car to choose for outright wins but as I will be sharing it with my brother we will be competing in the sibling rivalry class !

The drive back to the UK revealed no major issues other than a car which seemed down on power, a tired clutch and a leaking power steering rack.

The initial changes were going to be restricted to :

1.) Standard engine

2.) Squadra Chip or remap

3.) Air Filter

The idea or hope was that this would release an extra 30 bhp.


The project then started to develop somewhat. I needed to change the steering rack and the clutch so decided the easiest way around this was to remove the engine and box as this would also give me the opportunity to change various pipes hoses and clips.




Once the engine was out I found that there was a little play in the turbo so thought I may as well fit a rebuilt turbo so the specification changed.

1. Remove and lock balance shafts as per Guy’s drawings
2. Hybrid turbo with 360 degree bearing
3. Larger front mounted intercooler
4. N/A Tipo 16v inlet cam





At this point I also learnt that the fuelling and exhaust had to be changed to maximize the benefit of the other changes so in addition to the above I have also added the following

1. High Pressure Fuel Pump
2. 630cc injectors
3. 3inch exhaust system
4. New radiator
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I was advised that using a stock Mitsubishi EVO 7 or 8 intercooler had produced good power with the 16v engine and purchased a used one. Unfortunately fitting it resulted with the intercooler pipes sitting way too low and so a new Mitsumoto Interooler was purchased which sits neatly behind the bumper.
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Reading Guy’s book and various posts I have ensured that the injectors were flow matched to within 1%. The car is soon to be transported to a Dyno Dynamics 4WD rolling road where they have experience of mapping the Marelli P8 ECU.

Checking the existing wiring carefully revealed several brittle wires which were replaced. This is the coil pack connector.
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I had been directed to a tuner of Fiat Coupe’s who supplied the turbocharger. With these modifications he would expect a power output of around 300bhp. That would be nice but without ‘real’ engine work I think that figure is optimistic. It was used as a target to choose the size of the injectors calculated on the various tools available online.
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LeoM
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Re: Alfa 155 Q4

Post by LeoM »

Hi everyone,

It's about time I posted an update in the readers car section since I have now competed in a few events I thought I would write about the nightmares I have experienced !

To recap

The car is one of first factory Alfa Romeo Q4,s which has Delta Evo running gear in a 155 shell.
I have upgraded, the suspension and brakes. the engine has a larger turbo, intercooler and tipo 16v cam.
The balance shafts are locked off as per Guy's instructions and I cannot feel any difference in smoothness of the unit. it is running a strange version of the P8 ECU and this is from where most of my problems have in someway originated.

Looking for a specialist who could map the ECU I was directed by some Alfa racers to a person who had a good reputation... he gave me some advice which I followed and he rebuilt my turbo in as a Hybrid unit. Work and commitments delayed completion and that when the turbo was finally fitted and the car fired up I found it was smoking badly and leaking oil.

Time was short and my faith had been tested. I had a sprint booked, and a mapping session booked with a cosworth P8 specialist ( I'm in the north and the Fiat mapper in the south west) just to make the car safe to use for the sprint.
I took the turbo to a local specialist and what they found was quite shocking - parts which were out of tolerance and cheaper shortcuts taken - not very good for the best part of £900! To date I have not had an explanation of what when wrong.

The rebuilt ' rebuilt turbo unit works perfectly well but the rolling road tuner though I had fitted the wrong injectors and swapped ( a three hour job) them for low impedance ones as fitted to Fords. When I got home (2 hours away) I called him to stop the work as he had actually removed the correct injectors. There was no time to swap back and so I took the car as it was unmapped. With the car home I now put in the standard injectors so that I could take part in the Crystal Palace Sprint. Checking the car with my wide band sensor showed the was running slightly rich through the rev range and was totally lacking power but at least was ok to use.

The Sprint was OK and as a first even it showed it had great traction in the wet conditions and was quite balanced.

Next up was trailering it back to the north for the rearranged mapping session. Before I got there I was advised to leave the standard injectors in as they couldn't find the injector tables on the map. With another even booked I decided I would go ahead as my options were quite limited. I will post the results of the session when I find where I have put the printouts but the result was power at 253 bhp running the standard injectors which are now at maximum. I am hoping to see a little more power when it is remapped by another tuner I have found.

I have just competed in another hill climb and the car feels a lot better but needs a map which suits the characteristics of the engine gearbox ratios and the events I intend to do. There's a lot more work to do on the car and I will update as time allows...that and the fact that I've bought an X1/9 as well!
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