My Lancia Delta Integrale 8V restoration project

[tricky]

Samo, will you have the propshaft balanced following re-assembly ? I don't know if that is the normal procedure or not, but something like that might be a necessity.

Edit to say -

Keep up the good work !

[samo]

@Nobby- exactly as you said a chunk of aluminium has just broke of where the flexi pipe is screwed into the body. It seems it cracked a while ago as corrosion can be seen on 75% of the cracked area and the rest is fresh. I don't know how it got cracked but when trying to tighten the flexi hose it just sheared off. As these calipers are very rare I will try to get enough material welded on and a new pipe thread made so it'll be usable.

@tricky- I have asked a local machine shop here and they told me that they can only balance segments not the complete propshaft. But they assured me if the propshaft is straight, undamaged and unmodified it should be fine. As I have zero experience with propshafts I am gonna go with their advice on this one...

Thanks for th kind words.

[samo]

Well after 5 years of working on this project I have to say sometimes a person just needs to get lucky!

It's funny how sometimes after years of sacrifice something as mondane as a set of spark plug cables can really make your day.

Current status update:
-I have sourced a new turbine housing and I am waiting for it to arrive from USA (it's actually made in UK but funnly it costs half less ordered from the USA).
-Waiting for my next paycheck to order a new water cooler and water hoses.
-Waiting for a local welder to try and weld the brake caliper and the oil cooler flanges.
-Prepairing for the first start-up! As the integrale has a really long oil line, oil cooler and oil feed for the turbo I was advised by my mechanic to "short circuit" the turbo oil feed and blank off the oil cooler connections. He told me he fires up all his integrale engines like that and that it gets the oil pressure up MUCH faster. And after blanking off the lines I was planing to crank the engine (with the spark plugs out) till the oil light goes out then cross fingers and fire up. Then stop the engine and re-assemble with the oil cooler and turbo. I was planing to fire it up with some semi-synthetic oil of medium thicknes like 10-40. Since I have some time before that happens I'd love some member input on what you think.

[Guy Croft]

Re caption to your last photo - this thread is anything but boring!

It displays careful and high quality work and attention to detail, beautifully photographed - things I am all for.

GC

[samo]

Almost lost my mind with the door locks and handels. They had to be sandblasted because they were painted too many times before and then the painter had a few issues with them and in the end he had to re-paint them 3 times to get them perfect. And I lost an entire afternoon "fixing" a "stuck" lock which turend out to be not stuck at all. I just mixed up my locks somehow...

[samo]

Trying to replace all crytical elements of the engine. One of them I belive are the hoses. In this case oil cooler hoses.

This would probably be cheaper to replace entirely by flexible hoses, but as I am trying to preserve the original look I have had the original hoses choped and fittings welded onto the original metal pipes.

They still have to be zync plated, cleaned etc...

[samo]

Have been keeping busy as much as possible but lately work is taking it's tole.

[TomLouwrier]

hi Samo

This is such a thorough and beautiful restoration. Thumbs up to you for seeing it through.
Very very good!

regards
Tom

[samo]

Thank you Tom!

Today I managed to steal some time and get to the garage and start the final assembly of the prop-shaft. I decided to go with new univeral joints as they are so cheap I couldnt even be bothered to wash the old ones. Funily they are the same dimension ones as the ones used on Range Rovers, Land Rovers and loads of farm equipement hence the price 12€/pcs :)

The dimension is 27 x 75 mm if anyone is interested.

[samo]

Finally something a bit more interesting for this forum! After a month of waiting I finally received my brand new turbine housing. So I can now proceed with renewing the CHRA :)

The housing seems to fit fine and the quality is good. I especially like that the casting is a lot thicker around the WG opening where the castings usually crack.

The other thing ithat is interesting is that it is made in UK, but buying it from the US + paying inport taxes was still cheaper than buying in UK. And by cheaper I mean 1/3 cheaper.

[samo]

Finisehd assembling the propshaft today! I had loads of problems installing the second cross. The first one was easy as I yould get the 2 parts of the propshaft still into the hydraulic press. Then came the third pice of the propshaft and I couldn balance the entire assembly and keep it in the press so a lot of cursing happened before I managed to assemble it finally.

I also had the rear brake caliper welded up and it seems to be well repaired. Will see of course only after I assemble it and test it under pressure.

[timinator]

Hi Samo,

I have been balancing drive shafts installed in the car for years with the use of screw type hose clamps. Often on shafts that have been machine balanced.

It only requires putting the car on stands high enough to move comfortably around under the drive shaft. You can remove the drive axle tires if you want. I do so that I will not accidentally bump into the rapidly spinning tire. Start the engine, put trans in high gear, then speed up the engine to what would be a reasonable highway cruise speed. I use a long rod type clamp that goes between the steering wheel and accelerator pedal to maintain engine speed. If the drive shaft is out of balance you will see that it is not spinning true. If it is not spinning true hold a piece of chalk or soapstone lightly up against the spinning shaft near the ends. Be sure not to do this where existing balance weights are already installed on the shaft as they are dangerous. The chalk will contact the shaft on the heavy or out of balance side. Stop the engine and see where the chalk marks are. Add the screw clamp with the screw placed opposite of the mark. If that is enough weight to correct the imbalance the shaft will spin true. I have added as many as a six clamps to correct a supposedly balanced shaft.

This of course is a simplified explanation, and there are many outside forces acting on a three piece drive shaft. Not limited to the fact that the existing weights might need to be removed. Sometimes the shaft will need to have weight added at both ends. You will need to be patient, and practice, but the results are worth it.

The clamps will stay put without further attention or you can weld a weight on and remove the clamps. You can also place a slug of metal under one clamp to test the balance at higher speeds and with the tires installed.

Tim

[Guy Croft]

One of the most interesting posts I have read in a long time Tim!

Thank you for sharing that novel information!

G

[samo]

Tim thank you very much for the information. I will try to do this and hopefuly keep my fingers intact.

I have managed to install the prop shaft today so the balancing info will come in handy soon after startup!

I do appologise about the picture quality I do promisse that during the weekend I will try to take some time and my wifes camera and make some good ones.

[samo]

Yesterday I managed to clean up the welded up caliper and more or less finish the bottom left mounting for the radiator.

Since this mounting was missing from my car and I have been looking for it for the past 5 years I had to give up and make my own. Luckly I was able to get a NEW right mounting and convert my old mangled right mounting to left. So some 10 hours of choping, welding and grinding later here it is.

Could look better but I made it only this good as by Murphys law I will now probably get a new one from somewhere.