'59 Giulietta Sprint Vintage Racer Build

[pathung]

Some of you may recall that I bought this Type 101 Giulietta Sprint from our esteemed Moderator Simon last Spring. The shell was in excellent shape, with only a few rust bubbles on the driver's side door; the rest of the car looked great, with all glass work, trim, and mechanicals accounted for. According to Simon, the P.O. was embarking on a restoration but gave up eventually; during this brief effort, he collected a number of Veloce parts, as I understand. The car also comes with a set of Weber carbs, though the Solex is still attached to the engine.

I originally had the intention to restore this car into a nice driver, but had a change of heart a few months later when I decided to run in the same group as my Giulietta-racing friends. In the Sprint's place, my '67 GT will be restored into a street car (Project #3, for another day).

While I continued working on completing my Giulia Spider's restoration, I'd in fact begun collecting parts for the Sprint: a '74 axle to scavenge its LSD; a set of Borrani wheels; a Veloce sump off of eBay; a set of Carillo rods; a set of custom pistons. It's a start.

First job on the list was to build the 5:12 LSD axle. We've taken the pumpkin apart, and the teeth on the pinion gear look to be in good shape, as did the 41-tooth gear (what's the name of this heavy-looking thing?). The axle tubes were cleaned up, and will go out for powder-coating this/next week. Some photos included below.

Work on the Sprint will be an off and on affair while we try to finish the Giulia Spider this Spring, after which we hope to move more quickly to possibly have a running race car by next Spring. Why so slow? I only have time to go to the shop on Saturdays Good news is that the body and paint are decent enough for us to skip these time-consuming steps and focus exclusively on performance and safety. We thus plan to be upgrading the engine, suspension/wheel/tires, fuel-delivery system, and finally the safety system. Sounds like lots of fun!

[smestas]

Awesome Patrick!

I'm really excited to watch every step of this restoration.

[italcarguy]

Me too! Simon and I had quite the adventure when we went to pick it up from the person he bought it from. Whats the plan for the engine compartment? Getting painted blacl to match the rest of the car? I can't wait to see it on the track.

[Alfajay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pathung Some of you may recall that I bought this Type 101 Giulietta Sprint ... I originally had the intention to restore this car into a nice driver, but had a change of heart a few months later when I decided to run in the same group as my Giulietta-racing friends. In the Sprint's place, my '67 GT will be restored into a street car (Project #3, for another day). While I continued working on completing my Giulia Spider's restoration, I'd in fact begun collecting parts for the Sprint...Sounds like lots of fun!

[pathung]

Haven't thought about painting the engine compartment yet, Anthony, but maybe it should be white, to better find that bolt that's fallen into that abyss somewhere. And I'm not kidding!

[phila3885]

Patrick-
You are hereby anointed High Holy Keeper of the Flame of Portello. Three projects at once. Awesome!

Phil

[pathung]

Not all at once, Phil... one wanes before another waxes... I've only got one wallet. I really gotta finish that Spider.

[AR58SprintV]

Dear Patrick,

Congradulations! And a family and a job!
My '56 Morgan +4 ex-racer had white wire wheels and front suspension tubes and struts when I got it, for fast detection of cracks or problems.
The failure of a SF Bay ferry from a split walking beam prompted a change from black to white 100 years ago.
However, you seem to have proved that you can make Black appear surgically clean.

Keep the revs up,
Laurence

[alfagtv74]

patrick,
your sprint will make a great racer... good luck

[Subtle]

+++++++++

[Gordon Raymond]

I had a note from Patrick this AM wondering why I was lax on my postings in the Giulia Giulietta section. He is right. I've been busy getting other BB members engine components refreshed to as new condition and trying to make enough money to keep my daughter in college!
I am still here to answer anyones questions if I can, or suggest someone reliable, that will fill in the blanks when I cannot.
This is a very neat project. One of my customers, Tommy Trabue has a lovely restored '58 Sprint Veloce, that is nearby being sorted out for Tommy to take home in spring. These are great cars that were often overlooked back in time when the spiders were the only "real" sports cars. Anyone that has owned a Sprint knows that they are also in a very special class by themselves.
Today, in hindsight, I regret the nice ones I had the opportunity to keep that were traded for other projects.
Knowing Patricks attention to detail, I'm pretty sure anything done to this black beauty for racing, will further this cars restoration.

[pathung]

Thank you all for your well-wishes, I will refrain from disappointing!

I have additional photos of the car on a different computer which I'll post this weekend.

Once the Spider's running, I'll start stripping the Sprint's underpinnings and start cleaning up the parts that have already been taken off the car. Let's hope that I won't have to bend my own brake lines again! Basically I plan to re-use as best I can whatever's on the car, and replace as necessary. For me it's more important to get the car road/track-worthy first then to worry about fixing minor rust or re-doing the wiring harness.

[pathung]

The Spider's not quite finished yet, but I'm already itching to start buying parts for this here project. My favorite part of the Spider's restoration had been the suspension, so I'll start there as well.

Went shopping online at Centerline, and am eyeing its yellow sport springs for Giuliettas; however, I didn't see sport/racing shocks for Giuliettas. What are some of you out there using for vintage racing, and where do you get them? Bilstein and KYB come to mind, or perhaps I can simply set Koni oranges to their stiffest setting. Thanks for comments.

[italcarguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pathung The Spider's not quite finished yet, but I'm already itching to start buying parts for this here project. My favorite part of the Spider's restoration had been the suspension, so I'll start there as well. Went shopping online at Centerline, and am eyeing its yellow sport springs for Giuliettas; however, I didn't see sport/racing shocks for Giuliettas. What are some of you out there using for vintage racing, and where do you get them? Bilstein and KYB come to mind, or perhaps I can simply set Koni oranges to their stiffest setting. Thanks for comments.

[101 Alfa Mike]

The other source is Dave Rugh in Portland. I'd check with them both.