It was a custom rack-and-pinion set that Jes sourced for us (manufactured by some guy in Sweden!) It fits right in to a stock Spica rack from an Alfetta. We have actually taken an extra set and made it work in a GTV6 rack and Jes may have actually used his extra set in his Milano rack (converted to manual) - can't remember...
Man, that thing is going to be too pretty for racing One spin-off and it will look like a 20 year old car again - at least down here - don't ask me how I know
Still have my spare 2.2 rack and pinion on the shelf - yup, out of Sweden.
Jes
__________________
87 Milano Verde - daily driver - Juliet
87 Milano 3.0 Motronic - budget race car - Roxanne
87 Milano 3.7 24v - race car
(Repeating what I suggest or do is at your own risk - be critical)
...Nah - Up here we don't spin! (At least, I am not planning on spinning... )
So, a pretty good day all in all - did not bolt anything to the car per se however, I did continue on my quest for a ground-up restoration it seems...
See!? This is what I am talking about - I could not very well bolt these parts to the car as is now, could I? (Guess I could...)
Gear-shift housing; sand-blasted and clear-coated (I love clear-coating the aluminium parts after sand-blasting and then black-trimming the steel parts!)
Tail-housing; sand-blasted and clear-coated (just like I did for CChan's GTV6) and then I look over and realize that I ALREADY DID ONE FOR THIS CAR!!! Dammit! 2-3 hours of cleaning, solvent-tank, brake-clean, pressure-air and then sand-blasted and several coats of paint and I already did one (it was sitting over with the rest of my parts!) What an idiot!
Oh well; now I have an extra, nice clean one for the street car (for when I do that conversion/rebuild later this summer...)
Finally, all of the pedals cleaned and ready for re-assembly! (In retrospect; the triple-masters with adjustable bias-bar for the front and rear brakes requires modification to the brake-pedal and pedal-box (I think that I just did a whole bunch MORE work for nothing there too!) Oh well...
OMG You better not spin Guess it would "ruin" your hair too Though, how will you know that you are at the limit if you never spin? I think that 3.7 is going to a museum
Jes
__________________
87 Milano Verde - daily driver - Juliet
87 Milano 3.0 Motronic - budget race car - Roxanne
87 Milano 3.7 24v - race car
(Repeating what I suggest or do is at your own risk - be critical)
Keith (he'll start posting here soon - "CagePro") knocking out a 4-point in Chris' street/track Milano today!
-Looks great and they did it in one day! (Still needs to be painted though.) Wonder if he can do these as a bolt in for others? For a local it would be worth it as apposed to a bolt-in from say AutoPower or whomever to get the real thing, welded in, tucked away, lighter materials (but still an FIA spec. cage) for the same money!
Even at 90 bucks an hour and a full 8 hours of labour you're looking at around 700 plus materials! Not bad compared to the bolt-ins at around 800 plus shipping lus labout to bolt/weld them in!
Don't worry - he doesn't always weld without a visor - just tacking in... (I on the other hand set the hair on my left arm on fire today with the sparks from a die-grinder! (I was wondering why this piece of steel-rod I was cutting smelled like burning hair!?)
Also, Chris "helping" - he says that you have to be at least "this tall" to enjoy this ride!!!
So, the initiative to bring in short-shift kits from our friends in England, is not progressing very well (in fact - not at all...) No harm-no foul - Alex Jupe is a VERY busy man - he has a business to run and I can't blame him.
I know that Sebastian has a conversion on order, but I did not want to waste anymore time and I also did not want to do mine AFTER he gets his - no chance of anyone thinking or saying that Alex's work was ripped off, so I started on mine today!
I have no idea where to start; the stock shifter appears to be a 4:1 ratio (meaning that there are 4 times the shifter ABOVE the pivot-ball, as there is below it!) So, I am going to start with a lengthening in that ratio (more or less...) My goal is to a) shorten the throw of each shift while b) simultaneously increasing the height of the shifter and c) maintaining a fairly easy shift effort.
I know that the quick-fix for a shorter throw is to simply cut the shifter down (above the pivot point) - I did this on my street car and it works, but it produces a more difficult shift-effort (not as big a deal), but it causes the driver to have to reach for the upper 3 gates! (Even for a guy like me with long arms...) I also had G2 move my seat-rails far back to fit legs, so now I really have to reach for 1-3-5!
I want the shorter throw while maintaining the leverage AND I want to move the shift-knob somewhere just off to the right of the 4 o'clock position on my steering wheel (including the positioning AFTER installing an RSRacing steering extender!
Enough variables here?
I started with my shifter that Andrew Garcia had already re-bushed for me, cut the bottom section in half and sourced tubing with the approximate ID of the lower-shaft OD. We tack-welded the two sections inside the tube and I'm ready to measure it in a car. (Once I have this just right, we will do continuous welds on both ends!)
In looking at the pictures now, I realize that the slight concave shape to that lower rod must be there to accommodate movement within the housing! I hope that this larger diameter sleeve does not interfere now! My hope is that the longer "reach" of the bushing moved down will also require less movement above it (effectively negating the need for the concave shape to the lower shaft!) I live in hope...
With the bottom section tack-welded together, I went after the top. Like an idiot I cut it down the middle too (planning on a slip-fit tube extension just like the bottom), when I realized that this would be the portion visible inside the car and a "saddle-section" like that would look stupid.
Also, I realized that a deep shift-knob would "kick" against the sleeve, so I had to actually cut that entire section of (smaller diameter welded on to the top of a larger diameter base by the factory any way), so we just welded a longer rod of the same thickness on to the base!
I went extra long - since this part I can always cut back down again if need be. I doubt it though - D1 (Demo car 1) - one of my favorites in Ron Simons' arsenal at the Ring - has a long rally-style shifter like this that was also lengthened dramatically at the bottom (not sure by how much), but they said that they modified it even more beyond what Alex had already done for them!)
So, can't be too long in my opinion. What to keep in mind is that the more you increase the height at the top (for hand-positioning) the more you are back to square 1 with a long throw again, so you have to do that much more down below (in some ratio - 4:1 for the stock LESS what you want to DECREASE the throw by..!)
So, its ready for a first test-install. I guess that I will get my street Verde in to the shop and up on a rack sometime this week and see how hard it is (WITHOUT taking the exhaust and driveline out!) I know that I will have to remove that heat-shield - dunno IF it will come out with my particular exhaust in place...? (That retaining clip that holds the entire assembly in the housing also looks like a ***** to get out with the housing IN the car...!)
We'll see.
I took the bottom section from about 2.25 inches (measured from roughly the center of the pivot-ball to the center of the brass-bush at the bottom) up to 4.75 inches. I took the top section from about 13 inches up to about 17.5 inches. Overall change is a bunch, but inconsequential - I think! (We'll just have to see HOW much the throw was impacted, how well the shift-knob is now positioned and what the shift-effort is like!)
Gonna be SWEET with the whole new "monkey-shift" re-bush kit at the back as well as the new brass-bush at the bottom!
This "fix" is also pointless now because I realized after doing it that we were welding the adjustable bias-bar - front/rear balance-bar - to this pedal and drilling a big holes right through the center where I just spend an hour!
Any way - now the fix is detailed here for those who wondered. Just drop a weld in the center, grind it flat on both sides, clamp the pedal in a vice, drill a pilot hole (the weld is HARD!!!) follow up with the correct size drill and that's it.
it is VERY important here NOT to go with a smaller drill bit and simply "auger the hole a bit to make the pin fit!!! (This creates an out of round hole with chamfered edges and excessive play in the pin again (rendering the repair pointless!) It is best to drill ONCE to the correct size and preferable use a drill-press for a nice straight hole! A fresh pin is also advisable!
Thanks Richard - yeah, if you read the associated text above (lengthy as it may seem), you will notice a few things;
a) Several attempts to get a group buy of some sorts together on this modification from another member who has done this successfully, has failed.
b) Several discussions on this modification here and under the GTV6 forum FAILED to generate ANY offers/advice from anybody else here who may have done this before, (or willing to offer assistance in doing it again!)
c) In my prior post I also point out that only after looking at the pictures at home last night did I notice the "concave" shape to the bottom rod - leading me to believe that this was done to clear that curved aluminium housing during throws!
d) We are TOTALLY in the dark here and without ANY reference whatsoever, I had to start SOMEWHERE! My lengths are simply a starting point and the lower pieces are simply tack-welded in to place - ready to be knocked off and progressively shortened as I go along!
This will be a fit and test-adjust-fit and test modification, until I get it right. Short of that - what else? Have you done this before ON ONE OF THESE PARTICULAR MODELS!? Can you post pictures of the mods please? What results did you have?
As mentioned, I have driven a couple of 75s at the Ring with this modification and they were FANTASTIC, but the opportunity did not present itself to look UNDERNEATH the cars to be able to see what they had done. I was simply able to see the lengthening AT THE TOP and like I stated - personal preference would dictate that I have the top-section, good to go. It is the bottom that is a mystery at this point - if I need to cut it down and re-fit, then so be it. I can use thinner material - no biggy there.
As far as it hitting the drive-shaft; we'll see. From memory - there is that natural kink in the driveline right there (due to the misalignment in the engine/drive-line - specifically in the Alfa Romeo design to accommodate the shifter.) There is also a DRASTIC reduction in the driveline diameter right there (also to accommodate the shift-throw at the bottom - I'm sure), so my hope is that it clears! Like I said; if it does not, I will start going progressively shorter and shorter with my extension sleeve until I find the right fit and action. I can make it thinner - no problem.
As far as that "cup" - you can't "cut that cup off" - it IS the housing that holds the shifter in place! The concave shape to the bottom rod is there to allow operation within that "cup"... Once I determine the correct throw of that extension, we can weld on a thinner steel as the extension - not worried there! (In fact, my hope is that since the throw itself is increased, LESS throw-action is required in that bottom rod and less movement would = less interference with the housing around it. Hence - a thicker extension would be OK.
Short of this approach, I have no better plans for a solution! Unless you have done this successfully and are willing to share plans/pictures/schematics and willing to commit to build 10 or so sets for us?
i thought of doing the bottom idea a while ago [read something about it beeing done elsewhere] but i never had a iso car for it... now iv got 2, so i plan to have a play with the gtv's when i put the lsd into it [with in months...touch wood]
I don't know if this will help but here's a drawing I did of an early (Alfetta?) shift mount showing the maximum movement of the shift lever. I included a jpg preview but the pdf is better.
Thanks! That helps... I took another look at it yesterday (will lift a car with driveshaft today), but it appears that if the bottom rod clears the reduced diameter section of the Milano driveshaft, we will be OK in the thicker saddle-sleeve clearing the housing (given the longer throw...)
By "cup" - maybe Richard meant the "lip" or "rim" at the bottom - only about a 1/4 high, but cutting that off should make quite a bit of difference to the clearance allowable throw in the bottom rod... Cutting if off also does not seem to have any adverse effect on the structural integrity of the housing...
One spin-off and it will look like a 20 year old car again - at least down here - don't ask me how I know 
Dammit! 2-3 hours of cleaning, solvent-tank, brake-clean, pressure-air and then sand-blasted and several coats of paint and I already did one (it was sitting over with the rest of my parts!) What an idiot!
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