Hi Guys, I know it's been a while, but here you go, the final instalment! thanks for following along!
https://youtu.be/aMErXSMOOlk
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Hi Guys, I know it's been a while, but here you go, the final instalment! thanks for following along!
https://youtu.be/aMErXSMOOlk
Congratulations Col in getting your Stratos rebuild "finished"! Loved following the build on your YT Channel. Please keep us up to date with your competition progress mate. Will lift a Safety Beer to your success when the hour is more acceptable in the UK.
Cheers!
Ade
Great vid. Loved the little tweaks - and the hose cutter - brilliant ! Enjoy the car and please keep us posted on your progress - and hopefully, success with it.
Brilliant. Thanks for sharing. I have really enjoyed the whole build. Good luck with the Rally!
Great stuff. Looks like it shifts pretty well!
Been great watching your videos. Keep us updated on any events you take it to.
Thanks guys, We are madly running around trying to get ready for its first rally in 2 weeks, Targa High Country. Not expecting any great results and treating it more as a shake down for Targa Tasmania later this year.
I'll make sure to post some updates
I am amazed (and very happy) with how well it shifts, super precise good short throw, and gear shifter is in a nice spot.Quote:
Looks like it shifts pretty well
Brilliant Colin. Love all the mods plus the lathe hose cutter “magic” best of luck in the rally.
could you provide more details on you’re gear box stiffening mod and the top mounting bracket that you fabricated for the front damper mount.
Kind regards Ken.
Hi Ken
Re the gearbox, we pulled the rear cover off to see what could be causing failures that we had heard about and noticed that there was minimal material between the 2 shaft end bearings. The main forces the end case has to contend with are the 2 shafts pushing apart so decided to try and reinforce the bearing housings. We cut out a thick ali plate, cleaned up the casting and welded it on the outside, to create a sort of "strap" between the 2 bearings. It weld on very well, and no issues with warping. I'll try and dig up a few photo's of the fix, i think my dad has some
the top mounting bracket for the dampers was a basic box section, just spent a long time making sure the damper would clear the top arm. Since i cut out the fiberglass section that goes around the spare wheel and replaced it with a steel section, that section of the front chassis is very strong now
cheers
Hi Colin. Any photo,s would be be very helpful on both mods as I am trying to replicate them on my Hawk.
Kind regards Ken.
Congratulations Colin, its been great to watch your progress this last couple of years....
Cheers
Phil
here's a good shot of the gearbox sterngthing plate, we milled it out of a 12mm plate so we could leave a 6mm edge to aid with welding and leave a 12mm rib, but that was overkill and due to a crippling Milling machine addiction, a simple 6mm plate would have been fine
Attachment 19166
Some more pics of the front strut mount to follow
cheers
Colin, Enjoyed a brilliant compilation of videos, the car looks and sounds great , good luck on the rallies , Cheers
Thanks Colin, Its been great to follow your rebuild and see everything you have done. I imagine I'm not alone with my workshop (and skills) envy! Good luck with your season.
Best wishes
Peter
I haven't actually seen an Alfa box fail in the bearing area but I have seen a couple that have worn through from rubbing on the inner wings when the top engine steady in the donor car fails.Quote:
Originally Posted by ByrneEngineering
Attachment 19167
The one I have seen that failed in a Stratos replica (former member on here) was much more catastrophic and the weak point was actually around the outer edge of the end casing.
The increased traction of the mid engined layout must have been too much and the thrust put back up the shaft from the crown wheel was too great for the casing.
The old 164 gearboxes were much stronger in this area where they had the additional bolt on end casing.
Attachment 19168
Isn't there a similar problem with Integrale boxes on uprated cars? I have a vague memory of casings being machined around bearing houses to accept a sandwiched steel plate to strengthen them.
I can't comment on the Integrale but there is the 3mm steel strengthening plate which can be added to Fiat/Alfa boxes between the bell housing and the gearbox casing which is used to help prevent the diff/crown wheel from separating from the pinion shaft. This requires 3mm to be machined from the gearbox casing to me it fit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Guy Mayers
Neil did this to his old 164 box. That bit didn't fail but he stripped 4th gear shortly after....
Attachment 19169Attachment 19170
Thanks Colin, I have learnt a lot from watching all your video's and the 105 Alfa stuff, 2 years & on the track = Result! Me = 6 years in and still bleeding air out me brakes!!! = idiot.
More Beer needed to help I think.
If I remember correctly when he machined Erics gearbox for me he took 1.5 off the bell housing and 1.5 off the Gearbox casing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Strat Fan
It sounds viable, I've never had one done.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bernard
So this was the sort of failure we were attempting to avoid with the additional strapQuote:
The one I have seen that failed in a Stratos replica (former member on here) was much more catastrophic and the weak point was actually around the outer edge of the end casing.
The increased traction of the mid engined layout must have been too much and the thrust put back up the shaft from the crown wheel was too great for the casing.
Now 'm not saying this is absolutely correct, but here was our thinking on the situation
- the failed section is after the gearbox mount, so it won't be subject to any loads generated between the diff output to the chassis
- the only Force that part of the gearbox casting is subject to is created from the gear shaft bearings
- As the gears are loaded up the shafts will try and spread apart, this is reacted by the bearing housings in the casting
So our thoughts were, a failure occurred in the casting between the 2 bearings, as mentioned it is very very thin in there, once a crack formed the 2 gears spread apart further and caused the carnage seen in that photo
What would be super helpful would be a photo of the failed casting parts, if the 2 bearing housing are still attached together in the end plate that would falsify our theory
I haven't got any other pics of the failure so can't comment on what the other piece looked like.Quote:
Originally Posted by ByrneEngineering
You can try DM'ing the owner, Sando on here but he sold his car a couple of years back and hasn't checked into the forum since Nov 2020.
You may be right on the failure being caused by the shafts trying to separate, I was thinking it was related to the thrust on the shafts induced by the helical cut of the gears/crown wheel.
There will also be an axial thrust from the taper roller bearings tending to push the end off the casing. Your mod will help that by reducing the bending of the casing but ultimately the same forces have to be accommodated somewhere. As you say Colin more pics of the failure would help identify the cause.
Thanks Chris, thats interesting. I note the extra ribs on the RHS of the end casing casting but nothing equivalent on the left. Maybe its all a bit marginal in that area. I suppose we will never really know. It will be interesting to see how Colin's box and mod stands up to some hard use.
Why am I reading this thread.....
Just something else to worry about!
Leigh, I understand that you have to be very brutal with the transmission, for this to happen.Quote:
Originally Posted by LPH_UK
As Chris Savage has pointed out, a mid engined car does have more 'bite' than a FWD car, when it comes to driven axle grip.
Having said that, I did see an account (only one) on one of the Alfa forums, of a 156 2.5 owner that did exactly the same thing (see Craig's photo above) with a split right round the gearbox casing.
Couldn't resist one more video, a quick clip video of the project
https://youtu.be/YSbCe7jHsv4
I think by far the best mod for the gearbox is the one Neil ended up doing, swap if for an MR2 turbo unit.
Brilliant vid Colin, especially the onboards. Wish I could get my kids to pass me a spanner!
Looking forward to future rally clips etc.
Cheers!
Update video soon, but in the meantime is some of the video of the Stratos @ Targa Tasmania
enjoy!
https://youtu.be/ZYpVOEra3q0
Looks great and sounds great!!
Great video tho. When I imagine a Stratos bombing along that's what it looks like.
Great video. Looks like it handles really well.
Excellent !......... time to enjoy all your hard work
Glad to see a lack of safety beers on this video! Enjoy!
Nice to see the old girl out, awesome good job you did building that:cool:
Great to see the car in action Col. Looks to handle so well and you must be very pleased with how your hard work is translating into the track/road?
Thanks for sharing.
Cheers!
Ade
Looks great Colin, nice to see a Stradale-bodied car in action for a change ;)
I know you've got some decent dampers on there, but what spring rates did you go for on front and rear, car looks well balanced?
Thanks guys
Yea the car handles very well straight out of the box, running
325lbs front
250lbs rear
I was aiming for a ride frequency of around 2, but I think the car may be a little lighter than I’d estimated, unfortunately due to a comedy of errors I still haven’t had a change to get it onto some corner weights.
As you can see from the vidoes, the car has epic turn in, which is great, but a little hard to read, I’d like to try dropping the front roll centre a little, from my calcs I think I can drop it down by 60mm without going below the ground, I think this would slow the front down a little and give better feedback
Conversely, I’d like to try and raise the rear roll center to limit its ability to drop below the ground level, It’s very tricky to control the roll centre migration on a McPherson strut, but raising the roll center may make the rear harder to read, just something to try
The Balance is good at the moment, so I think my ARB calcs we’re pretty close, if/when I make changes to the roll centres I’ll have to compensate with new ARB’s, that is if we ever get to do another tarmac rally in Australia……..
Do hope so.Quote:
Originally Posted by ByrneEngineering
Unfortunate outcome on Targa shouldn't prevent future events, perhaps just with more controls to limit speed, increase safety, somehow.
Did the chin spoiler survive the event?
What tyres did you use?