Alfa sprint 1.5 brake upgrade

[geryS2]

Hi there, I m new to the forum, bought a 1.5 from 1987 with original sunroof and a 1.7 engine in it, a lot of work to do as the car has been still from 1997 !!

it s black original color and gonna be silver as I had on like that 18 years ago, found already a lot of parts: clutch master cylinder, speedline wheels, ..


I m doing brakes for the moment and with the original 10 mm non vented discs, i want to upgrade to the 22 mm vented from 1.7 and alfa 33

question, is the brake caliper from the 1.7, alfa 33 a direct fit, cause i see some guys have upgraded the front suspension from their Sprint to the alfa 33 one and don t know if the space for the bolts are the same ?

wanted also to upgrade the rear one from drums to disc and need change the rear suspension to the alfa 33 one, which parts do i need to change ? the all setting or just suspension strut ?

Cheers and thanks for help

gery

[PETROLHEAD]

Hi there

right, easiest route for the front end is to buy the 33 16v hubs and brakes complete. The none vented and vented 33 discs have different heights so i suspect that even if the calipers bolt on you will run into spacing issues.

These hubs, or indeed the whole front suspension leg etc aren't too tricky to find. John at justsuds would be my first call, or put a call out for some wanted parts on here. I might even have some myself somewhere!



Now the rear is a bit trickier.

All 33's except for the P4, and some late euro versions with ABS were still drum rear brakes. They're were virtually no 2 wheel drive UK model 33's with abs and rear discs as standard, so trying to do it from 33 parts will be difficult.

I recommend retrofitting the sud rear axle which was always disc, but does have the downside of not being rear handbrake, just footbrake only, and the suspension is slightly different lengths but can be adapted.

You can overcome this a number of ways.

Adapt a similar caliper that does have a handbrake mechanism (Tricky but doable!)

Add a spot brake caliper (nice, but a little costly)

Fabricate an adaptor to use something like the 33 p4 or very very similar 155 rear hub to either your current or another axle.



They're are other methods, but in my experience not many will be simpler or cheaper, but i'm sure there will be other folk along soon with other methods too.


Keep it coming mate, its a good thread subject to get stuck into.

Shrew



ps - a member here, its_welshy, has a complete sud rear axle for sale on here now in the classifieds???

[geryS2]

ok, big thanks, i will look for the 33 16v hubs, i think i will leave the rear one standards for the moment, quite a lot of other works to do..

i got some nice Speedline wheels 15" from a 145, i just need some 10mm spacers and it gives a really nice look, pics to follow

[PETROLHEAD]

That sounds like a good plan to be fair, particularly if you have other stuff to do aswell, plus, if i'm honest, rear disc brakes on these cars is actually more of an aesthetic choice than a performance upgrade becuase of two reasons.

Firstly, the rear drums work perfectly well, more than up up to the job actually.

Secondly, and more importantly, with rear discs and more stopping power you will very likely also want top then install a bias valve to get the braking effort far more front bias. The suds and sprints are so lightweight at the rear that a notable increase in braking effort will simply end up with you locking up the rear wheels when asked to stop a bit hastily.

These cars don't need a lot of rear brake, so you can easily upset the applecart!



Put all the fronts you like on it, there are a lot of guys modifying to two and four piston calipers on the 33 16v hubs, with discs as big as 300mm and more!

Some find the alfa 75 master cylinder a neccesity once they are at really big calipers to keep the pedal pressure and brake feel something like normal too, so if you start with the 33 16v set up, nice new performance discs and pads, you'll likely find that more than adequate,



for a while! lol!!





ps - just watch the centre bore of the later wheels on earlier cars. there have been some discrepencies found in the hub sizes, 58.6 and 58.1, so not always a perfect fit. Give everything a real good clean up on the hub and centre bore of the wheel, excessive paint or corrosion etc, check with some verniers before bolting on and check it fits snuggly, otherwise you could run into an issue or two.

[geryS2]

yep, did already had a surprise with the rear hubs, the 15" wheels from the 145 didnt fit, and to find spacers with 4 x 98 and 60 mm center space is not easy, will buy some standard with 58 mm and do some machining..

thanks again

[PETROLHEAD]

Do you need spacers to adjust the offset anyway, or are you using the hub size thing as an excuse to kick them out a bit wider anyway?

[bert308]

Sud hub is 58,5 mm, not 60. I once adjusted the bearings very loose, then used the angle grinder to spin the hub and at the same time take some 10th mm away. Result was better than this description may suggest...

[KevJTD]

lol, neat way of grinding it down bert, who needs a lathe!!

[Johnboy]

Morning

Any updates on this car ?

[geryS2]

Yep, need post some pictures, massive work done, new paint , engine rebuild, now in workshop as gasoline not coming from tank anymore, can t wait to drive with it

But as always a few surprise, sunroof is not original, the all roof has been cut and welded and not nicely..

[geryS2]

And I did miss one of best add in years, a 1984 immaculate Sprint coming from south of france for 4000€, I was the second caller and the car was already reserved by a collector, damned, it had not a spot of rust, complete original with 130 000 km


Picture: working on the brakes few months ago..