My Alfa Romeo GTV Cup Twinspark

[thomasrs50]

Hi all

A few weeks ago I was considering to sell this car (also see: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... but realised I would probably regret it in the (near) future.

Some 10 years ago, I sold my last Italian car (a diesel 156), after having owned quite a few of them (156, GTV 116 and some Lancias). I must admit that I got fed up with 'working' on them. I completely switched to Japanese, but I'm sure many will have that itch that can only be scratched with a nice Italian car.

I came close to owning another one (looked at GTV 916, 156 and 159), but never bit the bullet. A few months ago, I came across a GTV that was looking quite sorry for itself. Got in touch with the owner and arranged to view it.

Everything that can go wrong with a GTV is wrong (damaged interior plastics / door cards),and you could tell the car was used as an old car and not as a future classic. And to top it all, the bonnet and front bumper have some minor damage. Still, it was a two-owner car with the last owner (a lovely lady in her early 60s) having it for 10 years and it is rust-free.

I took some pictures, slept over it, made an offer and after arranging transport, I now have a nice GTV on my driveway.

Oh, and it's cup... . Number 20 to be exact.









Cheers,



T.

Edited by thomasrs50 on Thursday 11th April 18:11

[thomasrs50]

When I got it home, did the first cheap fix: a new rear exhaust hanger.

[thomasrs50]

Instead of fixing the bonnet, I replaced it with another silver one and at the same time, replaced the knackered struts.

[romeodelta]

Well, every day is a school day.

I thought all Cups were 3.0 V6 and red, but it seems not.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_GTV_and...

Good luck fixing it up and well done for saving it

[DodgyGeezer]

thomasrs50 said:

[hairy v]

I always thought these look beautiful. Well done OP!

[thomasrs50]

Thanks guys!

Took the interior out, what as mess.











Box with 'leftovers'.

[waynedear]

Rare and lovely, well done, I have had 6 twinspark gtv’s, they are brilliant.

[V6Nelo]

romeodelta said:

Well, every day is a school day.

I thought all Cups were 3.0 V6 and red, but it seems not.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_GTV_and...

Good luck fixing it up and well done for saving it

Same here, thought they were all v6’s.

Great that you (OP) stripped out the interior, that’s how to clean a new m car.

The gtv still looks such a beauty.

[51mes]

Love a good GTV, have a v6 phase3, my 5th Alfa over the years (145,156/156GTA & brera 3.2).

Bought it for an Italian road trip for my 50th, just in time for covid, good job really as its still not quite right 🙄🙄, power steering problems are the current woe, but the top end rebuild last year was definitely painful.

They are.perfectly imperfect, and get under your skin.. Have fun!

[CarlosSainz100]

I've had 2 gtv's. A 3.2 coupe and a TS spider. The spider was by far the best to drive; it handled loads better. Cracking little engine that loved to rev. I loved that car and had it as a daily driver for 3 years, didn't want to sell it but ran out of space for it when it became a second car. It didn't go particularly fast but it didn't matter because the sense of speed was tremendous.

They do like a drink of oil and cambelts every 3 years. But other than that they're quite reliable.

[Mr Tidy]

An interesting car - good luck getting it up to scratch.

[carinaman]

It's LHD, hence being a silver Twin Spark Cup?

[alfa-alex]

As mentioned above I think all UK spec cup cars were red 3 litre. In other regions of Europe they had different specs.

The Uk never got the 2.0v6 turbo either which is a shame, I think they would have been a more balanced option than the 3.0 v6 bus so engine.

[thomasrs50]

This is a journey of discovery for me as well, esp. since I never owned a 'normal' GTV, the TwinSpark Cup shares much of it's chassis components with the V6.

Rear springs are V6.

Front shocks are V6

Front axles and spindles are a TS / V6 Frankenstein mix

Brakes are V6

Don't know yet about antiroll bars etc.


Removed rear seat and cleaned out the filth.

[EcoboostMK6]

A friend from school documented his Alfa refresh, it may be beneficial to you brilliant videos to watch, quite a few of them so I'd suggest going back to the start

https://www.youtube.com/user/85bigricky

[Cambs_Stuart]

Great car and good luck getting it sorted out.
I'm always amazed when i find crumbs and hairs under the gear gaiter. How do they get there?

[braddo]

Where are you based? As others have said, in the UK the Cups seem to be all V6s! Good luck with the resto and well done for saving a great car.

[carinaman]

Didn't Twin Spark Cups have their own championship in Europe, possibly just Italy? I suppose racing may explain V6 chassis parts?

[thomasrs50]

Thanks for the very supportive feedback, guys. This keeps me going.

I'm located in Belgium. The car was bought in 2001 by an Italian who lived here. In 2011, he moved back to Italy and his (ex-) sister in law bought the car from him and used it as het daly.

It's an original LHD twinspark. Most of them were silver 2.0 TS cars, but there are (very little) LHD V6 cup cars (in red) and a few LHD TS cup cars with a red livery.

The rear suspensions needs some work. I started replacing the left hand side shock, spring, bumpstop etc, but this will have to be taken apart again because I'd like to replace the spring pan and dog leg suspension arm with refurbished ones. The bushings are still 'ok-ish', but could do with replacing.

Apart from that, the brakes need a repaint. I don't think brembo-pink was a color back in the days .