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jimnielsen
16-12-07, 10:23
Here is a pic taken of my 155 Q4 today at Phillip Island Raceway, Victoria Australia.

Steve Webb
16-12-07, 10:28
Looks like you are having fun. Did it behave itself? And I see you still have the red wheels.

wrinx
16-12-07, 10:59
Looks like fun! Where did you get the bumper vents from?

wrinx

jimnielsen
16-12-07, 11:34
Yes, the car behaved itself quite well - I did 25 laps of the circuit, mostly flat out - so thats 125km in total. Water temperature was well controlled (ambient was about 24 degrees C) - I thought that this would be a problem as it still has the air con system in front of the radiator. The car has a number of issues on the track however, which I will cure over time.

1. power steering is too wobbly, especially around long high speed sweeping bends - you have to correct a few times. its possible that the steering unit is worn? Anyone any ideas on this?? maybe this is just how they are supposed to be, but I don't think so.

2. front springs are too soft, you get a lot of nose dive under 100 percent braking, any rough steering sets the thing wobbling on its springs.

3. front anti roll bar too weak - far too much body roll.

4. tyres - still has the street tyres it came from Japan with - very little grip, especially on the rears.

5. weight - car is too heavy for the available power - needs to go on a diet.


6. power. The car is making 0.9 bar boost in 4th (that quickly drops to 0.7) under constant acceleration (right out to 6500) . It needs more? should it be making any more as a standard car??? All input on this appreciated !!

On the good side - brakes worked well, without locking or fading, car is good out of low speed corners in 2nd gear.

I had my data logger in the car - I will post some comparison data for this track compared to my Giulietta racecar.

The event was an Alfa Romeo Club of Victoria one. they hold meetings at a different track most months. In my class, I was beaten by a stock standard GTV6 and also a 2003 GTV 3.0L 24V. So I need to sort the issues out!!

&.. The bumper vents came with the car, I though that they were standard equipment? I am going to paint the wheels white, but this may take a little while yet!



JimN

veki
16-12-07, 12:59
6. power. The car is making 0.9 bar boost in 4th (that quickly drops to 0.7) under constant acceleration (right out to 6500) . It needs more? should it be making any more as a standard car??? All input on this appreciated !!

I think the boost figures are 0.8 bar normal, and 1 bar at overboost, which lasts only for a few seconds. So the pattern seems allright, but there is a difference of 0.1 bar. It could be down to a leak somewhere along the hoses, or just an inaccurate gauge.

But first let someone confirm the boost values.

Steve Webb
18-12-07, 09:03
Jim, do you wanna be famous? I need a pic for the front cover of the calendar, do you mind if I use the first one you posted in this thread?

Steve

jimnielsen
18-12-07, 09:49
No, I've always wanted to be famous!! So that is fine. Do you want me to scan you a full resolution version of it and email it to you?

JimN~

Steve Webb
18-12-07, 21:58
On the good side - brakes worked well, without locking or fading,
JimN


I've been banging on about the standard brakes for years. I've never had any problems with them either, whilst thumbing through a spares catalogue the other day, I noticed that at 284mm the front vented disks are actually 1mm larger in diameter than 2wd Sierra cosworth front disks. So I suppose it should be no surprise that they work pretty well.

RMB-Racing
18-12-07, 22:03
I've been banging on about the standard brakes for years. I've never had any problems with them either, whilst thumbing through a spares catalogue the other day, I noticed that at 284mm the front vented disks are actually 1mm larger in diameter than 2wd Sierra cosworth front disks. So I suppose it should be no surprise that they work pretty well.


Hahahahahahahaha...

So the Sierra Cosworth is the reference car now??? :smile:

Steve Webb
19-12-07, 08:29
Nope, the point i was trying to make was that the Q4 (and V6) had larger disks that the car that was the iconic sports saloon of the late 80's / early 90's so it isn't really a surprise that they work rather well.
Picking a reference car these days is fairly tricky as brake disks are like wheels these days, most people seem to think that bigger is better.

jimnielsen
19-12-07, 09:49
Just a few more pictures - you can see the degree of body roll better in these.

JimN~

ps.. the MELBOURNE sign in the middle one is a nice touch!

AlfaJack
19-12-07, 12:24
Yup its got a fair bit - but how to fix it?

jimnielsen
20-12-07, 07:22
well, anyone any ideas on where to get bigger anti roll bars front and rear?

JimN

Steve Webb
20-12-07, 08:45
For some reason the Lancia Dedra Integrale front ARB is a couple of mm's thicker than the Q4's so thats a quick and easy upgrade. Although it is a pain to swap over the ARB as it sits above the front subframe. I seem to remember people talking to Whiteline as well about thicker ARB's fro the Q4 but I'm not sure how far they got with them.

cuore_sportivo_155
20-12-07, 21:45
i guess for track use you'd really want coilovers.... if you get fully adjustable onesyou can compensate for changes made to the weight distribution later....

the body roll will be far less already....

markgq4
23-12-07, 12:27
Dee from the other forum used the whiteline ARB`s on his 155 but it seems that tho the front may owrk the rear is not avialable as they have never made one, thats as far as i got, cos i was after doing the same. I believe they will happily make one but i am certain it will not be cheap as it will be a one-off...

Jim,
i use mine on track all the time,
and the koni adj shocks and eibach springs take much of the roll away,
and stripping the interior saves easliy 150kg of weight both of which make it a much better track car. for a relatively small outlay, tho this does make the rear feel a bit twitchy on turn-in, it has (touch wood) never actually let go so far even with cheapo tyres....

cuore_sportivo_155
23-12-07, 14:54
group buy? i'm sure more Q4/DELTA owners will be interested in uprated roll bars

Steve Webb
23-12-07, 16:37
group buy? i'm sure more Q4/DELTA owners will be interested in uprated roll bars


I think the only other car that it would fit would be the Dedra Integrale, and I think there are even fewer or those about than the Q4.

cuore_sportivo_155
23-12-07, 17:09
still, 5 sets would come cheaper than just 1... per set that is...

jimnielsen
25-12-07, 21:25
well, I'd like to start with an uprated front anti roll bar. What diameter is the whiteline one? I'm all for a group-buy if anyone else is interested. I am planning to strip the inside this summer (thats "now" over here...), but I was thinking that i could get 75Kg out of it, if I could remove 150Kg then it would transform the cars performance.

JimN~

markgq4
25-12-07, 22:11
well, I'd like to start with an uprated front anti roll bar. What diameter is the whiteline one? I'm all for a group-buy if anyone else is interested. I am planning to strip the inside this summer (thats "now" over here...), but I was thinking that i could get 75Kg out of it, if I could remove 150Kg then it would transform the cars performance.

JimN~

i had a thought after i wrote that, which is my series 1 car had electric & heated front seats which weighed in at just over 20kgs each !! so there is that to allow for if yours does not have those,( i replaced them with sparcos weighing around 7kgs each) and i took out the aircon sytem of which the pump was a big lump!
.... but including rear seats, headrests, blinds,rear electric widow motors,door cards and all the soundproofing and boot carpets and trims, spare etc, there is a LOT of weight you can remove from a 155.

markgq4
25-12-07, 22:16
Ps the whiteline front roll bar Dee used was 27mm +5mm over std 155 front
I just checked,lol, he said also he was very very impressed with the improvent.

and yes i would be in for a group buy for the rears

jimnielsen
26-12-07, 11:21
Some data logger data from the Q4 at Phillip Island.

For comparison,

The Q4 was at +.997 G's lateral max on street tyres.
My Giulietta racecar can return +1.6 on this track on 17x10 slicks

Max speed of the Q4 on the 1.1 Km main straight was 183.3Kph
Max speed of the Giulietta is 187Kph

best laptime I did with the Q4 was 2:11.65
Have squeezed out a 1:51 in the giulietta.

This data will make an interesting comparison point after I have made some improvements to the Q4!!

The data is from a Race technology DL1 datalogger.

www.nielsen.org/alfa155Q4/155Q4data.jpg


JimN~

AlfaJack
26-12-07, 16:51
Impressive readouts!