springing the Berlina

[JHertzman@xxxxxxx]

In AD7-194 Jack Habits says that he would like to upgrade the springs of his
1750 Berlina without altering the appearance of the car, i.e. he does not want
to lower the car, but the car is heavier than the types for which upgraded
springs are usually offered on the after-market:

>>but there seem to be no readily available upgraded springs for the Berlina.
For the Bertone, Giulia and Spider it is "Spring Galore!" But for us poor
Berlina owners? Nothing! I am a bit weary to mount springs intended for a
Giulia because of the different weight of the cars and overall handling.<<

He also mentions that his car's inherent weak rear springs are exacerbated by
the LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) tank in the trunk.

I applaud the wish to keep the car's attitude normal. As is so often the case,
one of the beauties of the 105-115 cars is the number of variables available
in a basically constant structure. I doubt that he would need "to take the
existing springs out and just go to a spring factory and gamble - " as he
suggested.

I cannot guess about the availability of new stock springs for the different
cars at this age, particularly this long after Alfa Romeo passed into Fiat
management, but different ones may be available, and the springs for the last
Spiders certainly should be available. The greatest difference in weight
between the 1750 Berlina and the 1750 GT Veloce and Spider is 70 kg - 1060 kg
against 990 kg- and I suspect that the use of the different height-adjusting
spacers (four, from 6.5 mm to 21.5 mm in the case of the rears) would allow
keeping a stock height and stock attitude with those aftermarket "sports"
springs which were not made with radical lowering in mind.

My parts books are very limited- 1750 coupe and Spider, and 2000 Berlina only-
but I thought that they might show different springs for the USA cars,
particularly as (1) USA cars are normally heavier, with reinforced doors, a
heavier fuel system and, frequently, air conditioning and, in the later
Berlinas, the heavier bumpers, and (2) USA owners so often comment on the cars
having been raised for this market, but my parts books do not show different
springs for the USA cars. They do, however, show for all three bodies optional
rear springs (presumably heavier) for trailer towing, which would probably
accommodate the weight of the LPG tank.

In addition the later cars got progressively heavier, and late springs for one
or another of the 105 variants might be worth considering. The dry weight of
the 1750 Berlina is given as 1060 kg; in the d'Amico-Tabucchi "Alfa Romeo
production cars" book all of the progressively heavier 2000 Spiders built from
1971 to 1993 are listed in a single section, and four different dry weights
are given- 990 kg, 1040 kg, 1070 kg, and 1157 kg. Among the usually lighter
Giulia sedans, one which carried a few extra pounds, and may have had heavier
springs, was the 115.40 with its cast-iron Perkins diesel engine, at a dry
weight of 1080 kg. 

There is yet another car, easily overlooked, which uses the same platform and
suspensions, which has a dry weight of 1220 kg- and that, of course, is the
Montreal, which should have springs engineered for both a reasonably
comfortable ride and respectable handling at appreciably higher speeds. . 

LPG tank or no LPG tank, if he can get stock springs for 990, 1040, 1070,
1080, 1157, and 1220 kg cars, all adjustable for height with four thicknesses
of spacers, as well as properly engineered aftermarket sports springs still
adjustable with spacers, I would not think his options would be too limited.

John H.
 

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End of alfa-digest V7 #195
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