96 GTV rev limiters and radios

["Nils L. Corneliusen" <corneliusen@domain.elided>]

After spending a long time doing all the necessary groundwork about
obtaining a pretty new GTV here in Norway, I picked up a 1996 GTV
2.0TS a couple of weeks ago. Red, of course :-). Here are my first
impressions of this beast, and maybe some questions here and there.

First of all, I replaced the exhaust with one of the pretty rare
Supersprint Munch systems. It's basically a straight a pipe with a
cat, a single muffler and two dual exhausts going out of it. It looks
and sounds wicked! It's 12kgs lighter than the stock setup, so if you
come across one, get it! If I get the time, I'll take some pictures of
the rear end and the plumbing itself. It just looks extremely good.

As for the size of the car, it's really extremely small. Room for two
gnomes in back seat and a slim suitcase in the trunk. There's actually
less storage space in the GTV than in my good, old Spider! I wouldn't
think such a thing could be possible. No problem anyway, it was my
girlfriend who tried talking me into getting a sensible car. When she
moved out, I could return to "normal" business and spend all my money
on fast and fuzzy Alfas. Oh well :-).

I'm quite impressed with the 2.0TS engine. It revs like a wild beast
and outperforms most normal cars here in Norway. The red line is at
7000 rpm, but the rev limiter is nowhere to be found. I easily revved
it to 7500 rpm before getting nervous. Is there such a thing on these
cars? The engine really wakes up above 2500-3000 rpm and is strong all
the way up to the red line. Doing 0-100 km/h using just two gears is
no problem. I really wonder if it can be done faster by adding another
shift. Of course, if the 156s and 166s with the 2.0TS performs just as
well, I might even consider getting a sensible car someday! ;-)

As for the handling, I can't really get used to front wheel drive. I
really feel a lot safer in my old Spider, which I feel has a better
grip. I guess that might change as I get to know the GTV a bit more.
Also, the default springs and dampers are a bit on the soft side. I
have to invest some cash in new tires and wheels when spring turns up.
In the meantime I'll run on some Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires. I
hate winter! aargh!

I have thought about adding a radio of some kind to the car, hopefully
without going totally overboard again. The manual isn't telling much,
except bragging about the totally useless A.R. optional radio (I know,
I've heard it). As far as I can see, there are two rear mounted
speakers and a split front system with hidden crossovers somewhere.
Looks pretty standard. The pair of connectors are two by four each,
female. Is this the standard ISO setup, so I can just plug and play?
Advice needed.

regards,
Nils C-:
- -- 
Nils L. Corneliusen
corneliusen@domain.elided
http://www.triumph.no/members_nils.html
'78 Spider 1600 (in storage)
'96 GTV 2.0TS

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