Weird crank ringnut

[Chris Kane <branzck@domain.elided>]

After exhaustive discussions with Les Singh, NZ's "Mr Alfa", I think the
digest might be interested in this one. And maybe somebody can put me out of
my misery with an answer. The Situation:

I'm reassembling the engine from my 1750 GTV, which came to me in several
boxes (as did the rest of the car). Having done head jobs on twincams
before, I thought "OK, no big deal, just deal with the liners and nothing
else is unusual". Wrong. Having replaced every part that can be, on the
theory that I won't have to touch it again for 10 years, I had the crank
installed, along with the new liners and pistons. The rear plate cover is
on, so it's time to bolt up the flywheel. Oops - the crank has no threads.
?. Check again - yes, no threads. Ring the ex-owner and ask what he
remembered when he pulled it apart - "nothing unusual". Hmm. So, I dug
around in the box of bits again and came up with two "half rings", into each
of which were tapped 4 threaded holes, which, lo and behold, were correct
for the flywheel bolts. And, if I removed the rear bearing cap, seal, and
rubber sausage-things, I could put these rings behind the flange on the
crank that it appears the flywheel should bolt to, and bolt to the rings
instead. So I did.

The Question: Is this normal?

I've been up to my elbows in lots of different engines, both real AND
Japanese ones, and never seen anything resembling this before. From an
engineering point of view, its a sensible enough solution, but it poses
assembly problems, not least of all when it's time for a flywheel change
with the motor in situ. None of the manuals I've seen mention anything
Mickey-mouse like this, and I'd expect better from Alfa.

Anybody got any ideas?

Chris Kane
1970 1750 GTV (widely scattered)
1976 Sud Ti

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