My 1980 A310.. in Norway!

Hi!

New to this forum so I thought showing you my car would be a good place to start.

I bought it two years ago and it is a 1980 Alpine A310 2700VA chassisnumber 47268.
It was a bit run down when I bought it, but the body was fairly good and the frame is about rust free.
The car had been "styled" some years ago, somewhat unsuccessfully IMO, and is equipped with devil headers, custom made exhaust (NOISY) and triple weber carbs.
Cosmetically there were some issues and mechanically it was a bit worn.
After driving it a couple of weeks with some tinkering and adjustments the car ran much better and I was starting to feel the potential of the machine.

I ripped the stylingkit off and disassembeled the car to a point where it could be resprayed. Delivered it at the paintshop early winter 2013 and got it back january 2014.
During the car was gone I ordered quite a few parts from Simon in germany. New headlamp lenses, balljoints, bushes, some seals etc.

I finished the restauration april 2014 and the car has been driven without a single hickup since.

Some pictures:




















New headliner!


Back from paint...


Had to rebuild the carbs. Excessive wear on the shafts.


Rebuilt carbs


New lenses


New airfilters




Carburettor tuning. Steap learing curve..


The car as it sits today.

I absolutely love driving this car. Low, loud and goes like a train. The triple carb setup is great on full throttle!

I am going to put a new exhaust on it as the one I have is custombuilt whith one tiny duplex silencer and is way to loud for longer trips. Anyone got some good advices on a freeflowing exhaust that is not to loud?

Also i have one headache with the car: When cornering right hard at speed it makes a vibration/rumble. Feels like the drivshafts bottom out, but the shafts feel tight and got a good 2.5cm+ travel in/out. Engine/gearbox mounts is not replaced, but i see the top of the airfilters through the rear window and it hardly moves. The vibration comes with or without accelerating.
Anyone got some ideas?

Cheers

Fredrik

Welcome Fredrik - looks good. Where in Norway are you?

re the rumble, I assume you've checked the wheel bearing. (Handbrake off, jack up and chock and then give the wheels a pull back and forth to check for and lateral play)

Also my GTA used to grate sometimes in slow corners. From memory that was when the sliders were worn on one caliper so it'd cause the brakes to rumble and catch ever so slightly on the disk. Again grab the calipers with the wheel off and check for any play up and down.

[johnb]

I agree with Darren, worth checking the wheel bearings.

Not long after completing the rebuild of my A310 it had a low rumble at the back that changed in tone when cornering. The cause was the near side rear wheel nut had loosened slightly allowing some play at that wheel. I'd fitted new wheel nuts from Simon Auto because the old ones were pretty chewed up during removal. I had peened the 'collar' on the top of the wheel nut into the depressions in the wheel shaft but obviously not enough as the nut had slackened. The cure was just to retorque the nut and peen the collar fully into the shaft depressions.

Your car does look better without the body kit, in my opinion, especially at the rear. Same colour as mine and same interior trim except the head lining in mine is yellow to match the pinstripe in the blue.

Yes, both rear wheel bearings are new and i retorqued it this spring just to be certain.
When it occurs the whole car is shaking and the frequency and feel of it points me towards something rotating. It kind of feels like you're driving on curbs on a racetrack. Only when cornering hard right or when I hit a dip in the road at high speed.

The car looks a million times better without the kit. My headliner was torn down by a previous owner to make more headroom (!?). The new one is infact yellow, but not as bright as the original. Turns out bright yellow velour is not easily found these days. If anyone knows about some blue/yellow doorcards, give me a shout. Mine are not to bad except someone has cut out a hole for bigger speakers.

I live in a small town called Løten about 1 hour north of Oslo.

Thanx for your replies!

Hmmm that does sounds like the CV joints..... perhaps it's only when the suspension is flexing and putting them under strain.

Are the cv joints unique to a310 or can it be swapped from a more common car?

Could still be the rear brake calliper(s) if they haven't also been looked at.

I used to get a noise and (sometimes large) vibration from the rear that was down to a sticky calliper not releasing the disk properly. Had the calliper serviced and it solved all that.

Jon

Well I did service the calipers after I bought it, but the rumble was there before and after that. Allthough I don´t think it is brake related I´ll take a second look.
When I get the time I´ll swap over the driveshafts to see if it changes side or disappear.

Someone else (Clee perhaps or Mr Dell?) might be able to comment, but from memory GTA driveshafts aren't the same length between sides. The A310 might have a similar design and if so you won't be able swap them round. Parts book may tell you.

[johnb]

Someone else (Clee perhaps or Mr Dell?) might be able to comment, but from memory GTA driveshafts aren't the same length between sides. The A310 might have a similar design and if so you won't be able swap them round. Parts book may tell you.

My copy of the MDR for the A310V6 doesn't make reference to any differences between the two drive shafts. The parts book only shows one assembly, as the attachment.

Simon Auto only show one item (091013 upto 1980) so it appears that they are the same unless someone knows otherwise.

Interestingly, I have a copy of the RTa (Revue Technique automobile) manual covering the 4 cylinder and 6 cylinder A310. In the transmission section it states:-

'Important: With 4-cylinder engine, the transmission right (marked with red paint ring) is shorter than the left by 10 mm.'

I might have seen your car at some stage.

Now I live in Stavanger, but when I first moved to Norway I lived in Ås in Akershus, I quite often saw a white Alpine around the area, wonder if it was the same ?

[johnb]

I might have seen your car at some stage.

Now I live in Stavanger, but when I first moved to Norway I lived in Ås in Akershus, I quite often saw a white Alpine around the area, wonder if it was the same ?

If you mean mine it would have had to be before 1982 as that was when it was first registered in the UK.

I was wondering about Fredrik's car.
I moved here in 2011 and noticed the white Alpine buzzing about since they are so unusual.

I always spotted it around the Drøbak/ Frederikstad areas, wonder if it was the same car with the previous owner ?

If you mean mine it would have had to be before 1982 as that was when it was first registered in the UK.

[johnb]

I was wondering about Fredrik's car.

[/quote]

Ah, my mistake. I was confusing you with Fredrik. Norway and Norway.

Could be mine with a previous owner, but I´m not sure. I bought it from a guy in Oslo who owned for a short time. I think it is a couple of white A310´s around the Oslo area.

Took it for a long drive a couple of weeks ago and I found a road over a mountain which was made for the A310 or visa versa.