STEVE COLE'S LANCIA ZAGATO

I bought my 1979 Lancia Zagato in February of 2000 from a dealer on the Internet sight unseen. The dealer is located in San Diego, California and I asked him for a reference to an Italian car mechanic to have the car checked before I purchased it. The mechanic did the check and then called to say that the car was in really good condition for its age and just about everything worked. So I bought the car and had it shipped to Dallas, Texas. To my surprise when I first saw the car it had a full white leather interior that I felt was probably not original. I later learned that the car won its class in the national Fiat Freak Out in 1994 and the interior, according to a Fiat mechanic in Detroit, was installed by the Ford Motor Company by their design studio that does the show cars. I do not know that this is true myself but the quality of the work is far better than the typical shop can perform.

The car was absolutely filthy but as the mechanic had said everything was there and mostly functional. At this point I began a year of cleaning, fixing and replacing. Everything from outside light lenses, fuel hoses and hose clamps to the entire cooling system was cleaned checked and parts replaced. Stereo systems were installed with custom enclosure, brake and rotors replaced, tie rods replaced, shift linkage rebuilt, wheel bearings replaced, new wheels and tires along with lowering springs installed, window track weatherstrip replaced and of course the mandatory once over of all the grounding points in the electrical system. I have even begun doing some minor chrome work under the hood along with powder coating many pieces under the hood to original color.

At this point show was there but go wasn’t and I began to hunger for more power than the stock 85 horses. Unfortunately, I live in Dallas Texas where car emissions create huge amounts of ozone and air pollution. The typical ways of boosting twin cam performance, carbs, cams… would not pass emissions testing. The only options would be turbocharging or supercharging. One evening while surfing the net I ran across an add for a complete turbo and ancillaries from a 1985 Lancia Delta. The next morning I was on the phone with my mechanic asking if this would be a viable project for my car. The answer was yes and within a few days the deal was cut and the parts were on the way from Italy!

The installation project began with a complete rebuild of the turbo by Garrett, the manufacturer. When the turbo was new it only had oil cooling of the main bearing. As part of the rebuild Garrett added a water jacket for additional cooling of the unit. The supplied carburetor was completely rebuilt and the remaining parts cleaned prior to installation. New valve guides were installed in the head along with the appropriate cams. A big part of the project was to keep the engine compartment looking clean and somewhat stock. Too accomplish this all tubing was powder coated in flat engine compartment black. The air intake was routed to the underside of an original, and never connected, carburetor cooling fan, which put the noise of the air intake outside of the engine compartment and into cooler air also. The radiator was removed and upgraded to a four-row core for greater cooling capacity and a larger radiator fan from a later model Beta car was installed. A lower temperature radiator fan switch and a VDO temperature gauge and boost gauge were installed in the center console above the shifter. All flexible hose for intake and pressure sides is aircraft grade. To button everything up a Volumex head gasket with appropriate fasteners was installed. The catalytic converter remains but the center muffler was removed and only a new Ansa resonator is connected.

The final product is quite intriguing. Since we did not take the bottom end of the motor apart, the maximum boost we feel comfortable with the current compression ratio is 10 pounds. My long-term plan is when (and it will probably be soon) the clutch needs replacing we will pull the lower end of the motor apart and install lower compression pistons so that we can use maximum boost. We currently estimate horsepower to be in the 150 range, which has made a noticeable difference in the car. Wheel spin at take off can be constant in the dry and out right scary in the rain! Second and third gear scratch is no problem and even the somewhat low factory gearing is not nearly as bothersome with the additional power. The Abarth designed turbo is very linear with absolutely no turbo lag, so common to the German cars I am familiar with. It really makes you dream of the ultimate Lancia, 300+HP, 4 wheel drive in a compact car. Oh well, for now my dream will be of a new lower end and 20 pounds of boost, but while waiting the current version isn't bad!