Classic Alfa Forums

Hi,

It's looking like I'll be moved from Belgium to either Australia or UK within the next 2 years. How hard would it be to convert my lovely sprint to RHD, in the UK I'm not too bothered about driving a Lhd but apparently Oz will be difficult - either way the correct side of the road would be best.

Easy/hard/not possible?

Thanks

Nothing like that is easy, but it should be possible. The body panels are uniform both sides, cut out needed for the pedal box and servo but the shape is there ready in the metal.

Weld the other side and move the battery.

Wiring loom might be the hardest part to to re-route.

Look at thes pics and you can see that the bare shell is uniform left to right.

Ok, so looks like a pro job. Good that it's possible though, I really do not want to part with it. Who would you send it to for the conversion?

Any reasonable fabricator, with parts access would be able to do that in the uk, it wouldn't particularly phase me, but Kev might tackle that one and be quicker at it too, or maybe John at just suds?

If in the UK of course

Ive got some spare RHD racks if you need one. Obviously youll have to carfeully measure and create the hole for the rack to poke through . But a simple cardboard template using some common reference point should suffice. Unless you can find a sprint shell to make detailled notes from. After that the column and pedal box should swap straight over once the bulkhead is modifired to suit . As for wirimg loom i reckon you should be able to make it all fit but id expect a few expletives .

Please note the difference in windscreen wiper location/direction too and of course the headlight matter. Good luck on the conversion if you start.

If you are not in too much of a hurry, I might be interested in converting a RHD Sprint into a LHD.

Hi, no rush. I probably won't know for at least six months. Let's keep in touch

I have a LHD 'Sud and have slowly accumulated the parts to make it RHD - it is amazing how they add up, the rack is the tip of the iceberg.
You will need a wiring loom, a dashboard, the shelf panel that goes underneath the dashboard, a RHD pedalbox, a RHD steering column (look in the parts book - several elements have different PNs for LHD and RHD), a carpet set (if you are worried about the mats under the pedals), sun visors (if you are worried about having a vanity mirror on the driver's side) , the clutch slave cylinder flexi-hose, the accelerator cable (I think that the twin carb choke cable is the same - I managed to use a RHD choke cable when I put a twin carb engine in mine), various metal brake pipes, battery leads, an MPH speedo and RHD inner headlights (the low beam ones anyway).

Ideally you want a complete scrap car to swap the bits over from - it be far cheaper than buying the parts individually.

I concluded that it was probably not worth trying to mess around with the wipers - a lot of '70's cars manufacturers did not bother to move the wipers for RHD and I do not fancy cutting and shutting my scuttle panel!

In actual fact, it has taken me so long to accumulate the parts, that I have got completely used to driving a LHD car in the UK - to the point where I doubt that I will ever get around to doing the conversion.

A final thought, if European car websites are reflecting the achievable values of these cars, you are probably better off selling your LHD car and buying a RHD car in Australia.

Thats sounds far too much hassle for me, i dont mind driving LHD in the UK but Australia makes registering LHD cars quite difficult. Anyway i'll cross that bridge if and when it happens.

Interesting about the Euro prices, they seem to be very optimistic. The expensive ones ive seen (up to 20k!) sit for a very long time. I think realistic prices for very nice condition ones is max 8-9k and even then you have to wait for the enthusiast who are fewer than a Golf enthustiast.

I am now very keen to covert my S2 Sud from RHD to LHD. But one method may well be to completely restore the Sud RHD. Sell it and buy on in identical condition in LHD. But with Suds, even if they look very good, they can be hiding some issues. Anyone interested. Let me know.