Another beautiful Scorpion! I'll bet you miss her Tony. Don't mean to hijack this thread from beautiful pics of the Scorpion but this is somewhat related. Attached is a pic of some of the "new" components I am going to be installing on my Scorpion as soon as I can get the time to get her out of dry storage. The original Benaldi brake booster was re-built by Power Brake Exchange in San Jose, Ca. They take care of everything including the plating. The rear Koni struts took me nearly three years to track down and once installed on the car there will be Koni Special D struts at all four points, these struts are the only non OEM items on an otherwise stock Scorpion Image Unavailable, Please Login
You guys are killing me with all these beautiful pics of youe Scorpions - I've been wanting one real bad but trying to find one with A/C (I'm in Texas so would be unbearable w/o) is about as rare as find a shop to do a cheap 30K service on the 348.
i freaking love those older Lancias..........wow how things have changed, Fiat must awaken that brand!
I wound up putting the Konis on my Scorpion back in the 80s when they were easy to obtain. The only reason I replaced them is that the original struts became stiff from particles of silicone or something that clogged the passegeways in the struts (I think this was a common problem). You may or may not know this but the original struts are rebuildable. You can put new oil in them and clean them by taking them apart. (though parts may not be available) I don't know where my original struts are now but after cleaning the crap out of the piston passageways and re-filling with motorcycle fork oil they were OK. Of course I already had the Konis on and I wasn't going to swap them out again. Did you get the instructions with your Konis? You probably know they are adjustable. I originally had mine on the softest setting, but after putting the lower springs on it I twisted the shaft a little to make it a little stiffer. How are you going to set yours? I was always disturbed by the way my car was jacked up in the front and rear. It even seemed to me that the longer I had the car it kept on getting higher and higher in the front. Since there is no camber adjustment, the camber is set by ride height. My car had slight positive camber in the front from being so high. If you compare the 1980 pictures to the recent pictures you can see that I lowered the car by installing reproduction european springs from Monte Hospital in UK. I had been on the brink of selling the car when I got the testarossa but after lowering it (or actually putting it back the way it was supposed to be) I fell in love with it again.
Very good points you raise. I have both pair of the OEM struts made by WAYASSAUTO, these are not bad dampers IMHO it's just that I believe that the Koni's are better built and with the excellent rebuild service that Koni NA (and others) provides it is possible for Koni struts to give many miles of service. The pair of Koni Special D's I currently have on the front of the Scorpion, I believe are set to the "moderate" setting, not the softest but not the hardest setting either. For driving on the road I really like the way the car feels now with the current settings, it seems to almost feel like it floats/glides over the road about some axis but it is not an overly soft/isolated feel either. I did not receive a set of instructions with these rear pair of Konis so I may have to consult with Koni NA to see if they can send me some kind of instructions for setting these struts. BTW: About four months ago I had the tow in adjusted on my Scorpion and it now handles much, much better than before the adjustments were made, no excessive tire noise and better turn in. I will have to look into a set of Euro spec Montecarlo springs to bring the car down to it's intended ride height and a more negative camber on the front wheels. Thank you for letting me know about this.
You guys know you can use the X-19 struts do you? It will lower the Scorpion about an inch and makes the car handle a lot better, but of course you need to realign your camber and maybe the toes. You can still get new KYB gas strut for the X-19. Konis are no longer available.
Here is a link to the Montecarlo springs: http://www.montehospital.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=264
Here are the instructions for the Koni strut adjustment: As I recall I set mine to one full turn in. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Beta Scorpion, Thank you so much for posting this information. This should be of great help to me. Happy motoring!
Hi Mike, Oh yeah I know about KYB's and that they can be fitted on to the Monte-Scorp. They make very good struts indeed but are a little stiff for regular road use IMHO. I once had a set of KYB's on my old BMW 2002, great for auto-xing events and the like but they made my teeth chatter out on our wonderfully smooth Bay Area highways! Perhaps I had them set for too stiff a setting? At any rate I eventually ditched them and installed the then popular Bilstein HD's which worked out OK for the intended use.
Scorpions anyone? Ok I just want to share to you guys my colections. If anybody need parts or have any tech questions don't hesitate Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I see six Montecarlos and 4 Scorpions (is that right), and a ladder to get on the roof Fantastic collection! Thanks for sharing this.
The Montecarlo you see were Scorpion that was converted and the ladder I use to climb up to take pics is genuine not converted
fantastic collection! I love these cars. So, if I cannot well fit in an X1/9, what are my chances in a Scorpion? (6'2, 250)
Russ, your chances is a lot better as the scorpion is much wider than the X-19 And the head room is much larger too. A friend of mine who is 6'3" fit in the scorpion quite comfortably. You should try to sit in one.
Hi Russ, Yes, like Mike says there is quite a bit more room in a Scorpion vs the X1/9. I am nearly 6'5" tall and 230lbs and fit into the Scorpion OK. I do have to "fold up" to fit in the car but once inside it is a bit tight to be honest but comfortable for me. On the advice of another tall, fellow Scorpion owner, I manually adjusted (using spacers, a 10 min job, no holes drilled) the angle of the the steering column up-ward from the floor and moved the steering wheel a bit closer to the driver. This move allowed more room for the entry and exiting of the car. In the end the side effect was to have somewhat of the "bus driver" feel. The issue for me with the Scorpion was not so much with head room but rather with the leg room. When one considers the large under dash center console which takes up a lot of space and the the rather awkward location of the accelerator pedal, leg room for tall drivers is limited. Some Scorpion owners have adjusted the position of the accelerator pedal closer to the center of the foot well/brake pedal, however after I adjusted the steering column position everything is fine for my space requirements. HTH.
Timo, you can also go with a smaller steering wheel from Momo or Sparco to help give more leg room. This is what I've done with a couple of my scorpion, but the hard part is finding a hub for it, but you can always custom made one.
I like Scorpions. I couldn't find any for sale, and stumbled on a reasonable deal on a 1982 X1/9 so I ended up buying that instead. Aaron
Spot on Mike. A smaller diameter steering wheel always helps with allowing increased leg room. For example I cannot drive a stock Alfa Romeo GTV (vintage '65 to '74) comfortably without a smaller wheel. In the GTV it is nearly impossible for me to make the 1st to 2nd gear up-shift with my knee in the way! Believe it or not I actually like the looks and feel of the factory steering wheel on the Scorpion, it has grown on me over the years. If I were to ever replace it, it would be with either a Nardi, Moto-Lita, or some such vintage brand wheel that is close to the period correct look to match the rest of the Scorpion interior.
Here is one on Ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1976-LANCIA-SCORPION_W0QQitemZ180172332795QQihZ008QQcategoryZ6292QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
