Valve clearances in 2000 TS

[JMNegrin@xxxxxxx]

Hi group -

A friend of mine is building a 2000 motor for racing.  He started with an
Alfetta motor (I think) and has made suitable mods to mount a Twin Spark head
on it.  He is fairly well along in this project, and he was noticing that Alfa
Romeo specs for valve clearance are  0.016 - 0.018 inches for intake and 0.018
- - 0.020 inches for exhaust.  He has several questions.
1 - In as much as TS specs are like hen's teeth in the US, are these
clearances std for the TS as well as the "old stand by" 2 litre we always got
in the US?
2 - With ALL new valve gear (reground cams, custom stainless valves, and
more!), can the clearance specs be tightened up, so as not to batter the cam
and followers at racing speeds?
3 - Of interest mostly, "Why did Alfa Romeo spec clearances like this, when
most other mfg's spec numbers closer to 0.012 inches?"

I'll take legit answers where I can find them, on the Digest or straight to my
email.  Keep it simple enough for me to understand.  HE is the mechanic.  I
can understand a lot, but  I don't have the depth of knowledge that he does.

Jay Negrin
ARO Southern California
76 Alfetta GT - Tolerates the city, but loves the open road - what it was made
for (imho)

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