Engine Transplants - was upgunned Spiders

[Les Singh <Les.Singh@xxxxxxxxx>]

Just have to comment on this one.... Engine transplants into 105s is not a
new idea. There have been many Montreal V8 engined GT Veloces seen in the
past, and yes, it does fit nicely. The Spider is more of a challenge, and
in many locations, unlike the US, the Spider is the more valuable Alfa,
whereas I get the feeling that in the US the GT Veloce is more pricey. So,
it may be that people are more reluctant to mess up anything as nice
looking as a Spider, but the truth may be that it is much more difficult to
shoehorn a replacement engine into a Spider because of the space
limitations every which way, including upwards.

Others have asked - why do it? and I agree.. the 1969cc engine and even the
1779 cc .. are great powerplants which don't require a lot of work to get
more power from. A good carburetted 2 litre with standard compression but
with some head work will give near 160 hp ( no argument - been there, done
that) which is better than the 156 hp of the 2.5 V6,  because of the
apparent tractability of the smaller engined cars. Having had several 2.5
V6s and heaps of the inline 4s, I say that the torque of a good 4, e.g. the
2 litre, is much more noticeable. You can slog around at 1500 rpm in 5th in
a GT Veloce but the transmission snatch is more noticeable in the V6 when
you try this ... and there is always the nagging thought - is that timing
belt gonna break?! O.K so the cars were never designed to do this, the
gearing is different etc etc - I know...This sort of comparison is not
relevantfor other reasons: the transplant has to have benefits overall, and
this is wherethe various DIY transplants have not been 100% successful -
the handling has suffered. Already, to make the GT Veloce/Spider handle
properly we have to go way harder with the front springs etc which makes
the cars great for "sports" driving but is a curse around town. This not to
say that a good transplant cannot be done, but rather that it has to be a
well thought out total engineering package to make it work properly, as was
done by Alfa with the Montreal engined Alfetta GTV. At least with the  GT
Veloce and Spider, we don't have to worry about the driveshaft as in the
Alfetta derivatives!

Some interesting conversions seen here in New Zealand 
	Morris Minor with a Giulia Super engine
	the Alfetta GTV with 570 hp Milodon V8 (of course!)
	and ... Fiat Bambina with Ford V8 power...   the mind boggles... 

Les Singh
 ... change the engine in the Green GTV? ... perish the thought!
 anch ... Guido una Giulietta .. blu pervinca metallica 

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