Peter Audet's questions

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

In AD7-539 Peter Audet ask three interesting questions:
(1) "Is it correct that the cars commonly called GTV1750 or 2000 should
properly
be called GT Veloce? I can see it's easier to use GTV, just wondered which
is "right"...

It is personal choice, of course, but in company documentation the first 105
coupe was called the Sprint GT to distinguish it from the 101 Sprint, the next
enhanced version of the Sprint GT was called the Sprint GT Veloce, the
enlarged-engine variant became the 1750 GT Veloce and then the 2000 GT Veloce,
and finally the Alfetta GT, which had been introduced as a 1.8 (with the same
bore and stroke as the 1750) became the GTV when it received the 2000 engine.
However, it was the GTV 2000, not the 2000 GTV, and never the GT Veloce,
although in the USA market it became the Sprint Veloce. Fusi invariably uses
GTV for the big Alfetta, and invariably uses GT Veloce for the 105-115 cars.
All of the company sales literature which I have seen calls the 105-115 cars
GT Veloces. Company conventions became looser over the years, with (for
example) T.I. becoming TI, then ti with the Alfasud, which some purists
attribute to the ascendancy of marketing over long-established standards. I
prefer GT Veloce, but I don't fight duels over it.

(2) "I recently started reading the Alfa Owner's Bible- great book! Are there
any errors to watch for?

Controversial question. Both the "Bible" and his earlier book have been found
extremely valuable by many people, and both have suffered scathing criticism.
ALL books have errors, unless you are a Baptist and believe in Biblical
Inerrancy. Pat is an accomplished professional technical writer who has had a
very long experience with Alfa Romeos; for a variety of reasons it seems to
have become a love/hate relationship. There are innumerable examples one could
cite, but I will just mention the 308 and the 8C 2900. Alfa, far longer than
any other make and far more than any other make, built GP cars, competition
sports cars, touring sports cars, and standard passenger cars with many of the
same pieces, same technology, same talent, and same workers. Their Mille
Miglia cars from the Monza on were normally road-equipped versions of their GP
cars. The 8C 2900 was developed as a sports-racing version of the Tipo C grand
prix car- same suspension, wheelbase, track, frame, but a smaller cylinder
bore, lower compression ratio, headlights, cycle fenders, and offset steering
to allow a two-seat configuration. The Tipo 308 GP car was in turn developed
from the 8C 2900 by Alfa Corse, under Ezno Ferrari's supervision, by stripping
the road equipment, moving the steering back to the center, and refining
anything which could benefit from the lessons learned over two years. Pat
calls the 308 muddled, unsuccessful, ineffective, wrong-way engineering,
uncompetitive, and feckless, while he describes the 2900 as "clearly the most
advanced automobile of the prewar years- in retrospect, we can see that this
was the greatest Alfa of them all". Arguably there are elements of truth in
both characterizations of what was essentially the same car, but it hardly
seems a temperate, balanced account. His practical advice can be praised and
criticized to similar degrees; he has vast experience but some of his opinions
are very personal and idiosyncratic. In a published response to criticisms of
his earlier book he wrote "I don't hold out for exact valve clearances as Fred
DiMatteo cautions, and I set ignition points by eyeball (the same way I chose
cams)." Clearly many people would disagree. I would strongly recommend using
Pat's book as a valuable source but not as a sole source, and when a
discrepancy crops up seek third and fourth opinions.

(3) "A while ago I enquired regarding GT Veloce 1750 vs. 2000 for possible
vintage race use. One response suggested a 2000 crank would be better,
because it would be nitrided. However, in April'99 European Car, an Alfa
article says MOST 1750 and all 2000 cranks were nitride treated. If some
1750's were treated, did this start with a certain engine number?"

My parts books list a single crankshaft for 1750s. Normally the most modest
significant changes in a part get a new part number at least in the terminal
block of numbers. The Competition Reference Handbook does mention a special
crank available from ARI for the 1750, but doesn't say how it is special. In
discussions on the dropping crank plugs question, in which nitrided cranks
posed special problems, Don Black referred to nitrided cranks prepared by
"several of the early elaboratore in Italy" which they ran into in the Newark
shops in the sixties, so there undoubtedly have been nitrided 1750 cranks but
I would doubt the "most 1750" reference.

A sort of corroboration of this is a general understanding that dropped crank
plugs did not become a problem until the 2000s.

Sincerely, 

John H.
Raleigh, N.C.

------------------------------