Re: 40 vs 45 DCOE's

[Biba <biba@domain.elided>]

********************
John Christensen writes:
Does anyone with a similarly modified 2 liter engine have any direct
experience with 45 DCOEs vs. 40 DCOEs?   I know that I will trade some
low-end torque for extra pull at the top end, but I am not clear on how
big
a difference this will make at those extremes.  Any advice from people
who
have actually driven a 2 liter with 45s is appreciated.
*********************

John, not sure if this qualifies me, but several years ago I assembled a
'67 Duetto for a client to be used in vintage racing. Rex Chalmers of
Omega Motorsports built the 2 liter engine. I was given 45DCOE's to
install asking if they were jetted properly. I was told they should be,
give them a try. Like most any car, there were some initial problems to
sort out. However, once they were, the car would idle perfectly, and had
way, way more torque than the fairly stock (except with 40's) on my
personal 2 liter Alfa.

How it would behave in traffic is anybody's guess, but driving it around
the "quadrangle" at my industrial site (it had no mufflers, etc. so
could never be put on the street) it never seemed to load up or hesitate
on acceleration. I attribute much of this to Rex's knowledge of putting
together the right combination of components. I suspect this included
somewhat greater than 10:1 pistons. The cam used, I don't have a clue. I
would not put 45's on a tired engine because of the probability of
loading up the plugs.

It's always said, "A little knowledge is dangerous", but I'd go with the
45's. I've thought about changing mine over when I up the compression on
my own engine - and it's strictly for street use.

Good luck,

Biba
AlfaCyberSite http://home.earthlink.net/~biba/

Regarding your head - hope it's not completed yet, because in order to
get the most out of the 45's, the inlet tract and manifold will
probably  need considerable work .

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