Re: Alfa motors in other stuff

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

Alfa engines have been in other "stuff" from the beginning. S.I.A.D. became
A.L.F.A. on January 1 1910, and  just ten and a half months later Antonio
Santoni, an assistant of the engineer Giuseppe Merosi, and Nino Franchini, a
test driver and later racing driver for the company, flew a biplane which they
had built, powered by an example of the company's first engine, a four liter
four cylinder with a 4.15-1 compression ratio, developing 42 horsepower. Fours
forever!  Shortly after Nicola Romeo gained control of the company during the
war the same basic engine was converted into an air compressor, the two inner
cylinders serving as an explosion motor and the two outer ones as air pumps,
to power rock-drills for the army, and a smaller version was used to power
portable electrical generators also for the army.

Ian Evans, who started this thread, wrote "Surely someone out there has
dropped this powerplant into a boat-" Of course. Tony Adriaensens has (in his
"Alleggerita") a short section on Autodelta-prepared marine racing engines,
one a 1500 cc Spica-injected 16 valve engine producing 180 hp at 8000 rpm,
others with all variations of displacements, single or double plugs, two or
four valves, Webers, Spicas, Lucas, wet sump, dry sump. I also remember Don
(or Fred?) mentioning someone, I think Chiti but won't swear to it, running a
pair of well-tweaked engines in his non-racing pleasure boat on Lake Como.
Many other boats, particularly racing boats in Italy but also in this country,
have been powered by Alfa Romeo engines.

Switching gears, one of Don Black's relaxations was restoring and racing
vintage open-wheel race cars. One of them, a 1947 Kurtis-Kraft midget with all
the usual goodies- Halibrand wheels and quick-change, torsion bars, tube
frame- he ran with a two-liter Alfa engine which he slightly tweaked- Vertex
magneto, Hilborn injection, 14.5-1 compression ratio, running on straight
methanol. Total car weight 940 pounds. He was planning on doing a similar
project on a sprint car with a 2600 six, but never got to it. Should have been
nice.

Great engines, particularly for those of us who find the classic upright twin-
cam layout appealing. 

John H.
Raleigh, N.C.

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