Re: alfa-digest V7 #584

[Jay Mackro <jmackro@domain.elided>]

At 11:59 AM 3/25/99 -0500, in #584 Thomas Baumen wrote:

>....purism is a rich mans sport after a point. Things like MINI's
>and Bugeye even Spiders and Montreals are restorable with time and
>money, but if you want to drive it and it suddenly breaks or needs a
>great deal of workthen you have to decide the value of that vehicle to
>you. If you had an old
>Spider with a blown or very tired motor and generally tired chassis
>and you were looking at $5000 cash and a lot of hours to create a car
>worth $4000.00  or you stuffed a 240z motor in it for $1500 dollars

Now Thomas - I agree with you up to a point.  These ARE series-built
cars after all, there are still a lot left, and if someone wants to
buy an Alfa and butcher it all up, I guess the laws still allow it
(heck, once Al Bore gets elected, you'll probably get a tax credit
for destroying an evil automobile!).

But, the numbers you use to support your case are really apples and
oranges.  $5,000 to rebuild an Alfa engine?  Maybe, if you walked 
into your local Ferrari-Mercedes shop, and had them do everything,
they could run up a 5 grand tab.  But, then, you compare that
to an engine swap involving a straight six, 240Z engine, and quote
that at $1,500.  Huh?

No way a professionally executed engine swap is going to run $1,500.
Even a completely do-it-yourself swap would be hard to complete for
that amount, unless someone gave you an engine + transmission in
good condition.  I just don't accept your numbers as being 
comparable.

My arguement against engine swaps is that they are a LOT harder to
execute than the articles in the Hot Rod magazines would lead you
to believe.  Maybe a Mazda rotary happens to fit into an Alfa 
engine bay with a minimum of cutting and sledge-hammering, but 
in general, stuff interferes.  Once you start fabricating headers 
to remedy interference with the steering column, reposition the 
radiator to accommodate a longer engine, enlarge the tunnel to 
fit the bigger clutch, and make a custom hood to clear the carbs, 
you can chew up $1,500 just in Excedrin.  Even without these major 
glitches, there are a million details: throttle linkage, clutch 
linkage, speedometer hook-up, gauges, U-joints, .....  Then, if 
you do get it mostly finished, you are stuck with a car that probably 
overheats and understeers, since you've installed a bigger engine
than the car was designed for.  But mercifully, most engine swaps 
never de get completed; how many times have you read the local "Auto 
Trader" (go on admit it, you read it too), and seen ads for "hot 
car for sale: MG midget with Chrysler Hemi engine - only $500 - 
needs finishing ".  "Finishing" - yea right.

So, I'm not saying its wrong - I'm just saying it's a lot easier
to write about than to execute, and the final result will probably
be a lot worse than just a) rebuilding the engine you have, or
b) buying a car that came from the factory with the engine you
want.

Jay Mackro

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