RE: Alfas and mods

["Brian Shorey" <bshorey@domain.elided>]

> Modifying a street alfa is something of a Holy War around here. Many of
> the old timers and purists (myself included) believe that it was in
> Alfa's nature to provide you with maximum performance within the
> compromises of a street car. This is not a Chevy Lumina... most of the

of course, the street cars that alfa delivered here in the usa were
different from the street cars that alfa delivered to europe, especially
after 1974.  there were other compromises that alfa had to deal with, such
as dot, the epa, etc.

> "easy" hotrodding (exhaust, intake, suspension) was done at the factory,
> and tinkering with that will just screw it up.

unless you know what you're doing, or have someone who knows what they're
doing advise you.

> That leaves you with the serious stuff... porting and polishing, custom
> cams, high compression pistons, custom suspension setups, etc. All of it
> is expensive, all of it requires serious disassembly of the car, and all
> of it will compromise its streetability.

yes and no.  cams are easy to do without serious dissassembly, as are things
like electric fan conversions on earlier alfa's.  imho removing the
mechanical fan in favor of an electric one not only enhances performance, it
also enhances streetability.  joe benson listed this mod as the single most
effective one you could do on a '70's alfa.

> However, there is a subset of folk who think people like me are full of
> hooey. And if you plan on racing the car even casually, then cutting .5
> seconds off your time with a modification makes a very real difference.

although your opinion differs from mine, i don't necessarily think you're
full of hooey.  everyone is entitled to an opinion, and there is no right
answer.  the only thing that ticks me off is when someone proposes their
opinion is *the* right answer...

> But, IMHO, getting to the grocery store .5 seconds ahead of me isn't
> that much of an accomplishment.

spirited driving on winding roads is my metric for measuring alfa's, in
addition to track time.  my wifes minivan is the preferred ride to the
grocery store ;)

as mr. hertzman says, to each his own.

later,

bs

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