Re: history of the V-6

["Ralph Moorhouse" <ralphmo@domain.elided>]

The 3L V-6 with 6 Dellorto's was used in the special (for South Africa
only - built there, from knocked down parts) 3 L GTV-6 - right hand drive -
mid 80's.  Good friend in UK has one - nice car - goes like stink!

FWIW

Ralph
Houston, TX


- ----- Original Message -----
From: <JHertzman@domain.elided>
To: <alfa-digest@domain.elided>
Sent: Thursday, April 15, 1999 5:58 PM
Subject: Re: history of the V-6


> In AD7-641 Danny Pham asks: "Does anyone out there know when the 91' 164L
3.0
> engine was developed? Was it ever used by Alfa to race? I heard it was
> developed in the 60s by Alfa but never put in production until the early
80s
> when it first appeared on the GTV6s. Did it initially have a timing chain
and
> that w/Fiat financing, fuel injection and a belt was put on for
production?"
>
> The V-6 first appeared with the cogged belt and six single-choke Dellorto
> downdraft carburettors in the Alfa Six sedan in 1979. The books say that
the
> design was done before the Alfettas (which were announced in 1971 and
first
> delivered on the market in May 1972). The similarities and differences in
the
> suspension and drive-train layout support the Six being an earlier design
> than the Alfetta, so "developed in the 60s" is almost certainly correct.
Alfa
> had a long history of interest in larger, more prestigious cars but the
> relatively modest sales of the ironblock 2000 and the 2600 against the
> Giuliettas and Giulias was enough reason for the company to use its
limited
> resources on the mainstream Giulias and Alfettas and the less expensive
fwd
> boxers.
>
> I don't believe it was ever used (or considered) as a competition engine;
the
> Montreal engine and the four-cam two-liter V-8 of the 33 Stradale (and a
wide
> range of other Autodelta engines) were available in the sixties and the
V-6
> had no advantages on them; the two liter Stradale V8 was rated at 230 hp
at
> 8800 rpm, against the 160 at 5800 of the first production version of the
six.
> There was the V-6 mid-engined Alfasud Sprint, presumably a prototype for a
> possible rally car, but the Alfetta rally cars of 1975 had three-liter
V-8s.
>
> I doubt that Fiat financing had anything to do with either the belt or the
> Bosch injection.
>
> John H.
> Raleigh, N.C.
>
>

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