Re: Spica fuel inj. bah hum-bug

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@domain.elided>]

Well, Ferrari didn't use it because the SPICA fuel injection system was 
made by an Alfa subsidiary for Alfa Romeo only. Or something like that. 

It works well when properly setup and doesn't need much maintenance. 
Remember that the reason Alfa went to it for the US only was to meet our 
beloved government's emissions regulations while keeping the performance 
up as best they could ... the Webers and hot cams used in the european 
cars could not be made to meet the emissions specification without adding 
a lot of horrid plumbing and junk to the cars. The SPICA system, at least 
the early generation between '71 and '74, provided precision metering, 
great fuel economy, excellent power, *and* met emissions well. 

Alfa was always very conservative about handing out the specs to the pump 
for fear that they'd be slapped with a code violation fine by the 
Government. In the early days things were far worse than today in terms 
of info: when I owned my '71 Spider 1750, there was almost literally no 
information at all available to other than a factory trained tech, and 
they were only taught how to make the adjustments. Nowadays, there's a 
lot more experience and knowledge around, but they still don't offer a 
rebuilding manual.

Why? Because rebuilding a mechanical fuel injection pump requires 
machinery and instrumentation that is well beyond most professional 
shops, never mind home mechanics. It's akin to rebuilding a diesel's fuel 
injection pump but the tolerances are even finer because gasoline 
mixtures are far more finicky than diesel engine mixtures. This is a 
specialist endeavor only. Alfa only ever supported rebuilds by offering 
an exchange program. Those specialists that do rebuild them often 
contract to have high precision parts made to order, custom, for each 
individual pump. 

I like the SPICA injection, it worked great in my '71 and '78 cars, but 
like you I prefer greater home maintainability, which means for me either 
carburetors or the Bosch EFI that I built FrankenSpider around are 
preferable. 

Godfrey

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