Re: Alfa Spider Performance

[Scott Fisher <sfisher71@domain.elided>]

--- George Schweikle <schweikg@domain.elided> wrote:
> Digesti,
> 
> This is a great thread Russ has started, especially
> in identifying different preparation levels. My 
> suggestion would be to organize a modification list
> for the categories listed below.

I'll be happy to edit, organize, and HTML-ify all
these articles, and I'm sure SOMEBODY can find us a
reliable place to put it -- I don't have a Web site of
my own any more or I'd toss it there.  (Joe, what are
the space/bandwidth limitations of AROO's Web site? 
Should I just talk to the Zaitses directly?)

One nice thing about doing this on the Web: we don't
have to organize it ONE way, we can organize it in
SEVERAL ways.  So for example, George suggests a
reasonable structure here:

> 1. Street use (emissions compliant and who cares)
> 2. AROC Autocross & Time trials
> 3. SCCA Stock class Autocross (Solo II)
> 4. SCCA Street Prepared class Autocross (Solo II)
> 5. SCCA Time Trials (Solo I)
> 6. SCCA Improved Touring racing (IT)

But I can also imagine it organized so that you could
follow links to suspension, engine mods, safety,
reliability, etc. for each of those classes.  Get the
idea?  It'd be like a big matrix (the spreadsheet
idea), with "Classes" down one axis and "Systems" down
the other.  

For example, here's something that would go there.  In
the earlier message George responded to, Russ Neely
had written:
 
> Since the 82 is a street car and occasionally
> autocrossed in Street Prepared, I could modify it 
> further.  The SCCA Street Prepared class allows
> pretty much unrestricted intake.  That means Webers
> are legal.  I am not sure what all can be done 
> legally with an EFI in this class.  I guess I need
> to read the rule book I just bought.

Google pointed me, in a few seconds, to this site:

http://www.moutons.org/sccasolo/Rules/index.html

I followed the links down to 14.10.C in the Street
Prepared rules, which I have copy-and-pasted here:

"Carburetors, fuel injection, intercoolers and intake
manifolds are unrestricted. "

In conversation with SCCA tech inspectors in the past,
I have verified that they do NOT permit the logical
extension of the sentence, "If INTAKE is unrestricted,
and EXHAUST is unrestricted, then if I somehow
CONNECTED them with a few tubes and a little spinning
thingie..."  :-)  However, in Solo II SP classes,
induction is really free -- use stock, modify it,
replace it with something else, build a custom Haltech
programmable FI system, you name it. 

I also know that the IT rules on fuel injection have
just recently changed, and I don't know what they
changed to (since I don't follow IT).  

>  Both cars have modified suspensions and
> wider sticky tires. I could write a whole other 
> article on that.

Clearly... So, shall we start collecting wisdom about
what works, what doesn't, and most important what
works *with* other things?  

Let's start putting the information together, and I'll
play with some schemes for organizing it as it starts
to collect.

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon
Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings!
http://greetings.yahoo.com

--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided