Re: Headlight covers and "hopped up" Spiders

[Scott Fisher <sfisher71@domain.elided>]

--- "Bain, Bill" <Bill.Bain@domain.elided> wrote:> 
> Hopping up a Spider - 

Don't they have those in Australia?  Jump right out of
the dunnie and bite you on the bum.  (Crikey, that
Vegemite I ate yesterday is having a reaction...)

> Acceleration-wise, around the late '70s or very 
> early '80s, Alfa changed the rear-end gearing from 
> 4.56 to 4.10 to give better mileage.  

I've driven 4.1 and 4.56 Spiders back to back.  I have
a strong preference for the 4.56 in a fun car, but I
have sometimes wondered about a 4.1 Alfa as my
long-distance cruiser, for the regular monthly trips I
have to make.  Yeah, I know, I'm nuts.  Real Americans
drive a Caprice Classic for long distances.

> a rear-end swap is fairly easy to do,
> but the trade-off will be top end speed and higher
> RPM and noise at highway speeds.  

So here's the grain of salt with which everyone should
take my recommendations on engine speeds, etc.:

While on the (glorious!) Valentine's tour with AROO
last Sunday, my lovely wife by my side, we were
enjoying the gentle undulations of a ribbon of asphalt
through the Oregon countryside on a rare sunny day in
February.  I was puttering about in 4th gear,
following the train of Alfas down a small valley and
up a gentle hillock in 4th gear.  I pressed down on
the accelerator and the car responded smartly, and I
thought (as I often do) how much I enjoy the 2-liter
with its lazy, low-end torque that makes easy driving
so pleasurable.

And then I looked at the tach and realized that there
are probably very, very few people in the world who
would consider 4000 RPM to be "lazy, low-end torque." 
(Well, hey, it was 3000 RPM below my shift point!)

> Getting over 130 or so HP in a 2 liter is not hard
> but the drivability trade-off starts. 

Ask the Europeans -- the Euro spec for the 2L Alfa is
150 bhp.  Now, this may very well be "horsepower rated
at the brochure" -- I've yet to drive a car thus
equipped, but it's a 20% bump from the U.S. spec for a
'74 Spider.  I've been trying to determine what the
differences are, and all I've been able to get so far
is:

1.  Cams -- the Euro cams ("10548" cams) have higher
lift than the US ("10520" cams) spec.  Some of the
references I have include contradictory data on the
lift; the Centerline catalog (p. 51 of the latest
issue, #12) quotes the European cam's lift at 10.1mm,
versus the U.S. spec cam's 9.6mm.  Duration and
overlap are also different (basically, there's more of
each in the Euro version).

2.  Carburetion -- the European Spiders had either
Weber or Dellorto carbs.

3.  Timing -- the U.S. cars have different timing for
different markets and years, at least for ignition
timing (I don't know about cam timing).  US cars are
specified per the Centerline catalog (again, because
it's what I have in front of me) with 5 to 7 degrees
ATDC of static timing and a maximum advance of 27 to
33 degrees at 5000 RPM; European timing calls for 2-4
degrees BTDC static and 37-40 degrees at 4600 RPM
(uhhh... Jeff, I think I want to borrow your
adjustable timing light again :-).  I do not know
whether the European distributors had a different
advance curve.

Again, these are the only differences I've been able
to verify.  I'd be interested in learning about any
other differences, as well as about the, uh,
"accuracy" (there, that's a nice neutral way of
putting it) of that 150 bhp figure for the European
versions.  (If these are rare, Italian miniature
horses, for example, or if this is gross versus net,
for example...)

> Lastly, don't forget weight.  The 1972-74 Spiders
> are teh lightest, 

Well, the lightest of the 2-liters anyway -- "Road
Test" magazine's, er, road test of the 1600 Duetto
(dated Oct. 1966), which opens the "Gold Porfolio",
lists the Duetto's curb weight at a svelte 2110 lb. 
The 1991 Spider test that ends the same book (from
Road & Track Sports & GT Cars, 1991) shows curb weight
had climbed to 2550.  Still light by Nineties
standards, but 20% up from the Sixties.

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has
driven a European-equipped Spider, especially back to
back with a U.S. spec Spider, to give an idea what the
comparison is really like, both in drivability and in
overall grin factor.  The European route (or some
variation on it) certainly seems like a reasonable,
low-effort, and well-documented approach to bump power
on an early Spider.

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

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