Re: Performance Mods

["Joe Garcia" <corsanostra@domain.elided>]

I approached modifications to my Alfetta quite methodically. Mind you, that 
doesn't really mean my method was not sheer lunacy and on par with 
phrenology, only that I *had* a method. It went something like this:

1- If something needed to get fixed, it got fixed with the high performance 
equivalent. For example, the exhaust was sitting in God's waiting room, 
waiting for St. Peter to call its number. In went Shankle headers and full 
Ansa exhaust. The SPICA unit went and (these being the days when I was 
unaware of the Wes Ingrams of the world) in went Weber 40DCOEs. And so on.

2- I looked at my walkin' around money and got the most expensive mod I 
could afford (f'rinstance, Euro cams). This is how the suspension setup got, 
well, set up.

In the end, I ended up throwing the whole Shankle catalog at it, save for 
higher compression pistons, which would have been next when I had the engine 
rebuilt...only someone wanted to see if the old physics saw about two solid 
objects occupying the same space at the same time was, in fact, true. (It 
was.) I probably would have thrown in some mild headwork during a rebuild, 
too.

All of the modifications I did were fairly mild, but they had a synergistic 
and electrifying effect. My rudimentary method of gauging improvement was to 
get on a flat, level highway (fairly easy in FL) and at, say, 3000 rpm in 
5th gear, I'd lock my right knee and see what time it took me to get to the 
next mile marker. A convoluted and jury rigged formula of my own devising 
suggested to me that the end of it all, I had about 155 apocryphal (if 
wildly inaccurate) horsepower, assuming I had 110 to start.

-Joe in reasonably sunny SoFla

>From: NashBap@domain.elided
>Reply-To: NashBap@domain.elided
>To: alfa-digest@domain.elided
>Subject: Performance Mods
>Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 13:45:34 EST
>
>It is interesting to read about all the performance mods. that various 
>digest
>members have performed on their vehicles. I have, however, always wondered
>what performance gains are obtained by what modifications. For example, do 
>a
>set of hotter cams  give a bigger performance gain than say, high 
>compression
>pistons or a head shaved to increase compression. Where is the most bang 
>for
>your buck ?
>
>Could you racers out there please enlighten me.
>
>Thanks.
>
>Nash Bapasola
>75 Montreal
>81 GTV6

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