'77 Alfetta 2L Rebuild - Update & Thanks

[TJCallahan@domain.elided]

I wanted to share the update on my Alfetta engine rebuild and to say thanks 
to all who have contributed knowledge/experience/suggestions/etc. so far.

The engine has been at the shop(s) for some time (October, I think), but 
we're getting close to being finished with the machining/cleaning/etc. Almost 
time for the reassembly, which will NOT just be the reverse of disassembly in 
this case! :-)

A local engine shop that I'm familiar with (Honest Performance in Renton, WA) 
is doing the bottom end. They are mainly into drag racing and big block V8 
stuff, but they know performance engines and how to make them last -- and 
they asked for the right info on Alfa engines before they touched anything. 
They showed me an aluminum block & head BIG V8 they are building that will 
put out close to 1k HP. Also, there are iron block V8s laying around that 
will be in the 400-500 CID range when built that will put out 1600 HP. Some 
people have waaaaaay too much money laying around.

Anyway, the teardown was insightful -- the ring gaps were in line on a couple 
of pistons (Compression? Wazzat?) and the main bearing bore "looked like an 
S-shape" and everything was dirty, but otherwise it was OK. On the good side 
of things, the pistons and liners are perfect (even have decent crosshatch on 
the liners still) and the crank was smooth across the bearing surfaces.

Everything in the bottom is being balanced, of course. I had the crank plugs 
removed and replaced with set screws. Of course, the set screws in the crank 
are heavier than the aluminum plugs that came out. The crank surfaces looked 
good to begin with (yea!!!!), but since I had the oil journals cleaned and 
the plugs replaced w/ screws, rebalancing was in order after the typical 
polish, etc. The pistons, w/ Hastings rings, are all balanced to each other, 
same with the rods (total and big end). The Block was align bored true and 
new Clevite bearings round out the picture. Of course, I'm having a new oil 
pump from Jon Norman put in, just because.

Oh, and NO bead blasting anywhere near this puppy. Thanks, Steve, for sharing 
your GTA horror stories, we're limiting cleaning to nasty chemicals and elbow 
grease.

Steve Hanniford of Progressive Automotive (Tacoma, WA) did the head. He did 
his "Stage I" prep on it (porting, polishing, etc.) plus new cams (minor 
increase in HP and a major increase in torque across the power band). It puts 
the engine at the top end of the stock SPICA pump range, but Wes Ingram said 
it will work and the increase in torque for that fat Alfetta will help it get 
out of its own way. Maybe I'll be able to keep up on tours now. :-) If you 
ever need work done on your engine head, give Steve a call.

The driveshaft was rebuilt by Driveline Services of Portland (OR), a well 
known driveline shop and owned by an Alfa enthusiast. Thanks to Steve 
Schaeffer for the initial recommendation and the AROO technical crew for 
confirmation of the shops' ability and quality. The driveshaft has three new 
donuts, two new centering bearings, and a new center support bearing. They 
whole thing is balanced and clean and painted and ready for install. It even 
has all the correct bolt/nuts now (apparently a PO lost one bolt and 
substituted something "similar" in its place). Thanks to Ron Tonkin Alfa in 
Portland and, again, Jon Norman for the correct parts.

I found a missing bushing in the shift lever on disassembly, replacement of 
which will make the shifting MUCH tighter than before. The bolt rattled in 
the remaining bushing at the bottom of the shift lever so shifting was 
awfully loose.

I succumbed to the dark side and had the cam cover sent out for polishing. It 
will have the major casting lines removed and smoothed and be mirror-like in 
finish but will not be "show" quality since this *is* a driver. That keeps 
the cost down a little. Many thanks to Biba, Wicker, and Andrew for your 
insights and suggestions.

And lastly, there are many of you I would like to thank for the sharing of 
your technical suggestions/knowledge/information/experience, especially the 
crew from the AlfaRacing list on Yahoo. Without all your help, the necessary 
engine info would not have been as easily compiled and this project would be 
much less successful.

Now, I'm back to reading the SPICA Technical Notes (Thanks Fred, John, Wes, 
et al.) to make sure I know how to install and adjust the injection when I'm 
ready to reassemble.

Tom
Seattle
10123
11615 
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