Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 03:55:23 -0500
From: Brad Porter <zarda124@domain.elided>
Subject: [alfa] V6 Engine swaps
Hello all,
It's me again... the annoying wordy guy that drops by the list once
every
year or two in the wee hours of the morning to ask questions about
projects/ideas I'll probably never finish, let alone start, using way
too
many commas, ellipsis and run-on sentences. I'm currently trying to
decided what to do with the 3.0 164 motor I have. I've got a few
questions
to help get me dreaming in the right direction. The motor I have is
from a
'94 164 and still has the 5-speed transaxle attached.
My first idea was to shoehorn the whole thing (engine/trans) into the
back
of a second generation MR2 (since I have a '91 MR2 turbo, and love
it...
almost as much as I love the Alfa V6). I have the rear half of an MR2
body
shell, which would make development of the bits and pieces needed for
the
swap easier, but initial rough measurements indicate that it would be
a bit
tight in the engine compartment.
So now I'm thinking of using some other small rear-wheel-drive
car. Hmmm... the V6 Spider has already been done. I wonder if there
exists some other abundant, cheap and perhaps slightly more *cough*
modern
*cough* little RWD drop-top?
I'm currently trying to figure out what to do about a transmission.
In
the V6 Spiders that have been done (particularly ones using LS or Q
motors), what transmissions have been used? I'm wondering if a
4-cylinder
trans would be able to handle 300+ horses (hey, this is my dream, and
in my
dreams all cars are turbocharged). If I could find... oh, I don't
know...
some small car with... just making things up here... a normally
aspirated
1.8 liter and a six-speed transmission, could I expect the trans to
survive
behind an S motor, or a turbocharged S motor? I've got friends in the
machine shop biz, so fabrication of a custom adapter plate shouldn't
be a
problem, so long as there's nothing bizarre about this... er...
hypothetical... six-speed.
BTW, if you're wondering why I'm not putting this motor into a GTV6 or
Milano, it's because my Milano is currently being fitted with the
other 164
motor I have. I'm always open to fanciful ideas... what would you do
with
a 164 motor and trans if it were sitting on your garage floor?
Sweet dreams,
-Brad Porter (new resident of Maitland, FL!)