[alfa] turbo Alfa's

["Benjamin" <budweiser@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've met some Japanese sports car enthusiasts at my new work, one of
which is very knowledgable on turbo charger theory, and although I am
rather critical of the Silvia/Skyline fraternity, his discussion has
convinced
me to look into turbo charging my Alfetta sedan.

It seems there are many possibilities and combinations for doing this. I
have
a 2L engine with twin dellorto carbs, and I've seen a few people simply
add a small turbo and merely blow through the carbs (although there are
issues with the internal seals of the carbs I believe).

So I have a few questions..

1) Size of the turbo? Small is going to give quicker boost response, but
ultimately lower boost than a larger unit. What is a good compromise?

2) Turbo brands? I've been told Garrett's are amoung the best as they
are easily rebuildable with service kits.

3) Convert to fuel injection or stick to carbs? The guy at my work built
a custom aluminium intake plenum with dual rows of fuel injectors. The
second
bank comes on over a certain rpm. This seems a bit excessive for my
application,
I'm not interested in drag racing :) Another option I've seen is a fuel
injection
bodies that have the same foot print as carbs which you hook up to a
computer
and program appropriately on a dyno to match the various engine/turbo
characteristics.

4) Intercooling? Where am I going to stick an intercooler in a large body
Alfetta
sedan? I was thinking about placing the radiator under the boot where the
spare
tyre would normally go. This would require huge amounts of time and fiddling
around with running coolant piping to the rare of the car - not impossible
but a huge
project to take on. It would mean that the intercooler could go where the
radiator
normally goes and the car would not look like its been modified. Another
option is
a smaller intercooler located on the top of the engine between the turbo and
intake
manifold. This would give less cooling ability, but with the advantage less
air to charge
before it gets to the engine.

5) Wastegates and blow off valves. I don't know much about these, other than
that the
blow off  valve is useful for getting rid of excess boost during gear
changes etc.

6) Lowering the compression ratio. What is the best way of going about this
for the
Alfa 2L engine?

7) Other engine mods. I have been considering lightening the fly wheel,
installing
hotter cams, enlarged valves, forged pistons, and having the whole engine
balanced
and lightened. I spose I should also have the inlets and outlets ported
while I'm at it.
Have I missed anything?

8) How much power can I expect to gain? Again, I'm thinking about realistic
boost
pressures here, I don't want to blow anything up and I still want to use the
car for city
driving :)

9) Should I be a naughty boy and remove the catalytic converter? :)

Any advice, criticisms etc please send my way!

Regards,
Benjamin W.
Adelaide Aus.
(Alfetta sedan, Alfasud series 3)
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