I suggested before that an alternative to engine swaps is to use a
turbocharger. Ans I saw on the list a day or so ago about someusing a GM
EFI and it working well. So find yourself an on TBird Turbo Coupe at the
u-pickem place, find the correct GM with all electronics, mod the intake
with port injectors, add the throttle body, simple manifold with the turbo
and go like stink. Might want to lower comp to 8 or 8.5 to 1 but that is
easy to do. Do a little port matching on all the intake ports, exhaust
ports, turbo port and you are in business. Could even use the TC boost
control. At 14 psig this would be like doubling the displacement! Wow 3400
cc! It would start and idle very well, and run like a banshee. Cam would
need to be about 224 degreesI/E with 114 lobe centers. Since the Alpine
heads has both intake and exhaust on same side of the head, this makes for
a very short plumbing system for flow. No intercooler needed at 14 psi
boost. Would have to get a regulator and larger fuel line and install a
return line to the tank tho. I purchased two very useable turbos for a
total of 200 bucks. Could maybe get the EFI for another hundred. Injector
ports are 12 bucks apiece (weld in), fuel rail another 50 bucks. Use a good
electronic ignition system and your are in business. Have a beast then that
can give the rice rockets a challenge and absolutely blow away most Tigers
(sigh, like mine). Get really wild and up the boost to 25 psig (now you
need that intercooler!) and you have the functional equivalent of 4.2 liter
engine, but without all of the weight. Gear box might be a little weak,
however.
Note: doing something like this requires some mechanical shop skills, like
welding, threading, etc.
Why doesn't someone do this and join me on the Bonneville Salt Flats in a
couple of years? Get that od tranny (say T-5, lots of these around)working
with the highest gears available for the rear (a Dana 44 from a Tiger) and
we'll set records!!!
At 11:34 AM 10/2/98 -0600, Colin Cobb wrote:
>Hey Gang,
>
>Rex Funk wrote (among other very cogent things):
>
>< So what's my prescription? First, drive the car a while with a good
>stock engine. I can attest that a stock Alpine is fast enough to get
>you into all the trouble that you can handle with the radar cops. Be
>very sure you want to do an engine swap rather than modify the Alpine
>engine. Jarrid has put the whole thing in perspective in a previous
>thread: a 115 to 120 hp. >
>
>I must agree with Rex's line of reasoning. Let's face it, if anyone
>really wants a Ford V6 in a 'Pine they can pretty easily pick up a
>conversion project that somebody else started and gave up on.
>
>Yes, I know that there are some nicely done, reasonably quick V6 'Pines
>around, but to me it just another way to take a real Alpine out of the
>lineup, just like making a phoney Tiger by sticking a 302 in a nice
>Alpine. Still, the car owner is the person who should rightfully decide
>whether or not to start cuttin' and hackin'.
>
>Sure, if a guy has the bucks, a Lotus twin-cam would make a 'Pine hum
>right along but...
>
>I think a much more productive effort would be to examine the ways to
>make the stock Alpine a "bolt-on beast" if somebody is really looking
>for more power. If this was a previous thread perhaps it was some time
>ago as I sure don't recall it (could also be my memory is screwing up
>again... shrapnel, donchknow?). So what would be the fully reversible,
>no sheet metal to cut, changes to boost the stock unit up to a "115 to
>120 hp" completely streetable (i.e., fully maintainable) mill?
>
>Headers? Carbs? Cam? What sort of bucks are we talking and how available
>are the bits?
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>--Colin Cobb
>'65 Tiger MKI (nearly stock) and '67 Alpine SV (very stock)
>
L.E. Mayfield
124 Maximillion Drive
Madison, Al. 35758-8171
256-837-1051
DrMayf(at)AOL.com
mayfield(at)traveller.com <<<<preferred
"Thought is the software of the mind;
rational thought is bug free!"
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