Twin Spark Cup 156 Project

[warsch]

That hits home so much. I even have some pictures.

That's me replacing the whole suspension in a multilevel car park. In someone else's spot too:


And here's me installing poly bushes in a k i t c h e n (apparently the word is being replaced by SPAM when I just leave it):


Older unit would have separate garages, so there's no problem at all. Though my lease wasn't renewed so we moved from 2-garage place to a place with 1 tiny garage which is all clogged with our stuff. I will be doing all the work just on a street. At least Queensland climate is in favour of such activities.

[bazzbazz]

Either that or it has just faded to that lovely "Dusty Pink" colour, as it does. 

[warsch]

I ordered two sets of wheel stud conversion kits (well, as is studs and nits) for both of my Alfas (again, for the two that are staying, there are two more to be sold) from Demon Tweeks.

Hopefully I picked the right length of 60 mm for the studs. The whole ordeal was mostly driven by the fact, that 17x9 Koya wheels that I have have too narrow bolt wells to accommodate standard bolts. And since I had to buy a solution, I opted to make my life more convenient.

[bazzbazz]

That tremor you all just felt folks was Enzo turning in his grave. 

[bazzbazz]

Let me guess, to your wifes delight you also have a playroom full of train sets? 

[warsch]

Damn 17x9. Did you have to roll the guards? What size tyre are you running? And thats 17x9 front and back?

Well, I got those phat rims from Sydney when I saw them on Gumtree. They were off some racing 156 GTA. Can't really pass rare 5x98 wheels. They absolutely don't fit standard 156 guards but I since got 147 GTA, so hopefully they'll fit. I guards there are just flared enough. I shall see soon.







Twin spark Alfas don't need wheels that wide, I think. Now, for the GTA they should be just right. I'll run same 17x9 on all 4 corners, though the front tires will be 245 and rears 235. Dang, it's about time I start the build threat of my own.

[warsch]

It's good that people watch racing from a distance 

Though my car looks worse with all the paint flaky

[warsch]

I'm still not sold on the twin spark idea. Most other brands had 150 hp out of 2.0 engines without extra spark plugs. Even Alfa's own JTS allegedly made 165 hp. Now this one I don't quite believe, as me and my friend dynoed our JTSs and got nowhere near those figures. So your average TS would be more powerful than JTS (say with 150kkm on the clock).

[Craig_m67]

I'm still not sold on the twin spark idea. Most other brands had 150 hp out of 2.0 engines without extra spark plugs. Even Alfa's own JTS allegedly made 165 hp. Now this one I don't quite believe, as me and my friend dynoed our JTSs and got nowhere near those figures. So your average TS would be more powerful than JTS (say with 150kkm on the clock).

Twinspark is used for emissions in these engines, not HP

The JTS (when new) is cleaner (emissions), but then (like all the other brands), it soots up

You're average TS didn't make it to 150K km without the cam lobes wearing off or the selespeed confounding the average mechanic making the car an economic write off

[warsch]

I'd argue about TS not making it to 150kkm. Either way, we've dynoed two TSs with 200-300kkm and a couple of JTS with 140/260 kkm and TSs were heaps more powerful. The TS with 300km didn't have worn out cams. Never looked into mine, but I assume it's healthy too.

Selespeed is another issue, thanks to incompetent mechanics.

[bazzbazz]

I'd argue about TS not making it to 150kkm. Either way, we've dynoed two TSs with 200-300kkm and a couple of JTS with 140/260 kkm and TSs were heaps more powerful. The TS with 300km didn't have worn out cams. Never looked into mine, but I assume it's healthy too.

Just out of curiosity, what type of Dyno did you use? A rolling road or accelerometer?

[warsch]

Just out of curiosity, what type of Dyno did you use? A rolling road or accelerometer?

Stationary dyno with rollers.

Though the data is backed up by our observations at QR and Lakeside.

[bazzbazz]

Selespeed is another issue, thanks to incompetent mechanics.

I wouldn't say incompetent, but more unfamiliar.

Many a mechanic with good intentions and trying to help out an unfortunate client have come to grief with selespeed units, not because of lack of skills, but just simply not having the correct diagnostic software and a lack of experience and  with the units.

[bazzbazz]

One great way to tell an alfa mechanic is to check what car they come to work in . Just a heuristic I came up with when waiting for mechanics before they open up.

You know, there could be some merit in this, my work car - 

I didn't dyno anything but this 156 twin spark at 330,000km feels a LOT stronger than my 2 GT jts but it could be on a new engine.

Perhaps wishful thinking? Placebo affect? 

[warsch]

I think the manual transmission helps it 'feel' different but it's probably a placebo until you have a dyno graph done on the same dyno ideally back to back.

Like I said, we did dyno the cars back to back. That being said, my friend got his JTS to perform - rebuild the head and skimmed it a bit and did some minor porting. After that it started to accelerate just like my car, we did some "drag" racing while doing circuit sprints. His car is selespeed and it seems like upshifts are on par with a manual. And downshift obviously are superior on a selespeed.