Street Dominance in a Stepnose Alfa???

[scottyairborne]

Can a Stepnose Alfa dominate the streets of South Africa? I'm talking about a fully modified street car Alfa that can prey on owners of vintage Ferraris, Porsches, Lambo's, etc.

How about keeping up/surprising the myriad of new sport/exotic vehicles running on the roads?

What is the ultimate formula for such a car, which must be as reliable as a often-driven new car?

[scottyairborne]

For those that haven't been following other threads, we hope to be testing this question soon on a street near you...

I say the answer is yes, although there is still a lot to sort out on my project. I'm excited about driveline and suspension we have chosen. Still need LSD, brakes, tires, and of course some original interior!

Open to opinions, but our current formula is 8V Twin Spark, Turbo, Full On Alfaholics Suspension...

[Trackman]

Turbo is the only way,,, you not going to fit a V6 in that body so 4cyl turbo...

If you want a reliable car... Alfa and high powered turbo dont normally mix....
Hate me, but a 3sgte motor is the best thing to use

[NICUS]

Originally Posted by Trackman

Turbo is the only way,,, you not going to fit a V6 in that body so 4cyl turbo...

That was our first choice with my project Alfa 6 2.5 V6 due to my disability.

That 8V TS is going to moooove.

[Ian Lusso]

How about a 16V TS Turbo? I'd think it would make one or two more ponies?

Now you're making me want to build a 3.2 V6 Turbo Junior. I've seen from a twin turbo Essex V6 to a 5.7 liter V8 in Mk1 Escorts, and that car's engine bay isn't much bigger than a Junior's so surely a Busso can fit?

Now I know what I'm going to drool over for the rest of my life! Thanks Scotty!

[Cuzz]

Originally Posted by Ian Lusso

Now you're making me want to build a 3.2 V6 Turbo Junior. I've seen from a twin turbo Essex V6 to a 5.7 liter V8 in Mk1 Escorts, and that car's engine bay isn't much bigger than a Junior's so surely a Busso can fit?

Only one way to find out...

[turbonutters]

Originally Posted by Trackman

Turbo is the only way,,, you not going to fit a V6 in that body so 4cyl turbo...

If you want a reliable car... Alfa and high powered turbo dont normally mix....
Hate me, but a 3sgte motor is the best thing to use

Depending on what you see as high power.
The 156 2.5 turbo producing close to 300whp now did close to 30 000km without a problem.
Only normal services.
There’s a sweet spot with everything but people always have to try and make the most power why not be satisfied with a strong and reliable car.

For interest sake it makes the same power as a Sierra Fitted with a 7MGTE.
The 7MGTE is 3.0 24v and boosted almost a bar while the 156 made the power with an oe 100 000km old 2.5 motor, oe management and 0.5bar boost.
The 7MGTE was reworked twice since then and covered les than 5000km.
The Alfa is in daily use in traffic with the ac on and did almost 30 000km (since the conversion) including a trip to the Cape with family and baggage.

[scottyairborne]

I have to agree with TN, I'm talking reliability and street quickness. My 55 runs the 1/4 mile in high sevens and is street legal with tire change (the 14" Drag slicks aren't legal on US highways). I'm not as concerned with power as I am reliable quickness (and handling is a major factor for winding roads). No heater, AC etc. so I don't expect my dream GTA-Replica to be a daily driver...but in S. Africa it is easy to survive without heat or AC.

Must pass the wife test, can she drive it to store and back without it overheating, needing help starting, etc.

[scottyairborne]

BTW, I have owned a Capri Perana...Pretty confident the GT would smack it down. I guess we'll see if I come across anyone actually pushing a Perana on the roads in the near future???

[Ian Lusso]

Originally Posted by scottyairborne

...but in S. Africa it is easy to survive without heat or AC...

Depends where you are!

So your GT would give a Capri Peranah a run for it's money? That's REAL quick!

[El 4 Romeo]

There was actually a 1.8 turbo 75, wasn't there? Did we get any of those?

[WILDCARD]

Well I did manage to find out that my 146 2.0 Twin Spark turbo had the conversion done when the car had about 5000km on the clock. It now has just under 72000km. As far as I know it only had one failure due the the plastic plenum. It now has the old Aluminum plenum and going strong.

did I forget to mention reliability?
I drove the car from Pretoria to Oudsthoorn without a hiccup!!!

[turbonutters]

The little Yellow cars going to all cars from its era and a couple of new so-called fast cars watch this space.

[scottyairborne]

I hope so TN, as for outperforming a Perana...yes you have to remember that car was designed for a 4-cyl with a V-8 shoved in. There were afterall some insane 4-cyl works capris that would destroy a Perana. I don't know how powerful the TS turbo will be initially, but that doesn't mean we can't replace internals and bump up the pressure. Not to mention we'll be running fuel injection and a good management system. Decent weight distribution is excessively important, I've seen GTs dominate the truly exotic in corners only to lose ground on the straight aways. If you can add power without effecting weight distribution and geometry you are much better off. Still have to get it all to the ground, which may prove trying...

[scottyairborne]

Wildcard, that sounds like excellent results Hard to beat a properly sorted turbo injection....

I have run 100,000kms on waste vegetable oil in my Turbo Diesels... eve made riduculous crazy power out of a Jeep Cherokee CRD on vegetable oil.

The only replacement for displacement, is squeezing even more air through!

[turbonutters]

[Guili]

Scotty, the street scene in JHB is run by a couple of Scoobies that race for a club called Underground Racing...these guys ONLY come out when something challenging comes along, street legal 10sec scoobies we are talking about here, the cars even got sound in it, but I'd say 1st gun for the Hot Hatch Brigade from DBN...fastest K03 and K04 powered GT-s in the WORL resides in DBN...12 second flat on pump feul!!!

Then there's the C63 monster that kills everything in sight and the 330d of George Smooth that now runs with a tank of nos in the boot running in the 11's...street legal cars that the wifes can drive to the shops as you put it...so your target should be 10-12secs to be a real contender on the street!

However, I'm sure that just like me, seeing as you want to do up an Alfa you WON'T strip it like a drag car coz they just look fugly, make it look bog standard, well Alfaholics standard but tear the streets up!

[Jaco14]

I say you can make 300 whp reliably with the 8v, not on pump fuel though.

300whp in < 1000kg's = faster than most.

[scottyairborne]

Guili
I'm not going to strip it, has to be able to ride my littles on the back on a tame weekend jaunt. Also want it to look like a vintage Alfa, Lekker!!!

I'm thinking more than just drag racing as well, something that can truly smoke a curving road.

May take some time, but I think we have a decent start

[Guili]

Def get the turbo motor...twinspark 8v is sworn as bible by Alfaholics already..but they did build a NA 200bhp motor from 8v twinnie didn't they...and that thing was hella expensive!

I think witht he cars handeling characteristics already better by an Alfaholics susp there's no looking back...

what's your budget on this build if I may ask?

[scottyairborne]

Budget ??? Lets just say we have tripled the cost of a SA Stepnose already, and it isn't even close to done. What lets me sleep at night is knowing that I will ship to car to Europe/US, so my budget is to keep it well under what they sell for there (meaning I don't lose money on the car). I ship 2-cars out for free when I move, as part of my US Government tour here and we weren't allowed to bring any with us...so there might be another one coming very soon (actually a donor car for interior that will be stripped for racing, and made vintage race legal)

Alfaholics TwinSpark quote was ....
190BHP trackday engine £8500
200BHP trackday engine £9995
218BHP trackday/race engine – absolute top spec - £12950

I hope to have the entire upgrade done for much less than that, thanks to my new best friends Turbonutters.

[scottyairborne]

I think the exchange rate right now is about 12-1 for Rand-pounds... meaning you could buy half a dozen Stepnoses (only in South Africa!!!) for the price of their top spec race engine.

[scottyairborne]

A decent Stepnose in Europe is Euro15k + , in US $20k +

Get into full spec'd cars, GTA-Replicas, etc and watch the price soar

Two glaring issues I have are sunroof (will put GTA Aluminium roof on whe car is at next destination) and patched floors must be replaced

[Guili]

Wait wait wait, I was off in VW la la land for far too long...you are from teh US of A? Building a street ripper in SA? WHAT?

Lemme read your entire thread from the beginning!

[scottyairborne]

Yes, may have to take the Diplomatic plates off the Landie and put on the Alfa...

Pretty sure the Dip ID won't work if the bumblebee is chased down... but then again I don't see Police really doing much about street racing/speeding vehicles besides the good old cameras!