long term project... early questions

[Godfrey DiGiorgi <ramarren@bayarea.net>]

Ok, here's an question or three for you gurus out there. 

On the back burner of my Alfa mania sit two more Spiders. 

One is a '79 car which has an utterly perfect body (never rusted, never 
dinged, just absolutely perfect) with an interior in 'decent' condition, 
in need of just paint and a top. I suspect the mechanical condition is 
not too bad either, it was maintained professionally by the best Alfa 
mechanic in the area for about 8 of the 9 last years of its road life, 
but I obtained it after it sat unused for most of a year and have not yet 
tried to fire it up at all. Certainly the clutch hydraulics are shot, as 
are likely the brake hydraulics, and the usual horrors of getting an 
older neglected car up to spec will all apply, but nothing unusual. About 
85,000 miles on the odo.

The other is an '82 with low mileage on the odo ... 44,000 and change. It 
also needs hydraulic overhaul, but I fired it up when I bought it in '94 
and engine-wise it sounded perfectly healthy. The body on this one, 
sadly, is el trasheroo: a mess. It was run into a fence some time ago, 
which torqued the whole body a smidge and ruined the left front wing, 
nose, driver's door, and has several other problems as well as rust. 

My thinking is to build one brilliant Spider out of the two of them. I'd 
like to take the Bosch motor, transmission and differential from the '82, 
overhaul them and pump up the power to the european 135-145 hp spec, and 
fit them into a thoroughly gone over, perfect '79 chassis with 
refurbished interior and all the trimmings. Big job. So my questions:

- Has anyone done this before? I'd love to talk with you about it if you 
have.

- Is the '82 differential a taller drive ratio than the '79? That's what 
I'm after: a bit taller gearing for a higher power engine to pull. 

- How much work on the electrical system is necessary to achieve the 
swapover? I'm presuming the entire fuel system needs to be changed out 
for the Bosch EFI system, and of course the injection computer and 
ignition bits. 

- My thoughts on bringing up the power would be to use a '74 exhaust 
manifold and downpipe, fit an aftermarket high-performance catcon custom 
into the system, and perhaps the european cams with high compression 
pistons, some fussing with porting if needs be. What are the chances of 
meeting our beloved California emissions standards with such a rig?

This is a long term project ... nothing I'm going to even start on this 
year, I just want to get some ideas and things to think about running 
before I get too involved mentally. It's really nice to work out your 
next car long in advance of needing it... :)

Thanks,
Godfrey