GTA motor rebuild etc

["Leslie J. Singh" <Les.Singh@domain.elided>]

Steve

I know how you feel when a motor goes because of bad work. I have decided
to keep my GTA 1300 engine out of the car and to instead, build a ersatz
"GTA" engine still using a twin-plug GTA head but perhaps an Alfetta 1600
block. The alternative is to install a rebuilt 2 litre that I've had
sitting around for a few years. To me, both of these options is preferable
to risking the very valuable 1300 for which, about the only parts i can get
new, are piston liner sets. This way, the car still looks authentic and
correct for the period. I would not even consider using the new Twinspark
engines. There's a GTAm replica here with that conversion, goes great and
the owner's happy, so each to his own.

I have also had problems with engine rebuilders. Our championship-winning
Formula Ford engine, which powered the car to victory against all the later
Class I cars (car is a Class II)  is now a pile of metal junk. After the
rebuild it would not run properly when we tried to run it in, then
everything munched up inside. Rebuilders took responsibility and built
another engine which I collected last Sunday morning and took to the engine
dyno on Monday. Result - engine had more faults then I can list without
boring everyone and would have gone the way of the previous one if we had
tried to run it in on the circuit..... Its rebuilt now, by someone who
knows what he's doing, has been run in on the dyno and taken to 7000 rpm.
Tomorrow, I'll fit it, in time for qualifying the next day..  Wish us luck!

If this was an Alfa, I would have done all the work myself, but these
primitive engines .. I'm not confident working on. So Steve, a word of
advice offered in friendship - build your next genuine GTA engine yourself
and build yourself a second road-race engine that you won't cry over when
it pops... my 2 cents worth.

Continuous coverage of the horrific events of yesterday on our tv..
uninterrupted .. Just heard right now (2200 UT) of the collapse of another
building. Thinking of you all.

Ciao

Les
>Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 23:19:00 -0700
>Subject: re: cheap GTA for sale
>
>Don't tempt me.  Gordy knows I've gone through 2 motors this season.  The
>2nd one not having even lasted through the break-in period before ingesting
>magnetic shot peen material introduced to the motor through an inadequately
>cleaned oil cooler, or by alien beings.
>
>I'm feeling awfully burned out all of a sudden. I've put a lot of sweat
>equity and dollars into the car this summer, and virtually no miles.
>
>I'm even considering buying a new Ducati 750 Monster.  Somebody talk me out
>of it!
>
>Steve S.
>'65 GTA

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