Re: TS conversions

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@domain.elided>]

I read with interest Kelly McCrystle's discussion on his Twin
Spark-into-Spider project, and Norm Riffle's following note on hood clearance;
and then went back to the brief Auto Italia article on a TS/Spider conversion
and to the remarkably acrimonious March 1996 digest discussion of Twin
Sparking. If it had been in a barroom I would have left in a hurry.

Norm remarks "i always heard there wasn't enough height in the hood. the TS
head is indeed about 1/2" taller. my understanding is that there is more room
in the berlina." Certainly correct on the second part; Berlinas and GT Veloces
have much more headroom than Spiders. On the first part, the Auto Italia
Spider had the stock hood, which they said "just barely" cleared, but there
has been past digest correspondence about the stock engine's oil filler cap
punching holes in hoods when lowered cars with sump guards slam through
potholes; adequacy of clearance may depend on personal driving style and car
reengineering.

Kelley wrote of intake systems "The stock TS manifold may not fit in the
spiders engine compartment.  Though it appears that the engine manifold off of
a 83-90 spider will fit.  Better yet a 91-94 spider intake manifold would bolt
on easier b/c the idle air bypass device mounts directly to the manifold like
it is on the TS engine." The Auto Italia people said the stock manifold does
fit; "The only parts that had to be specially made were the exhaust manifold
and the air filter, but there was a bit of fiddling to get the original
radiator to fit in around the front distributor cap with the hoses." The 1996
correspondence, if I am reading it right, suggests that Kelley's alternate
manifold proposals would not work.

I had considered getting a Twin Spark for a Sport Sedan, which should be much
more of a straight drop-in than a 105/115 conversion, but the various past
discussions convinced me that a Twin Spark would be worthwhile for an ultimate
performance engine but would offer little if any advantage over a tweaked
Spica engine for a road car, or over a tweaked Weber engine if emissions were
not a concern.

Kelley's project, aiming at a 200 hp turbo installation in a road car, is a
bit rich for my driving aspirations, and I am not sure how his paragraph three
("I am building a turbo manifold for my TS") meshes with his paragraph five
("I am going to buy an IAP header and cut off the flanges and re-bend the
tubing to the proper spacing to make it fit"), but exploring uncharted paths
can be enjoyable, and I hope he does enjoy both the process and the result.

Cheers,

John H.

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