Re: Alfa carbs

["Henrik Johansen" <hjohansen@domain.elided>]

Henry asks:

> Quick question - were the pre-82 Euro 115 Spiders originally equipped with
> Weber or Dellorto carbs?  I seem to see Webers on most carb'd Spiders.
Are
> the Dellortos any good?

Alfa has used Weber, Dell'orto, and Solex carbs, depending on what was on
the shelf that day. I have had a couple of early 80's Alfettas with carbs.
The '79 had Weber, the '81 had Dell'orto, and the '84 had Solex. I removed
the Solexes ASAP and replaced with Dell'orto. Whether you like Weber or
Dell'orto is IMHO an personal matter. Most US models, if not all, were
equipped with Weber, therefore there is more expertise in adjusting them in
this country than there are Dell'orto. IMHO The dual-barrel Solexes are
dogs, and should be replaced asap. When you look in the owners manuals of
European Alfas there are instructions for all three. Also in most of the
aftermarket shop manuals.

>
> What are the 2000 carb'd Spiders like to drive?  I would think they were
> improved by fuel injection but I hear a lot of guys tell me they prefer
> carbs.  Is that only because they are easy to tinker with or is there a
> power reason?

The general consensus in '69, and up through the 70's, when the Spica
injection was introduced on the US market was that they were no good and
were robbing power, and that carbs were much better and easier to adjust and
maintain. This was probably due to the fact that no-one back then knew
anything about Spica, and the fact that the factory didn't release much
information about the system. It it now a known fact, ask Wes Ingram and Tom
Sahines (and other gurus), that a well set-up Spica system performs better
than a carb set-up. It is no longer a secret how the Spica pump works. Tom
Sahines has over they years pretty much perfected the 4 cyl Alfa engine and
Spica to where he can pull 180 HP on a street engine that will last at least
100,000 miles without a rebuild. Race engines can be built to put even more
HP on the asfalt, but then you'll have to rebuild more often.

How are they to drive? Pretty close to a Spice car, except you have more
intake noise, but if you add a set of Shankels Quada flow airfilters you'll
get even more noise with Spica.

HTH

Henrik

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