[alfa] Re: gear lightening

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

A little ancient history on Alfa gearboxes - and fifties engineering at Alfa -
by no means intended as criticism of individuals I may quote as representative
of the conventional views -

Erik Wood wrote "I also don't know why the factory didn't address the 2nd gear
synchro problem.  It has been around as long as the 5-speed.  It is my
understanding that the 4-speeds have enough less rotating mass so that the
synchros work better and wear longer.  Apparently Alfa didn't re-engineer the
box when the 5th gear was added." Brian Shorey similarly wrote "IIRC, the
original gearbox design was intended for four gears, addition of the fifth
added extra stress to the synchros. People (some) learned how to deal with it
through double clutching and the like, but synchros still wore prematurely
(20k - 50k miles)". And Mark Denovich, responding to Peter Kemos, wrote "But
quick shifting is a valid metric for transmission performance, and when using
that measure, Alfa transmissions frankly suck.   It would be one thing if no
one else could manage it, or it was really expensive, or technically complex.
It isn't." And Joe Elliott wrote "Those gearboxes are fairly overbuilt as far
as I can tell, - - and that's exactly why the synchros fail--the gears are a
lot beefier than they have to be, and the synchros aren't".

Digression: the first review I read of the first iteration of the alloy block,
twin-cam four was of its use in the fwd Romeo furgone, which was in production
before the first Giulietta was built. (The stamped sheet steel grill of the
first Giulietta Sprint, built as a limited-edition sop to mollify disgruntled
investors when the production Giulietta was delayed, was also borrowed from
the Romeo.) The explanation given for the twin-cam truck engine was that Alfa,
as a small company with very modest resources in a war-ravaged economy, tried
to design a single basic engine which could be used in many applications- the
truck, a relatively basic small economy car, more upscale versions of the
bread-and-butter sedan, and possibly an enhanced version in a small sports
car.

An analogous multi-application design program a few years later resulted in
the "cambio unificato", the split-case Porsche-synchro gearbox which was
designed and built from the beginning in four-speed and five-speed versions
and floor-shift and column-shift versions for use in the Giulietta, the 102
'ironblock' two-liter, (with an update of the 1900 engine) and its 2600
successor (with an enlarged, and appreciably more powerful, six-cylinder
version of the Giulietta engine.)

So yes, the gears were overbuilt for a 1300 cc economy car, but also yes, the
five-speed has been around every bit as long as the four-speed, it was not a
re-engineering add-on. The chronology and the lines of authority and
responsibility may be a bit blurred, but my understanding is that the box (and
the synchros) were mainly the product of ex-Porsche engineer Rodolfo Hruska
during his first stint at Alfa, before he left for Simca and later returned
for Alfasud. And yes, it is not too surprising that some gearboxes designed by
other companies forty years later were better suited to market realities of
average road-use customers in some respects. We are discussing a vintage
gearbox, one which was both a collection of ingenious compromises and
state-of-the-art engineering half a century ago, intended to serve both a
near-econobox and a luxury autostrada express.

The lightened gears were also not born yesterday. I don't know whether anyone
(short of Don Black) could even guess at or date the first application, but
the earliest factory performance options listings I have list magnesium
gearcases, bellhousings, and rear housings, steel flywheels, moly steel
gearbox gears, heavy-duty shift forks, light-weight gear levers,
roller-bearing conversions for the early fifth gears, synchro rings in moly
steel with rough finish to provide friction, and state "all optional gears are
drilled, lightweight, and pre run-in". The Merrit Carden/Tom Sahines
modifications, which I hope to have on one or more cars someday, are
commendable alterations of stock parts to bring them a notch closer to the
potential which was designed into the boxes long ago. Personally, I greatly
appreciate the Alfa approach to design in that era, which produced some
remarkably well-engineered basics at remarkably affordable prices. The basic
production versions (which are what we got) may not be beyond criticism by
later standards, but I can easily accept their shortcomings.

Cheers,

John H.
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