Cars We Drive!

[Dino944]

A few cars ordered correctly with manual transmissions.

@OtterMeanGreen. Check out the right side of the photo with the Superamerica roof, there is a big cloudy spot. There was a lot more of that happening on other sections of the roof, but it was tough to photograph. Personally, I thought the 550 Barchetta or standard 550/585 were far better looking than the Superamerica.

 

[clee1982]

I hope you told them to GTFO of here with that ****...BMW needs every bit of motivation to snap themselves out of this current direction to be the half-ass German Toyota, except with far worse styling

told them no 6 cylinder no go

 

[Nader393]

Don't mean to keep hijacking this thread, but I'm excited about starting the race season, so bear with me.

Today, I dragged the race car out of the shed to start prepping for the race weekend that starts tomorrow with qualifying runs. That spare engine to the left is a 2.9 bored/stroked/high-compression/cammed super-spicy BMW m20 straight six I've been building for the last year or so. We can do a deep dive into e30 BMWs if anyone is interested. They really are great cars. But for now, I'm here to talk Alfa:

Swapping out off-season coolant for straight water (racing rules), topping off oil, general cleaning, etc. That all aluminum twin cam engine was way ahead of its time for the '50-60's. Absolute jewel of a power plant.

 

[clee1982]

That’s a clean engine

 

[Patek]

Don't mean to keep hijacking this thread, but I'm excited about starting the race season, so bear with me.

Today, I dragged the race car out of the shed to start prepping for the race weekend that starts tomorrow with qualifying runs. That spare engine to the left is a 2.9 bored/stroked/high-compression/cammed super-spicy BMW m20 straight six I've been building for the last year or so. We can do a deep dive into e30 BMWs if anyone is interested. They really are great cars. But for now, I'm here to talk Alfa:
View attachment 1394076

Swapping out off-season coolant for straight water (racing rules), topping off oil, general cleaning, etc. That all aluminum twin cam engine was way ahead of its time for the '50-60's. Absolute jewel of a power plant.
View attachment 1394077
View attachment 1394078
View attachment 1394079

That is awesome!

Go Alfa.

 

[Nader393]

Those bolts you see fastening down the cam cover... I made those from scratch. They are ordinarily steel, but I made them out of 6061 T6511 aluminum hex rod on my lathe. Can get away with that because they're not exerting a lot of force torquing down the cam cover. The few grams saved isn't a performance advantage, it was just a fun project in the off season (I had a lot of those; half the car is now aerospace Al or Ti).

 

[OtterMeanGreen]

View attachment 1394040 View attachment 1394041 View attachment 1394037 View attachment 1394038 View attachment 1394039 View attachment 1394040 View attachment 1394041 View attachment 1394042

A few cars ordered correctly with manual transmissions.

@OtterMeanGreen. Check out the right side of the photo with the Superamerica roof, there is a big cloudy spot. There was a lot more of that happening on other sections of the roof, but it was tough to photograph. Personally, I thought the 550 Barchetta or standard 550/585 were far better looking than the Superamerica.

A 599 with a gated shifter is very rare, I only had one come through the shop that I got to experience. The clutch grab points were a little dicey though. I am not in disbelief of the price of the Superamerica top, however that is absolutely nuts and not worth it IMO. I once saw an invoice for replacement F1 transmission to a 360, $35,000!!! These are reasons why I love the manual transmission and I hate electric convertible tops. More power to hand removable tops like the 308/328/348/355 GTS’s. Also you cannot beat the ease of removal or replacing of the Mazda Miata soft top, which still offers a manual top retraction, it takes literally seconds. I can’t imagine how much a California top will cost to replace, probably more then the car is worth during the time it needs replacing lol.

 

[HRoi]

Don't mean to keep hijacking this thread, but I'm excited about starting the race season, so bear with me.

Today, I dragged the race car out of the shed to start prepping for the race weekend that starts tomorrow with qualifying runs. That spare engine to the left is a 2.9 bored/stroked/high-compression/cammed super-spicy BMW m20 straight six I've been building for the last year or so. We can do a deep dive into e30 BMWs if anyone is interested. They really are great cars. But for now, I'm here to talk Alfa:
View attachment 1394076

Swapping out off-season coolant for straight water (racing rules), topping off oil, general cleaning, etc. That all aluminum twin cam engine was way ahead of its time for the '50-60's. Absolute jewel of a power plant.
View attachment 1394077
View attachment 1394078
View attachment 1394079

I don’t see this as a hijack, I’m interested in the topic. Shade-tree restoration, modding, fabrication and race prepping!

 

[bawlin]

That 575 drones so bad, I couldn't watch more than 20 seconds on my computer. I can only imagine how bad it is in the cabin, in real life. And I can't fathom why anyone would want their car to sound like that, other than to impress some kids with 14 Youtube subscribers at their local cars & coffee.

 

[Thrift Vader]

You haven’t covered everything in leather until your Nespresso is covered in leather.

Is that Piob?

 

[Dino944]

A 599 with a gated shifter is very rare, I only had one come through the shop that I got to experience. The clutch grab points were a little dicey though. I am not in disbelief of the price of the Superamerica top, however that is absolutely nuts and not worth it IMO. I once saw an invoice for replacement F1 transmission to a 360, $35,000!!! These are reasons why I love the manual transmission and I hate electric convertible tops. More power to hand removable tops like the 308/328/348/355 GTS’s. Also you cannot beat the ease of removal or replacing of the Mazda Miata soft top, which still offers a manual top retraction, it takes literally seconds. I can’t imagine how much a California top will cost to replace, probably more then the car is worth during the time it needs replacing lol.

Yes, I recall visiting the shop I go to and a tech was working on a 360 with F1 transmission that wasn’t working. He told me the pump actuator was $10,000 and that’s without labor or anything else the transmission might need. I think he said a clutch in a 308 or 328 is about $1,800. They also advised a friend who was considering a 355 or 360 to stay away from the spider versions because when the top mechanism dies it costs $15,000. Technology has its pros, but it can definitely bring some expensive cons!

 

[OtterMeanGreen]

That 575 drones so bad, I couldn't watch more than 20 seconds on my computer. I can only imagine how bad it is in the cabin, in real life. And I can't fathom why anyone would want their car to sound like that, other than to impress some kids with 14 Youtube subscribers at their local cars & coffee.

Driving cars like that, is there really anyone else to impress other then kids and fellow car guys? Certainly not women, at least in my experience, they could care less, even in a Ferrari 16M Spider.

 

[Thrift Vader]

Ferrari is a solid pass.

I remember seeing one of the guys who built the "Jun" prelude deep in a F430 service. absolutely not impressed.
Then I got into it. Not impressed.

F430 might be my least liked car. After the PT cruiser.

 

[Nader393]

Ferrari is a solid pass.

I remember seeing one of the guys who built the "Jun" prelude deep in a F430 service. absolutely not impressed.
Then I got into it. Not impressed.

F430 might be my least liked car. After the PT cruiser.

That is one strong opinion. For me, a 430 with a stick is a grail car. I would trade almost everything I have for one. In fact, if F-430 prices keep coming down, I can see myself getting rid of my 348 to get one, then retrofitting it with a manual transmission.

 

[bawlin]

In fact, if F-430 prices keep coming down, I can see myself getting rid of my 348 to get one, then retrofitting it with a manual transmission.

Get in line pal.