[alfa] last on Twin Cams

["Watry, Andrew (LNG-SFR)" <Andrew.Watry@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Surely we have beaten this horse to death several times over, but to
clarify:  there were 1500s, 1600s (1588cc), 1600 Mk IIs (1622cc) and Twin
Cam (1588) MGAs.  The 1600 Mk IIs were nearly the equivalent of Twin Cams in
performance, not the first series 1600s.  And yes, they must have been a
hell of a lot easier to own.  Mk II Deluxes, with the  Twin Cam chassis and
body, and 1622 pushrod engine, are considered by many to be the best A of
all.  

My Twin Cam (bored to about 1602 cc in its 1990 rebuild, with MegaCycle
Kawasaki-grind cams) revs like crazy, and I wouldn't be surprised if it
didn't go fast enough to self destruct.  It revs faster than any street 1600
Alfa I've driven.  I've never heard the valves-through-hood story though.
Most common failures were pistons melting due to detonation from poor octane
gas (early cars were 9.9:1; later were 8.3:1) and overly advanced/sloppy
timing.  MG addressed all these concerns over time (8.3 pistons, removing
vacuum advance, retarding timing, lots of service bulletins), but the nails
were already in the coffin.  They rebuilt a lot of engines under warranty,
and lost a lot of money.  This is not a drive-it-and-forget-it MG.  Getting
at the distributor is one of the hardest things to do on this car, so it,
along with a lot of other things like timing chain tension, got ignored.
When racing this car, my dad had it over the 7000 rpm redline a number of
times without ill affects.  But it didn't blow up til the too-loose timing
chain jumped a tooth in lowly DC commuter traffic in 1969, putting a valve
through a piston. 

Yikes, let's get back to Alfas.

Andrew Watry
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