[alfa] Dean's Yuck-engined Sport Sedan

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I concur with Joe Elliott's opinion that an Alfa Sei differential would be a logical candidate for the rear end of Dean's Sport Sedan conversion, with the one quabble that it is a needlessly heavy unit. Haven't weighed it, but Hans Milo, Georgia's guru of Sei-based conversions, kindly procured one for me for one of my long-abandoned projects, and the long nosepiece is a very unAlfaish cast iron monster. The weight would not necessarily be a killer, but it doesn't fit anywhere in my conception of what Alfa was about in its better days.
 
At the other end of the driveline the Sei has the same excellent ZF gearbox used also in the Montreal, inviting consideration of an all-Alfa SuperAlfetta; Montreal engine, ZF gearbox, Sei differential and inboard brakes, and Sport Sedan (or better, 90) hull. Could be a very attractive combination, for a vintage road car.
 
I can't comment on the Japanese Yuck. There are some models we don't get here, or get under different names. If the Yuck has a a good engine, of an appropriate size to suit Dean's tastes, and the rest of the car is less suitable than an Alfetta, why not? Swaps depend on what one has and what one wants; I have occasionally thought of transplanting a Corvette chassis into my partshauler minivan (a Mazda), but why?  Stock, it pulls anything I need to pull. It would probably surprise a few people at the lights, but so?
 
I don't have anything against big engines per se. The engine on which I received my only formal training as a mechanic was a quad cam, 32 valve Twin Spark Ford V8 of one thousand one hundred cubic inches displacement, a detuned and shrunk version of a blown V12 which had been designed to match the Merlins and Allisons in aircraft use. Was it a more interesting or desirable engine than the 1100 cc fours I met a few years later? No, not really. So how big is big enough? I don't have a good answer, for myself, let alone for Dean. I will mention, however, that I recently bought my first new car in fifteen years, a sedan like the rest but the most powerful, probably fastest, and certainly most refined and most amenity-loaded car I have ever owned, with an 1800 cc four. It seems to be a very pleasant, and sufficient, exercise in getting a quart out of a pint pot. It isn't an Alfa, but it is closer to a rif on my Giulia Super than I could have imagined, and I won't be sticking a bigger engine in it.

Enjoy yours,

John H.
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