Alfa Nord engine

[Alfachick]

Going to try this post here as the Alfa forum is very very quiet.

My Alfa Spider has been in and out of the garage all year with overheating problems and whatnot, which understandably has been rubbish as I have not been able to drive her a huge amount this summer. frown

The mechanic has now had some time to run some diagnostics on her. It turns out that the "new and tested" engine that was fitted to the car last year by a different garage was actually a totally knackered old thing. After the head gasket being replaced a compression test was run and the cylinders are losing roughly 70%. So a rebore and whole engine rebuild is on the cards.
Since the whole engine is going to be getting rebuilt I have asked for some fast road goodies to be added into the mix.

So getting to the crux of my question, how much power can be extracted reliably from the 2l nord engine while running on electronic ignition and twin carbs? Am I dreaming if I am expecting 150bhp or more? What kinds of things should be getting done to the engine? An overbore is going to be occurring anyway and what else should I be looking at for the bottom end?

Cheers in advance to anyone with more knowledge of these things than me.

[Pooh]

I cannot answer your question but I am sorry to hear about your engine problems and hope you get them sorted out without too much hassle and expense.
Do you not have any comeback against the garage who fitted the engine?

[tr7v8]

Interesting as you don't "overbore" the Nord engine you change the pistons & (wet) liners. They respond well to basic tuning, although if you go completely mad on the cam spec you'll destroy the bottom end torque. Standard carbs would be side draught 40's & a move to 45s or throttle bodies. They are immensely strong. There is a Des Hammell book on tuning the Nord lump, worth getting.

[rallycross]

Could you put a twinspark out of a 75 in it, and run it on carbs? 150-170 should be easy.

[alfaspecial]

For power upwards of 150 bhp I'd agree with rallycross -a twinspark head.


This book might be useful
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Romeo-High-performance-Man...
About £20, I bought a copy on fleabay for just a fiver or so.
TR7V8 is correct in that you rebuild a AR engine by replacing the pistons and liners. Is it possible the problem is cylinder head related (valves) rather than to do with the cylinders/ piston rings etc?

[corporalsparrow]

Depends what you want it for.

If you're rebuilding the engine completely then the sky is very nearly the limit. Plenty of track day cars manage 180+bhp. Twinsparks, I believe, can reach 220+bhp. But would you really want that in a spider?

Unless the rest of the car had become a serious track weapon….I wouldn't.

It would rob the car of it's delightful, carefree character.

A balanced, lightened rebuild with warmer cams to give you a sweetly revving engine of about 140 would be perfect for a road car in my view.

[arguti]

Bit of a curveball but why don't you try a test drive of the various 105 versions and see what floats you boat, the costs thereof and then take it from there - I am sure if you called Alfaholics or the like they would help - I only have only have one stock standard Bertone that you could try - most of my others are turbo variations and not fair comparison!

Edited by arguti on Tuesday 9th September 03:33

[jamieandthemagic]

Quite a lot of jim K's book is old hat.

Have a good read of these threads, hopefully you won't spend money where it's not needed, and get what you expect.......... And don't just open the Alfaholics brochure an order a list of stuff. Do your research first.

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/engine-rebuilding/...

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/engine-rebuilding/...

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/engine-rebuilding/...

If you fancy paying someone to build and spec it try http://www.ahmotorsports.co.uk/engbuild.htm

[coetzeeh]

Good advice given so far of course from owners.

Do the obvious stuff like a mildly ported/flowed head, decent fast road cams and you could release 10hp.

In addition, lose the fan belt in exchange for an electric fan (that's a proven 6hp benefit) and fit electronic ignition.

All of the above combined probably gives you the equivalent of an additional 20hp.

The list is of course endless and depends purely on how much you want to spend but for a road car.

[Alfachick]

Thanks for all the replies folks. So I am not really looking at mad power gains from keeping the original engine. I don't think I will be going down the engine swap route, I just wanted to take advantage of an engine rebuild to try to make it a little more pokey.

As always PH is a font of knowledge

[AlfasprintGT]

I am sorry to hear of your misfortune because the Nord engine is built proof if built correctly! In standard form the 2litre pushes out about 122 BHP. Not 130 BHP as claimed!
My advise to you is a properly re-built engine (taking time to balance everything) would be great in your series spider.
Suspension packages choices for the 105 series are widely available from the usual stockists. This will enhance your driving experience.

[arguti]

One further point to be aware of, when getting any modifications done, just check with the engine builder re warranty on the rebuilt engine as various engine builders tend to take varying levels of responsibility on their work depending on intended use. always worth asking about before opening your wallet.