Im interested in building my Alpine for vintage racing. My car is a 61 s2 1600cc. The engine runs strong im looking for advice on what modifications to make to be competitive. I can fabricate but I dont want to do anything that would make the car ineligable. Where do I start?
-
Welcome to the new SAOCA website. Already a member? Simply click Log In/Sign Up up and to the right and use your same username and password from the old site. If you've forgotten your password, please send an email to membership@sunbeamalpine.org for assistance.
If you're new here, click Log In/Sign Up and enter your information. We'll approve your account as quickly as possible, typically in about 24 hours. If it takes longer, you were probably caught in our spam/scam filter.
Enjoy.
looking for help on racing my alpine
- Thread starter gspd18
- Start date
RootesRacer
Donation Time
What you can or should do depends entirely on what type of racing you plan to do.
If you are talking vintage road racing, most use some facsimile of SCCA regulations, most of which falls into F production.
These rules do not allow you to alter the engine to a great extent, especially the intake and exhaust.
Some looser groups allow period appropriate mod to keep the playing field level, such mods would include intake changes and plausible internal mods.
The most effective things you could do (assuming they are legal in your group) is to install a twin DCOE intake and dual 40DCOE carbs. Bumping the compression to 10+/1 and putting in an appropriate camshaft will make the sunbeam a real fire breather.
As for chassis, lowering with increased spring rate, big front sway bar and spax shocks.
Of course the first item on the list would be a roll bar...
If you are talking vintage road racing, most use some facsimile of SCCA regulations, most of which falls into F production.
These rules do not allow you to alter the engine to a great extent, especially the intake and exhaust.
Some looser groups allow period appropriate mod to keep the playing field level, such mods would include intake changes and plausible internal mods.
The most effective things you could do (assuming they are legal in your group) is to install a twin DCOE intake and dual 40DCOE carbs. Bumping the compression to 10+/1 and putting in an appropriate camshaft will make the sunbeam a real fire breather.
As for chassis, lowering with increased spring rate, big front sway bar and spax shocks.
Of course the first item on the list would be a roll bar...
Whats the best way to boost the cr on the 1600 milling the head or pistons? My exhaust manifold is pretty rusted I can build one to mimic the stock one for half as much as buying the replacement. Guess I need to inquire with local racing groups about what mods are legal. So I should ditch the stock zenith's? Has anyone made power bymodifying the stock intake and carbs?
RootesRacer
Donation Time
Milling the head will increase the CR, milling the pistons will reduce the CR unless you increase rod length.
Best think to do is keep the chamber volume the same (or increase for flow) and buy custom flat top pistons of the correct compression height.
The stock SII carbs were modified for higher power with what is known as "the SII tuning kit".
Look into this publication, is it available from S.S.
The carb portion of the kit consisted of new 30mm venturis and new main jets. You drill out the air corrector orifice and remove the choke plates.
The kit also came with a hotter cam and lightened flywheel.
alpine_64
Donation Time
Get the rule book first as mentioned..
as for the SII tuning kits.. they have not been available since rootes stopped selling them in the 1960's. As for the SII tunning guide, i have it all as image files on my webshots page:
http://rides.webshots.com/album/239960975SWErVQ
the other thing is the FIA homologation papers which set the spec for internatinoal competition:
http://rides.webshots.com/album/569822484VRLUWw
If there is some scope you can show that the factory SII Alpines ran in the 1963 LeMans and targa florio with 1592 motors and twin 40DCOE's. As a side note the 63 cars also used telescopic shocks on the rear (not standard SII but was in S3 onwards).
Speak to Steve Silverstein, Jan Serviaties and Ian Spencer..
also Mrotron on this board is running in a local division... he might have some clues.
Jarrid's advice is all worthwhile.. and he knows some handy internal mods to get good HP from our motors.
Thanks for the help. Most of my experience is in gm ls bases engines. I had originally wanted to swap an ls drivetrain into the Alpine until I started tinkering with the stock motor now im set on trying to make decent power out of it. Totally different but a new challenge for me. Im a sucker for the headache I guess.
Thanks for the help. Most of my experience is in gm ls bases engines. I had originally wanted to swap an ls drivetrain into the Alpine until I started tinkering with the stock motor now im set on trying to make decent power out of it. Totally different but a new challenge for me. Im a sucker for the headache I guess.
Alpineracer8
Donation Time
I used to race a '60 Series I with CVAR out of Texas and Oklahoma. I assume that you'll want to run with them since they race at Texas World Speedway, Eagle's Canyon and Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, all of which are in your general area. However, before you get started prepping your car, you'll need to decide which group within CVAR that you would like to run with. Your choices will be Group 2 or Group 4; Group 2 is for production sports cars prepped to the 1972 SCCA GCR rulebook and Group 4 is for cars built in or before 1961 and is considered to be the "super-vintage" group. These cars are prepped following the guidelines of the SCCA's 1961 (I think...) GCR. I chose Group 4 for my car and had a ball racing with the likes of TR-3's, Porsche 356's, Alfa Giulietta's, MGA's, etc. Group 2 is overrun with Sprites and Midgets, all of which seem to have way more horsepower than they ever did "back in the day," which takes some of the fun out of racing with them.
Drop me a line here or PM me if you're interested in discussing CVAR further.
Take care and best of luck,
Drop me a line here or PM me if you're interested in discussing CVAR further.
Take care and best of luck,
Alpineracer8
Donation Time
Don't run wire wheels for any reason!!! Do yourself a favor and convert to bolt-on wheels. My car had competition wires on it when I bought it, which have thicker spokes than stock wheels (and are heavier, too), and I still broke numerous spokes in the right front wheel going into turn #2 at Texas World at driver's school. The tires that are available today are much better than what was available back when these cars were new, which means they stick much better in the corners. This translates into more stress on the spokes, which can lead to a potentially catasrophic wheel failure. I switched the hubs on my car to the bolt-on variety and ran a set of "Minator" wheels (Minilite look-alikes) and never had another bit of trouble in that area. Plus, they are period-correct and look cool on the car, too.