I'm new to this board so I'll do a brief introduction...
My father purchased 2 sunbeam alpines almost 2 years ago when he retired that needed a little bit of work. I'm helping him with these projects between semesters at school, but a little bit of work has turned into a restoration project on one and a full blown drivetrain swap on the other.
I wanted to do something that hasn't been done to an Alpine, and everyone seems to have mixed feelings on Alger conversions so I started looking at all of the modern 4 cylinders (modern being factory efi.) I really wanted to put an Ecotec in this, but the ecotec is wider than most v8's. Duratec and zetec engines have funky oil pans and making them rear wheel drive costs some money that could go to things like turbochargers
I started looking at miata engines and all of the dimensions were really close to the 1725. The only obvious problems are the rear cam position sensor and the alternator is in the way of the alpine motormount. I think both of these are easily fixed, but time will tell. The engine that I picked up is a 1.6 out of a 1990 Miata. I wanted to do a 1.8, but the extra 1" of length was the deal breaker.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the projects. I'm only in town for a few weeks at a time so expect some very slow progress.
My father purchased 2 sunbeam alpines almost 2 years ago when he retired that needed a little bit of work. I'm helping him with these projects between semesters at school, but a little bit of work has turned into a restoration project on one and a full blown drivetrain swap on the other.
I wanted to do something that hasn't been done to an Alpine, and everyone seems to have mixed feelings on Alger conversions so I started looking at all of the modern 4 cylinders (modern being factory efi.) I really wanted to put an Ecotec in this, but the ecotec is wider than most v8's. Duratec and zetec engines have funky oil pans and making them rear wheel drive costs some money that could go to things like turbochargers
I started looking at miata engines and all of the dimensions were really close to the 1725. The only obvious problems are the rear cam position sensor and the alternator is in the way of the alpine motormount. I think both of these are easily fixed, but time will tell. The engine that I picked up is a 1.6 out of a 1990 Miata. I wanted to do a 1.8, but the extra 1" of length was the deal breaker.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the projects. I'm only in town for a few weeks at a time so expect some very slow progress.