I do have a spare head that I was saving for a rainy day Vizard modification, but...
I owned a '74 2.8 Capri in the late 70s. It pulled like an 8 and was very smooth. It would be nice to get the same power from the Alpine without sacrificing the stock Rootes engine. Even though it's understressed, it was not exactly a state of the art design in it's day, 43 years ago.
Really looking forward to Jim's next installments.
Hi Andy,
The reason I got started on the V6 Alpine, was that I bought three new Capris', in 1072, 1973, and 1974. All of them had a V6. I loved the engine, so thought that a small soprts car would be the perfect car to receive one. I see that you also enjoyed your Capri with the V6 too.
Your desire to keep your Alpine stock, because it has matching numbers, is understandable. What would keep you from saving another Alpine from the crusher, and put a V6 into it? You wouldn't be disappointed, I can assure you. I chatted with Jim Ellis the other day and asked him if he had expected his V6 Alpine to perform like it does. He said that not only did it meet his expectations, but exceeded them by a long shot.
I know that a lot of guys want to preserve the four cylinder that came in these cars, so talk about how these old engines can be hopped up to produce more power. I seriously doubt that there is anyone in this club that has more experience modifying these engines than Jim Ellis, yet when he took his hottie to a dyno, he was disappointed with the amount of power it produced. (I can't remember how much it produced, but it was less than 80 hp.) I hear that you can get 110 hp. from the engine, but Jim sure didn't. How much money would it take to get that kind of power, and how reliable would it be. For the same amount of money, you could get at least double the power from the little V6, yet it will easily live for more than 100,000 miles, without having to have any work done to the engine. This conversion will also get about 24 miles to the gallon of gas, while producing more than 200 hp.
I think that most of the guys that are so interested in using the four cylinder engine, have never spent some time driving a V6 powered Alpine. Jim Ellis, who was the greatest advocate of modifying the old four, has recently stated that, "The V6 Alpine will ruin a stock Alpine for you". I don't see the V6 conversion as a detrement to the preservation of Alpines. As an example, the first Alpine that I converted, is still running strong, and that was built 37 years ago. True, it is not running the first V6 that I put into it, but it is still running and thrilling the present owner. At the same time, I managed to save an Alpine that was, most likely, going to be crushed. The only thing that it had in it's favor, was the fact that it had a perfectly straight and rust free body. I don't recommend restoring a car that needs so much work and money to restore it, but it can still save some Alpines that would otherwise be distroyed.
If you liked your Capri with the V6, you will absolutely love a V6 Alpine. It is lighter than the Capri, so performes better. It will give you all the thrilling sensations of acceleration, plus will cut corners like a surgeons scalpel. I'll bet you hadn't modified the little V6 you had, so if you were to modify the V6 in an Alpine, you can imagine how much better it would perform.
If someone wants to keep the old four cylinder, I'm all for that. What I think is a waste however, is all the money and effort, because you just can't get the old engine to produce a lot of reliable horse power. Now you purists, please don't get all riled up, It is just a fact.
I liked Andrew Zizzo's post the other day, when he said he wanted to get a ride in Jim's V6 Alpine, so he could better understand what the Dark Side is all about. I really think that in order to really appreciate what a V6 Alpine is, you need to drive one for a while.
Jose
