ALFAGTV6.COM

Hey Marc,

Any updates on your engine? Very interested in a big bore V6, but have heard some.....

Recently came across a video of a 147 GTA 3.8 up against a Lotus 2-11 and they're even on a very long straight!!!! Very impressed!

I've bought a nice 164 Super and intend to use it for a while, then I might rip the 24V off and put it in a future project of mine

i am having a bit of bad luck with the engine since the first fuckup of the computerprogramming.
borewash, engine returned to Barry.
came back and no oil consume anymore!
it drove perfect untill i had a headgasket faillure due to detonation.
I found good headgaskets in germany, metal ones from Reinz motorsport.
after that i am still having some problems with water in my oil.
the car should be back in about two weeks and i hope it will run.

after the new headgaskets i suspected troubles..
my mechanic took the entire engine apart and my pistons are all cracked.
the crankshaft and block is okay but pistons are broken.
i am going to sell this block and put a gta block in it.

I guess detonation was pretty bad, do you have any info on what ignition timing and air fuel ratios you were using in the ECU map? what ECU are you using?

there were no signs of detonation after the last gasket, i have an autronic ecu with max 30° pre ignition.
i will put pictures as soon as i have them.
AFR is between 14 and 12.5 at acceleration, that should be fine.

I have a 33 16v with a modified engine (porting and cams), Max advance at full throttle was 24º at 7600 rpm's, 30º seems too much for me. Do you know of any other V6's built to your spec? maybe something wrong with the piston's design or material? If Barry built this engine he probably has built an engine to your specs before, see if there was any failure of that kind in those engines.
Any reasons as to why may this have happened?

I will post pictures of everything as soon as possible

Very sorry to hear that Marc.

I hope you'll regain some pleasure in the car after the GTA engine is fitted, the 3.7 adventure must have driven you mad many times by now.

Good luck with it! You deserve it.

Cracked pistons sorry to hear .
My sub assembly and RZ were built same time at same engineering and so far still no issues with mine under really hard racing . My advantage is I had mine mapped perfectly from the start and my team mate in our trofeo racing is the guy who wrote the software . Also my compression was 10.5 to1. Not sure what yours is .
I think the hardest part of any engine transplant is having access to someone who can map properly .
In my past (1998 - 2000) I broke three twin turbo 12v motors from bad ignition timing . All had cracked skirts until I finally found some one to map the engine properly and lock in fuel and ignition parameters that would not create problems .
Marc really sorry to hear of your woes .
By the way did you see on the short clip how immensely faster my 3.7 is than 3.0 12v on the race track on the straight . ( pity I could not stop as I still had all the gravel stuck to my wheels from the farming expedition on the corner before) .
I still swear by the reliability of these motors if they are warmed up properly ( fast idle) , not overevved and good timing .
Marc pm some pics

It does ring to mind bad ignition timing, per the failures marc said.
Mapping definetely is everything, always start with conservative ignition timing...

The mapping was fine the last time we changed gaskets.
Only the cam timing was changed a little bit .
The overlap was reduced for better driveability.

Marc,

I thought you switched to Adaptronic.

WHo did you buy the Autronic from? A dealer in BeNeLux or Beninca?

What pistons were supplied? I thought you got some custom high dollar forgies, no? Those pistons aren't easy to crack.


As a side note Larry (apedirect.com) and I are thinking of going to a 3.45 with 101mm pistons. He got his custom pistons made and Cometic will do the MLS gasket for us.

My 3.0 12V is still alive and well, roughly as fast as an Lotus Exige S on the straight. I was keeping up with an Evo 10 SST too on the straight.

With a 3,45 24V with JK max hydraulic tappet friendly cams, I think an F360 is going to have big problems.

adaptronic i have...

Geez that bad . Post some pics of the head gasket . I will email you pic of spacer if you gonna use gta block .

pistonskirt