My Veloce restoration nearing completion.

[alfabits]

Gordon's process with transmission off and rear in the air (insert silly comment here ) is exactly how I installed mine. Recently I had to remove the transmission, clutch, and flywheel to replace the rear seal and back cover gasket -- leak ) and had spent about 5 hours trying to get the transmission up and in. And in the process we broke the drivers side engine mount rubber. Next day delivery and $70 later we were luckily able to get the engine mount replaced without removing the engine. Finally we tried the removal of the clutch and pressure plate method, sliding it on the transmission shaft. Then things just slipped right up and in. Not enough clearance otherwise. Oh, what fun. Never enough time to do it right, always enough time to do it over.

Cheers,

George

[Gordon Raymond]

Note George's padding! I use more, corrugated cardboard against the firewall over the throttle cross bar, and more by the front stub frame member.

[alfabits]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gordon Raymond Note George's padding! I use more, corrugated cardboard against the firewall over the throttle cross bar, and more by the front stub frame member.

[velocealfa]

Thanks for the advice guys! I know how important padding the car is, all that work for a scratch could make you sick. Luckily, my veloce is and always has been a rustic race car, adding a few more scratches could only add more character.

Thanks again, ill post images of the process when i get to it.

Phillip

[velocealfa]

So, im looking for Velocity stacks for my DCO3's. Knowing that it is nearly impossible to find them for the DCO's. I figure i could fabricate velocity stacks from 40 DCOE's to fit the DCO's. George or Gordon, could you tell me about how much room you have between the carbs and the wheel well? 2-3 inches? Or, do any of you know where i could find velocity stacks for 40 DCO's? New or original ones...

Thanks guys,

Phillip

[Gordon Raymond]

Phillip,
It will be much easier to fabricate a set from 40 DCOE series than ever locate originals. If you have tried WEBCON (G.B.) as a source, and they cannot help, I would go to the "DIY" route, plan "B".
Now, if you are dealing with a 750 Veloce, you should know it used the narrow cold air box, rather than the wider box of the 101 series. If you look inside either of these boxes, you will see there is not very much room down there in the bottom where the stacks would be. This, unfortunately, limits you to the shortest of OEM Weber stacks as your component to make up a set.
If you are willing to go seriously non original, you could fabricate a mounting plate of aluminum to hold the Webers together, and go with something like an old, rare and seldom available curved stack ACL unit as pictured below.
If you need it to "sort of" look right, you will need to cut off OEM Weber 40 DCOE short stacks at the ring, and make up either a single, thin sheet plate that fits across the DCO3's that has the short stacks brazed into it, or, as a plan "C", make up a plate that ties the Webers together and make a base flange for each cut off stack that will then bolt to the Webers through the plate.
Now here is the rub to these plans, EXCLUDING the long curved stack ACL. I raced my 101, 1300 with short Weber OEM stacks, that fit between the Weber and inner fender well. They offered NO noticable performance advantage below 6000 RPM. Even the 1600 GTA's ran 120 mm stacks. That drops the advantage to the 5000 RPM range. For street or track use on my Ausca GTA Spider I use longer stacks still. See the photo. Send me a PM, and I can discuss more, or if there is interest, I can post it here. This is my opinion from my experience with these smaller engines.

[divotandtralee]

very interesting. i would have thought stacks were used on engines that went in in the Spring and out in the Fall, trashed from debris. The screens hold out big gravel but what about the rest? i wouldn't even consider running without an air filter.... even if it is a jock strap?

[Gordon Raymond]

A lot depends on your air and road quality. Volcanic ash for instance,,, well you get the idea. Performance engines tend to be set up a with a little more clearances than street engines, and also get very frequent oil changes.
Until the 1930's many cars ran no air filters at all,,, on dirt roads. They didn't have oil filters either, and counted on loose tolerances and frequent oil changes.
A friend has a brass era (I believe 1912) Packard that has NO OIL PAN! It operates on the "lost oil principle" where a sight glass and needle valve are used to deliver oil to the rods and mains, where it then drips onto the ground. He drove this car from New York, to San Diego last summer, and then drove it back home to the Chicago area. No problem. When running you can look under the car and see the crank spinning along happily and pretty quietly on its babbitt bearings. {What about mud dirt and debris there?}
I guess further you need to look at what many use for air cleaners on modern cars. The change them how often? Once a year? Every two years? Never? Have you ever removed an air cleaner from a modern car, and found the INSIDE of the air cleaner full of dust? I have. A lot of track cars have an awful lot of high RPM miles on them, under some pretty terrible conditions, yet survive to race year after year.
At the same time, If I notice a cloud of concrete dust in a construction area, I will not be driving through that cloud of crud with, open to the crud, velocity stacks. Moreover, several sources of micro screens, socks and other "sort of" filters are available today.
BTW. Jock straps seem pretty restrictive for a performance engine. I have never tried one as a filter element, so that is just my opinion.

[divotandtralee]

Wow! I guess I'll toss my air filter in the trash and put my oil filter cartridge in the same place and just close up the empty canister.. Gordon.. in those days they barely had refineries ....just kidding ... you contribute plenty but I can't buy your rationalization. I love the sound of open Webers but won't let them suck anything but cleanliness.

[alfabits]

On Wednesday I took my Veloce to Loyning's Engine Service and had my Weber's dialed in. Doug Esterbrook put the car on the dyno and jetted my Weber's spot on. I was running too lean on idle circuit and way too rich on the mains. Now it is soooo drivable. No flat spots, instant response, and smooth as a puppies fur.

I achieved 102 hp at the crank, 69.2 hp at the rear wheel, and 108 mph at about 6000 rpm. I have a 1400 kit installed, electronic ignition/new distributor, high output coil, Veloce cams, and oversize valves.

I am attaching the printout. Can't wait for a good drive when the weather clears.

Cheers,

George

[alfabits]

Make that 79.6 hp at the rear wheel

[Gordon Raymond]

Excellent George. That's the way 750 Veloces were supposed to run! Would you mind letting readers here know the final jet sizes you ended up using, as well as the elevation where you live? In my experience most Veloces are way to rich on the mains, in part to compensate for altitude changes as well as possible poor fuel quality. I usually leave my street performance engines a little rich, to compensate for "the other" odd things that can happen. Alfa engines most always develop maximum power just as they go to too lean on the mains. Left too lean, it doesn't take long on a hard run to blow a hole through a piston crown! Having done this to one of my own engines, I now watch "the other" stuff carefully, including altitude and outside temperature! You know all this from your motorcycle restoration and air cooled stuff. Others can benefit from your experience here!

[alfabits]

I don't remember what we ended up with. I will have to pull the jets in the next couple of days and post the numbers. Oh, and have a 101 series 1300.

Cheers,

George

[lgbalfa]

nicest alfa on the board.

[Gordon Raymond]

George, Please remember I am OFTEN confused and incorrect! Larry helps me out. I KNEW it's a 101. I was just confused! IT IS... however, (I'm pretty sure...) a 1300 (uh..1400??) Humm?