spider questions

[wrenchman]

hello I purchased a '81 spider and it has a spica injection pump from a '74. I've got a couple of questions for all of you. Do '74 spiders have air pumps? Did they ever change compression ratio's on the 2000 engines? what kind of tires do you guys prefer on the stock wheels? also what do spiders use for ignition points for the different years? what would happen if I cut the belt to the air pump or if I removed it? any of you alfa fans around sacramento? if so, do you go to any regional events? I'd love to know where I can find other alfa owners in the nor-cal area. I thank everyone on this board for all the info I've picked up just by scanning through this bulletin board.

[Bill77]

Lot's of good questions. My '77 has had the air pump removed by a PO. It's all long gone. I don't think there is any harm in removing it. You will probably save a few pounds. There will be two ugly looking threaded studs sticking out of the front of you cylinder head. I'm hoping to remove those eventually from my car.

As far as the '74 Spica pump is concerned, that year is supposedly the best year for the Spica fuel curve.

[69Spider]

If you want honest informed answers on all of these questions I would suggest you talk to Wes Ingram in Seattle. He's the best living authority on all of the Alfa FI issues for those of us in the US.

Wes' website is www.wesingram.com

J

[wrenchman]

I found the '81 alfa spider under a car cover across the street from my grandparent's house. I'd seen an old convertible there before and never paid
attention to it. Well I bought it off the guy for $1000, and he said a friend of his left the car there a year ago and left the country. I kept on hearing about how
'80 and '81 spiders had the single throttle spica pump but my car had four. I finally got Wes Ingram's book in the mail and found out my 255/1 spica pump was from '74 only. I'm happy with the car it runs well and the body is very straight and rust free. I took a good look at it on a rack at work. I'm just trying to figure out what is from a '74 and what's from '81. It's got an air pump and a
cat.

[Roadtrip]

Here's a synopsis of the SPICA smog add-ons.

Does 74 have an air pump. No.
Compression ratio. Same for Spica Alfas
Best tires for stock wheels - Do a search. Big thread about that about a year ago.
What do spiders use for ignition points for different years. Marelli S103B single point distributor thru 75. 76 models had a dual point vacuum controlled distributor. 80-81 had an electronic ignition.
Cut the air pump belt? Nothing. Many owner have disabled this. Some have machined off the ridge on the SPICA FI pump pulley to keep from having to remove the crankshaft pulley when they replace the SPICA drive belt.

Sounds like you 80 model has been modified by the PO. Does it still have the EGR system installed?

[wrenchman]

no my car does not have EGR on it. It was a 49-state car though and I'm not sure if they had EGR's to begin with. also I forgot the most important thing. What's the redline on a '74 alfa? My tach turns red at about 5600 rpm. I'm hoping my redline is higher than that because of my '74 spica pump, 5600 rpm seems low for a twin cam fuel injected motor. how much did the redline change between 1750's and 2000's as well? Maybe I'm just used to Honda's.

[Roadtrip]

The redline is 5700 on a '74. The stock cams start to run flat about there anyway. Also, you're going to run off the end of the SPICA pump's capability much past that. If you want to extend upper end on the engine, you're going to need to do some headwork in addition to making sure that the bottom end is in good shape. With anything hotter than Euro or 1750 cams and port work, you'll need a HP FI pump from Ingram. The stock engines seem to pull great until about 5000 then the power curve flattens considerably. Remember, these engines were tuned for the best combination of drivability, low end torque, and performance.

Despite what the above chart says, 80s and 81s are shown to have EGR systems by the owners manuals. Since you don't have a "Monofarfalla" intake on the engine and you don't have an EGR system, I'd say that engine is not original to that car. It's just as well. The 80s and 81s are the red-headed stepchildren of the Spider family due to that "unique" intake manifold

[81alfa]

Wrenchman,
I have an 81 Veloce and it does have the air pump. Left it on since it is still original. I did remove the belt. No effect. Just more power.
I run 195/65R 14's BF GOODRICH Touring . They are about as wide as I could go without rubbing and look pretty good. The do take a stock rim to the edge.
You probably still have the EGR set up. Lots of trouble to get rid of. And not much is avail for them. You may have to go to headers and remove all the other . I registered under classsic car in NJ so I don't have to mess any smog restrictions etc. May remove all the smog stuff when my supply of parts runs out. Good luck with your 81 - The 80 and 81 models are the least loved since that was the years they put all the smog controls on, and still ran the spica pumps with the big aluminum pleniums on them.

[81alfa]

OOPS - should have read on before I posted. You must be on the right track. Since he has no EGR It most likely is not orig.

[bill_bain]

I had an '81 with the EGR, etc. At one time, Alfa Ricambi sold threaded plugs so that the EGR extractor plumbing (what do they call that?) could be removed from the exhaust manifold and the holes properly sealed. Not sure if there's any possible substitute.

A header system (with a modern cat) would likely be the way to go if you don't have a visible smog equipment inspection. The 1980's catalytic converters were abysmal by today's standards.

[wrenchman]

absolutely no egr on this car. I took a look under the distributor cap and found a magnet marelli points setup. It looks to me like someone took the whole '74 engine setup and then put in the air pump and cat. the cat is newer looking. the exhaust manifold looks very restrictive as well. A couple of my throttle plates are
leaking air and giving me a rough idle. Is the fix for that to replace the intakes and throttle plates? If I cup my hand over the individual intakes I can feel different amounts of suction between them, and they're as closed as can be. I followed wes' book, I shouldn't be getting any suction there at idle.

[Roadtrip]

Look under heading "Carbs and FI". There's a thread already there on this subject.