Morning all,
Firstly, thanks to all those who replied..... I think I got 8 replies from
people off-line.....
After all the info, and subject to no long-term ill effects , I think the
best route to go would be to keep the head and manifolds I have and simply
purchase a "shorter" carb and air-filter. Although this makes my car a
cross-breed of sorts and, as implied by a few of you, results in an
underpowered vehicle, I have come to this conclusion for the following
reasons :
(a) here in South Africa, to the best of my knowledge, there are only 3
road-worthy SIV's on the road. Spare or old parts are non-existent. To bring
in heads and manifolds would start getting to expensive. Also, this route is
quicker to reach certain goals which will be explained in a later mail.
Watch this space....
(b) power or fuel efficiency are not an issue with me. It is not my day to
day car and will be (provided I can hide the keys away from the better half)
strictly a weekend cruiser.
(c) to be honest, I am currently just a little scared when driving it. My
day to day car is a Land Rover Defender 110 which puts me about 4 feet
higher off the ground. Buzzing around in excess of 100kmp (60mph) in the
Alpine with no roof and no seatbelts so low to the ground is simply not
appealing in road rules defiant Johannesburg.
(d) I have never heard or seen another Alpine so have no idea what one with
genuine manifolds and head sound like. If the forum had not mentioned it, i
would continue to drive around blissfully ignorant until the cows come home.
It sounds good to me as it is....
(e) I have no intention of entering veteran car shows or the like so 100%
authenticity is not an issue except to myself. I have the car and will drive
it simply for the pleasure of driving it....
Thanks again to all who put forward ideas....
I shall shortly be sending through, for those interested, a mail about the
renovation project which is about to begin :-)
Regards
Phillip Sprules
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