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Drag coefficient for a 122 120-130

A 1600 Alfa Romeo with 40 DCOEs and hotter than stock cams will easily develop well over 140 hp, in spite of being down by almost half a litre, compared to a B20. The same carbs on a 2 litre Alfa will do a good bit more, but it's not a proportional increase, because the 2.0 has a much longer stroke and therefore won't rev as freely.

Weber DCOEs are probably the ultimate development of carburetion technology. They are extremely versatile, as many internal components come in a wide variety of sizes. This includes the choke tubes. If they are set up incorrectly, particularly if choke tubes of too small a diameter are installed, the engine may well have good driveability, but it will not develop its full potential. Correctly set up, 40s should be sufficient for any B20 short of an all out sprint racer or hillclimb engine.

While on the subject of Alfas, the old 105 series Giulia Berlina of the mid 60s makes an interesting comparison to the 122, on the subject of drag coefficients. This car was one of the first to be developed with the aid of a wind tunnel, and the Cd was a remarkably low 0.36. This is in spite of looking far more brick-like than any Volvo prior to the 140 series. I would guesstimate the Cd of the 122 to be in the 0.40-0.42 range. I recall once seeing a chart of Cds of various cars, all of the late 60s, but can't remember what publication it was in. It may well be in one of the many books I have, but can't get to at the moment.

Note to John Mc: Have you ever thought about an Alfa engine/trans for a PV? Plenty of rusty Alfas out there for cheap, and the older ones have twin Webers already correctly set up. The 1600s love to rev, the 2.0s have lots of torque, in many ways the 1750 is the best compromise. All were originally paired with a 5 speed gearbox (first ever in mass production) that is prone to failure of the 2nd gear synchro, but otherwise quite rugged and durable, if not the smoothest shifting thing in the world. All variants are well understood, in terms of how to get insane amounts of horsepower out of them, and durability doesn't suffer too much if you don't go overboard. This engine and trans were originally designed in 1954, for the Giulietta, and were beyond state of the art at the time---Formula 1 technology for the street, much like the Honda S2000 is today. Finally, the sound a good running Alfa engine makes is absolutely glorious---some of the sweetest mechanical music I've ever heard.






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