Art & Inspiration Italian DOHC Fours-Jewels under the hood

I am a huge Miller Offy fan, hence the user name...I enjoy machines of all kinds so here are some images of some favorite Italians. Look closely, plenty of interesting ideas to apply to our machines. Gorgeous hardware...oh and the third from last engine is a 4 cylinder, there are separate exhaust pipes for the two exhaust valves. These all make a beautiful gear whine soaked cracking noise as well...

 

Cool stuff. I wouldn't mind running a 4 banger if it looked like that!

 

I did a Track T years ago with a Fiat 124 twin cam and 5 speed. I used the 124 rear and an 850 Fiat front end (cross spring and a arm setup like old Stude's). It had the wheelbase of a bicycle. Almost had it finished when I needed to sell it.
Neat looking Italian cammer especially with a Weber.

 

They came in neat little hand formed alloy packages too...

 

Miller91, you have good taste!!

 

Damn this post! That is car porn right there! Love those Italian 4 bangers, I have a '76 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT I bought for the running gear to put in a modified project, all aluminium motor including sump, Gorgeous!!!

 

I also had a '76 Spyder. I taught myself Italian in order to read the shop manual to tune the Spica mech. fuel injection. Now they are widely available, go figure.

I will own another Alfa motor and running gear ans use it in old Ford tin. Simply an incredible, high revving, light weight package. The rear even looks like a finned banjo rear.

Too bad they couldn't get the sheet metal and other parts to last as long as their mechanicals. Flat out great engineering.

 

The Cortina motors could have teh DOHC as well

 

I think the hot rod pioneers drew inspiration from many sources, and some came from Europe I'm sure. When international racers competed in American events I'm sure they crawled all over anything they could. Between that and exposure to WW2 aircraft during their service it's no wonder where their ideas came from. That plus Yank ingenuity!

 

Vignale O.S.C.A




O.S.C.A Vettura Di Sport S



O.S.C.A Vettura Di Sport TN



Stanguellini 1100 Sport

 

I have two Fiat DOHC motors and a 4 speed and a 5 speed if anyone is interested. Went to the Alfa factory in '69. They had the really cool parts there. Nice trip.

 

Only OSCA bits I have, sure enjoyed working on them.

 

For us "Real Americans" there is always the Quad4.

 

For us "Real Americans" there is always the Olds Quad 4.

 

It's about time you boys figured out where the FIRST Hemi came from!!!! Italy my friends, Italy!!!!! The fours cylinders are cool, but did we forget about the Alfa sixes and eights?

 

Yeah, you ought to hear 'em idle!! They sound like sewing machines, but when they get up on the cam...well you will know where the term "full song" came from.

 

Are you kidding? We had the Welch, Premier and Stoddard-Dayton HEMI"s as early as 1906!

 

I love Alpha bangers and sixes.

 

NowTHAT's a finned drum brake!!!

 

Miller -- your photos are giving me wood. Great stuff. I don't want to hijack your post, but I've been trying to track down a paint formula for the deep red "russo (?)" color Alfa painted its '32 2300 roadsters. Saw three or four of them at Carmel last summer and the color seared itself into my brain. Any idea how i could track it down? Grazie mille.

 

Beautiful motors! There's nothing quite like a revvy DOHC four with dual carbs. Never seen a four banger with 8 exhaust pipes, interesting for sure. I wonder if it worked worth a damn.

I've only heard the italians on rare occasions, but the Toyota 4AG has always been a personal favorite. Pretty boring from the factory, but they're good for 10,000rpm+ with a full build That motor was the basis for the Formula Atlantic open wheel racers before Mazda took over with the new rotaries. Not terribly pretty motors, but nice to work on.

 

I've always been intrigued by Alfas ever since I had my Cortina in the 80's & a guy I worked with used to blow my doors off -everyday on the way home. Plus he used to leave well after me. His was a Guillietta 2. litre with twin webers - I'll have one one day....

 

This thread just had to go to here. WTF! So let's all agree then that anyone who likes or has an interest in Italian made engines is un-American.

Ponderous, man. Just ponderous.

 

I half built a T Track Roadster in the late 70's with a 1600 Alfa from a Guilia Sprint GT, 5 speed, webers...yum,ended up selling it as a rolling chassis......great looking engine, I ground the "Alfa Romeo" off the cam covers and was gunna have either Miller or Offenhauser machined into them.......one thing tho I remember about the engine(& it applies to all the pre transaxle Alfa engines) was that is was a proper bitch to setup in a T bucket chassis that I was using......the engine mounts are not at the same spot on either side of the engine, the sump is offset & lower on one side and the gearbox mount is also angled and offset........I used the crank centre line and gearbox rear shaft to centre the engine in the chassis, lol.......it looked real odd with bits sticking out more on one side to the other.........great engines............andyd

 

For 30 years I've wanted to build a track roadster with a Fiat DOHC 4. The family always had the cars and I had a spare engine + 5 speed. Alas they slipped away many years ago, but I still think of it. We have a OHC V6 Alfa now which sings quite well.

 

if T-faust can't handle the 'un-american-ness" (lol) of the italian engine, how about an italianized american engine that is also (omg on this site) traditional.

enter, the 750cc bandini DOHC Crosley motor (insert picture of homer drooling here)

 

In the More Mundane Department is the Maserati 16-valve DOHC 4-banger found in Chrysler TC's. Head designed by Maserati, cast by Cosworth then finished by Maserati and installed on a 2.2 liter 1987 Dodge Daytona engine. Later versions had the name Maserati on the cam covers. Pedestrian..

http://www.allpar.com/cotm/photos/lebaron/turbo.jpg

lulz

Boodlum teh Hoodlum

 

DETONATOR

that is a great color...hmm...you might contact the alfa museum, it's an italian site, but you could translate your request with "babelfish" ( a free translating website) or you could hunt down a restorer in England, there are plenty of those...good luck

 

I am looking for an OSCA 1600cc GT DOHC engine or a FIAT OSCA DOHC engine 1500 CC, will consider anything, complete, or parts of.

Can anyone help?

My email address is: [email protected]

Mike

 

More Bandini, please!
dan