Hi Paul,
There's a light blue Alpine in the Sydney area with a Ford V6 in it (and
very neatly done too) if this is the one you're thinking of.
I believe the situation in Queensland is that you can increase the engine
capacity by a certain percentage without getting an engineer's report (this
may have changed in recent years - I'm not really into the engine swap
thing). Putting a V6 or a V8 in an Alpine however would definitely require a
report.
There are a few Algers getting around here - one lives not far from me - but
for every Alger on the road there seems to be another that can't be legally
driven on the road. Barry Walker on the Sunshine Coast has a Mazda
rotary-powered Alpine which he had no trouble getting registered. I think
country garages are probably a bit more inclined to turn a blind eye than
city garages though.
Clyde Northcott, who's on the list, has a Ford V6 Alpine.
In Queensland, engine swaps are no impediment to getting concessional
historic registration as the scheme applies to classic cars and hot rods
equally - or so I believe.
When/if the day comes that I can't get parts to keep my Sunbeams on the road
I'll look at engine swaps, but in the meantime I'll keep them all Sunbeam.
Russ
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Heuer" <pheuer@earthlink.net>
To: <alpines@autox.team.net>
Cc: "Russ Maddock" <rmaddock@petrie.starway.net.au>; "Vic Hughes"
<v.hughes@austarmetro.com.au>
Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 12:31 PM
Subject: Engine Swaps in Countries Other than the USA
> Tom,
> In Australia ... it depends!
>
> Things were easier in the past so there are Alpines with older swaps of
Jap
> 4-cylinders, and even one with a GM 3-litre STRAIGHT six in it! Nowadays,
> swaps are not common except maybe for the odd 289 Ford into an Alpine to
> make a club racer (light blue eastern state car - Russ do you know it?).
The
> cars are now old enough and valuable enough that the engine swaps of the
> 1970s are being reversed and original engines put back in place - there is
> at least one example of this that was done a year or two ago. One approach
> being taken by one club racer in my home state (South Australia) is to
graft
> fuel injection and an engine management computer onto the Rootes 1725
> engine. He has used the GM J-car injection system, with mixed success.
>
> Roadworthy rules are another whole can of worms. They still vary
> state-to-state, although they are slowly converging. Rule of thumb is that
> if you put a more powerful engine in the car you need to prove that you
have
> also engineered the rest of the car to cope with the power. For an Alpine
> that could mean comparing brakes, steering and chassis to a Tiger would
let
> you put in an engine rated up that of a Tiger 260. Or not... Depending on
> the minutia of the rules. In most cases you need an engineers report to
say
> that the systems are correctly engineered to work. Emissions are as you
> stated, emission equipment at least as good as the year of the chassis.
>
> There is also the fact that many (most?) Alpines and Tigers in Australia
are
> now on historic (classic) registration, which requires that a car be
mostly
> original. In my home state an engine swap will rule out historic rego
> immediately, and that is about a $300/year difference in registration
costs.
>
> Vic, Russ, can you comment about NSW and QLD?
>
> Cheers,
> Paul.
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