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Alfa Romeo 4C Variable Valve Timing
copyright Greg Gordon HPSI Motorsports 2015
Introduction
The variable valve timing system or VVT is part of what makes the Alfa Romeo 4C's engine so special. In this article, I plan to explain what it is, what it does for us, and how tuners can take advantage of it.
Alfa came out with VVT long before anyone else. They have used it in production cars sold in the US and worldwide since 1980. They started using electronic controls for the system in the 1985 model year. By comparison, BMW introduced their somewhat equivalent VANOS system in 1992, Ford brought us their system in 1998. The Alfa system in my opinion is still well ahead of both. Honda's VTEC system didn't show up until 1989, and only in the US in 1991. Technically VTEC is completely different from VVT, but it seems that no discussion of valve timing is complete without mentioning VTEC.
History
Let's start with a little History. Alfa introduced the grandfather of the 4C's engine way back in 1954. The basic engine was in production cars until 1994, so it had a very long production run. Along the way it's displacement increased from 1290ccs all the way up to 1962ccs (which they called a 2 liter). They had various updates all throughout the production run, and the engine was competitive with the best engines from Europe and Asia until the early 80's. For purposes of this article we'll call this engine the Nord engine, which is what most people call it. That means North in Italian and it distinguishes it from the Alfa engines that were build in the South in Naples, which were completely different.
The Alfa Romeo Nord Engine
copyright Greg Gordon HPSI Motorsports 2015
Introduction
The variable valve timing system or VVT is part of what makes the Alfa Romeo 4C's engine so special. In this article, I plan to explain what it is, what it does for us, and how tuners can take advantage of it.
Alfa came out with VVT long before anyone else. They have used it in production cars sold in the US and worldwide since 1980. They started using electronic controls for the system in the 1985 model year. By comparison, BMW introduced their somewhat equivalent VANOS system in 1992, Ford brought us their system in 1998. The Alfa system in my opinion is still well ahead of both. Honda's VTEC system didn't show up until 1989, and only in the US in 1991. Technically VTEC is completely different from VVT, but it seems that no discussion of valve timing is complete without mentioning VTEC.
History
Let's start with a little History. Alfa introduced the grandfather of the 4C's engine way back in 1954. The basic engine was in production cars until 1994, so it had a very long production run. Along the way it's displacement increased from 1290ccs all the way up to 1962ccs (which they called a 2 liter). They had various updates all throughout the production run, and the engine was competitive with the best engines from Europe and Asia until the early 80's. For purposes of this article we'll call this engine the Nord engine, which is what most people call it. That means North in Italian and it distinguishes it from the Alfa engines that were build in the South in Naples, which were completely different.
The Alfa Romeo Nord Engine
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