Alfa Pages

[Ian M]

I have a series 2 Sport Wagon 1.7 Carbs.
The other night I was driving home followed by a mate in his company Passat turbo diesel and to my annoyance he was staying with me in the twisty bits,then we got on a bit of dual carriageway so I floored it fully expecting him to stay with me but he just dissappeared.
Next day he phoned and asked what speed I was doing cos he was up to 120 and I was going away rapidly.
Thing is my speedo said only 115mph.
So which speed do you guys think is correct? his or mine?
I would like to believe the old girl is capable of 130 plus but not convinced.
what do you guys think?
Was trying to stay up with a Focus on that bit of road the other day as well.
He done me on acceleration but could just stay with the speed.
Then we came to a bit of a hill and he just fell away and I flew past him.
Says alot for the old carbies torque doesnt it.

[Admin]

Hi

From memory a carbed series 2 does either 116mph or 118mph for a true top speed

All the best

Keith

[Guest]

118 is it the one mentioned from alfa romeo?

i usual found out the maximum was higher than the "official" mentioned.
I had an autobianchi which was supposedly doing a maximum of 140kph but i had managed to go up to 165kph.

how much is your maximum rpm?

[Mixsynth]

My 1.7 carbed SportWagon flew past a Sierra Sapphire at 120mph. It was there, on the dial. 120mph. I know the max stated speed is 118 but there it was. No gradient either.

The car hadn't been through a service for more or less a year, and I thought it was running rough. Good old Alfas!
_________________
Hugh B
'98 145 QV
'89 33 1.7 16V Veloce SportWagon (in hibernation)
16V conversion pics/videos - now updated with extra pictures and explanations

[Ian M]

The thing that always makes me smile is the way that she is still pulling so hard when getting close to max speed.
If left in 4th gear she passes 100mph very quickly,

[ak]

i was going on the a1 today. i noticed that on 3000rpm i was doing about 63 mph and at 4000rpm it was about 85mph. (fifth gear)

I have an 33 series 3 1.7 IE.
Any has any idea of what is the maximum rpm?

I have done 110mph but i am suspecting that i ll be able to do 130mph (unless someone gets me before i do).

[Gary UK]

I had a sud ti with the ovberdrive box not the close ratio one and it went of the clock at 140mph.

The top speed I've had at out of a sud/33 with the close ratio box was just shy of 120mph.

I think all 33's clocks read low so watch out for the speed cameras

[james]

Don't all shout at me. I know this is a alfa 33 forum.

My alfa 145 2.0L QV does 140MPH at a little under 7,000rpm. I think the rev limiter is 7,200rpm. At 80mhp its reving at 4,000rpm. I have heard that i could change the 5th gear so it would rev a little lower at speed, so i might keep some fuel in the tank.

James
_________________
Umm thinking of getting a Alfa 33 P4 16v cloverleaf.

I would have done but i could not see any nice ones, so on the end i went for a 145 QV. Very happy with it

But still looking for a nice cheep 33 cloverleaf.

[Sergio]

Hi,

What about the 16v? What's been the top speed achieved?

all the best

Sérgio

[Charlie]

I have a habit of maxing out cars that i manage to borrow or own myself. My first car was an asthmatic citroen ax 1.0 which i saw 105mph out of. Took me five mins to reach that speed. I have done many others but my current record is held by my very own 16v33. It was about ten in the evening, so i gunned it up my local stretch of fairly unpoliced dual carriage way from maidenhead to marlow. I saw 135 out of the old girl no problems, she was pulling right from the off. And i think she would have seen 140 if i had the balls. But it was straying across the road and rattling a lot and a certain omega in the slow lane up the road (luckily not a copper in the end) . Alfa quote 137mph top speed. But i regularly cruise on the m-ways at 120mph with no probs whatsoever. they are rapid cars.
_________________
Charlie

Spaghetti and Meatballs

33 16v elegante

[alexj]

I don't trust speedometers and Italian car manufacturers (at least in the 1970's/80's) used to inflate the tops speeds that they would claim. These were often never equalled in road tests.

I doubt that a standard sud ti would ever exceed 115mph, let alone 130/140mph. I think the road tests and owners manuals of the day listed something like 172km/h as top speed for sud ti/sprint veloce. Maybe 180km/h for Green Cloverleaf 105bhp model.

Regards
Lex

[Jas]

I don't trust the gauges in the 33's or any Italian car or bike. With our Guzzis we had Veglia gauges, fondly refered to as vauge-lia.
I usually don't have any idea how fast I'm going. When I first bought my 33 I didn't realise the gauges were out by soooo much. I had only just arrived in Melbourne after living in northern California and thought gee these Melbourne drivers are conservative, only driving about 80Kmp/h in 100 zones. I would drive at 130km/ph and it seemed like people were standing still.
We have these electronic speed checkers on the freeway that tell you how fast your going. I went through one of these with the needle dead on 100Kmp/h and it gave me a reading of 78Kmp/h. haven't worked out what I would have been doing at 130.
Might I just add that the car is a 1.7 conversion on a 1.5 box, which lowers the gear ratio quite significantly.

[Admin]

Hi

The gauges are not likely to be accurate, especially not if you are running non standard wheels and / or tyres.

My 1.3 series 3 is meant to have a top speed of about 168kmh I think (105mph I think) yet I have had that round to 193kmh (shade over 120mph) on level ground

All the best

Keith