AlfaRomeoS3e 33 3.0

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	Alfa Romeo 33 3.0

	Sometime in 2003, somewhere out on the road I spotted a 33 with a V6 badge on the rear. Unfortunately it was just that, a badge, the car was a fake, it still sported the standard 1.7 engine, the only modification was the application of the sticker. At about the same time I was reading discussions on Internet forums about the possibility of fitting the Alfa V6 into a 33 body shell. All of the discussions ended with 'No its not possible' Jump forward a few months and I'm taking a 164 3.0 V6 and a 33 1.4 to the junkyard. Remembering about forums discussions , I stop and decide it will be fun to try and prove everyone wrong and fit the V6 from the 164 into the body of the 33. First consideration was that I wanted the car to remain street legal, this meant that when finished it needed to pass TÜV-approval. It was decided that the best way to achieve this, with the minimum of expense would be to use as many parts from the 164 as possible and submitting the car to the TÜV as a modified 164. To ensure that the maximum number of parts from the 164 could be used, a plan was formulated that required the floorpan and suspension from the 164 being removed then introduced to the separated body from the 33.
	The start: Firstly the bodyshell from the 33 was separated from everything that wasn't needed, namely the floorpan, engine, suspension etc. You can see the result of this work on the right. When this was done the 33 body was put to the side out of the way as it was now time to start on the floorpan of the 164.

The first thing to tackle was the wheelbase, the 164 obviously has a long wheelbase than the 33, so the floorpan will need to be shortened. Before anything was cut on the 164 I made a support frame from tubing. The frame was put together so that the tubes can slide within each other. Once the frame was fastened in place the 164 body was cut through the middle. 170mm of floorpan was removed, the tubes were pushed together and the floorpan was welded back together. The frame made sure that the floorpan stayed true throughout the procedure so that when it was all welded back together there would be no problems with the tracking as all the wheels would still be pointing in the same direction.

With the rest of the body removed, i was left with a floorpan, suspension towers, inner wings and engine compartment from the 164, and the bodyshell from the 33. Looking at the 2 side by side it was reassuring to see that there would not need to be too much work done on the body of the 33 to make it fit on the shortened 164 floorpan.

In the end the 33 body slipped effortlessly onto the 164 floorpan with no fuss at all.

	With the car going together nicely, it was time to decide on the wheels to use. Firstly i wanted to use Borbet Alloys in 6.5x16 size, but a friend had a set of these for sale in 9x16 size so I went for these instead. Since the track of the 164 is much wider than that of the 33 and i will be using some seriously wide wheels I need to flare the wheelarches . All of the axle and suspension components used are from the 164 which has helped to keep the cost of the project down.
	Autumn 2004 TUV-controlled, with 3.0 V6, 225/40-16 and 9x16 Borbet A.

	Mechanically the car is just a 164 with a rather radical facelift, so the TÜV-Test wasn't a problem. Once legal the car was fitted out with Eibach springs and Koni shocks, and many of the rubber bushes in the suspension were replaced with rosejoints to improve handling and feel. The suspension modifications along with the amount of rubber on the road mean that the twisty bits are the natural habitat for this car. Although the car only has 183bhp it also has very little weight, so feels as fast as a 156GTA.

Spring 2005

With the car put together the shakedown tests showed that the standard 33 radiator is not efficient enough to cope with the V6 engine. The radiator from the 164 was fitted, along with an additional vent and material was removed from the bumper to improve airflow. The brakes from a 164 1.8 were also fitted. These brakes work fine in a 164, and here in the 33 without all the extra weight of the 164 they work like racing brakes, lots of bite.
So there it is, a car that is built without expensive racing parts but feels like a racing car.