The Alfa GT was based on the same platform as the 156, giving it genuine 4 seat capacity, despite the curvaceous lines. Some modern 4 door “coupes” have a lot less room in the back than this gorgeous looking 2 door. Although it does look like it has a Coupe boot it is infact a hatch at the rear, increasing the practical nature further.
The GT was styled by Bertone, who can count, arguably the best looking car ever, the Lamborghini Miura, on their roster of acheivements. This was styled by Marcello Gandini.
Bertone and Alfa Romeo had some fine moments together, but sadly when the manufacturing of the GT wasn’t given to Bertone, it hurt their cashflow. In the late 2000’s the company was in turmoil and had to sell a major manufacturing plant to FIAT. Then worse still in 2011 Bertone had to sell off some of its treasured collection of concept cars in 2011. The brand was finally sold in 2014 and ceases to exist as a styling house.
So down to business – the 2.0 JTS engine, a development of the Alfa Twin Spark engine from the 156, is direct injection and clogs up the inlet ports and valves. Cue the walnut blasting procedure…
A good few hours later and all 4 ports and 8 intake valves are clean.
The car certainly regained it’s performance, it was a little tricky to gauge as I’d just driven a 5.7 Litre V8 RX7 before testing the GT…so perhaps the best gauge of the result will be the customers own words…
“Hi Julian
Thanks for sharing the before & after photos, it just shows how dirty the valves & inlet ports were! I’m very pleased I decided to get the engine cleaned – thanks for all your hard work, as I appreciate the JTS is not the easiest engine to work on.
The car drove very smoothly on the way home and seems more responsive, with more low-end torque – very happy with the result.
Yes, that’s fine – I can take a photo of the car in the morning and will email to you, so you can add to the blog post.
Raphael”
If you’ve got an Alfa JTS engine under your bonnet – get in touch for a quote today 🙂
