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General => General discussion => Non-Golf gallery => Topic started by: Diamond Hell on 27 November 2014, 11:03

Title: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 27 November 2014, 11:03
I discovered not all cars are made in Germany.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/diamondhell/Aaaaaaaghlfa/Alfa1_zps75f1dbb5.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/diamondhell/media/Aaaaaaaghlfa/Alfa1_zps75f1dbb5.jpg.html)

It's a large barge, marge but it makes a nice noise because:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/diamondhell/Aaaaaaaghlfa/Alfa3_zps8fa1fbaf.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/diamondhell/media/Aaaaaaaghlfa/Alfa3_zps8fa1fbaf.jpg.html)

MOT a couple of days ago and it passed, now it needs a little fettling, after standing for a year.

What could possibly go wrong?
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Gti_Jamo on 27 November 2014, 11:16
Well if it's made it this far your onto a winner.

Always said to myself i'd get a 147 or a 156 Gta when the prices come down. Still waiting.
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 27 November 2014, 12:22
At the moment this is purely a box-ticking exercise - 'everyone should own an Alfa once'.

Well, this ticks that box, with gusto (none of yer diesel rubbish!)
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Waspy on 27 November 2014, 12:55
An Alfa which has stood for a year, should be a lot of fun!

Bet it sounds quality  :cool:
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: DubFan on 27 November 2014, 14:23
At the moment this is purely a box-ticking exercise - 'everyone should own an Alfa once'.

Well, this ticks that box, with gusto (none of yer diesel rubbish!)

I ticked that box a few years ago with a 156 2.0 TSpark. With 155bhp it was a fun drive, but build quality wasn't great and considering it was only 8yrs old it shouldn't have had so many issues.
I sold mine after the gearbox died losing about £700 in the process.

Good luck.  :whistle:
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 27 November 2014, 15:19
I sold mine after the gearbox died losing about £700 in the process.

It's OK - I'm going to struggle to lose that much on this (famous last words).

Does sound nice.
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: MrBounce on 27 November 2014, 17:39
I know I really shouldn't, but I like this.  :laugh:
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: JC on 27 November 2014, 19:07
 :rolleyes:
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: DubFan on 28 November 2014, 15:16
I sold mine after the gearbox died losing about £700 in the process.

It's OK - I'm going to struggle to lose that much on this (famous last words).

Does sound nice.

It's a 15 year old Alfa, it's probably lost the majority of it's value.  :grin:

Is this a winter runabout?
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: VW BUSH on 28 November 2014, 20:50
Is it a 3.0 with sport box/manual or the smaller v?
Its a big heavy car and built from cheese but a fun hack.
I used to use firela motors in Clapham for help and parts
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 29 November 2014, 00:42
Is it a 3.0 with sport box/manual or the smaller v?

3.0 manual

:rolleyes:

*snigger*

Look at the cobweb on the left - wonder when these were last done!

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/diamondhell/Aaaaaaaghlfa/IMG_1643_zpse4932026.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/diamondhell/media/Aaaaaaaghlfa/IMG_1643_zpse4932026.jpg.html)

Drive tonight confirmed it is definitely A Thing.
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: leigh_harty on 29 November 2014, 15:49
I had a 156 2.0 at 20years old  :cool:

Cue the folks that the electrics are sh!te even though the majority of it are from the trusty Germans  :grin:
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 02 December 2014, 11:18
New plugs have not cured the misfire - moving to playing (as DannyP describes it) 'musical coilpacks'.

Now I need to swap the back ones to the front bank, as it drops to four when one of the fronts is disconnected.

Will also be disconnecting the lambda to see what happens then - misfire kicks in strongly when it comes out of the cold-start cycle.
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: JC on 02 December 2014, 18:37
 :lipsrsealed:
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 02 December 2014, 19:21
It's aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall good.  :grin:
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: JC on 02 December 2014, 19:24
 :laugh: o really ...................................... :whistle:
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 03 December 2014, 14:21
Yup - plenty of routes to chase out the fault at the moment.

If it still won't run right next week, I'll be glaring at it a bit more.
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 03 December 2014, 23:05
ECU reset completed tonight - now here's a simple procedure:

1. Disconnect the negative lead from the battery for a minimum of 45 minutes. Some people recommend overnight but that is not really necessary
2. Reconnect the battery negative lead
3. Put key in ignition, turn to ignition on and leave for 90 secs
4. Turn off , but do not remove the key and leave for 90 secs
5. Start the engine but do not touch the throttle and let the car idle for 15 mins otherwise the car will not rev freely afterwards
6. Turn the car off and leave for 10 mins
7. Start the car and take her for a blast

This was painfully boring except for the last bit.

It seems to be significantly perked up now, although there's still a cough at around 5K RPM which means the coilpacks will be being swapped front to back to further investigate.
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 12 December 2014, 13:59
Being particularly brave this week - taken it to Beaconsfield:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/diamondhell/Aaaaaaaghlfa/20141211_131020_zpsf4594aa1.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/diamondhell/media/Aaaaaaaghlfa/20141211_131020_zpsf4594aa1.jpg.html)

Not bad for a thirsty old thing.
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 16 December 2014, 15:01
And then I took it to Auto Lusso, who despite being one of the UK's premier Alfa specialists, couldn't find a misfire (because there were no fault codes) but did offer to do the cambelt on it 'because it's got tippex on the sprockets, so it will have been done wrong' at a cost of only £845.

They did usefully point out that the rear ARB bushes were shagged and need replacing..... only available from Alfa, with the anti-roll bar for £192.  I've since found them for a lot less.

Apparently, overall it's in pretty good nick.
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 28 December 2014, 21:58
In a very Alfa kinda way, to replace the ARB bushes you need to drop the rear subframe.  :angry:

They *could* have recessed the securing bolts into appropriately shaped holes on top of the subframe, but oh no - bolts down from the top where you can't get at them, into captive nuts which are part of the bracket which holds the ARB on.  FFS

Down it came then:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/diamondhell/Aaaaaaaghlfa/IMG_1702_zps8314edd1.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/diamondhell/media/Aaaaaaaghlfa/IMG_1702_zps8314edd1.jpg.html)

and off came the ARB:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/diamondhell/Aaaaaaaghlfa/IMG_1687_zpsad998bb7.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/diamondhell/media/Aaaaaaaghlfa/IMG_1687_zpsad998bb7.jpg.html)

Off with the old, on with the new:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/diamondhell/Aaaaaaaghlfa/IMG_1690_zps435639ba.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/diamondhell/media/Aaaaaaaghlfa/IMG_1690_zps435639ba.jpg.html)

Cut off the rubbish captive nuts:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/diamondhell/Aaaaaaaghlfa/IMG_1693_zps14c546f8.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/diamondhell/media/Aaaaaaaghlfa/IMG_1693_zps14c546f8.jpg.html)

Re-use the bases:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/diamondhell/Aaaaaaaghlfa/IMG_1695_zps7735ba27.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/diamondhell/media/Aaaaaaaghlfa/IMG_1695_zps7735ba27.jpg.html)

and back up it goes.

No knocking, but I should probably get it re-aligned soon.

I also had to have one of the rear tyres re-seated and rim-sealed - that's stopped that going down, which is nice.

In the last couple of days it's told me the air-con isn't working correctly on one occasion.  The central locking is hilariously unreliable - who knows if it'll lock, unlock, re-lock and whether it'll be just one door, or all four.  Nothing like reinforcing the Italian stereotype is there?!  :grin:
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 09 January 2015, 17:27
So owners of reliable VWs like to meet up and sit around in fields doing f*ck all, whereas Alfa owners appear to organise far more drive-outs in their cars.

WTF?

Anyone who knows me will know which I'm probably more enthusiastic about straight out of the traps.

Here's some noise from last night for people to enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtl8IvEpua4
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: JC on 09 January 2015, 17:56
bloody hooligoon  :rolleyes:

 :kiss:

 :grin:
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 09 January 2015, 22:30
Hoonigan actually.
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Wazzzer on 31 March 2015, 22:44
A text I received after seeing said motor driven by Tom...

"The 'What the actual f**k' look on your face was worth every single one of the £250 I paid for it"
Title: Re: A funny thing happened this week....
Post by: Diamond Hell on 14 September 2015, 14:35
I still have this.

Cured the 4250RPM stumble into the toilet by replacing the MAF eventually.

After a couple of occasions of it simply not starting (most notably in Sainsburys petrol station) I bit the bullet after 8 months on a scrapyard battery and replaced it with a new new one for £60.

It entertains me, so it can stay for a bit yet.  :grin: