But it followed me home! ...on a trailer
- Thread starter Kiwialfa
- Start date
Nothing too spesh - 156 TS manual - but a lot of fun to drive. Clutch slave cylinder went - no clutch and puddle of brake fluid in the carpark.
I replaced it and dropped in new clutch which as it was close to knackered. With the gearbox out I thought, hmmm the sway bar bushes are a bit sloppy, so out came the sub-frame to which the sway-bar and lower A-arm connect. Had to drill out the spot welds on the bar mounts to replace the bushes. Thought ok, with the sub-frame off, I might as well drop the steering rack and get it re-shimmed as it had a wee bit of play. Upon putting the gearbox back on and replacing the sub-frame sway-bar and steering rack, I noticed a little leakage under the head. I had suspected the head gasket was leaking, and this confirmed it. So off came the head. Got a complete head set of gaskets including viton valve seals, so with the head off I thought why not drop out the valves and clean them up. Once the valves were out I thought, hmmm why not blend out the intake port transitions from runner to bowl and then get the valves and seat re-cut, after all the head was going to be skimmed by my friendly auto engineer. Then I thought, why not cut back the step between the runners and the inlet hoses. Thermostat was dodgy so that got swapped out too.
After getting the head back on I noticed a small pin-hole in a metal coolant tube. Off that came to be resealed. Then I noticed that the front tyres were end of life. Got her all back together again and poly-vee auxiliary belt shredded itself (actually my fault) but it too was also showing it need replacement. So I wait for that to turn up.
Alfa Romeo reliability? Usually perfect until something breaks.
I replaced it and dropped in new clutch which as it was close to knackered. With the gearbox out I thought, hmmm the sway bar bushes are a bit sloppy, so out came the sub-frame to which the sway-bar and lower A-arm connect. Had to drill out the spot welds on the bar mounts to replace the bushes. Thought ok, with the sub-frame off, I might as well drop the steering rack and get it re-shimmed as it had a wee bit of play. Upon putting the gearbox back on and replacing the sub-frame sway-bar and steering rack, I noticed a little leakage under the head. I had suspected the head gasket was leaking, and this confirmed it. So off came the head. Got a complete head set of gaskets including viton valve seals, so with the head off I thought why not drop out the valves and clean them up. Once the valves were out I thought, hmmm why not blend out the intake port transitions from runner to bowl and then get the valves and seat re-cut, after all the head was going to be skimmed by my friendly auto engineer. Then I thought, why not cut back the step between the runners and the inlet hoses. Thermostat was dodgy so that got swapped out too.
After getting the head back on I noticed a small pin-hole in a metal coolant tube. Off that came to be resealed. Then I noticed that the front tyres were end of life. Got her all back together again and poly-vee auxiliary belt shredded itself (actually my fault) but it too was also showing it need replacement. So I wait for that to turn up.
Alfa Romeo reliability? Usually perfect until something breaks.
My very first brand new bike was a 650 Kat....followed soon after by a 750....
I thought so too Rusty. It had actually sold about a week ago and I lost out. However the sale fell through.
The owner relisted and contacted me and gave me first right of refusal. Why he did, I can only think was because I had politely thanked him for letting me know it had sold. Courtesy pays. He didn't live far from where I work. So I dropped by and the deal was done. He told me when I picked her up on the weekend that there was a lot of disappointment that it had sold from a lot of interested parties. I'm sure he could have got more. He asked me to send him some photos of her when finished.
L for learner over here in E27, Rusty. Kids call em' loser plates. Got a teenage boy who's scaring the bejeezus out of me every chance he can get.
Hah - I play with much older Alfas... had a 164Q at one point, decided not to fuck around with injected stuff anymore after that one + keeping the missus' Rover 75 going. My 66 GTV is a pretty reliable thing, mainly cos there's nothing to go wrong!
Playing with older Alfa's. Sir, I bow to your obvious bravery and sense of humour.
Seriously, the 66' GTV is a horn-bag of a car. 1750 or 2000? Farted around in a FIAT 125 when I was a younger man - replaced numerous head gaskets on that too.
The '66 is a 1600 step nose - it's got a hot 1750 in it now though...
When I did the headgasket i thought "while it's out" - turned into me spending 30 odd hours porting, highmounting the intake manifold, big valves, big cams, valve springs, yada yada....
and then I decided to freshen the bottom end while it was out when I was sorting the rust...
When I did the headgasket i thought "while it's out" - turned into me spending 30 odd hours porting, highmounting the intake manifold, big valves, big cams, valve springs, yada yada....
and then I decided to freshen the bottom end while it was out when I was sorting the rust...
