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What have you done to your Alfa 147/156/GT today?

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477K views 6K replies 628 participants last post by  Purista 
#1 · (Edited)
Just an idea.:)

To have a thread where we can share what we have done or bought or considered for our beloved cars "today" thread.

Hopefully this might catch on?

I will kick off..

Managed to align my front bumper properly...Big thanks to shiny car's guide to bumper removal. Once i had removed the front portion of arch liner the 2 torx screws were revealed and the bumper was easily aligned as it should be.:thumbs:

Did notice my oil cooler pipes looked a tad ropey. Will have to look into oil cooler options. Is upgrading the unit wise at this point? Covered the pipes in rust protectant for now. Better the devil you know.

Damien.
 

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#2,635 ·
just a clean today, But have some poly bushes for the upper wishbones that will be going on in the next few days..

I do now have an smf and gta clutch and also had the turbo vnt re-calibrated, the result of the two mods is amazing , much revvier freer feel to the car, also took the anti shudder flap out and feel i am finally ''there'' with the car..

oddly though..


thinking of selling as I have a ''petrol itch'' I need to scratch...the car is truly awesome but have driven a few petrol's recently and miss the longer rev range and the sound...would consider a swap for a Busso engine'd car me thinks...as long as its as mechanically sound as mine.
 
#2,639 ·
Removed lower wishbones from my 156 today. Actually was quite easy, sure getting them back in wont be!

Any tips on removing bushes and fitting new ones? Yellow strongflex on their way!
 
#2,642 · (Edited)
Given my baby a bit of a classic Alfa/ferrari makeover with heritage Italian Ansa exhaust tailpipes..:thumbup:

Damien.
 
#2,644 · (Edited)
Did a bit of rolling baby..:smoker:

My passenger side rear new pirelli 235 is catching ever so slightly on full compression, so decided to roll the arch a bit. All done, so fingers crossed i have enough room now. :yes:

Damien.
 
#2,648 ·
Fitted a desperately needed new headunit today to replace the ancient Pioneer one that some previous owner had installed at some point. Fitted a JVC KD-R871BT and couldn't be happier. Finally have bluetooth for music and phone calls (mic included with HU) along with a USB port for charging/music play and an AUX port if for some reason I can't use BT. Nice upgrade from the ancient Pioneer which only did radio and CD!

And thanks to having an aftermarket HU already installed it was as simple as removing the Pioneer unit, changing the ISO adapter for the JVC one and then whacking the JVC unit in!
 
#2,649 ·
Big drive today on a5 to a49. Usually i do all my driving on dual carriageway and forgot that my car can actually get a move on through the twisty bits and shows a good turn of speed for over taking. Prior to today i was thinking of getting an lpg jaguar xj rather than put another mot on the 156 but the jag would have sucked today compared to the Alfa. Really enjoyed thrashing the 5hit out of it. The car seemed to love it too and is running better than ever!
 
#2,650 ·
Not quite today but drove the GT to Normandy on Thursday via Dover-Calais. Spent yesterday visited Pegasus Bridge and some of the D-Day beaches, plus the British cemetery at Ranville which was pretty moving. We are off to Brittany today where we are spending the next couple of weeks. I love driving the GT in France!!!
 
#2,652 · (Edited)
Productive little day with the Italian batmobile. Revisited the arch catching issue. As on my way back from Heathrow on my test full compression speed dip, as you exit T5 onto the sharp bend to the M25, i got a slight catch in the arch drivers side rear. So today i had a good look again to see signs and marks of catching on the lip or inner arch. Was a small sticky out'y metal lip at the end of my arch near where it meets the bumper. So with my dremel and other areas masking taped off, i cut the strange flangy lip off. Then fully primed and painted the area. Happy days i am now 99% sure that has sorted it. ;-) Have to add my little limited edition GT tuning analogue boost gauge has been a great thing to have for monitoring off boost driving and where the meth kicks in. Always had something "GT tuning" fitted to my cars over the years. More work to be done hopefully next week, where i have come up with a way of attaching the newly adapted TTRS brake cooling ducts to my GT's lower arms. Hoping my pads from Carbotech will arrive, so i can book her in with Ned, for new front discs, pad fitment and rear ultra racing chassis brace fitting.

Damien.
 
#2,653 ·
Oh Sh'it no one has posted since my last deliverance of update!! :paperbag:

Another little piece of this GT mad modtastic jigsaw puzzle project came together today. More news soon. :thumbup:

Damien.
 
#2,656 ·
Fitted new oem 6 speed leather gear knob along with new leather gear and handbrake gaiters. Why the originals are PVC is beyond me on a £25k car..

Anyway despite really lifting the interior no end the gear gaiter is 1 inch smaller than the original. Has anyone else noticed this with aftermarket ones? I will email the seller as it has to sit lower on the stick exposing more of the lift-up reverse mechanism.

Also saddle soaped the seats and steering wheel to take the shine off them to help match the new gear knob.

Just wondering now weather to buy a new steering wheel in better condition then mine or weather to have mine recovered..
 
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#2,660 ·
Had to fit a new battery on Tuesday as the one on the car played up on Sunday morning and then finally gave up on Monday morning when I neede to get to work.

I took the old battery to my local auto electrical guys and after testing said that the charge rate looked okay so the alternator was charging it but its capacity was down to 43%. The chap said that it would probably start a petrol engined car but not a diesel, he was very right.

They had a Varta battery in stock at £82 which seemed a reasonable price for a quite big quality battery. Fitted the new battery on Tuesday morning and all was good.
 
#2,662 ·
Must be a good day for Alfa MOTs, I too have a pass with no advisories, looks like they missed the crack in the windscreen. :thumbs:

On another note, 2 of the the Torx fittings holding the bumper to the front wings have decided to fail. Looks like a nut and bolt arrangement is required I think.

:thumbs:
 
#2,663 ·
Just got mine back from FAST Autocare after a cambelt change. I also got some repairs to the bodywork; a scratch on the nearside rear wheel arch, and stones had worn away the back of the front nearside wheelarch - this ended up being a respray of the whole side.
Also had the brake calipers painted as they were looking ugly, black and rusty. I'm pleased with the result as red was going to be too 'stand out' for me
 

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#2,664 ·
I've never posted a lot, if ever.
But what have I done to my Alfa today?

I let my learner driver gf drive it, even with its ready to give up clutch. She was a champ (both of them).

What I did to the Alfa the other day was strip and coat the blistering alloy mirror brackets a good ol' rub down, undercoat, rub down, undercoat... etc. Ending up with satin black and looking rather fetching.

Advice on clutch fettlers in the north east of England would be fantastic :)

I will pester the techy folk too!

Loving the feckin' thing tho'
 
#2,667 ·
We're in Cumbria, just off the A66 about 7 miles east of Penrith. Lovely drive to us from your neck of the woods, you can follow the A686 from Haydon Bridge all the way to our doorstep, Hartside pass is a great drive if you get up early enough.

What engine is your GT?
 
#2,668 ·
It is indeed a lovely route, however, the poor thing struggles with a boot full of Tesco necessities, let alone a trip over Hartside.

Ohh, I think I may have done something destructive, it's a 156 JTD 1.9... Not entirely sure where the GT came from, maybe alcohol and a previous look on ebay!!
 
#2,669 ·
Made an attempt to re-position my FMIC to solve an issue with one of the turbo pipe joins blowing, which was successful. But as with most problems you solve one and create another, the turbo pipe issue has been solved but now the bumper doesn't fit back on and I can't see how I can move the IC back any further to make more room. The problem is that one of the bend pipes is pressing right up against the front bumber grille so now I have a bumper held on at the sides by a few cable ties, not ideal. But as with most modifications, trial an error is to be expected. :thumbs:

Mr ALFADOIT how does yours fit so perfectly? :depressed:
 

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#2,670 ·
Hi Mate

Yes mine fit fine. I think i have more room on the GT. The front bumper brace bar had to be cut somewhat though. Did you have a word with Joel on the fitment?

Damien.
 
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#2,671 ·
Time for a change chaps, need to sit in something different. :yes:

Damien.
 
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#2,674 ·
Photos are not well lit bud..

Sounds to me like you need a tighter angle off the fmic outlet.

If you can send me pics of what you have I may have a solution in the garage as I didn't fit mine after the testing I undertook.

Just cover postage and its yours.

I suspect you need a small 45 degree coupler off the fmic out to a 45 mandrel pipe which will "twist" round to take a route past where the the old cooler sat in a straight line and then a small straight coupler to a 45 round to the engine intake.

Its a faff and mandrel and coupler position is key in this...but it does work like this ,I have done it 3 times now!

Let me know what you need.

Cheers

Joe
 
#2,676 ·
Thanks for that Joey, I'll keep it in mind if this doesn't work out. This experience has taught me that I'm certainly no technician which is why I think I've smegged up somewhere, mainly because Joel designed this kit specially for the 147 facelift and has one fitted to his own car. I probably only need half an inch before everything is happy and where it needs to be. The next task will be to shave a little more off the airbox which will widen the angle of the 45 degree silicone and mandrel pipes behind the rad fan, which is the join that keeps blowing. Clearance on the left side is fine, altering anything there will cause the mandrel to foul the foglight. I think both mandrel pipes which leave the IC are fouling the bumper which is telling me that it's too far forward. Failing that I will have to move the IC back ever so slightly to create more space that way, failing that... one will not be amused. :thumbs:
 
#2,677 ·
Checked and adjusted tyre pressures on all 4 corners, then rotated all wheels to even up the wear (FR to RR, RR to FL, FL to RL, RL to FR), then re-adjusted the pressures because I'm an idiot and put too much in the fronts before I re-positioned them at the rears.... :paperbag:

Also noticed a slight oil leak on my drivers side rear shock! Another job on the list for Loz on my next trip over...

Then a quick wash and a spritz round with some Bouncers Done n' Dusted... Lovely QD spray to use, smells delicious too!
 
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