[Scott1974T]

Thanks for the further info. I really fancy the all black version of the one you got. Sounds much simpler having a fitting to secure it to the shaft rather than the splined fitting method of the original. It should work the same as I guess the difference with a lift up type reverse lever is that the gearknob needs that recess to the underside so the mechanism can be be lifted into it when reverse is engaged. One to think about anyway. I can get a brand new standard Alfa knob for about £70 currently so might stick with OEM and do that so it's original.

 

[Scott1974T]

So, another tick on the list today. I have solved the rear screen leak. I took the car to a place called Premier Windscreens in Glasgow and they removed, resealed and refitted the rear screen. I had noticed that the C pillar dampness was due to water coming in at the bottom edge of the screen on the drivers side then the trim was acting like a giant sponge and drawing the moisture along it before gravity took it's grip and pulled the water down the side of where the rear seat back meets the C pillar trim. On closer inspection the seal had completely detached from the car body at that corner and I could move the windscreen in and out about 1cm, even managing to poke my finger into the car from the outside. I kept leaving a dry cloth jammed in there every day for a the last week or so and every morning after it had rained it was sodden with water. That'll explain the soggy interior trim, mould, moisture in the car and the damp smell in the boot then! Premier did a really good service. The chap removed the screen then took lots of pictures to show me what had happened. Basically the lip of the car bodywork that the screen bonds to had rusted and over time the water ingress had made this worse and detached the seal from the car. It was only surface rust but enough to dislodge the seal. The chap cleaned all the rust off around the perimeter, protected it then resealed and refitted the screen. He took lots of pictures to show me what he had done to so anyone in the Glasgow area I would highly recommend them. Price was really good also. It also turns out his uncle has a 166!

I'll keep an eye on the front screen but I have been driving about with both A pillar trims removed and I haven't seen any moisture in there so not sure if it was just condensation and the legacy of the car been sitting with moisture in it for so long and the continual leak from the rear. It's been absolutely peeing down here for the last few weeks (months) so would have expected to see water if there was an issue.

 

[Scott1974T]

Got another couple of small jobs ticked off the last over the last few days. I fitted the replacement cubby hole to the dashboard. The one on my car wouldn't open and I noticed there was damage to the hard plastic dash vent part where the hinge meets. I think someone has tried to force open the lid from the back using a screwdriver and smashed the plastic. Anyway, managed to get it open and both hinges are completely broken. Found a working replacement from a donor car and had the new one fitted in under 10 minutes. 4 screws to remove which you access from opening the lid and popping off the small black plastic covers off them to expose the heads. You just need to take car when you remove them as they can fly off! The entire assembly lifts out inlcuding the vent but you need to take caution as the wires for the small red alarm LED are still attached so tilt the cubby lid up at the back towards the screen and carefully remove the LED part. It's a small tab that you push back and it will fall down and out.

I also managed to source lots of the bolts and plastic fittings that were missing from the boot, the ones that have the metal hooks that hold the side carpetting in and the plastic ones that push into the bootlid cover. Nothing major but nice to have them reinstated.

Next I am going to finally finish repairing the wiring loom to the NSR door. Need to remove the door card again, the joys. I also have a replacement door card for the NSF as my one has some damage to it. Hopefully will get these done tomorrow while it is still dry.

After that I managed to pick up a nice steering wheel from a Super so I am going to get that in too. I know it's not the rigth one for a facelift car but I prefer the earlier squarer version and the one from the Super also has the perforated leather which looks nicer. Still don't know why the Ti never came with a nicer version of the standard wheel ie some perforated leather and red stitching like Alfa do on most other models! Would have been a nice finishing touch.

 

[Scott1974T]

Forgot that I had managed to clean up the drivers C pillar trim after all the moisture ingress from the leaking rear screen. It was ingrained with black mould on the fabric but a few cleans later and finally using Poorboysworld degreaser cleaner neat it shifted!

 

[Scott1974T]

1. Bit of a nightmare yesterday and didn't achieve much despite working out in the cold for most of the day. Decided to change the rocker cover gasket as the engine seems to be leaking from there quite badly and the oil is spilling onto the manifold and burning. Easy enough to get everything off but I found lots of the plastics to the rocker cover itself were brittle with many clips simply breaking off when you attempted to release them - the ones that hold the wiring in mainly for the coil packs. Once I got the cover off the existing gasket was in a right state. It had gone completely hard and has welded into the seat on the cover. I managed to get half of it out carefully but then parts of it had welded themselves to the plastic cover and it started breaking off with the gasket (check out the pics). I decided to pause where I was and am going to source a replacement rocker cover too. No point in putting the old one back on as the damage caused migth cause leaks once back together. The one bright spot was I cleaned the engine cover whilst it was off!

 

[ferret-ears]

Loving your work. It's unfortunate that plastic parts go brittle and break. When you are intent on doing some good to a 166 it can get disheartening, when you seem to go backwards...or maybe there are "other" forces at work here!!!!

 

[Scott1974T]

Yep, could be worse I suppose. I think I can get my hands on a replacement rocker cover on Sunday so hopefully I can get it all bolted back together then.

The second thing I then decided to do the same day was try to fix the issue with the NSR door lock intermittently working. There seems to be an issue in the elbow of the grommit where the wiring passes from the door into the B pillar of the car body. The lock will stop working but when you squeeze that bit it starts working again. My thoughts were a broken wire at that section of the loom. So I stripped the door card and bits off and then carefully removed the entire door loom. You need to pull it out from the small hole at the door jamb. I bench tested the wiring specific to the door lock at each end using a multimeter. Of course it was all working and I couldn't get a fault to appear even when kinking the cables to see if I could find the internal break in the wiring!!! I had a spare loom which was from an earlier car and seemed to be wired differently so wouldn't work either. I was going to cut the four wires in a decent size section and solder them back in replacing all four but I think the problem might be the actual pin that sits in the plastic connector on the black wire with purple tracer. I was getting an intermittent reading on the multimeter when I was manipulating that area. I can't see any way of getting that pin out the connector to check the solder condition on the wire to the pin so will lookout for a replacement loom again from a 2005 car this time.

In the meantime I need to try and forget about it bugging me!

 

[Scott1974T]

Quick update but another item scored off the list. Managed to source a replacement rocker cover so fitted this on Saturday along with a new gasket. Car all back up and running again.

Also sourced a replacement passenger side door card, just needs a good clean and will swap them out. Complete pedantry on my part as the current one isn't that bad, I just want it to be perfect!

 

[abecketts]

Car looks good, rocker cover gasket almost a service item on any twin spark engine, just replaced the one on my daughters 147. I now have a set of Ti alloys to go onto my 3.2 just need to get them refurbished. Do check behind the central console to see if the maxtrix is leaking and cover the replays with plastic as an insurance policy.

 

[Scott1974T]

Do check behind the central console to see if the maxtrix is leaking and cover the replays with plastic as an insurance policy.

Doubt I'd need to cover the relays as the car is a manual? I was in behind there when I stripped out the Nokia system and no evidence of a matrix leak. It will be in the post though like all 166s

 

[Mufasa]

Doubt I'd need to cover the relays as the car is a manual? I was in behind there when I stripped out the Nokia system and no evidence of a matrix leak. It will be in the post though like all 166s

Still no harm in wrapping the gearbox ECU AFAIK

 

[Scott1974T]

Still no harm in wrapping the gearbox ECU AFAIK

Does the manual gearbox have an ECU?!! Shows my lack of knowledge if yes!

 

[Defonsecca1]

Throughout my extensive research into 166's pre-buying - no. Only Sportronics can be badly affected by a leaky heater matrix due to their ridiculous position hence wrapping Sportronic ECU's in a plastc bag.

In saying that, I wouldn't want a matrix leaking even in a 2.0 TS - you just don't know where the water will ingress into.

 

[Scott1974T]

I had a good look behind the centre console when I stripped that Nokia stuff out and there were no other ECUs I could see located there, but agree water will find its way anywhere (usually to the most expensive electronics on the vehicle).