[aggy8888]

I will suppress my discontent with this site and share a little 164 news.

My TB is now sorted in the suspension and handling department. Nothing more serious than tracking and bump stops all round with some new damper boots to insure their life for a few more years. Still plenty to do: find a correct offside door mirror for lhd; replace the HVAC stepper motors; find out why the rear interior lights don't work; fix a minor oil leak between the camshaft and distributor and at some future date tidy up the paintwork. Car is going great and the mid range power is amazing for a 25 year old. My first MOT a month ago - no advisories. New rear tyres going on Monday. 90,000 km now recorded.

The QV is faultless bar a few scuffs and bruises. And an instrument backlight failure for the mileometer. Approaching a massive 80,000 miles now. It still drives like a 205 GTI and embarrasses most other cars when accelerating from 60 mph. Disgracefully it failed the last MOT because of a tear in the boot at the end of the steering rack.

Anyone wanting to resurrect a TS can find one at Autobritalia if they are quick.

Regards to you all and keep on spending the money - the 164 is worth it.

 

[average joe]

I will suppress my discontent with this site and share a little 164 news.

My TB is now sorted in the suspension and handling department. Nothing more serious than tracking and bump stops all round with some new damper boots to insure their life for a few more years. Still plenty to do: find a correct offside door mirror for lhd; replace the HVAC stepper motors; find out why the rear interior lights don't work; fix a minor oil leak between the camshaft and distributor and at some future date tidy up the paintwork. Car is going great and the mid range power is amazing for a 25 year old. My first MOT a month ago - no advisories. New rear tyres going on Monday. 90,000 km now recorded.

The QV is faultless bar a few scuffs and bruises. And an instrument backlight failure for the mileometer. Approaching a massive 80,000 miles now. It still drives like a 205 GTI and embarrasses most other cars when accelerating from 60 mph. Disgracefully it failed the last MOT because of a tear in the boot at the end of the steering rack.

Anyone wanting to resurrect a TS can find one at Autobritalia if they are quick.

Regards to you all and keep on spending the money - the 164 is worth it.

Aggie
nothing better than a sorted 164
an early morning drive in a qv can lift your spirits for weeks (and make you spend more money)
mine is not quite sorted yet ....but has lovely paintwork so at least I can look at it out of the window
keep the news coming in , always good to hear of 164's in rude health !

 

[HaydnW]

Good to hear that your 164s are well - I hope you are too. I gather the replacement of the HVAC stepper motors is quite a task, good luck with it!

My 164s are both still undergoing maintenance; work gradually continues on the Q4, I'm currently waiting for an order from Bertelsbeck in Germany after which I should have it running again. My Cloverleaf is also being rather difficult with me at the moment, and it's out of MOT too. It's suffering with spark and fuel delivery issues but I think (well, hope) I'm close to having it running again.

I had hoped to be out working on them today but the rain is preventing that!

Is anyone else tinkering with their 164s?

 

[SJB in Melb]

Hi,

Another 164 aficionado (read: addict) here. Have a '93 Super 3.0 that is my current project. I lost a '94 Super to an engine fire approx 12mths ago so it's currently serving as my spares car. I'd initially thought I could get it back on the road but the fire made a huge mess of much of the under bonnet wiring and plastics so it was just easier to buy another and transplant all the good bits.

But as always 164 time is hard currency for me, and in my part of the world with young family it's very hard to get much chance to move the project along. Anyway, one thing at a time and hopefully soon I'll have a good running 164 for weekend adventures. :biglaugh:

 

[aggy8888]

Has anyone seen or own a 164 with true yellow seats and carpet - definitely not to be confused with cream or beige?

 

[HaydnW]

Nope, but that's probably a good thing...it doesn't sound like a nice combination if I'm honest.
I've seen pictures of ones with the factory red leather though, which I quite like.

 

[mick164]

..my TB is starting to come together a bit. I think i managed to trace an occasional stall to a bad connection at the AFM, though i still have a high idle from cold.

Changing both of the top engine mount bushes made a huge difference.. the front one was obviously goosed, but i thought the rear one was ok at first and left it. This was a mistake, so eventually i superflexed that too and the car feels much tighter.. the sloppy gear change is gone and there's no difference in NVH.

I replaced the ancient and worn Kumhos with a set of Bridgestone Potenza Adrenalins and it's taken years off the car.. the Bridgestones probably aren't the top-dog premium tyre of the moment, but they're good value and a step up from most of the mid-rangey tyres you might be tempted to use in the financial heat of a rescue mission..

I have a rear shock to change as well. I'm dropping the car to my mechanic for that, and getting the brakes bled too because i'm hoping to get her to our local track in May and the plan is to be able to drive her home afterwards...

 

[v6junky]

On my third 164 and have never not owned one since 1997. My latest is a special edition Zender tuned with full Zender paperwork. Was my daily driver up to 2 years ago when I got the 159 and since then it has been receiving little attention although I'm getting back on top of things now. Is it sorted? Well if it started (fuelling problem) then more or less. I'm having the Koni strut treatment done and CSC full system from cat back. Needs paint but not concerned as it is in fair condition and still has a good shine all round. The last job will be equal length pipes from downpipes to cat and then I may leave it alone or sell it or keep it, who knows. Can't see myself not owning a 164 tbh and this one wilth all the Zender bits, black, rosso interior and the QV runners... yeah, makes me grin A LOT!

 

[HaydnW]

On my third 164 and have never not owned one since 1997. My latest is a special edition Zender tuned with full Zender paperwork. Was my daily driver up to 2 years ago when I got the 159 and since then it has been receiving little attention although I'm getting back on top of things now. Is it sorted? Well if it started (fuelling problem) then more or less. I'm having the Koni strut treatment done and CSC full system from cat back. Needs paint but not concerned as it is in fair condition and still has a good shine all round. The last job will be equal length pipes from downpipes to cat and then I may leave it alone or sell it or keep it, who knows. Can't see myself not owning a 164 tbh and this one wilth all the Zender bits, black, rosso interior and the QV runners... yeah, makes me grin A LOT!

Equal length pipes on a 164? Tell me more... :thinking:
In fact I'm sure I recently saw a video of a 24V with equal downpipes. I'll see if I can find it.

Edit: Found it! Roughly half way down the following link:
http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/164...equal-length-stainless-steel-front-pipes.html

 

[Avocet]

I will suppress my discontent with this site and share a little 164 news.

My TB is now sorted in the suspension and handling department. Nothing more serious than tracking and bump stops all round with some new damper boots to insure their life for a few more years. Still plenty to do: find a correct offside door mirror for lhd; replace the HVAC stepper motors; find out why the rear interior lights don't work; fix a minor oil leak between the camshaft and distributor and at some future date tidy up the paintwork. Car is going great and the mid range power is amazing for a 25 year old. My first MOT a month ago - no advisories. New rear tyres going on Monday. 90,000 km now recorded.

The QV is faultless bar a few scuffs and bruises. And an instrument backlight failure for the mileometer. Approaching a massive 80,000 miles now. It still drives like a 205 GTI and embarrasses most other cars when accelerating from 60 mph. Disgracefully it failed the last MOT because of a tear in the boot at the end of the steering rack.

Anyone wanting to resurrect a TS can find one at Autobritalia if they are quick.

Regards to you all and keep on spending the money - the 164 is worth it.

That's heartwarming to hear! If it helps, I have a CarDisc step-by-step video on how to change the HVAC motors on a Series 1 car, which is excellent. It really helped me a few years ago when I did mine! You'd be welcome to borrow it if you want, but I think you'll need an old computer with a copy of Windows 95 or 98 to run it (MAYBE Win 7...). The other problem, of course, is that it's made for a left hand drive car, but I think your turbo is one of those anyway???

 

[aggy8888]

Mellow yellow???

Hello Ian - the HVAC video loan would be very useful. The Independent that I use has past experience of this job, right back to warranty days, but never on a lhd. They are indeed different

Kind regards to one and all

 

[symon]

My First Alfa was a 1990/H plate 3.0 V6

It was a great car, and it is a pity there aren't more of them left.

I still think it was one of the best cars Alfa have ever made.

 

[aggy8888]

How many left

According to DVLA at quarter 3, 2015 we have 127 survivors licensed plus a further 287 on SORN. There are presumably more in various states of abandonment that have dropped off the DVLA list. Interesting that a quarter of those licensed are QV's.

I have saved 2 from possible break up or destruction. Can we now have a concerted effort to get some of those presently on SORN back on the road. They are such a rare site today on the road.

How about a club special - ten contributors at £500 each and we might turn a SORN into a show car?

 

[HaydnW]

I have saved 2 from possible break up or destruction. Can we now have a concerted effort to get some of those presently on SORN back on the road. They are such a rare site today on the road.

I'm trying my best with my Q4, but I keep running into issues :irked:
That'll be the second one I've saved too.

I'm surprised how many are listed as SORN. It makes me wonder if some of them have been scrapped without notifying the DVLA.

 

[aggy8888]

I'm trying my best with my Q4, but I keep running into issues :irked:
That'll be the second one I've saved too.

I'm surprised how many are listed as SORN. It makes me wonder if some of them have been scrapped without notifying the DVLA.

Dear Haydn

I have kept 'running into issues' all of my life
Get used to it, solving those issues is a worthwhile and valuable life experience

How about the yellow leather and carpet? The paint colour is Nero and I am pleased with the effect
The wood trim is a bit naff but does brighten up the cabin a bit
I still need to fit the blue leds and Dolce Vita air hornshttp://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/images/smilies/jester.gif

 

[HaydnW]

Don't get me wrong, I'm used to it (unfortunately!) but that doesn't make it any less annoying when you think you're finally making good progress and something else crops up. This is, however, all part of the experience and I like to think it becomes a learning experience. I certainly won't give up on the Q4 as it's too rare and in too nice a condition for that. My Cloverleaf is testing me though!

As for the interior pictures above - I have wondered for some time about the colour difference between what I assumed were all 'Tan' seats. In some pictures they look darker whereas in others they look much more yellow - I always assumed this was down to the owner's approach to keeping the seats nice and clean, but it looks like I might be wrong. I agree about the wood inserts though.

 

[mick164]

..isn't that just "tan".. ?

Or i heard it referred to as "natural" as well i think. Looks great, but if you're ever selling the car i don't think i'd put "yellow" in the ad

 

[Mez164]

Hi Folks, I would just like to bring to the attention of the 164 community an attachment from another thread. If I'm not mistaken it shows the 'Rear Sub Frame' that Holy Grail of 164 ownership as being available for 329 Euros its shown as number 2 (in red) I hope this is up to date and not some site from years ago.

Alfa Romeo 164/Super ATTACHMENT REAR

My hunt for a decent fabricator to produce rear sub frames continues and grows slowly closer.

Mark

 

[HaydnW]

Good news guys - I had an oddly successful weekend... On Saturday afternoon I got my Q4 running again, and on Sunday afternoon my Cloverleaf followed suit! It's safe to say I'm a happy chap at the moment. At least until something goes wrong again. :lol:

Interesting to see that Bertelsbeck have subframes available. Though 329 euros sounds a little steep for a used one, but I guess if you need one you don't have many options.

 

[average joe]

Good news guys - I had an oddly successful weekend... On Saturday afternoon I got my Q4 running again, and on Sunday afternoon my Cloverleaf followed suit! It's safe to say I'm a happy chap at the moment. At least until something goes wrong again. :lol:

Interesting to see that Bertelsbeck have subframes available. Though 329 euros sounds a little steep for a used one, but I guess if you need one you don't have many options.

Hi Haydn
happy days !
guessing the sun was shining as well, rear windows down ,stereo off , only the sweet sound of an Italian v6 ,filling the air (possibly scaring small children and old ladies)
would love to try the q4 back to back with the cloverleaf on the same road ...... so many questions
does the q4 feel heavy ?
does the four wheel drive make it Subaru /audi quick point to point ?
hows it feel overtaking a bus when your sitting in the passenger seat ?
now theyre on the road you got to polish them!!!