Not my car but my girlfriends, but worth a little thread I reckon. Her Morris Minor is up for sale, as she needed something a bit more modern for her motorway commute. Money was tight as it was a bit of a last minute decision, but we managed to bag a 1.6 Alfa 147 from a local dealer for the princely sum of £700.

Obviously it needs some work, but nothing too bad. The main thing so far is that the alternator needs replacing as it is overcharging the battery. I will update with the work done as it happens but the short list of work is as follows:

-Glove box handle had fallen off - Now fixed
-No front carpets - Ordered £15 from eBay
-Alternator overcharging - Ordered £25 eBay
-Gearbox linkage sloppy - New linkage plate ordered £35
-Service bits - Oil and air filter ordered £15 (still need to buy oil)
-Needs 2x front tyres
-Exhaust rubber hangers broken - Replaced with rubbers I already had - Free
-Drivers Window switch doesnt work
-Random errors coming up on dash, mainly about bulbs but none are blown. May be due to alternator excess current but not really worth worrying about this at the moment.
-Moisture in headlight

It looks like a long list but I should be able to sort the important bits pretty cheaply, plus it has MOT until the end of the year and 2 months tax

Climate control works and the interior / leather seats are in great condition. Hopefully it won't bring up too many hidden horrors.

Bodywork has the usual dings and scratches, but i will give it a polish next week and it should come up well. Here is what it came up with a quick wash and hoover out:

Its probably due one, but I will inspect it when i have to get down that side for the alternator. The problem is that with all the pulleys and assorted gubbins that you should replace down there it works out about £200 of parts. If all the pulley and waterpump bearings seem ok though I might throw a new belt on as a bit of reassurance which will only work out about £50 or so with the tools.

Its always a bit of a toss up at this price point as the car only really needs to last about 6 months until she has saved up to get something a bit better, so obviously we want to make it useable and safe but without throwing money down the drain on it.

You probably know this but Alfa twin spark engines need the oil to be kept up to the top mark, as they do seem to use oil ( my 1.8 TS did anyway !) I would agree with the post about the cam belt...tensioner & water pump as well as they are a weak point ( Alfa reduced the interval from 72 to 36 K for a reason )

Well it just broke down

Had to go rescue the misses and take her home, and have left the Alfa in a housing estate at the moment and will have to recover it tomorrow.

Looks like the alternator has finally given up the ghost, as the car ran out of electricity and died. Checked it with the meter and the battery was showing 10.5v, so obviously it has not been charging all day and the final trip home from work with the lights / radio on has taken its toll on the battery. Annoying really as I ordered up the new alternator yesterday (due to the overcharging issue) so it only had to last a couple more days

Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come.

I bloody well hope so!

Replaced the alternator yesterday / today with a good used Bosch one from eBay (£25). Absolute pig of a job as its tucked right at the back of the engine bay so needed the air intake, throttle body and intake manifold removing along with loads of other wires, pipes and brackets. It took about 4 hours yesterday for myself and mate Jon to remove the old duff alternator (Denso so maybe aftermarket) and about 3 hours to get the new one in today on my own once it arrived

The alternator belt was also knackered so a new one is ordered (but refitted the old one in the meantime to test the alternator). I also took the opportunity to do an oil service, so replaced the crappy black oil with nice fresh Mobil 10w40 and put a new filter on.

Car started straight away so it looks like I havent missed any sensors, and the battery is now charging at a happy 14v so job done

The new mats also came today so that has freshened up the interior a bit.

Next job on the list is getting the wheels off. They have annoying Halfords locking nuts on, and ofcourse I cannot find the key anywhere in the car

Gearbox linkage plate replaced and now the gearshift feels good as new

I have some bits ready to get the locking wheel bolts off as well (some M12 nuts which I will weld to the tops of the bolts to undo)

Took the car for a drive and now it feels lovely, and much better for the service and gearbox work. I have hope that it will be a really sweet car

Will have to update on how this goes, as currently have a civic with locking wheel nuts, with no key anywhere in sight!! :/

Looks like a great buy OP, fingers crossed and will follow this thread!