Alfa Romeo 156 2.5 V6
Discussion
Ive always loved Alfas, and had a big soft spot for the 156. For a car that was designed by Walter De Silva (of Audi/VW fame) in the mid to late 90s it had very clean lines, a unique look and has aged really well. I like my saloons and always considered the 156 to be the perfect compact saloon size and shape, more modern 'compact' saloons are getting too big! These cars can be had for as little as £100 ranging up to £2000 for a well sorted 2.5 V6 or up to £12000 for a 3.2 GTA!! I think they have hit rock bottom although some are starting to get the right type of Alfisti owners and it wont be long before it becomes an emerging future classic. For a 2nd car that would be replacing a Clio172 I didnt want to spend too much in the outset, the car was going to be a weekend/trackday car and maybe used for the odd roadtrip. I have a diesel 159 as a daily and the use of my wifes Fiat 500 too.
After lots of searching I found the best condition 2.5 V6 available for sale, this one happened to be the top of the range Veloce model with sports suspension, side skirts, carbon dash and full leather etc. The garage specialised in performance cars and run by 2 petrolheads. They had changed the oil, filters, cambelt, waterpump, radiator and overhauled the brakes.
On the test drive, I was completely bowled over by the throttle response, progressive brakes, smooth clutch feel and smooth direct gear change. The engine note of the Busso V6 persuaded me to hand over the cash without really thinking straight at all!!
Plans so far are:
- Prepare for track day use but on the whole keep it fairly standard for now - bleed brakes, matching tyres.
- Remove V6 badges on wings and remove rear spoiler.
- Rust proofing the floor, subframe and checking brake lines for corrosion.
After lots of searching I found the best condition 2.5 V6 available for sale, this one happened to be the top of the range Veloce model with sports suspension, side skirts, carbon dash and full leather etc. The garage specialised in performance cars and run by 2 petrolheads. They had changed the oil, filters, cambelt, waterpump, radiator and overhauled the brakes.
On the test drive, I was completely bowled over by the throttle response, progressive brakes, smooth clutch feel and smooth direct gear change. The engine note of the Busso V6 persuaded me to hand over the cash without really thinking straight at all!!
Plans so far are:
- Prepare for track day use but on the whole keep it fairly standard for now - bleed brakes, matching tyres.
- Remove V6 badges on wings and remove rear spoiler.
- Rust proofing the floor, subframe and checking brake lines for corrosion.
Edited by davebem on Friday 29th January 10:33
After a few spirited runs shortly after purchasing, one day I was driving down the crest of a country lane and heard a horrible snapping noise, in the rear view mirror smoke was pouring out the back and something was dragging - bugger. The car had dropped on the O/S rear so something had broken on the suspension, the inside of the tyre was rubbing on the bottom of the suspension cup and there was melted rubber everywhere. When I removed the wheel (at the side of the road), the bottom spring cup had collapsed on the suspension strut, so the bottom of the spring and cup were resting on the anti roll bar mounting. Luckily the space saver spare wheel cleared the broken cup, so I managed to limp it home.
It appears that the bottom cup on the strut has a drainage hole so water doesnt sit in it. However the spring is sat in a rubber cushion that blocks the drainage hole. I ordered a new pair of Monroe shocks, as my car had the 'sport' suspension I had trouble finding the right part, but luckily found them on Amazon (of all places) for a good price. I replaced the rear anti roll bar droplinks for uprated ones too. The inside of the tyre that was damaged was an odd non matching budget one I was going to replace anyway so that was changed for a matching Michelin.
A word of warning to all 147, 156 and GT owners, it appears this is a very common problem, I strongly advise on cars over 10 years old to check the condition of the lower spring cups for severe rust where the cup is welded to the main body of the shock.
While the rear was all jacked up, I checked the rest of the suspension and waxoiled the spare wheel well and areas around the exhaust mounts that had some minor suface rust. There was no serious rust on the rear or body at all.
The 156 has a very interesting rear suspension setup which give some passive steering. There are 4 aluminium transverse arms attached to an aluminium rear subframe, there is then a steel stabilizer arm each side, all supported by full size macpherson type strut, unfortunatly it looked like some ape had jacked the car on one of these arms as one was bent so it was replaced.
Summary of work so far:
- Brake and clutch bleed.
- New pair of rear shocks and droplinks
- New suspension arm
- New matching rear tyre.
- Areas underneath that had surface rust were trated with bilthamber then waxoiled. Bottom of front wings and where wings attach to bumper protected, and brake lines all checked and ok. No major rust found.
It appears that the bottom cup on the strut has a drainage hole so water doesnt sit in it. However the spring is sat in a rubber cushion that blocks the drainage hole. I ordered a new pair of Monroe shocks, as my car had the 'sport' suspension I had trouble finding the right part, but luckily found them on Amazon (of all places) for a good price. I replaced the rear anti roll bar droplinks for uprated ones too. The inside of the tyre that was damaged was an odd non matching budget one I was going to replace anyway so that was changed for a matching Michelin.
A word of warning to all 147, 156 and GT owners, it appears this is a very common problem, I strongly advise on cars over 10 years old to check the condition of the lower spring cups for severe rust where the cup is welded to the main body of the shock.
While the rear was all jacked up, I checked the rest of the suspension and waxoiled the spare wheel well and areas around the exhaust mounts that had some minor suface rust. There was no serious rust on the rear or body at all.
The 156 has a very interesting rear suspension setup which give some passive steering. There are 4 aluminium transverse arms attached to an aluminium rear subframe, there is then a steel stabilizer arm each side, all supported by full size macpherson type strut, unfortunatly it looked like some ape had jacked the car on one of these arms as one was bent so it was replaced.
Summary of work so far:
- Brake and clutch bleed.
- New pair of rear shocks and droplinks
- New suspension arm
- New matching rear tyre.
- Areas underneath that had surface rust were trated with bilthamber then waxoiled. Bottom of front wings and where wings attach to bumper protected, and brake lines all checked and ok. No major rust found.
Edited by davebem on Friday 29th January 11:18
Edited by davebem on Friday 29th January 11:19
Awesome! Love it. Not sure why, but the big wing just does it for me. So cool.
When I was a kid I used to think these things were awesome, finally bought myself one for £330 last year as a bit of a second car to go with my MX5. Run it for a few months and although it was a little bit sheddy I loved it. Mine was also a Veloce, blue with blue leather with the 2.0 TS engine. Wood steering wheel too!
When you look at other saloons at the time, this thing is so far out there in terms of design. A proper looker.
When I was a kid I used to think these things were awesome, finally bought myself one for £330 last year as a bit of a second car to go with my MX5. Run it for a few months and although it was a little bit sheddy I loved it. Mine was also a Veloce, blue with blue leather with the 2.0 TS engine. Wood steering wheel too!
When you look at other saloons at the time, this thing is so far out there in terms of design. A proper looker.
I did my first track day at Mallory park in it.
It was very wet and if you know Mallory, there can be a lot of standing water on the long curve around gerrards and the esses. Despite this the Alfa handled very well, there is enough feedback through the wheel to almost gauge what is about to happen, before it happens.. The typical quick Alfa steering rack helps position the car exactly where you want it. The car doesnt feel as nose heavy as I thought it would, however understeer was a bit of a problem especially under power in 3rd on the long curve around gerrards. Wheelspin was also an issue in 2nd coming out of the chicane. But saying that I held my own and in the 2nd half of the day had some hard driving and abuse. The brake pads were suffering and stinking the cabin out a little, the garage probably put budget ones in. The engine note and power delivery is sublime and the gear ratios on the 2.5 are excellent and suited to track use (ive heard putting the 2.5 box on the 3.2 creates an absolute animal).
After a while the engine temp was getting a little hot for my liking, Despite a lot of hard driving, Ive never owned a car where the temp gauge has gone over the middle. It was 2/3rds way round the gauge but still away from red, the fans were kicking in at low and high speeds so wasnt too worried. The 2.5 has a oil/coolant heat exchange cooler, but the 3.0 and 3.2s have a proper air cooled oil cooler with ducted air from the grill next to the foglights, I will investigate fitting one.
On the whole it was a very enjoyable day and I was very impressed with the little Alfa. My praise for the car was short lived though, when I got home and turned onto my drive the diff exploded but in a weird twist and true Alfa fashion, it got me home!!
Plans over this winter:
- Fit a limited slip Alfa/Quaife Q2 ATB Diff - to replace blown one and help immensly with getting the power down in 2nd.
- Inspect/replace any worn front suspension components.
- Replace outer driveshaft gaitors as I noticed they were badly perished.
- Investigate ways to keep engine temps down, possibly fit improved oil cooler.
- Fit a decent pair of front brake pads.
It was very wet and if you know Mallory, there can be a lot of standing water on the long curve around gerrards and the esses. Despite this the Alfa handled very well, there is enough feedback through the wheel to almost gauge what is about to happen, before it happens.. The typical quick Alfa steering rack helps position the car exactly where you want it. The car doesnt feel as nose heavy as I thought it would, however understeer was a bit of a problem especially under power in 3rd on the long curve around gerrards. Wheelspin was also an issue in 2nd coming out of the chicane. But saying that I held my own and in the 2nd half of the day had some hard driving and abuse. The brake pads were suffering and stinking the cabin out a little, the garage probably put budget ones in. The engine note and power delivery is sublime and the gear ratios on the 2.5 are excellent and suited to track use (ive heard putting the 2.5 box on the 3.2 creates an absolute animal).
After a while the engine temp was getting a little hot for my liking, Despite a lot of hard driving, Ive never owned a car where the temp gauge has gone over the middle. It was 2/3rds way round the gauge but still away from red, the fans were kicking in at low and high speeds so wasnt too worried. The 2.5 has a oil/coolant heat exchange cooler, but the 3.0 and 3.2s have a proper air cooled oil cooler with ducted air from the grill next to the foglights, I will investigate fitting one.
On the whole it was a very enjoyable day and I was very impressed with the little Alfa. My praise for the car was short lived though, when I got home and turned onto my drive the diff exploded but in a weird twist and true Alfa fashion, it got me home!!
Plans over this winter:
- Fit a limited slip Alfa/Quaife Q2 ATB Diff - to replace blown one and help immensly with getting the power down in 2nd.
- Inspect/replace any worn front suspension components.
- Replace outer driveshaft gaitors as I noticed they were badly perished.
- Investigate ways to keep engine temps down, possibly fit improved oil cooler.
- Fit a decent pair of front brake pads.
Edited by davebem on Friday 29th January 12:43
Nice V6, OP. Rare enough to see a pre facelift example these days, let alone one with the high Zender spoiler. I don't have it to hand at the mo, but if I remember right the book about Alfa 155,156 and 147 touring cars mentions that the spoiler was developed for the 156 to use in a saloon car series one level below the Italian touring car championship. Had my '01 V6 nearly 4 years, and love it despite its flaws. The sound of the Busso helps! Who wouldn't love an engine designed by the same guy who had a hand in the first Ferrari GP car
Thanks for the comments, the spoiler is very marmite. It does weigh a lot and spoils the sloping rear lines of the car, but on the other hand from certain angles it looks pretty cool.
This was the state of the diff:
The small bevel gear had broke into 3, a large piece was jammed sticking halfway out of the diff and scored the inside of the diff casing. Im very lucky it went on my drive as after reading lots of threads on alfaowner/alfa book, they have a habit of punching holes in the diff casing and can destroy a gearbox. The magnet in the bottom of the diff casing caught all the small bits of metal.
This was the state of the diff:
The small bevel gear had broke into 3, a large piece was jammed sticking halfway out of the diff and scored the inside of the diff casing. Im very lucky it went on my drive as after reading lots of threads on alfaowner/alfa book, they have a habit of punching holes in the diff casing and can destroy a gearbox. The magnet in the bottom of the diff casing caught all the small bits of metal.
This brings me on to the current situation, while the subframe was off I decided to replace the upper and lower wishbones, I fitted new driveshaft gaitors and droplinks, the quaife ATB diff is now fitted and fingers crossed its going in for its MOT tommorow.
I also found a rusty bracket behind the bumper which supports the power steering cooler, horns and undertray. Alfa dealership wanted £75, but I found one on the German eBay for €20!! I also took the oppurtunity to complete the rust proofing, getting into the suspension turrents and around the front wheel arches and did the subframe which was actually in remarkable condition.
I also found a rusty bracket behind the bumper which supports the power steering cooler, horns and undertray. Alfa dealership wanted £75, but I found one on the German eBay for €20!! I also took the oppurtunity to complete the rust proofing, getting into the suspension turrents and around the front wheel arches and did the subframe which was actually in remarkable condition.
^ If your near leicestershire give me a shout.
Passed MOT and took for first proper drive since fitting the quaife atb diff, its made an amazing difference and I would highly recommend one, the grip and acceleration has vastly improved in 1st and 2nd gears. As they can be fully supplied and fitted for as low as £700 or around £500 if you fit yourself as I did.
I will report back with more detail following another track day.
Further plans:
-Still need to investigate a better oil cooler possibly using the 3.0/3.2 setup.
-Invest in trackday wheels/tyres and better brakes.
Passed MOT and took for first proper drive since fitting the quaife atb diff, its made an amazing difference and I would highly recommend one, the grip and acceleration has vastly improved in 1st and 2nd gears. As they can be fully supplied and fitted for as low as £700 or around £500 if you fit yourself as I did.
I will report back with more detail following another track day.
Further plans:
-Still need to investigate a better oil cooler possibly using the 3.0/3.2 setup.
-Invest in trackday wheels/tyres and better brakes.
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