147 GTA progress thread (July 2013 to present)
Discussion
Final leg of what has been a lengthy process this weekend 
Front suspension rebuild. Friday - 10am till 7pm
In theory, replacing the dampers and springs should be a simple process...
The problem is that the fork of the shock leg is made from aluminium. So that corrodes and gets a hold of the shock leg and the pinch bolt;
Of course, the pinch bolt was stuck fast, no way that was coming out without many hours of work. Which means that the whole leg has to come out as one unit. In order to facilitate this, EVERYTHING else bar the driveshaft has to come off. (And they have a complex double wishbone setup...)
As you might imagine, this took hours... And some bits became collateral damage. But with it all apart, there was no way it was going back together with old parts, hence;
New upper arms (Birth), new lower Arms - genuine alfa, new drop links, Bilstein B8's, eibachs and refurbed forks that are separate to the dampers, (saving many hours).
As part of a job lot of spares I also acquired a complete set of strut braces. The rear brace fits between the suspension turrets but requires the turrets to be drilled for bolt holes, so I'm not fitting that, leaving the front braces in the pic - they're bolt on items.
The upper brace (repainted body colour) is an easy fit with the suspension unloaded;
But the lower brace was a PITA, as it wasn't designed for GTA's specifically. The problem is that it's fitted using the lower arm bolts, but as the GTA has addition underbody bracing that's held in place using the same bolts, they end up being too short -
Rearmost bolt - the one that is blurred
After a bit of scratching around we eventually found some bolts that were the right size. Took an hour to resolve though.
Getting there...
Lower, but I think the suspension needs to settle.
Front suspension rebuild. Friday - 10am till 7pm
In theory, replacing the dampers and springs should be a simple process...
The problem is that the fork of the shock leg is made from aluminium. So that corrodes and gets a hold of the shock leg and the pinch bolt;
Of course, the pinch bolt was stuck fast, no way that was coming out without many hours of work. Which means that the whole leg has to come out as one unit. In order to facilitate this, EVERYTHING else bar the driveshaft has to come off. (And they have a complex double wishbone setup...)
As you might imagine, this took hours... And some bits became collateral damage. But with it all apart, there was no way it was going back together with old parts, hence;
New upper arms (Birth), new lower Arms - genuine alfa, new drop links, Bilstein B8's, eibachs and refurbed forks that are separate to the dampers, (saving many hours).
As part of a job lot of spares I also acquired a complete set of strut braces. The rear brace fits between the suspension turrets but requires the turrets to be drilled for bolt holes, so I'm not fitting that, leaving the front braces in the pic - they're bolt on items.
The upper brace (repainted body colour) is an easy fit with the suspension unloaded;
But the lower brace was a PITA, as it wasn't designed for GTA's specifically. The problem is that it's fitted using the lower arm bolts, but as the GTA has addition underbody bracing that's held in place using the same bolts, they end up being too short -
Rearmost bolt - the one that is blurred
After a bit of scratching around we eventually found some bolts that were the right size. Took an hour to resolve though.
Getting there...
Lower, but I think the suspension needs to settle.
Edited by Zombie on Saturday 7th April 22:03
Edited by Zombie on Saturday 7th April 22:04
Finished it off Today 
New main beam bulbs... LEDs, which I did have some doubts about. They have a fan in their base to keep them cool. Hmmm... Which is why I decided to use them as main beams - not on long enough to really worry about it.
The have a collar (H7's at least) that you separate from the unit;
And fir in the headlight, locking it down with the conventional latch.
I've not taken anymore pics, but basically we fitted the lights, replacing a ballast back for the bi-xenon dipped units and rectifying an earth issue. Arch liners gingerly fitted, bumper on, under tray fitted, tyres rotated front to back, pressures and levels checked.
All is good. Took it for a run into the city. Dark on the way home.
OMFG!!!!
LED units?!!!
They're awesome!
New main beam bulbs... LEDs, which I did have some doubts about. They have a fan in their base to keep them cool. Hmmm... Which is why I decided to use them as main beams - not on long enough to really worry about it.
The have a collar (H7's at least) that you separate from the unit;
And fir in the headlight, locking it down with the conventional latch.
I've not taken anymore pics, but basically we fitted the lights, replacing a ballast back for the bi-xenon dipped units and rectifying an earth issue. Arch liners gingerly fitted, bumper on, under tray fitted, tyres rotated front to back, pressures and levels checked.
All is good. Took it for a run into the city. Dark on the way home.
OMFG!!!!
LED units?!!!
They're awesome!
Edited by Zombie on Saturday 7th April 22:05
Really fantastic work - that suspension really is a labour of love and must ride better than new.
The colour recalls iridescent beetle shells (the insect, not the air-cooled semicircles from Germany), and is definitely correctly sinister for a GTA.
After all this please ensure you put many, many miles on it before the roads start to be salted!
The colour recalls iridescent beetle shells (the insect, not the air-cooled semicircles from Germany), and is definitely correctly sinister for a GTA.
After all this please ensure you put many, many miles on it before the roads start to be salted!
Having rebuilt the front suspension on my 156 I appreciate the hard work youve done there but it is oddly satisfying (at least for me as I love working on Alfas and improving them!).
Im really interested to here your feedback on the braces. The upper front area is already braced by the bulkhead, and supported by the underneath from the subframe, however on hard extreme cornering Im sure it still flexes around the front longtidudal members due to the weight of the engine.
I think the front lower brace will make the most difference, Im after those subframe to floorpan bracing plates to retro fit for my 156.
On the back the 156 saloon is braced by some crossmembers behind the fixed seats and bottom of the rear window, as the 147 doesnt have this I would have thought it would make a big difference placed high up on the strut towers?
Im really interested to here your feedback on the braces. The upper front area is already braced by the bulkhead, and supported by the underneath from the subframe, however on hard extreme cornering Im sure it still flexes around the front longtidudal members due to the weight of the engine.
I think the front lower brace will make the most difference, Im after those subframe to floorpan bracing plates to retro fit for my 156.
On the back the 156 saloon is braced by some crossmembers behind the fixed seats and bottom of the rear window, as the 147 doesnt have this I would have thought it would make a big difference placed high up on the strut towers?
Mayrun said:
How is the led compared to the Xenon? is it also possible to add those to a halogen lamp on the GTA?
The H7 LED's are definitely brighter than the bi-xenon dipped beam units - they have a flap in the reflector that drops out of the way effectively making them main beam.The led's I've fitted just replaced the standard main beam bulb with no other mods.
If you're planning on getting some for your GTA be aware that the 156 (H1) uses a different bulb type to the 147 (H7). Also, the H7's seem to have 3 sides where the H1's are only 2 sided. Not sure how that would affect beam pattern.
I'd also have reservations about using them as a dipped beam to to heat build up - They have a fan in their bases to keep them cool, if that fails I wonder what the result will be - do they have a thermal cut out?
davebem said:
Having rebuilt the front suspension on my 156 I appreciate the hard work youve done there but it is oddly satisfying (at least for me as I love working on Alfas and improving them!).
Im really interested to here your feedback on the braces. The upper front area is already braced by the bulkhead, and supported by the underneath from the subframe, however on hard extreme cornering Im sure it still flexes around the front longtidudal members due to the weight of the engine.
I think the front lower brace will make the most difference, Im after those subframe to floorpan bracing plates to retro fit for my 156.
On the back the 156 saloon is braced by some crossmembers behind the fixed seats and bottom of the rear window, as the 147 doesnt have this I would have thought it would make a big difference placed high up on the strut towers?
It's difficult to offer comment on the braces as I've not got a baseline to compare it with. I did have an upper brace on a different 156 a while ago. Don't think it made that much difference. Nor did the rear brace when I fitted it to the same 156. The 147 is more rigid than the 156 but I think you may be right about the lower brace being the most effective location.Im really interested to here your feedback on the braces. The upper front area is already braced by the bulkhead, and supported by the underneath from the subframe, however on hard extreme cornering Im sure it still flexes around the front longtidudal members due to the weight of the engine.
I think the front lower brace will make the most difference, Im after those subframe to floorpan bracing plates to retro fit for my 156.
On the back the 156 saloon is braced by some crossmembers behind the fixed seats and bottom of the rear window, as the 147 doesnt have this I would have thought it would make a big difference placed high up on the strut towers?
Edited by Zombie on Sunday 25th September 21:21
SonicHedgeHog said:
They don't make em like that any more. Lovely.
melvster said:
Fantastic work what you have done so far and managed to achieve; always had a soft spot for these, fantastically well proportioned car and one of the very best 6 cylinder engines.
Thanks both. It was definitely worth my while polishing it given that it's rained pretty much for the whole time since want it?
Jellyfish said:
Lovely car and an enthralling read. Respect for all the work you've done. I can't think I've ever seen one of these on the road or anywhere else before
Thanks.That's not surprising tbh, outside of the alfa club gatherings (that I don't really bother to attend) I've only ever seen 1 other on the road since I bought it. howmanyleft suggests that there are 263 on the road, compared with 4,414 Golf R32's of the same generation and what appears to be 1,100 Focus RS (Mk1).
So yeah, they're pretty rare. Oddly, I've vever thought to check that as a comparison between it's contemporaries before now, I thought an R32 would be on a par... Obviously not!
Edited by Zombie on Tuesday 27th September 23:15
GrantB5 said:
You have put a lot of work in to it!
Without sounding weird haha, did you get those new calipers and discs from Glyn Hopkin in Romford. I see you mentioned you got them from Romford. It's the company I work for.
Guessing your old man works in parts too?
Thanks Without sounding weird haha, did you get those new calipers and discs from Glyn Hopkin in Romford. I see you mentioned you got them from Romford. It's the company I work for.
Guessing your old man works in parts too?
I think you might be right. The Seller had a Fiat 500 abarth IIRC, nice bloke.
Krikkit said:
Great progress thread, and a beautiful car!
I was wincing as I read the suspension bits, as I'd found exactly the same fundamentally stupid design in the 156 suspension I dismantled last year. Awful, awful design choices.
It's not that bad and better than some. They just need assembling with copper grease or ally paste.I was wincing as I read the suspension bits, as I'd found exactly the same fundamentally stupid design in the 156 suspension I dismantled last year. Awful, awful design choices.
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