156 1.8 improvements.

[Swede123]

Hi, I'm somebody into Alfas for 50 years. I'm now of retirement age but through the family and me 101s and 105s were bought new. I managed the sales dept of Lombarda Carriage in the 80s and I resurrected the AROC Central London branch in 1988.

With my previous cars I did hill climbs and sprints by fitting Webers, real Autodelta cams from Italy, and had some fun. That's what I'm looking for now with the 156 1.8 that I bought from an Italian family that used it several times a year to go down to Italy. Don't expect to be British Hillclimb Champion but hope to have some fun.

Any ideas please ?

[davebem]

Engine wise you can get cams and ecu remap kit for the 1.8 from Autodelta. Consider fitting the v6 GTA intake pipe and fee flowing exhaust before remap. Gearbox wise Quaife do a LSD for the twin sparks, investigate if the 1.6 gearbox with closer ratios will fit (maybe more suitable for hill climbing). Id move the battery to the boot and remove any other weight in the nose of the car, e.g. lighter fan housing setup, ditch air con etc. Handling wise fit a stiffer rear anti roll bar Koni FSD shocks and eibach springs, dont be tempted to polybush the rear, but overall consider a full suspension overhaul using standard TRW parts. The standard brakes arnt great, you can either bolt straight on the Brembos from a Mito, or fit bigger brembos from a GTA or 166 but youll need to fabricate brackets and potentially modify brake discs.

Edited by davebem on Saturday 10th September 12:12

[Vitorio]

Also, in the netherlands there is a company which did some work on Turbo-ing a twinspark (and i do know there is a 1.8TS turbo 145 rolling around)

They also have Evo upgrade kits (for the 2.0, but most are probably applicable to the 1.8 as well), stage 1 is your basic C&B cam upgrade, Stage 2 is pretty much a full rebuild/port etc...

But if this is 100% a toy, strip it out as much first.

[rxe]

Probably the most cost effective upgrade is making it a 2.0 - an extra 10% "out of the box".

Then you're into conventional tuning - exhaust, intake, cams, porting (probably not a lot there) and mapping.

Remove the aircon (about 20 kilos from the front of the car) and put the battery in the boot.

Suspension as above - FSDs and Eibach springs + ARBs. KWs if you are flush and like a "firm" ride. Strut brace stops the dash rattling.

All of the wearing parts in the suspension should be assumed knackered unless you have proof they are not.

Poly the front upper arms and the rear hub bush. Leave the rest.

Not sure on the LSD. Makes a big difference on the 190 HP V6, and a huuuge difference on the 240 HP V6.

Nitrous?

[Vitorio]

rxe said:

Probably the most cost effective upgrade is making it a 2.0 - an extra 10% "out of the box".

I havent driven both (either :P), but on paper the difference isnt that big, the 1.8 is also a bit revier i think, which might be nice for a track toy.

There might be more 2.0 specific tuning options though

[xyyman]

All of the above ideas are good. Depends on your budget of course. I note from your post you intend to take part in Sprints/Hill Climbs which means you will be very easy on the brakes rather than long periods of heavy braking as on track day type events. Make sure the existing braking is at peak performance and always a good idea to fit new flexi hoses and fluid, ideally DOT 5.1. Also decent pads like Ferodo DS2500 or equivalent which will work well from cold and good for hill climbs where you won't really heat up the brakes that much.

Nest is suspension and, on my 156, I have Eibach springs and ARB's front and rear with Koni FSD's all round. These were fitted along with a full suspension rebuild and it now corners like it's on rails. Do have a decent four wheel alignment carried out after the suspension work. I have a front strut brace fitted but can't tell the difference but it can't do any harm. As said already reduce/redistribute weight wherever possible and you'll have a lot of fun. If budget allows then go for a Quaife, that is very worthwhile and engine mods, for hill clinbing suggest you don't go for full race cams as you need plenty of mid range grunt rather than out and out top end. If you can afford it throttle bodies rather than Webers but the engine is where you can spend silly money if you want and needs a good overall plan before just buying individual upgrades. Just my four cents but enjoy yourself whatever route you take.

[Camoradi]

OP, if they are of any use to you I have a load of 156 TS spares in my shed which I need to get rid of.

From memory:

Full set of brake callipers, all clean and rust free
Alternator
Speedo, Alternator, Temp and fuel gauge
Some injectors and engine ancilliaries

PM me through my profile if interested.