First car: Alfa Romeo 156 JTS Ti
Discussion
trashbat said:
Time for a little update on this.
At the end of September, it'd been three years, and on Saturday, this:
Didn't explode and noone died. Who knew?
Since I wrote the original post, it's been pretty much perfectly reliable - eek. Got through a few lightbulbs, a couple of slow punctures, and it uses a fair bit of oil on long runs, but no faults to speak of. The last MOT saw no advisories and the bloke commented on what good care I'd taken of it.
I had the front suspension refreshed including Powerflex, which should increase its notorious longevity a little.
It took us to Ireland and around the beautiful Ring of Kerry several times, the Dingle peninsula and even through the 'you must not drive it in a car' Gap of Dunloe. Oh, without breakdown cover. I don't think the undertray enjoyed it, but I did.
Back home, someone scraped into the rear door whilst it was parked, and put a bit of a dent in it, and I also lost a mirror to the marvellous people of Portsmouth, although I have a spare that's almost the right colour. When I've more cash, all that will be fixed, although the machine polisher I bought hides most of my problems very well.
Similarly, if money ever permits, I'm thinking of having an engine rebuild at Autolusso Bournemouth along with a map, C&B cams and a new exhaust system from Alfatune. Whether that ever materialises, we'll see. I can't remember if I ever posted it, but I once had it dyno'd and the results are here. Not the claimed factory 165hp as you can see, nor a great torque curve, although apparently they're all like that Sir. The aforementioned work could notionally take it to about 185bhp from today's reality. Either way, it's a testament to the car that I'm even thinking about serious work.
This ain't the winter tyre thread but I also had a couple of days of fun with my Nokians last winter, and they'll be on again as soon as it gets cold. Who would have thought that an Alfa would be one of the only cars on the road not stuck or bimbling perilously at 5mph? It behaved immaculately in the untreated rural roads of Hampshire and many fun times were had.
Well, long may it continue. See you at 200k? Or in my 4C if it ever goes a bit too well over on the Share Tips thread.
Edit: I still keep my PH costs blog up to date if anyone is interested in the detail, here.
Lovely car. Although I own a 159, I still think the 156 edges it in terms of looks. It is just so pretty. The deep blue really suits the car. I never really fathomed why some people never rated the facelift. In Ti guise, with those alloys, it has aged superbly and holds its own against anything out there.At the end of September, it'd been three years, and on Saturday, this:
Didn't explode and noone died. Who knew?
Since I wrote the original post, it's been pretty much perfectly reliable - eek. Got through a few lightbulbs, a couple of slow punctures, and it uses a fair bit of oil on long runs, but no faults to speak of. The last MOT saw no advisories and the bloke commented on what good care I'd taken of it.
I had the front suspension refreshed including Powerflex, which should increase its notorious longevity a little.
It took us to Ireland and around the beautiful Ring of Kerry several times, the Dingle peninsula and even through the 'you must not drive it in a car' Gap of Dunloe. Oh, without breakdown cover. I don't think the undertray enjoyed it, but I did.
Back home, someone scraped into the rear door whilst it was parked, and put a bit of a dent in it, and I also lost a mirror to the marvellous people of Portsmouth, although I have a spare that's almost the right colour. When I've more cash, all that will be fixed, although the machine polisher I bought hides most of my problems very well.
Similarly, if money ever permits, I'm thinking of having an engine rebuild at Autolusso Bournemouth along with a map, C&B cams and a new exhaust system from Alfatune. Whether that ever materialises, we'll see. I can't remember if I ever posted it, but I once had it dyno'd and the results are here. Not the claimed factory 165hp as you can see, nor a great torque curve, although apparently they're all like that Sir. The aforementioned work could notionally take it to about 185bhp from today's reality. Either way, it's a testament to the car that I'm even thinking about serious work.
This ain't the winter tyre thread but I also had a couple of days of fun with my Nokians last winter, and they'll be on again as soon as it gets cold. Who would have thought that an Alfa would be one of the only cars on the road not stuck or bimbling perilously at 5mph? It behaved immaculately in the untreated rural roads of Hampshire and many fun times were had.
Well, long may it continue. See you at 200k? Or in my 4C if it ever goes a bit too well over on the Share Tips thread.
Edit: I still keep my PH costs blog up to date if anyone is interested in the detail, here.
Edited by trashbat on Tuesday 22 October 22:31
It's good to read a positive write up about an Alfa. It's uncanny how they get under your skin. I had to smile when I read "I pull a stupid giggly face every time I walk away from it & look back, which is every single time". I keep on telling my wife it's not just me ! I hope you continue to enjoy it for many more years.
kapiteinlangzaam said:
I think if I wanted/had to go back to shedding, a 20V JTD 156 SW facelift would be right at the top of the list.
The 156 is aging so very well indeed
It was you with the 'YOU CAN IMAGINE' thread, right? Ace.The 156 is aging so very well indeed
I do think the facelift is ageing much less rapidly than its contemporaries. It's a shame that it didn't evolve properly into the 159 and then keep going from there.
AlfaManc said:
Lovely car. Although I own a 159, I still think the 156 edges it in terms of looks. It is just so pretty. The deep blue really suits the car. I never really fathomed why some people never rated the facelift. In Ti guise, with those alloys, it has aged superbly and holds its own against anything out there.
It's good to read a positive write up about an Alfa. It's uncanny how they get under your skin. I had to smile when I read "I pull a stupid giggly face every time I walk away from it & look back, which is every single time". I keep on telling my wife it's not just me ! I hope you continue to enjoy it for many more years.
Thanks! I can extract big waves out of other 156 drivers so it can't just be us.It's good to read a positive write up about an Alfa. It's uncanny how they get under your skin. I had to smile when I read "I pull a stupid giggly face every time I walk away from it & look back, which is every single time". I keep on telling my wife it's not just me ! I hope you continue to enjoy it for many more years.
Time for another little update.
So, at 107,500 miles exactly, it broke down for the first time (in my few years with it, anyway) a few weeks back. The alternator gave up the ghost, which led to the question ' how far can you drive without one', and the answer being - with a liberal application of Rainaway and a heavy right foot - at least 40 miles.
The alternator is buried deep in the engine bay and access involves dismantling the engine. This and the impending cambelt were the final straws that pushed me into Stupid Plan #1, rebuilding the engine. A perfectly working engine. Well why not, since you save about three hours labour?
There is reason to this, but that can wait. Here's an engine, or at least the head - didn't do rings as it's not burning oil and the bores are OK.
Now I might have said this in this thread before, but the JTS loves smothering itself in carbon build up. It can't get enough of the stuff. That's early and for all I know current direct injection engines for you. Wonderful.
Well happy days, because here's afterwards:
What else? Well the injectors were also refurbed, except it's only been 40k miles since they went wrong, with use of injector cleaner in between, and they were fine. Since they typically go properly wrong every 50k-70k, using cleaner might be a bit of good advice to fellow owners, or it might be useless. As well as that, the aux belt tensioner was knackered, the flexipipe in the exhaust was knackered, and obviously the alternator got fixed (twas the voltage regulator).
Now I have to run it in sub-4k revs for a little bit, so can't be sure of the benefits straight away, AND my expectations are a bit skewed by having been driving about in the 2.4JTD version of the same for three weeks (more on that later), AND I was driving about in a noisy car before because of my failing exhaust.
The first thing: as Bjork once put it, IT'S OH SO QUIET. I can barely believe how quiet it is. It's also smoother, and I believe has better low down torque with less of a flat spot. As soon as Southways let me, I'm going to get it dyno'd again, and hopefully the results will be a bit nicer than this slightly lumpy thing from a while back. We shall see.
What was the point of all that? Well, once this fairly large bill is out of the way and some more money cobbled together, I'm going to engage in Stupid Plan #2: off to see Alfatune oop north and get a new exhaust - Supersprint manifold, sports cat and full stainless system - and a remap. The aim isn't really about power per se, but that might see 180+bhp from something last known to be burping out a rather weak 145. And who knows, it might be noisier again
I mentioned the 2.4JTD which was my loan car, an older internally updated Lusso, which was interesting to drive, having never really had a diesel other than brief loan cars. I did about 600 miles in it. It's a nice enough engine, with the obvious diesel benefits, but to my ears at least, it also has a ridiculous (good) sound when sufficiently revved. On the other hand, it's not as smooth, and noticeably nose-heavy thus handles quite differently. All in all, I can appreciate it, and would now happily own one, which surprises me. However coming back to petrol is a refreshing change and I don't regret my choice. Also am I the only person who machine polishes a loan car and brings it back with the airbag light fixed? I hope so.
Finally, all of the above work so far has been done by Laurence at Autolusso Bournemouth, who has been excellent to me and my car both on this occasion and many in the past. Very much recommended.
So, at 107,500 miles exactly, it broke down for the first time (in my few years with it, anyway) a few weeks back. The alternator gave up the ghost, which led to the question ' how far can you drive without one', and the answer being - with a liberal application of Rainaway and a heavy right foot - at least 40 miles.
The alternator is buried deep in the engine bay and access involves dismantling the engine. This and the impending cambelt were the final straws that pushed me into Stupid Plan #1, rebuilding the engine. A perfectly working engine. Well why not, since you save about three hours labour?
There is reason to this, but that can wait. Here's an engine, or at least the head - didn't do rings as it's not burning oil and the bores are OK.
Now I might have said this in this thread before, but the JTS loves smothering itself in carbon build up. It can't get enough of the stuff. That's early and for all I know current direct injection engines for you. Wonderful.
Well happy days, because here's afterwards:
What else? Well the injectors were also refurbed, except it's only been 40k miles since they went wrong, with use of injector cleaner in between, and they were fine. Since they typically go properly wrong every 50k-70k, using cleaner might be a bit of good advice to fellow owners, or it might be useless. As well as that, the aux belt tensioner was knackered, the flexipipe in the exhaust was knackered, and obviously the alternator got fixed (twas the voltage regulator).
Now I have to run it in sub-4k revs for a little bit, so can't be sure of the benefits straight away, AND my expectations are a bit skewed by having been driving about in the 2.4JTD version of the same for three weeks (more on that later), AND I was driving about in a noisy car before because of my failing exhaust.
The first thing: as Bjork once put it, IT'S OH SO QUIET. I can barely believe how quiet it is. It's also smoother, and I believe has better low down torque with less of a flat spot. As soon as Southways let me, I'm going to get it dyno'd again, and hopefully the results will be a bit nicer than this slightly lumpy thing from a while back. We shall see.
What was the point of all that? Well, once this fairly large bill is out of the way and some more money cobbled together, I'm going to engage in Stupid Plan #2: off to see Alfatune oop north and get a new exhaust - Supersprint manifold, sports cat and full stainless system - and a remap. The aim isn't really about power per se, but that might see 180+bhp from something last known to be burping out a rather weak 145. And who knows, it might be noisier again
I mentioned the 2.4JTD which was my loan car, an older internally updated Lusso, which was interesting to drive, having never really had a diesel other than brief loan cars. I did about 600 miles in it. It's a nice enough engine, with the obvious diesel benefits, but to my ears at least, it also has a ridiculous (good) sound when sufficiently revved. On the other hand, it's not as smooth, and noticeably nose-heavy thus handles quite differently. All in all, I can appreciate it, and would now happily own one, which surprises me. However coming back to petrol is a refreshing change and I don't regret my choice. Also am I the only person who machine polishes a loan car and brings it back with the airbag light fixed? I hope so.
Finally, all of the above work so far has been done by Laurence at Autolusso Bournemouth, who has been excellent to me and my car both on this occasion and many in the past. Very much recommended.
So, this turned up today:
So pretty!
What better way to say 'it's Christmas' than with the traditional gift - erm, to yourself - of a stainless steel exhaust manifold?
This, the rest of the exhaust, and a remap on the way before the holiday. If I can bear to part with its shiny company, that is.
So pretty!
What better way to say 'it's Christmas' than with the traditional gift - erm, to yourself - of a stainless steel exhaust manifold?
This, the rest of the exhaust, and a remap on the way before the holiday. If I can bear to part with its shiny company, that is.
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