Outside the land of PH, a broken-down Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon might be considered no more than a donor car, doomed to be stripped for parts and sent to the crusher. But evidence - as if any more was needed - that PHers are a cut above the rest comes in the form of our Reader’s Car of the Week, a 159 with those very symptoms that is being given a heart transplant and full once-over on the driveway.
PHer ‘Zombie’ and his dad received their 159 Sportwagon with a broken TBi engine in the spring and have since set about pulling the motor out, stripping it down to understand the issues and meticulously preparing a replacement, a four-cylinder from the Giulietta. Except the workload has been substantially more complicated than we’ve made it sound, because swapping used motors from two models is never a plug and play process.
The younger Giulietta 1.75-litre TBi engine has 235hp – 35hp more than the 159’s – and there are a few physical differences that mean slight alterations are having to be made. But as Zombie’s other 159 thread shows, he and his old man are not a pair to turn down a difficult challenge – not when an Alfa’s involved, anyway.
For now, then, the project is still in full swing and although a slight issue has hindered progress, we have full hopes that this Sportwagon will come out looking years younger, even if a few more days of head scratching are required. For the excellent pictures of the work that’s gone into this car alone, we implore you to check out Zombie’s thread.
See the full thread here.