Mal's 156 thread....

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Mal's 156 thread....

Joined
Jan 19, 2009
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Kilberry, Meath
Oh boy. It's happened again.... I buy a car to dismantle and end up saving it! :eek:

So, what is it? Well, it's the silver 156 from the Van-dalism thread. It has potential to become something else....

So, some lesser spotted pics of it:

Beside an absolute savage farmers special :cool:
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What an absolute beast of a Xantia :worship::worship:
Whoops I'm getting carried away.... Note the rear wheel... And Xantia :devil:
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I miss that Xantia so much :cry:

Beside yet another 156
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Fairly straight on the other side
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I started on the interior
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And I want to change it again to wood effect :p

Mirror was smashed off so replaced that
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A failed rear elec window swap (wrong loom, bah it'll stay manual!)
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Recently, I brought it into the yard and tore out the engine to replace the rack and clean the bay
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See anything wrong with that bay? :bang:

It won't be a quick project but hopefully shall be fun :D
 
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Dude , are you sure you dont have EVERY car in ireland

By the looks of things we are going to end up with every 156 in Ireland :p

They are creeping in and starting to take over.....
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Let's move onto the one almost out of shot.... Another silver one. I only got it on Saturday and was busy at it the next day!
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I love those seats :D

And yes, it's the real deal too (y)
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See the difference here between this and the silver one in the yard?
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I can't wait to have one of these engines out on the ground and have it spotless :D
 
you know what you need to do...buy me a plane ticket right now ;) ill come over and help you dismantle these beautiful alfa's and put life back into the busso v6

Heh heh heh that ticket would easily cost more than the silver V6 :p fear not as more will be bought in, that sportwagon is my dads mini resto project. Just needs an engine (y)

Maybe from the red one perhaps.....? ;)


Incidentally, can anyone point me in the direction on how to virginise an ecu? (y)
 
Another tantalising but confusing thread... can you give us an intro and summary for each of the cars? Even when the first 156 was introduced in the van thread I really couldn't figure out what the engine was etc, and no, I don't see what is wrong with the engine bay! :)

Seems to me you've got...

1) silver 4 -cylinder with bashed (?) front that is getting revived.

2) silver sportwagon without engine (what type originally) in pretty good nick.

3) red V6 of unknown condition but sounds great

4) new silver scruffy v6 that is either a resto or a donor, needs lots of work.

Is there a fuller description on an Alfa forum, or can you keep us updated here with clear, inspiring, easy to understand reports? (y)

156 such a cool 4-door saloon, new Alfas just blobby and ugly and sanitised.... (n)
 
Another tantalising but confusing thread... can you give us an intro and summary for each of the cars? Even when the first 156 was introduced in the van thread I really couldn't figure out what the engine was etc, and no, I don't see what is wrong with the engine bay! :)

Seems to me you've got...

1) silver 4 -cylinder with bashed (?) front that is getting revived.

2) silver sportwagon without engine (what type originally) in pretty good nick.

3) red V6 of unknown condition but sounds great

4) new silver scruffy v6 that is either a resto or a donor, needs lots of work.

Is there a fuller description on an Alfa forum, or can you keep us updated here with clear, inspiring, easy to understand reports? (y)

156 such a cool 4-door saloon, new Alfas just blobby and ugly and sanitised.... (n)

Oh hang on.... I forgot the blue one...:eek:

Right, background time! Amiss from the confusion :p

The silver one from the van thread: that was a 1.6. Now engineless as I sold it. It's been crashed and straightened badly, so I have to sort that (y) that shall be my future hack/spare car should I take a mad fit and use it instead of my sleeper hack :)

Sportwagon: My dads. He bought it to break it and...... Likes it too much :confused: so hes restoring it too. Has a completely shagged engine (1.8) so is awaiting a new engine and will be his back up car (y)

Blue 156: Another spares car. 2.0, was lovely inside with blue leather, sideskirts out but would cost too much to put right. Had no clutch cylinder, an interesting drive :D currently being stripped, wheres the engine from it going I wonder.... :chin:

Red Busso: friends bought that and I'm storing it as I have the equipment to dismantle it. There's a lot of cool bits on it like Koni's, Tarox Discs, EBC pads, polybushed all round, black leather, wood dash etc.... They're paying me to store it and dismantle it :)

Silver Busso: What they paid me with :ROFLMAO: quite an interesting car though, lot of receipts, evidence of top quality oils used in it. Unusual Velour seats. really nice inside, well was... Bought in 1998 by a doctor for £28,000 punts :eek: completely rotten now (n) but will live on in the 1.6 hopefully (y)

Speaking of the silver Busso.... Some sort of progress (y)
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I needed the room :devil:
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Better :)
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Last piece
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Now it's complete
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More off...
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The rust....
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Not enough room.....
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Thank goodness they're bolts!

Evidence of cobbling :mad:
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Engine almost ready to come out....

Stay tuned.... ;)
 
The kind of stuff you can't make up..... :ROFLMAO:

I decided to have a peep at my airbag module. Simple task just remove the centre console and it's under the heater (y)

To start with.... Seats out make the whole thing easier
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Fascia off
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Console out
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The blue box is the Nokia phone kit. Now, this car has been crashed, I knew that much. So lets see what condition the module is in...
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Long lost packet of M&M's? Oh no....! :eek:
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Were they taking the p*ss?? That's my feckin ECU, a packet of mauldy dog biscuits!!!!
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Words completely fail me......

Moving on the boot refused to open as the handle inside was broke :confused: and the key broke in it (n)
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Hammer time :cool:
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Screwdriver next
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That whole task took less than 10 seconds people..... :eek:

Finally for now, transferring some much needed bits n bobs
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Plenty to do, plenty of time :)
 
Nice to see progress and the customary avalanche of horrors that seem to accompany your acquisitions!

I hope this resto goes well... these cars need to be preserved as they are kind of historic now - cramming about as much performance and quality and class into a compact car will not really be done again - as Top Gear said about the Veyron "We've had our Concorde moment". No more howling petrol V6s, just tiny, temperamantal turbos...

Anyway can you get the spare blue leather interior into this car, instead of grey velour? That would be a nice combo... always loved blue leather since my dad's 1979 S3 Cobalt Bue XJ6 Sovereign...
 
Nice to see progress and the customary avalanche of horrors that seem to accompany your acquisitions!

I hope this resto goes well... these cars need to be preserved as they are kind of historic now - cramming about as much performance and quality and class into a compact car will not really be done again - as Top Gear said about the Veyron "We've had our Concorde moment". No more howling petrol V6s, just tiny, temperamantal turbos...

Anyway can you get the spare blue leather interior into this car, instead of grey velour? That would be a nice combo... always loved blue leather since my dad's 1979 S3 Cobalt Bue XJ6 Sovereign...

The packet of dog biscuits absolutely horrified me to say the least :eek:

Best way to describe them, killed off thanks to the nanny state of the EU :rolleyes: but hopefully this will be one put back right the way it should be (y)

Maybe I'll combine the 2.... Looking at the 3.7 conversion, I can't justify the costs involved. It' be more fun to visit my local scrappy and buy 2 turbos; one from an OM606 (I've become quite the fan of those :D) and maybe one from a Lorrey. Yep, compound it ;)

I kind of like the Velour, strangely I prefer it to the leathers :eek: I think I have Peugeot to thank for that.... :eek:


I've seen them all (y) seems I've a business proposition to do a similar effort here! But with Jap stuff.... The very stuff I haven't a clue about :eek:

At long last, I have some small progress :)

Note the rust on the leg....
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Now why didn't Alfa make the cars with the engine like this as standard :worship:
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Oil filter hasn't been off in a while....
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Seems I'm on my own again regards a few simple enquiries regarding looms..... In due time people! ;)
 
You see one problem, we see more :))
Dude, I would love to be my neighbour!
I guess you don't like the 916 spider. :(

My problem is I keep getting cars.... I think another 156 will be joining the merry go round that is my garden. I have no room anymore :bang:

Both those red cars have some serious service history with them (one has a folder full of receipts :eek:) both are extremely clean, both from the same garage, same miles, same interior.... One has a shot gearbox and the other has a shot clutch master cylinder.... And has the worst engine install I've seen in one of those cars to date :cry: but both drive beautifully, albeit one is essentially a 2 speed :ROFLMAO:

As for the green car, it needs a suspension overhaul and a general revamp so not too bad (y) but at £400 + per spring pan (yes, pounds), it's on the very long finger! :eek::eek::eek:

To reflect the times, those 3 cars were bought for about €950 :worship:
 
There was a bit of a setback wit this project, I was missing a key element to the project..... The key :(

So, I done the sensible thing and went on a hunt for it. Can't be hard to find, was inserted into the barrel so easy to pick out.

Spent 2 days looking for it. No luck :cry:

Priced a new key. €400 :bang:

Looking at virginising one of the ecu's. £60 :)

Perfect solution at a sensible price (y)

...












But since when I have I ever done sensible? :spin:


My problem is I keep getting cars.... I think another 156 will be joining the merry go round that is my garden. I have no room anymore :bang:

4 weeks. Another one :eek:
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Wait for it.....
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Oooooooh yeah :cool::cool::cool:

I get the key, ecu and body loom for stripping this on the button car that's resprayed and dodgy in places :D

HELP MEEEEE!!!!!!
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