No Multipla news - it's going great. However the Alfa 147 is doing typical Alfa things. The battery strap retaining bolt had sheared so I had to remove the whole battery tray and grind off the remains of the stud. While I was there I discovered much more rust around the top of the front strut towers. This is a 2005 car! Also, typically the bonnet release cable broke, I was inventive with the fix and my lads brakes are now 50% less effective.

Alfa passed it's MOT but not after a flex brake hose.[emoji53]
It's got loads of advisories - full set of tyres, the matching flex hose and more corrosion on the nearside sill. Seriously this thing is crusty. It's got a very stiff gear change which youtube says is some nylon bushes on the selector mechanism on the gearbox. For £5 it's probably worth doing before I swap over the insurance from the Multi.

With every post you make, that Alfa sounds more and more like the rolling donor designate for the finishing touches to your Multipla rebuild

16V JTD full engine. - tick
ECU for same - tick
6 speed gearbox - tick
Has it got bigger front brakes than the Multi?
Hydraulic clutch?

widemouthfrog said:

With every post you make, that Alfa sounds more and more like the rolling donor designate for the finishing touches to your Multipla rebuild

16V JTD full engine. - tick
ECU for same - tick
6 speed gearbox - tick
Has it got bigger front brakes than the Multi?
Hydraulic clutch?

Click to expand...

You've definitely got me thinking about it.... A LOT!

I've done the gearbox linkage bushes on the Alfa now which means that the gear lever centres again, however 6th is an absolute bugger to select sometimes so there's still something lose that should be tight. I'm now driving it up & down the A12 to work though and I can say this is a fantastic engine and gearbox combo. The lower gears give you stupid amounts of acceleration and it sounds great for a diesel - really a sort of roar/growl, then 6th is way over geared - it does 80mph @2250rpm (on a private test track obvs.)

The slave is certainly hydraulic and on the outside of the gearbox like the Multi, I'm not sure about the brakes / hubs though - I haven't looked at the Polish guys '16v in a multi' threads but i'm guessing they kept the hubs from the mulit so only 4 hole discs etc would fit. The Alfa is 5 x 98. The drivehafts must either be mix & match from both donors or possibly custom for the application.

Anyway, it's all academic - unless someone rear ends the Alfa and writes it off i'll be flogging it on again for £4-500, i'm not sure the wife would let me have a third car to amalgamate the two existing ones!

Multi update:
Drivers front shock / top mount / spring assembly off the car. Drivers drop link being a PITA. May have to make a date with Angle Grinder. Will upload some pics once ive bought new spring compressors and have the new & old side by side for ride height speculation.

A pair of these can make life a LOT easier when it comes to removing an itinerant drop link, though the price seems to have go up a hell of a lot since I bought mine. I think I paid about £16 for mine:

OX Adjustable Wrench - Pro Slim Spanner - Wide Jaw Wrench - 200mm/8 Inch - Multicolour: Amazon.co.uk: Amazon.co.uk:

Bahco also do a slim jaw adjustable. The OX ones are thin enough to get onto the flats of the droplink stubs, that are right tight up against the side of the ARB ends. Normal adjustables can't get at the flats. An old-style bicycle spanner might do it, but I've never tried, tbh.

Giving the thread ends and surroundings of the new droplinks a good smearing with silicon sealant isn't a bad idea either, to keep the rust out.


As for the spring compressors, treat yourself to one of these kits, or similar, if you haven't already got one:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fork-Strut-Coil-Clamp-Spring-Compressor-Macpherson-Tool-Set-Kit-Auto-Garage/254290651831?hash=item3b34e76ab7:g:rh8AAOSw7OFdI~pR

I bought a Vida XL set a few years ago, which looks identical, but their prices have shot up. As a result, I can't vouch for the quality of the one above. BUT - this type of spring compressor makes a job that puts the fear of god into us mere mortals into something of a doddle. Almost a pleasure, in fact. At no point do I think "If this lets go, I'm toast....", and as long as you keep the main screw well lubed with lithium spray grease, it also requires very little effort. You can halt the movement of the spring with very fine control, which allows you to get the rubber seats that line the spring pan into exactly the right position.

Thanks WMF, those adjustables do look handy. I've loosened the nut enough to expose the flats on the ball/socket side of the stud and it measures as 15mm, there seem to be loads of 15mm bits & pieces on the Multipla which i'm sure is an odd size - I certainly dont have a spanner that size. I'm going to borrow one today and another set of mole grips for when it inevitably resorts to that!

Progress however was made last night (albeit small).

Springs compressed, strut dissassembled, springs compared.

Substantial difference in free length (correct term?) and wire thickness is a good mm larger. Shock wasn't bad at all from my rudimentary test but I have new to fit anyway. I'll try to assemble the whole shock this side and compare to the stock passenger side in a future post.

Sorry, have tried and failed to upload photos, I get this error:
HTTP Error. Upload URL might be wrong or doesn't exist.

You will have to imagine what a sexy red spring looks like compared to a rusty stock one.

More progress last night. One shock fully assembled and looking resplendent. Passenger shock off car. Both drop links now removed - total PITA. Also unbolted one anti roll bar bush - definitely where the squeaking from inside the car was coming from. The bush was loose on the shaft (snigger) so that the whole bar can slide about and rotate freely. Have some bits coming in the post to sort this.

Still can't upload photos, from 'bugs that crept in' thread it looks like a site wide issue. [emoji20]

Are the stops still in place on the ARB?

It has collars welded on the bar on the inside of where both bushes sit - does that made sense? I preemptively took a photo so can upload in due course.

Yep, that's the ones. If you look at them closely, you'll probably find that they're a very hard plastic, as half-rounds. I thought they were metal, and welded on, until one fell off of mine I don't know how Fiat fix them on. Presumably they were trying to avoid welding, as that would add undesirable local stress to the surface of the bar which could lead to fractures.

Good ok, well I have at least one side still present! The paint has worn off the ARB where the bush sits and it's nicely polished. The bush was very easy to slip along the bar. I've ordered some new ones.

https://www.superflex.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=SF475-0022K

I went for 18mm without actually measuring the bar. You've got to drill out the sort of rivet/welds that hold the metal parts of the bush together then presumably grease up the bar and slide the bush over from the drop link lug as there isn't a split in the picture on the superflex website.

In my head I thought the mk2 Eleganzas had thicker ARBs - may be that's the 19mm and the mk1s had 18mm.

Anyway, i'll save the fun* of fitting them for Friday/Saturday night.

Thanks WMF for your help as always!

Good luck, we changed the bushes on mine when the engine and subframe were removed and renewed the links at the same time, bet its a faf with it all in position??

By the power of grey skull... We can post pictures again!
Strutting my stuff with spring compressors:

Different springs... ooh shiny:

Assembled:

ARB bush conundrum:

Shiny. That's quite a drop in spring length you've got there!


Come on then, let us into the secret: How are you posting images in line with the text?

Bushes have arrived. They do have the slit in so should be easy enough to fit once I've separated the two metal parts of the assembly. Came with a free air freshner!

I'm doing this via mobile, once the image has "uploaded 100%" click where you want the image in the text then tap the uploaded image. Does that make sense?

Assume these must be the originals so only 16 years old / 115k.

Nearly done the rear, I took out the shock bottom bolt and jacked the rear way up. Levered the spring out with a crow bar. Took the oportunity to roughly derust and paint the end stops and surrounding area of the subframe. The nearside was in much better condition and still had plenty of black paint on. I wonder if it's because it's near the exhaust so dries out more frequently(think WMF has mentioed this before?). Wrestled the new springs in with the crow bar and dropped it back on its wheels.

Typically I've lost a washer or two from the shock bolts so will have to scrounge some from work today. Doesn't look much lower in the pic but I'm pretty sure it is.

I can see much easier over the roof now. To be honest this wasn't about being all stancy pants, I was trying to get stiffer springs and reduce body roll. Still have to do the timing belt and water pump then I can sell the Alfa and get this back on the road. May even treat the Bug to an air con regas and wheel alignment.

Took this for a cheeky drive around the back roads last night to test out the new suspension.

• Knocks, bangs, squeaks have gone :slayer:
• A little harsher ride
• Body roll still there but possibly slightly reduced

I think i've been spoilt by driving the Alfa around for a couple of weeks, the steering, handling and acceleration are frankly in a different league. I'm sure the changes are a massive improvement over the worn originals but I can't remember how bad it was. Anyway, onwards and upwards, next task is the timing belt & water pump. Holiday is imminent though so no update for a bit.