Classic Alfa Forums

Top man, a nice upgrade and neatly installed.

Try Vehicle Wiring Products

FBB 8U

I've used them for some time. Good stock, sensible prices, same day despatch

Not a huge amount to update, which is a good thing I guess, I’ve just been using it when the weather suits. A trip to the Alfa national day back at the end of June was the last big trip.

While doing the clutch a few months back I noticed the front bushes looked past their best. Of course I couldn’t just chuck new bushes in the crusty old arms, so off they came for a full refurb.



Bush removal tool kit


All off


Annoyed I didn’t buy a pair of ball joints too, but luckily the originals are still nice and tight and smooth with no play. Arms were hit with the spinning wire death wheel, treated with rust converter then painted.



New bushes popped in, powerflex heritage versions which are their standard purple road spec bushes but coloured dark grey so they don’t stick out like a sore thumb under your classic car



Gave the struts a wire brush and lick of paint too, and put it back together



MOT prep yesterday involved a quick check of all the lights, noticed the near side side repeater was a bit dim, luckily had a bulb in stock so reached up inside the wing and swapped them over in approx 10 seconds.

And Fridays MOT…


Very pleased with that, around 4000 miles last year, would have been more with a bit less rain over the last few months.

Will see how I get on with the poly bushes, I’d already bought them when I read that they might not be such a good idea. At the moment the ride doesn’t feel any harsher, but there does seem to be a bit more road noise / rumble coming through, but nothing awful.

Great looking work you have done there
Lucky with the condition of the suspension arms as they are prone to corrosion-the forward facing ones tend to go around where they join the rear arm-the water gets under the strengthening plates and the rear arms can corrode from the inside and could also be filled with expanding foam which traps moisture
If you can it would be worth trying to inject some wax inside them to prevent corrosion from the inside I don’t think you will have any problem with the ball joints as they seem to last forever so long as the rubber covers don’t split

Will be interested to see what you think about the poly bushes long term

Looks like a really nice car

Nice to see a car being used and enjoyed

Thank you.

I did look inside the arms where possible and they don’t look too bad, I did try and spray some paint down the open ends.

I’m planning a cavity wax session if we ever get a decent run of nice warm dry days!

I’d like to tidy up the front subframe and arb too as they now look a bit scabby against the arms. The struggle is to do it a bit at a time and not end up turning it into a huge project like everything else I own does…

Still love driving it, doesn’t stop making me smile, turns an amazing amount of heads and always get people talking to me about it.

Try SuperFlex for the arb bushes cost me £22.50 but was 10 years ago.

Looks like a solid set of front arms you've got.

Be thankful the ball joints are ok.
Grinding the rivets off to replace them is a pain!

.........and I think the Sud bottom ball joints are getting hard to find.

.........except when you look at Sud Shop's website.

Where they are easy to find!

I will probably pick a pair up at some point. Thinking of making a list of consumables I should consider keeping in stock if I want to keep using it regularly.

Got spotted on the way to and at a localish car meet I’d not been to before, really pleased with these!

Your Sud looks so sweet.

Stunning pictures, stunning car.

Thank you.

I’ll be the first to downplay its condition and focus on the flaws, but it really does always seem to photograph very nicely, which I guess is how people see it as it drives past!

Is anyone else this odd?

I’d noticed that one of the rear quarter lights was Saint Gobain and didn’t match the sicursiv glass everywhere else. Handily a spare set of door I picked up last winter had the missing piece.




Handily the chrome trim was in batter condition, and the lower window strip was far straighter and less pulled about so I swapped that too.
Old


New fitted,


No signs of broken glass anywhere, usually it’s impossible to remove every fragment, wonder if they were a bit mix and match from the factory? The spare doors also have a couple of pieces of Saint Gobain glass, and had apparently been removed and stored in the early 80s

Nothing much to add, car has been under cover for probably two months now as it’s either been freezing with salty roads, or damp wet and horrible. Was hoping we’d get some dry weather during this recent warm spell but no such luck.

However, I was at my mums today and found these photos amongst mine, taken by me on my little 110 compact camera, I’m assuming around 1986 / 87. The last sud my dad owned before moving on to a couple of 33s

No, I don't think that is odd to match up your glass, and as you say, the trim is better than you had so why keep it as a spare when you enjoy using the car.
Was the S3 a gold cloverleaf? noticed it had headlight wipers.

Yes, it was a gold cloverleaf. Our first car with electric windows as far as I can remember, was 6 or 7 years old.

Asked my mum to see if she had any more photos,

This green one is what picked me up and took me home from hospital after I was born


This black one replaced it and was written off with us all in it after a transit on the wrong side of the road hit the OS wing and wheel




Replaced by the orange 5m

Featuring my sister


Replaced by an s3



Then the ivory gold cloverleaf,

Replaced by a red c-reg 33, followed by an f-reg 33.



Followed by a bmw e30 316i, then a red alfa 146 1.6 boxer, then the first of three 156s

And had my fleet out at the weekend, and all going well should be appearing on YouTube soon…

https://youtu.be/LNeIGJuj76M

Very interesting viewing!

Seems the continuity guy had a day off when they edited the Sud engine compartment section!

Yes! By the time I got to see a preview it was too late to change it.

Jonny is a great guy too, a proper car but, not just playing it for the cameras. He actually had an ivory gold cloverleaf like my dads at one point too!