Still Going, Still T & T'd, Still Costing Money!
Posted: Tue Jul 03, 2018 3:42 pm
Hello Everyone,
Hope you are all well and enjoying a 'fruitfully-Alfa summer' midst all this gorgeous weather (can this really be England?).
Apologies big time for the long absence from the forum. I see there haven't been any 164 postings since my last one so presumably I'm flying the 164 flag alone these days? I keep hearing that there are only around 6-7 Cloverleafs currently on the road (no idea how many are on SORN) but surely that can't be right?
Anyway, the absence was due to a very prolonged and involved conversion on my late mother's 1985 Opel Monza GSE from Bosch LE-Jetronic to Bosch Motronic fuel injection and although I know it's possibly tantamount to treason mentioning something Teutonic on this site (the car's affectionately known as the E-Boot, by the way) BUT at least it was named after an Italian racetrack (ok, the only defence I could come up with at short notice...).
Anyhoo...seeing as my 164 'Leaf has always (certainly for the last few years anyway) been undergoing what's jocularly known as a rolling restoration, I've been resigned to the occasional 'big, bad bill' every once in a while but Christ do they keep coming! Although she looks a whole lot better now after last year's makeover we always have to subscribe to the view that classic cars remain forever 'works in progress'.
MOT time Sept '17 threw up two areas which have turned into sagas with 'momentum'!
Firstly, more rust in the chassis! I suppose that me whingeing about the fact that these cars were galvanized from new won't cut any ice today, twenty-five years on! Presumably even galvanization has its own shelf life. Actually, it wasn't too bad - just some more attention to the N/S/F jacking point.
Secondly, shock absorbers!
God, the 164 Cloverleaf is a complicated car! Not only are they two-position electronic dampers (reasonably cutting edge at the start of the '90's, I suppose) but they are are also 'handed' left and right. Not only that but the fronts differ from the rears in that the spring mounting plates are separate to the dampers at the front BUT form an integral part of the rear dampers!
So, WERE you to need to replace the spring mounting plate on a REAR damper you're faced with cutting/grinding the old plate off and then welding a new one on in its place - welding a gas-filled damper? Not something I'd want to do! Now have a look at the attached photo of the O/S/R damper to see what I'm waffling on about. Pretty, isn't it.
Eight months later and it's the five-yearly cambelt change (I tell you, five years seems to come around in half the time these days) and up pop two more accompanying problems - surprise, surprise, rust in the rear wheelarches and a leaking shock absorber (this time the other rear).
Fortunately, a 'new old stock' rear damper was procured from Italy (thank you to Alfa Aid in Maidenhead for that) and, six weeks later (the Italian postman took ages) I've been reacquainted with She Who Must Be Obeyed (one day I'm going to learn how to write that in Italian).
Did I say the 164 Cloverleaf was complicated? Tell you what - if you ever glimpse one when it's up on a four-poster just take a peek at the underside. What IS going on under there?!! Looks like no car I've ever seen.
I would hazard a guess and say it's probably on a par with the late 1990's Maserati Quattroporte 1V in that respect. Other than one being RWD while the other is FWD I'd say there's not a great deal in it. Actually, if there's one machine that could really tempt me away from the 'Leaf it would be a late 3.2 Evo Quattroporte. In fact, there is one such car (and a super-rare six-speed manual to boot) in the classifieds as I write this BUT - however tempted I might be I feel the rolling restoration costs of one of those would makes my Alfa bills pale into insignificance by comparison!
Now to bring myself up to date with some of what the other members have been getting up to.
Cheers,
Lightfoot
PS. In one photo the 'Leaf is in front of a pub - yes, sometimes one is driven to take refuge in alcohol. In another the car is pictured in front of a church - yes, correct again, it's often all a question of faith and prayer!
Hope you are all well and enjoying a 'fruitfully-Alfa summer' midst all this gorgeous weather (can this really be England?).
Apologies big time for the long absence from the forum. I see there haven't been any 164 postings since my last one so presumably I'm flying the 164 flag alone these days? I keep hearing that there are only around 6-7 Cloverleafs currently on the road (no idea how many are on SORN) but surely that can't be right?
Anyway, the absence was due to a very prolonged and involved conversion on my late mother's 1985 Opel Monza GSE from Bosch LE-Jetronic to Bosch Motronic fuel injection and although I know it's possibly tantamount to treason mentioning something Teutonic on this site (the car's affectionately known as the E-Boot, by the way) BUT at least it was named after an Italian racetrack (ok, the only defence I could come up with at short notice...).
Anyhoo...seeing as my 164 'Leaf has always (certainly for the last few years anyway) been undergoing what's jocularly known as a rolling restoration, I've been resigned to the occasional 'big, bad bill' every once in a while but Christ do they keep coming! Although she looks a whole lot better now after last year's makeover we always have to subscribe to the view that classic cars remain forever 'works in progress'.
MOT time Sept '17 threw up two areas which have turned into sagas with 'momentum'!
Firstly, more rust in the chassis! I suppose that me whingeing about the fact that these cars were galvanized from new won't cut any ice today, twenty-five years on! Presumably even galvanization has its own shelf life. Actually, it wasn't too bad - just some more attention to the N/S/F jacking point.
Secondly, shock absorbers!
God, the 164 Cloverleaf is a complicated car! Not only are they two-position electronic dampers (reasonably cutting edge at the start of the '90's, I suppose) but they are are also 'handed' left and right. Not only that but the fronts differ from the rears in that the spring mounting plates are separate to the dampers at the front BUT form an integral part of the rear dampers!
So, WERE you to need to replace the spring mounting plate on a REAR damper you're faced with cutting/grinding the old plate off and then welding a new one on in its place - welding a gas-filled damper? Not something I'd want to do! Now have a look at the attached photo of the O/S/R damper to see what I'm waffling on about. Pretty, isn't it.
Eight months later and it's the five-yearly cambelt change (I tell you, five years seems to come around in half the time these days) and up pop two more accompanying problems - surprise, surprise, rust in the rear wheelarches and a leaking shock absorber (this time the other rear).
Fortunately, a 'new old stock' rear damper was procured from Italy (thank you to Alfa Aid in Maidenhead for that) and, six weeks later (the Italian postman took ages) I've been reacquainted with She Who Must Be Obeyed (one day I'm going to learn how to write that in Italian).
Did I say the 164 Cloverleaf was complicated? Tell you what - if you ever glimpse one when it's up on a four-poster just take a peek at the underside. What IS going on under there?!! Looks like no car I've ever seen.
I would hazard a guess and say it's probably on a par with the late 1990's Maserati Quattroporte 1V in that respect. Other than one being RWD while the other is FWD I'd say there's not a great deal in it. Actually, if there's one machine that could really tempt me away from the 'Leaf it would be a late 3.2 Evo Quattroporte. In fact, there is one such car (and a super-rare six-speed manual to boot) in the classifieds as I write this BUT - however tempted I might be I feel the rolling restoration costs of one of those would makes my Alfa bills pale into insignificance by comparison!
Now to bring myself up to date with some of what the other members have been getting up to.
Cheers,
Lightfoot
PS. In one photo the 'Leaf is in front of a pub - yes, sometimes one is driven to take refuge in alcohol. In another the car is pictured in front of a church - yes, correct again, it's often all a question of faith and prayer!