The Red Devil's Progress Since April 2014, Project.. Options

[dante giacosa]

that's a great idea actually-

I've done that on a couple of cars now; just swap out the coolant expansion tank.

Gave my engine bay a quick under-bonnet wash last night in fact

You know, (like me) you should consider the front under tray from throes guys at Taros Trade, Ganz..


What is that ducting on the right of that first picture..?

Have you got a ducted cold air feed to the filter box..?

[sanitary]

nice and clean



san

[Ganz]

that's a great idea actually-

I've done that on a couple of cars now; just swap out the coolant expansion tank.

Gave my engine bay a quick under-bonnet wash last night in fact

You know, (like me) you should consider the front under tray from throes guys at Taros Trade, Ganz..
What is that ducting on the right of that first picture..?

Have you got a ducted cold air feed to the filter box..?

Cheers Dante. Yes, I've seen under trays on other newer Alfas. It would definitely help with the aerodynamics. Got my rear diffuser to put on later on. Yes, the red hose duct is one of two cold feeds to the air box.

nice and clean
san

Cheers mate. I'm amazed that the engine bay stays so clean after all the snow salt and rain we have had. Must be the heat in the engine bay that keeps the corrosion away.

[Ganz]

amazing work!

yeah, boot release button sometimes annoys me too on my Boxer - you could rewire it to work with ignition ON. Later I think they abandoned button and fitted handle - at least my ph2 JTD has it next to drivers seat and no button on central console.

regarding oil temperature I'd tell it's colder than it should be. At least what I've seen on other cars oil temperature is usually higher than coolant and is around 100-110C. Where exactly are you meassuring oil temperature?

Hi Shpuc.

When I'm really going for it the oil temp is never 70 always below. I am running 10 40 oil and always make sure it is up the maximum. The oil temp sensor is the one for the VDO gauges 5 bar.

[Ganz]

After chatting to a few Alfa owners about the type of coolant the 145 should have I decided to change to the blue coolant.


Purchased a second hand 3 ton jack. On a lowered 40mm car you cannot use the Halfords one as they don't clear the bottom of the car. I brought this for a tenner!


It took around 6 flushes to completely flush out the red OAT coolant. What surprised me was the amount of sludge in the expansion tank. Bear in mind that I had completely replaced the old red coolant only a month ago! I suspect the red OAT is more prone to sludge.


The new blue coolant. One thing I have noticed is that is does not seem to sludge up, runs slightly cooler (the needle just hovers under the 80 degree) but it does marginally get warmer when stuck in slow traffic but the fan kicks in at the first temp threshold. I've not seen it even hit the second fan speed (when the temp hits 98 degrees). So far so good.

Reason I changed was that the new red OAT has acids which can eat away at rubber seals. Mine being a 1996 car probably never had red coolant.


Got my new badge on.


Inspection of rear subframe after 8 months. All look good apart from the rust exhaust rear box which I've got to replace.


Got myself some rear wheel arch guards. Mine never came with any! I had to modify them as I think they were GTV ones.


On the car.


Finally fitted my headlight protector/cover one.

All ready for Newby Alfa day tomorrow.

[dante giacosa]

hey Ganz- good to hear from you

Car is looking pretty sensational all round! I wish I had your subframes!

A 2nd hand three tonnes Jack for a tenner! - you legend!


STOP THE BUS- where did you get headlight protectors from???

This post has been edited by dante giacosa: 2nd June 2018 23:48

[aero_mati]

Finally fitted my headlight protector/cover one.

Never seen that before, is that an original Alfa part? From the obscure accesories brochure maybe?

Your 45 looks really nice!

Cheers

[Ganz]

"STOP THE BUS- where did you get headlight protectors from???" Quote of the year!

The protectors were from eBay from a previous forum member called 930Tech . I brought them about 2 years ago along with a front sub-frame strut brace for underneath the car, which I've never knew existed for the 145. The jack weights around 2 tons too! It was a garage clear out form a tenant who just wanted to sell.

[Ganz]

Never seen that before, is that an original Alfa part? From the obscure accesories brochure maybe?

Your 45 looks really nice!

Cheers

Thanks mate. I try to wash it once a month and stay on top of the detailing. I waited a while for these to appear on eBay. They are rare. Just keep looking on eBay from time to time and you might find some. Some of the forum members had them on their cars like the Yellow 145.

[Ganz]

Latest.

June really quiet and July not much to do but..

I had a tickover problem where it would drop below 800rpm at traffic lights. I thought it might be the air filter so cleaned it. Then it was a clean out of the oil catch can.

This was what was caught since October 2017. Quite a bit of oil. If it wasn't for the catch can this would have gone back into the throttle body and inlet manifold. Not nice.


This is what a clean filter should look like.


The catch can itself was pretty clean so the filters (which are just B&Q paint sponges) did a good job of catching the oil. My design helped a bit too However, this did not solve the problem. The problem was the idle accentuater itself which I cleaned out with carb cleaner. Been fine since.


During the really hot weather I decided to take off the "145" badge without using a heat gun. In the hot weather the adhesive put up little resistance but it was futile


I brought this badge (the silver 145 not green QV) back at NAD 2014!


In the meantime I brought another Alfa A 147 2.0 Selespeed. I had my eye on this for the last 5 years. The spec and the price was too good to turn down. Factory lowered Yes, factory lowered (so no mess up with drive shaft angles shredding CV boots). Black Momo leather heated seats, sunroof, 17" OZ SuperTurisimo wheels Satnav.. can't wait to see if the satnav works.


My next project.. possibly. The 145 will always take priority though.


The collection


Finally drilled some holes for the rear spoiler. Trying to coat the underside of the rear spoiler with some engineers blue and pressing on the boot was a bit hit and miss.


Finally got the spoiler painted and bolted on. Some of the holes were a tight fit but in the end it I got it bolted on.


I have to say it looks.. FANTASTIC!


The phase 1s never came with a rear boot spoiler. I have to say you got to have one. It looks so cool.

That's all folks. I'm gonna be at MITCAR 2018 26th August if you are around.

This post has been edited by Ganz: 13th August 2018 00:48

[dante giacosa]

Hey Ganz,

What a find! You got a 147 with 'info-telematics'??!! I've never even seen one! You'll have to let us know if it works? Does it have the GSM phone prep too? Don't they take a card or something that slots in? (Did I make that up?)

Is the Selespeed without issue? Is it a normal gear box, but with the automated actuators on the top, to do the selection ? Fascinating- has it got xenons?- I can't remember them being on the 147, but I thought it came hand in hand with the heated seats..?

How do you mean by 'ideal accentuator'? Do you mean the idle control valve on the throttle body?

[sanitary]

what's with the badge change?

both look the same



san

[Ganz]

what's with the badge change?

both look the same
san

The original 145 chrome badge was pitted. New one is new. I only replaced the silver badge not the cloverleaf which is impossible to find!

This post has been edited by Ganz: 18th August 2018 21:59

[sanitary]

The original 145 chrome badge was pitted. New one is new. I only replaced the silver badge not the cloverleaf which is impossible to find!

You can't have a pitted badge!!!!





san

[Ganz]

Hey Ganz,

What a find! You got a 147 with 'info-telematics'??!! I've never even seen one! You'll have to let us know if it works? Does it have the GSM phone prep too? Don't they take a card or something that slots in? (Did I make that up?)

Is the Selespeed without issue? Is it a normal gear box, but with the automated actuators on the top, to do the selection ? Fascinating- has it got xenons?- I can't remember them being on the 147, but I thought it came hand in hand with the heated seats..?

How do you mean by 'ideal accentuator'? Do you mean the idle control valve on the throttle body?

Dante, you know your Alfas Not many people will have even heard of the info-telematics. It has got the GSM prep too that takes a SIM card. It's a card and you slot your sim into it and wack it in the centre dash. Can't wait to try this old technology myself. I've even got the sat nav DVD - mind you it's probably a bit out of date. But cannot wait to see if it still functions. I'm oldskool and love keeping old technology going such as the matrix Nokia banana phone, the Amiga 1200.. The car itself is a 2001 I think. So older Than I thought but it's a rare beast.

I didn't' realise the selespeed had no manual. It's like a sequential gearbox. You just shift through the gears. I only drove it briefly and it was strange but I reckon I could get used to it. The momo leather seats are a dream to sit in. I didn't check to see if it had xenon but if that was a factory option the previous owner would have had it. From the sounds of it he had all the options that were available on the selespeed 147 at the time.

Yes I meant to say the idle accentuater.


By the way I've got a Supersprint back box for a 146 for sale. I had brought it my 145 but it sticks out way to far the 145 being a shorter wheelbase. Interested?

You can't have a pitted badge!!!!


san

Ok.. just to make you happy I'm gonna post the two pics and let the people decide. Whaddya say? Obviously it's not metal so the plastic is not pitted but the chrome is pittedish..

This post has been edited by Ganz: 19th August 2018 21:22