So this is awkward, but a while ago I was hunting for a 159TI for good times and reliable transportation, and I subsequently bought a 156 Sillyspeed because it was there and it was cleaner than any other 159 even close to the price point. There's a thread about it somewhere where I gush about how amazing it is like a school girl.... Anyways...
I initially got the selespeed because the girlfriend is an auto person and we needed a car we could both run when needed, I drove it everywhere for a while and then as the weather started to dry would drive the 72 Corona more and more. Eventually the girlfriend, crafty thing that she is, saw the Alfa sitting idle and started taking it to work. Fast forward a few weeks and her old neesan wouldn't start in the driveway.... you can see where this is going...
I impulse bought a 159 TI.
A 2.2 Selespeed because sadism.
It appears to have spent it's life sitting in a car park full of cactuses carrying 5 toddlers drinking red cordial.
That said, it was sub $3k, one owner from new and full history. It overheated on them a few times and another mechanic told them it was the head gasket. Coolant in the oil apparently. Either they put in some magical head gasket repair additive that actually does work or someone doesn't know what oil looks like 😝
I find myself in the same position as an earlier thread - I just wanted a daily I wasn't too attached to, something I wouldn't stress about getting dirty. What I ended up with is a better car than I ever imagined and for practically pocket change. As always, purchase price is just the admission ticket for an Alfa, it's going to need control arms, a new air con resistor and a new accumulator, not to mention a high pressure wash of the interior and some vinyl wrap and probably front tires soonish but everything freakin works! I mean yeah it's only working at this exact moment but how often do you buy a car under 3k with all the fruit still edible? 😂
The only bad part of the drive currently is the clutch is lazy, it waits until you rev higher than usual to fully engage but I figure the accumulator leaking onto the switches has something to do with it, I'd love to dismantle the thing and see how it works but cilebertis do such fine work I only shed a single tear when I swipe the card now unlike my restoration projects, so all I have to do is pry myself out of the seat so they can work on it 😂
I'll post some interior pictures once I've cleaned up as it had taken such a beating over the years it'd only upset you to see it 😂 But as mentioned, if anyone is unsure about going for the 159 don't second guess, go drive one and put the smile back in your daily drive.
(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/96/94/RLLOATf7_t.jpg) (http://imgbox.com/RLLOATf7)
Looks nice, what a bargain.
Are you leaving the tow eye in the front bumper (per your teaser photo the other day) for effect or has it been put away?
TLDR:
Later model Alfa in better than earlier model Alfa shocker!! ^ :)
^although to be expected, given later model Alfa was always preferred/desired. Next weeks episode includes; the GF decides the 159 is actually her car ('cos she's well fit#) and a good mate lets the original poster drive a Giulietta QV (in D with the reins off) just ruining Christmas for absolutely everybody ;)
Seriously ... drive a GQV, just for shits and giggles
#mine is, I'm sure yours is too
Very clever. ;D
Hehe, don't tempt me, there are some very cheap ones getting around town - I wasn't taken with the interior and seats in the progression but the QV gets you there fast enough I imagine I wouldn't dwell on that. Problem would be I'd take it out and drive it hard, then tweak it and drive it harder, then something would break and my other machines would go hungry [emoji22]
Fortunately the gf can't see too well out of this one and hasn't wanted to give it a crack yet. I'll have to lure her into it with air fresheners and Gelato then sneak off to the dealership and - wait... goddammit [emoji23]
If I were any good at talking in real life I'd do a video for all the people at home who've wondered how the 156 & 159 compare, because the term "better" is somewhat subjective. They're different, I would say they're better at different things than the other, neither is as raw as the GTV6 or 33 but neither is as clinical (some would say sterile) as a German or Jap equivalent.
In any case I'm very happy I've saved it from further life with children [emoji28]
Trigger warning - images of Alfa abuse follow.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181122/7f1a793898637a0eb2a3e9a2455f03e6.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181122/957f96ff52573fa179eaadabd07bca87.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181122/aa837046dd7b6d5953594022963df0d3.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181122/fab9657f6202a0523f3129dac0621106.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181122/31166534cb01edc7662e27e95717495d.jpg)
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Just... How? (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181122/761d93978fae5270ee068264eb94224d.jpg)
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There was at least 8 hours of this going on... (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181122/9bfacd27ff28aad3eefd1ee9729c5b37.jpg)
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The first of many repairs (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181122/daed1e164444d967b0e44d0f359b7337.jpg)
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Do they get sticky consoles like the 147/GT?
[Snigger]
... every now and again the GQV does
Careful while they're waving the ban-stick around. :P
Frère Pseud was 80% of the way to getting the carpet and underlay out, makes detailing even more thorough...
Hehe, yeah I think they had soft touch coatings. Well they used to be soft touch [emoji13]
Much vacuum and scrubbing later and car resembles an interior again - next job, accumulator leak [emoji108]
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QuoteI've saved it from further life with children
I ferried some colleagues up country in the 156 the other day, and they gushed over how new, neat and tidy my interior is despite being 19yo.
"Of course it is. I'm the only person who ever goes in it..."
Truth be told, it was only about the third time anyone has travelled in the back seat since I bought it nearly three years ago.
And one of the advantages of no cup-holders - soft drinks, iced coffees, choc milks have no reason to be admitted...
As usual, the Alfa gods have heard my pleasure at nothing breaking and this morning it ate it's coolant and spewed burnt plastic smell out of the air con [emoji23]
Fun times.
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Reminds me of that brilliant movie title - "Robin Hood - Men in Tights - The legend had it coming!"
One could resurrect that to - "The Faultless Alfa Romeo - The owner had it coming!" ::)
Ahhh 159 joys, seems as though I was in your position a few months back when I wanted a 'cheap' daily and one I would not fuss over if it got a door ding.
Ended up buying a mint 159 and take better care of it than my 'weekend car'! I absolutely love mine, the 2.4 with a 6 speed is a joy to drive. Plus the fact I think it is one of the best looking sedans ever.
Well done with your purchase, not everyday you can pick up a Ti for that price. The wheels and seats are worth 2k by themselves! Your interior cleaned up really nicely, never knew a car could get so dirty.
Andrew.
I noticed in the pictures, previous owners had left a Haynes on the rear floor carpets - it's probably now come in handy. :P
You'll have to take your Tojo
To the Cars and Coffee meet
It might not have the aircon
But it doesn't overheat
Italian, neglected
Burst your carnival balloon,
The joys of new possession
All diminished far too soon
Cleaning kiddie fingerprints off
Where the sun has never shone
From an Alfa in a garage
In a puddle of its own
While you're looking up your Eper
Sourcing spares apace
And you're posting from your Apple
Crying silently in space
...Like the serpents that you find
On the logos in your mind
Garage Oddity - A ballad to orphaned vehicles [emoji23]
It's pretty strange actually - it'll eat all the coolant up to maybe an inch or so beneath the minimum mark and just stay there. Drove around all day like that. The more sinister symptom is the occasional spot of milky oil on the dipstick. I still have to investigate this eLearn program in more detail to see if it's remotely useful for figuring out how the cooling system works, but I'm entertaining the notion of a small cross gallery failure at the HG, which obviously fills me with joy but I can't really complain, is there ever such thing as a cheap Alfa [emoji23]
Having driven the 156 concurrently I'm pretty sure if I had picked up V6 156 that probably would've been the sweet spot for me. Although yes, I admit I've not yet parked the 159 without taking a look back, they are a stunning shape.
I think even if I keep this one running a 1750 159 is on the horizon [emoji4]
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Still driving it, or has the repair process commenced?
I confess I have been remiss of late, my friendly hoist was tied up the other week so it's off at the mechanics to yay or nay the head and occasionally I remember that I own it [emoji23]
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After much scratching of noggins and driving by gauges it finally launched up a fireball to accompany the smoke last week - metaphorically speaking fortunately. It lost a bit of coolant here and there, occasionally there'd be traces of it in the oil, then I checked it after a run to work and the majority of the overflow bottle was missing and the oil looked like a macchiato. I can only theorize that the gasket material was hanging in there under low pressure and it finally gave up the ghost. Off to chat to the shop about whether it's worth saving or not [emoji19]
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Would it run OK with a 120Y donk in there? ;)
If I were obscenely rich or a mechanic with a masochistic fetish I'd give it an LS3 and the 120Y the 2.2L [emoji23]
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Nah, Thema 8.32 transplant into the 159.
So this is fixed now, per implication in other posts?
Technically it'll be fixed soon, and technically it wasn't as much fixed as the problem replaced outright. And by problem I mean engine.
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120Y?
Whats the difference between a Datsun 180B & 200B?
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20 mistakes! ::)
;D
It might have been slightly less nuts to simply buy a 120Y and put a fibreglass 159 shell over the top like a doorslammer.
Did the head and the coolant was still in the oil. I went to Italy for two weeks and when I got back Leo had a new engine ready to go in and mine on a pallet with dirty crack in the bottom of a gallery. How this has dodged the pressure tests this far is beyond me.
The only plus side has been the replacement block is 60,000k old and they got the clutch assembly as well as mine was tired. Well that and I forked out for some port and polish and new valves - 25% increase in flow isn't bad but with perfect hindsight a straight engine swap would've made my wallet happier.
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