big_wasa
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| posted on 20/7/07 at 08:29 PM |
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Any ALFA ROMEO experts on here ?
My mate’s dad has got a year 2000 Alfa 156 2L twin spark. It looks fantastic with full leather ect ect ect.
It’s been sat in a barn for nearly a year because the engine is blown (bottom end).
Looking at the cars for sale on eBay this looks like a common problem. As many spares or repairs as there are good cars
Due to the above s/h engines seem to carry a large premium.
Q1 I’ve rebuilt a few engines all Ford, is an Alfa engine any harder to rebuild?
Q2 Are the bits likely to be silly money?
I was thinking if I can get the car for not a lot of cash having shown him a few on eBay.
Q3 Would it be economical to fix it and get me a nice car for a modest amount of cash with a big dollop of time 
Your opinions please chaps
[Edited on 20/7/07 by big_wasa]
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theconrodkid
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| posted on 20/7/07 at 08:36 PM |
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bits tend to be expensive and seeings as its a quality engine ,built by people who know how to build engines there are a lot more bits in them,get a
manual before you start.
they seem to explode when used at high revs all the time and never have the oil changed.....btw use the proper oil as well
who cares who wins
pass the pork pies
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 20/7/07 at 08:48 PM |
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My step brother has just blown his 2.0 TS w reg 156.
1, There are no second hand alfa engines available as ALL TS engines have the same fate
2, The parts are prohibitively expensive for a rebuild, and the block is so flexible, that a line bore will make it almost jelly like.
3, A new Alfa engine is £2700+vat fitted, more than the value of the car.
4, Pillock is having a new engine fitted as 'the car is a piece of sculpture', more money than sense by quite a margine.
I suggested a 3.0 engine from a 3.0 164 and MS to make it work, a very good engine, but totally incompatible with the TC electonics
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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gazza285
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| posted on 20/7/07 at 09:43 PM |
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Simpson salvage have a few in for breaking at the minute, you could give them a try.
Eyetie scrappers.
DO NOT PUT ON KNOB OR BOLLOCKS!
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Ketchup
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| posted on 20/7/07 at 09:44 PM |
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When these engines fail, they tend to blow a large hole in either the front/back or both of the block, a self-rebuild of the engine would be very
expensive and near to impossible to sorce the parts. I use a chap i found via ebay of all places to get replacement engines, last one was £1200 for a
fully rebuilt engine, and came with a garantee, been very impressed so far, its done over 20k miles since and not missed a beat. The worst thing is
fitting the bastards!
[Edited on 20/7/07 by Ketchup]
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mistergrumpy
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| posted on 20/7/07 at 10:32 PM |
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Aye as above really. Parts are expensive and there tend to be lots more of them and they do tend to blow holes in the block. My advice is to steer
clear of any main dealers if you can, absolutely rubbish. One in Bolton won't even get out of his chair to talk to you if you don't
address him first with your VIN number 
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theconrodkid
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| posted on 21/7/07 at 05:23 AM |
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being the masters of adaptation couldnt you graft say a zetec engine/engine -box into it?
who cares who wins
pass the pork pies
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big_wasa
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| posted on 21/7/07 at 06:46 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by theconrodkid
being the masters of adaptation couldnt you graft say a zetec engine/engine -box into it?
Funny you should say that it has crossed my mind 
I never will get the 7 done if I try that
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Alfa145
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| posted on 21/7/07 at 09:27 AM |
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Avoid main dealers like the palgue.
Several links that might help you in deciding
Couple of helpful forums
www.alfa145.com
www.alfaowner.com
Good local'ish independant specialist, very highly recommended and very helpful
http://www.peakalfa.co.uk/
Good source of parts
http://www.shop4parts.co.uk/
Full workshop Manual for the Alfa 145 but covers the 2.0 TS engine
http://www.alfa145.com/gallery.asp?URL=\Alfa145Manual
Guide to changing the phase variator might give a git of help
http://home.hccnet.nl/jaap.bouma/PhaseVariator.htm
Should be lots of posts on the forums from people that have done the same with rough costs.
The TS is a great engine, just needs looking after much more than the mainstream engines and needs regular belt changes so a set of cam locking blocks
are a good investment
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big_wasa
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| posted on 21/7/07 at 07:20 PM |
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Hmmm nice car but looks like a good refurb would be over a grand plus fitting ect.
I think the term is, beyond economic repair..
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martyn_16v
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| posted on 22/7/07 at 08:14 PM |
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I just had to replace the engine in the mrs 147, it spun the big ends because she ran it low on oil once or twice (or in her words, 'oh yeah,
it's been beeping at me now and then for a while now' ). To be fair, she's not used to cars with an oil consumption comparable
to it's petrol consumption (it uses both at an alarming rate, alfa owners seem to think that more than a litre every 1000 miles is somehow
acceptable just because they more or less all do it...)
I got a recon engine from Ital Autos (they advertise in
[url=http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/alfa-156-147-166-gtv-spider-2-0-tspark-recon-engine_W0QQitemZ120141833943QQihZ002QQcategoryZ10370QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem]eBay[
/url]). Nice enough blokes, i'd recommend getting them to fit it for the money they charge, I didn't and wish I had - it wasn't
particularly difficult but there's just so much more on these new fangled cars than i'm used to, it took me ages.
Needless to say, i'm running the thing in and then selling it on as soon as possible, it's a sodding money pit
[Edited on 22/7/07 by martyn_16v]
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