Ownership Verified: I've Gone Full Madman: Alfa Romeo 156

Today was another semi-productive day. I replaced the huge and hideous tax disc holder with one that's much easier on the eyes. I also made it out for some quick pictures!





I still haven't gotten around to removing the hideous tow bar. And yes, that is a Nurburgring decal. I'm undecided as to whether or not I'm going to remove it.


And finally some decent daytime interior shots with the new Pioneer installed.





Sevs753 said:
Wait, people actually bought Zunes? :p
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Some of us did. And I liked it so much I bought two.

Labcoatguy said:
..or Alfas, or MGs, or...

:p
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I never claimed to make wise purchases. :p

Lastsoul said:
I've the same 1400UB on my 406. I bought it because red matches instruments, its got USB and it was cheap :p

Apart from minor problems in user friendliness I've been very satisfied. The red is a bit too bright at night compared to the orangish glow of the Pug interior, how is it compared to the Alfa?
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It's just a little brighter than the rest of the interior. I'm liking it so far.
 
Looks properly nice, congrats! Now all you need is some nice pics when it's clean. One thing got me thinking though is the fuel economy. 2.0, revvy Italian twinspark. Surely it hits the drink hard? What do you manage to get MPG-wise?
 
With a Ford truck, the blue oval glue remains will do for a Nascar sticker...
 
TC said:
Take a road trip to Germany and decide afterwards. :driving:
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If I do ever make it to the 'Ring I hope to do it as part of Finalgear's big meet and preferably as a stop on a trip around Europe on the Triumph. :cool:

You need one of these for your truck. They're quite popular with Land Rover owners here.



The Doctor 90 said:
Looks properly nice, congrats! Now all you need is some nice pics when it's clean. One thing got me thinking though is the fuel economy. 2.0, revvy Italian twinspark. Surely it hits the drink hard? What do you manage to get MPG-wise?
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I haven't had a chance to run the numbers yet but I'll be sure to update it here when I do. I'm guessing it's going to be around 25-30mpg combined.
 
KaJuN said:
If I do ever make it to the 'Ring I hope to do it as part of Finalgear's big meet and preferably as a stop on a trip around Europe on the Triumph. :cool:

You need one of these for your truck. They're quite popular with Land Rover owners here.
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I hope to be able to put my real sticker on next year. :D

I agree with the leave it and earn it, but I understand that you'd rather be on the bike.
 
And the first fuel economy results are in!

26.5 MPG in USA maths, 32 in .uk

Hmm not quite as good as I expecting but hell, its an Alfa. :p

Other that that there's nothing else to report. She hasn't done a thing wrong yet.
 
You have a 2.0 Twinspark and you're doing 8.7l/100km. Are you a granny? :lol:
 
KaJuN said:
If I do ever make it to the 'Ring I hope to do it as part of Finalgear's big meet and preferably as a stop on a trip around Europe on the Triumph. :cool:
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You should give some serious thought to coming to Ringmeet next year at the very least, and joining in the roadtrip if you can.

Many lulz will be had.
 
I won't let it happen again. :p

And an actual update this time. When I bought the car the light in the temperature control knob was burnt out. First world problems suck! After doing some research I was dreading having to change it because the entire console has to come apart. Well I got in the car tonight and the light is working! This car mends itself! :thumbsup:
 
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True Alfa greatness. :mrgreen:
 
I'm about to have my first experience with working on the Alfa! The fan belt has been making the old banshee squeal lately so it's time for a new one (and hopefully it's just the belt and not something more expensive like a pulley). Once it comes in tomorrow I'll try my luck at changing it. And if I haven't smashed the car to pieces out of sheer frustration I also plan on finally getting around to removing that ugly-ass tow bar.

Fixing an Italian car, how hard can it be?
 
Stop saying that!
 
KaJuN said:
Fixing an Italian car, how hard can it be?
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Changing the fan belt on an Alfa 156 is an activity that should be viewed as inhumane torture under the Geneva Conventions and is an act of pure evil that I do not wish upon anyone.

First you have to remove a little plastic cover piece that's held on with one bolt rust and two hex head bolts that immediately round out as soon as the proper tool touches them. Once you've vice-gripped the bolts off you're greeted with a sight that instantly makes you lose the will to live: there's a whole inch of space to work in. The space is so tight that you have to bend and twist the belt just to get it around half the pulleys. Then, due to an engine mount being in the way, it's physically impossible to touch either of the two leftmost pulleys. So you have to feed though enough slack and pray to your favorite deity that the belt catches both pulleys as you pull the slack through the other side. Once you do that you have to feed slack back toward the left (again, more prayers that the belt won't fall off) and dislocate a few fingers to get the belt over the tensioner pulley. Once that's done it's time to find the longest 15mm wrench that you can find and find some sort of extension because you're going to need every nanometer of movement on the tensioner to give you even a minute chance of squeezing the belt over the idler pulley. Once you manage that you're going to need a very large beer to get your senses back (the step I'm on now).

Over three hours start to finish. Jesus. Tap-dancing. Christ.

The good news is that the problem is fixed! She's nice and quiet now. Also after taking a closer look at the ugly-ass tow bar it seems I have to pull the exhaust down and remove the heat shield before anything can come off so that's a project for another day. Or until I can get a big grinder.
 
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