I'll get round to it at some point - Alfa Alternator Extravaganza

[comfortablynumb]

Oh bugger! Wish I'd known you were coming for this @Rust Collector, you were about 25 miles from all those Yugo bits!

Oh well, too late now 😕

[Rust Collector]

Seeing as I told my mrs this would be a quick project, I decided it best to head up the yard today and crack on with changing the alternator on the Alfa.

I had watched the recent video by Tasty Classics where he tackled this job from underneath the car, and that cemented my decision that going in the top was the way to go.

The top:

If you have x-ray vision, then you’ll be able to see that the alternator is under here:

After taking the dress-up cover off, I noticed that two of the injectors are a bit wet. I’ll be replacing all these o-rings anyway, so I’ll keep an eye on this once the car is in use:

All the clips are this type, I’m not sure how I feel about that - I reckon it might be worth buying the right tool to refit them:

This earth nut was stuck fast, we all know what happens when it lets go:

Luckily, as a result of the work on the XM my body no longer contains any blood, so this didn’t leak any red stuff.

My plan was to pull the wiring loom and go from there. Here’s a view of the general chaos at this point:

The top of the manifold is held on by 13mm bolts at either end. One is ok to get to:

The other is one of those bolts that’s so cleverly* laid out that you can only access it by laying across the engine bay and giving the engine a reach around:

But wait, there’s more! Grab every extension you own, roll under the car and remove two 15mm bolts that are holding the bottom of the intake to a bushing:

Whilst I was underneath the car, I saw a glimpse of my future:

I’ll patch the holes, but stuff like this will likely get some structural black paint and a prayer to the gods of wob:

Finally, after some twisting and swearing, the engine bay birthed an inlet plenum:

From there it was a case of unbolting the alternator and removing it. Naturally, even the bolts are blocked from coming straight out:

I think you’re meant to remove those pipes. I went for Removal Lite, which involved gently encouraging them to occupy a slightly different space using some leverage. A few more brackets were removed from the back of the engine, and the alternator was vomited out:

Comparison revealed that they appear to actually be a match, so well done to whoever ordered that from eBay! Fingers crossed it actually works… at any rate, re installation is the reverse of removal etc.:

I wanted to get home in time to see my kids before they went to bed, so I left it at this point. Here’s what I’ll be looking at next time:

I suspect that putting everything back in will be just as tedious, but I feel like some of the worst parts are over now.

For anyone curious, I spent about 5 hours on this, but working at my usual procrastinator pace. I would say that this is doable in a day if you focussed; still a shit load of time for an alternator, but possibly not as horrible as it’s made out to be on some of the Alfa forums. It definitely didn’t hit XM levels of misery at any point today.

I took some pictures of the car for my mrs before coming home, as this is the first occasion that I’ve spent any time around the car in daylight. I think it’s a really pretty car, and mrs RC agrees - I’m 95% certain that it’ll go her way once done, and so next up I’ll likely be recommissioning and selling the W211 E320.

For now though, have some photos of a car I didn’t realise I would like so much:

Im genuinely very excited to get this car back on the road!

[bramz7]

Nice to see one that isn't red too. 

I like the 147. My last one was a bit of a dog, unfortunately, but they seemingly all get cruise control whilst the 156 does not. And heated seats. And cup holders. 4 years of development 😂

 

 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

Im genuinely very excited to get this car back on the road!

Top work, another easy* fix!

[Schaefft]

Great work so far, it'll be a huge win once the alternator is sorted and hopefully soon in the distant past (best to get shit jobs out of the way before you get familiar with the car). Glad this 147 lives on!

[Rust Collector]

12 hours ago, bramz7 said:

Nice to see one that isn't red too. 

I like the 147. My last one was a bit of a dog, unfortunately, but they seemingly all get cruise control whilst the 156 does not. And heated seats. And cup holders. 4 years of development 😂

 

 

I always thought the 147 was a bit of an ugly duckling compared to things like the 156, but I have to admit that having seen this one in person I am finding that the aesthetic has grown on me. I agree RE the spec - this seems really nicely kitted out for a mid sized hatchback, I’m sure it’ll be a really nice place to be once it’s up and running.

10 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Top work, another easy* fix!

Thanks mate, you know I love an easy* project 🤣 Once it’s done, I’ll have to bring it along with me to our next catch up so that you can have a gander.

10 hours ago, Schaefft said:

Great work so far, it'll be a huge win once the alternator is sorted and hopefully soon in the distant past (best to get shit jobs out of the way before you get familiar with the car). Glad this 147 lives on!

Thanks mate, that was definitely the logic on this one - better to get stuck into a big job straight away and get it crossed off the list. If I put these things off and focus on smaller jobs then I find it harder to get motivated for the larger stuff.

[Brigsy]

Good to see this one is being saved. Alternator looks like a fun job to change!

[vtec-e]

Well persevered so far. I'm sure I would still be poking around and scratching my chin, and deciding the best way! Looking forward to the next update.

I had a pair of Alfasud 1.5's back in the day, and drove a 1.2 (1186cc) a lot, including from JOG to Lands End, so know a lot about the issues. But I'd still run any Ulez compliant older 147/156/GTV that cropped up just for the character they have.