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.

[Christine]

Ta for the heads up on the tyre valve tool . Bought a similar one today    . fuckin  brilliant innit ?  I didn't think it would work but ..  Pop!  Straight in !  

 

 

 

[Rust Collector]

On 06/10/2025 at 21:26, Christine said:

Ta for the heads up on the tyre valve tool . Bought a similar one today    . fuckin  brilliant innit ?  I didn't think it would work but ..  Pop!  Straight in !  

 

 

 

It’s honestly the best cheap tool I’ve bought in ages - couldn’t believe how easy it was to swap the valve out with it.

Congrats on the Clio’s MOT pass by the way!

[Rust Collector]

Nothing much to update in terms of car content, I haven’t moved anything and I haven’t been back up to the yard this weekend.

I did set about sorting the trailer out though.

A previous owner had notched the lip around the bed, to fit Mercedes alloys for some reason. This was letting the bed bend too much, and was causing Bad Stuff ™️.

I cut up some spare box section I had that was the same thickness, welded it in and chucked some zinc primer over it.

Hopefully that stops it wobbling like a diving board. It definitely was a lot better once it was back on the deck, I could jump up and down on the tail of it without any noticeable bending.

The new brake shoes seem to have settled into place, but this now meant there was too much travel in the over run hitch before the brakes actuated. Whilst it was up in the air I nipped up the brake adjusters and took some slack out the brake rod, the brakes seem to be spot on again now - 6 clicks on the handbrake has the wheels locked up.

I didn’t take a picture once it was all back together, as it was pretty dark by that point. The shitey looking primer is hidden behind the wheel arches though, so things still look sort of presentable. I wouldn’t mind giving the whole thing a coat of paint though, the sea air has left it looking a bit orange.

In the near future I’d like to weld on some extra lashing points, as the ones on it are really badly positioned for wheel straps. I’d like some better ramps too, I hate the ones it has - they’re steel angle with checker plate in the middle and weigh a fucking ton.

The main thing is that I’m back to being able to lug stuff around on it.

[High Jetter]

44 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

Nothing much to update in terms of car content, I haven’t moved anything and I haven’t been back up to the yard this weekend.

I did set about sorting the trailer out though.

A previous owner had notched the lip around the bed, to fit Mercedes alloys for some reason. This was letting the bed bend too much, and was causing Bad Stuff ™️.

I cut up some spare box section I had that was the same thickness, welded it in and chucked some zinc primer over it.

Hopefully that stops it wobbling like a diving board. It definitely was a lot better once it was back on the deck, I could jump up and down on the tail of it without any noticeable bending.

The new brake shoes seem to have settled into place, but this now meant there was too much travel in the over run hitch before the brakes actuated. Whilst it was up in the air I nipped up the brake adjusters and took some slack out the brake rod, the brakes seem to be spot on again now - 6 clicks on the handbrake has the wheels locked up.

I didn’t take a picture once it was all back together, as it was pretty dark by that point. The shitey looking primer is hidden behind the wheel arches though, so things still look sort of presentable. I wouldn’t mind giving the whole thing a coat of paint though, the sea air has left it looking a bit orange.

In the near future I’d like to weld on some extra lashing points, as the ones on it are really badly positioned for wheel straps. I’d like some better ramps too, I hate the ones it has - they’re steel angle with checker plate in the middle and weigh a fucking ton.

The main thing is that I’m back to being able to lug stuff around on it.

Revenue possibilities there, maybe?

[comfortablynumb]

On 06/10/2025 at 21:26, Christine said:

Ta for the heads up on the tyre valve tool . Bought a similar one today    . fuckin  brilliant innit ?  I didn't think it would work but ..  Pop!  Straight in !  

 

 

 

Snap! Just bought one of those myself ( although mine has a knob on the end rather than the screwdriver end, some would say like all my tools 🥺)

Glad to hear they work well, haven't tried mine yet, took over a week to get here

[Christine]

10 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

It’s honestly the best cheap tool I’ve bought in ages - couldn’t believe how easy it was to swap the valve out with it.

Congrats on the Clio’s MOT pass by the way!

Clio had 2 new tyres in the week , i asked the lad for some valves and got a hand full free . Lad wouuldn't have it  you can revalve a wheel without removing the tyre ..or even removing the wheel from the car !  

[Rust Collector]

9 hours ago, High Jetter said:

Revenue possibilities there, maybe?

To legitimately use it commercially would need me to organise a tacho for the disco, get an O licence and suitable trade insurance - plus the disco and trailer are probably a bit too shite for full on use like that. I looked into a while back, but I’m not sure how anyone makes any money judging by the jobs I saw quoted on Shiply, anyvan etc.

[Christine]

Easily sorted ..shift cars for kent and sussex  members for free 

[loserone]

I have wondered if I could justify keeping the range rover by doing the odd shuffle to pay for itself and buying a decent trailer.  But as soon as it jumps from doing a one off favour, it becomes a nightmare..

[comfortablynumb]

Paging @worldofceri😁

I've got a range rover ( well several) and a trailer, but I'll only shift stuff for myself and one or two trusted mates.

The rangies I've had for many years, the trailer came as part of a package of a car we bought, which was, surprise, another range rover 

Edit- yes I know he's not in that game any more, just that it'd be worth having his input 

[Rust Collector]

55 minutes ago, Christine said:

Easily sorted ..shift cars for kent and sussex  members in exchange for short wheelbase Pajeros 

Edited for accuracy my dreams 😂

[Rust Collector]

59 minutes ago, loserone said:

I have wondered if I could justify keeping the range rover by doing the odd shuffle to pay for itself and buying a decent trailer.  But as soon as it jumps from doing a one off favour, it becomes a nightmare..

I’ve had mates ask me to shift stuff as a favour before, normally one of the following has prevented me being able to help:

• The trailer is broken
• The Land Rover is broken
• Everything is broken
• It’s the annual five minute window where everything works, but then the diesel cost frightens them off.

Picking the Alfa up must have been about £100 in diesel, and I was out from 10am until about 8pm. By the time there’s a few quid on top to make it worth not spending a day off with my family or working on my own stuff then the cost is getting up towards what a professional would do it for anyway.

Final consideration is that even if it’s being done as a favour, I can guarantee that most of my acquaintances would very much make it my problem if anything went wrong during transport, and I don’t need the stress of that!

[Christine]

When i had a dedicated range rover to off road , i towed it to various sites with a ex mod series 2a LWB , on a trailer very similar to yours . It would snake badly ,  even with a bulldog antisnake tightened right up , at anything over 30mph ..   i think the problem was car tyres on the trailer 155 13 s with 2  1/2  tons on them !  Doing a three , or more often a 6 point turn  the tyres were almost ripped from the wheels . Max pressure about 35psi !  The horse trailer i still have,   is on 165 13 C s with stiffer side walls , thats ok to tow . 

[Rust Collector]

19 minutes ago, Christine said:

When i had a dedicated range rover to off road , i towed it to various sites with a ex mod series 2a LWB , on a trailer very similar to yours . It would snake badly ,  even with a bulldog antisnake tightened right up , at anything over 30mph ..   i think the problem was car tyres on the trailer 155 13 s with 2  1/2  tons on them !  Doing a three , or more often a 6 point turn  the tyres were almost ripped from the wheels . Max pressure about 35psi !  The horse trailer i still have,   is on 165 13 C s with stiffer side walls , thats ok to tow . 

My one came to me on car alloys and tyres, so I bought some suitable steelies and a set of these before I used it for lugging cars:

I run them at 55-60 psi when laden and it tows nicely like that. I’ve started running them at 30 psi when unladen to stop the trailer bouncing into space on potholes and ruts though.

I took it for a run earlier and it feels spot on now that I’ve taken the last of the slack slack out the brake rod and welded those notched out sections back in.

I wonder how the trailer will break next 🤔😂

[Rust Collector]

Time for a long overdue update.

After fixing the trailer, I decided it was time to finally fix my fence.

Possibly overkill, but I don’t have anything with roof bars on currently!

Shortly after this, Vito passed away and so things were a little off kilter. Life carried on though and cars continued to break so I have still been doing some work. I also had arranged to re him a donkey…

I took Daisy with me and set off to the arranged rendezvous, which was the reason for having previously welded up the trailer.

Many hours later, and after battling torrential rain on the way home, I had this:

I like this a lot, and I absolutely cannot wait to be able to use it as my daily.

I also recently dragged this thing home from my parents’ house, and set about fixing some important and some less important parts:

I booked it into an MOT a couple of weeks ago, then realised the wiper mechanism was seized. I attempted to un-seize it, but the casting snapped.

Mwap-Mwap.

A replacement was cheap though, so I fitted one and then topped up the AC because I was bored.

It’s ice cold now, but remains to see how long it stays like that.

I had it booked for MOT Saturday, but then on Friday night discovered my dad had lost the V5C so I couldn’t register/tax it if it passed. I cancelled the MOT and will take it when I get a replacement log book, as seems pointless for it to sit around unused if it passes.

The Clio needed some love too; it had two bad ball joints. I drove it one night and noticed that under certain circumstances the steering just didn’t feel right. It was knocking like a bastard too, but to be fair there’s a plethora of things that knock on that car which aren’t mission critical and so new noises can be hard to hear.

I had a ball joint on the shelf, so relaxed the worst one and ordered a second.

I fitted the other side when the Merc should’ve gone in for MOT, and so at least I’m not worrying about the arms on the Clio falling off now.

To try something a bit different, I made a video of this; I think I’d be up for doing a combination of written posts alongside some vlogging if there is appetite for it. Apologies for the unpolished nature; my phone is shit and I don’t have a mic etc.

Today I was meant to go to the yard and do some work, but I didn’t feel great and so I decided to clear up my shit-tip of a courtyard at home. I decided the best way to do this was by going and getting my gardening trailer from the farm, to save emptying my tools out the Land Rover…

Yeah, I’m not sorting that today.

What’s next then? Probably something like this:

• Finish fixing the Alfa, and sell it.
• Wait for the log book on the Merc, then MOT it and sell it.
• Buy another car (one of you will read this and know 😉)
• Fix the Pug and use it.
• Fix anything which breaks in the meantime.
• One of a million other things I’ve forgotten I’m meant to be doing.

So yeah, there we are. I still don’t feel quite right after losing Vito, so my motivation is up and down, but I could do with putting some money back in the bank so I do really need to crack on and start getting some cars ready to go out the door!

[wesacosa]

17 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

Time for a long overdue update.

After fixing the trailer, I decided it was time to finally fix my fence.

Possibly overkill, but I don’t have anything with roof bars on currently!

Shortly after this, Vito passed away and so things were a little off kilter. Life carried on though and cars continued to break so I have still been doing some work. I also had arranged to re him a donkey…

I took Daisy with me and set off to the arranged rendezvous, which was the reason for having previously welded up the trailer.

Many hours later, and after battling torrential rain on the way home, I had this:

I like this a lot, and I absolutely cannot wait to be able to use it as my daily.

I also recently dragged this thing home from my parents’ house, and set about fixing some important and some less important parts:

I booked it into an MOT a couple of weeks ago, then realised the wiper mechanism was seized. I attempted to un-seize it, but the casting snapped.

Mwap-Mwap.

A replacement was cheap though, so I fitted one and then topped up the AC because I was bored.

It’s ice cold now, but remains to see how long it stays like that.

I had it booked for MOT Saturday, but then on Friday night discovered my dad had lost the V5C so I couldn’t register/tax it if it passed. I cancelled the MOT and will take it when I get a replacement log book, as seems pointless for it to sit around unused if it passes.

The Clio needed some love too; it had two bad ball joints. I drove it one night and noticed that under certain circumstances the steering just didn’t feel right. It was knocking like a bastard too, but to be fair there’s a plethora of things that knock on that car which aren’t mission critical and so new noises can be hard to hear.

I had a ball joint on the shelf, so relaxed the worst one and ordered a second.

I fitted the other side when the Merc should’ve gone in for MOT, and so at least I’m not worrying about the arms on the Clio falling off now.

To try something a bit different, I made a video of this; I think I’d be up for doing a combination of written posts alongside some vlogging if there is appetite for it. Apologies for the unpolished nature; my phone is shit and I don’t have a mic etc.

Today I was meant to go to the yard and do some work, but I didn’t feel great and so I decided to clear up my shit-tip of a courtyard at home. I decided the best way to do this was by going and getting my gardening trailer from the farm, to save emptying my tools out the Land Rover…

Yeah, I’m not sorting that today.

What’s next then? Probably something like this:

• Finish fixing the Alfa, and sell it.
• Wait for the log book on the Merc, then MOT it and sell it.
• Buy another car (one of you will read this and know 😉)
• Fix the Pug and use it.
• Fix anything which breaks in the meantime.
• One of a million other things I’ve forgotten I’m meant to be doing.

So yeah, there we are. I still don’t feel quite right after losing Vito, so my motivation is up and down, but I could do with putting some money back in the bank so I do really need to crack on and start getting some cars ready to go out the door!

I wondered where the 306 went. Congratulations for taking it on, such a cool colour and a nice looking car.

 

[Rust Collector]

Bad news everyone, I’ve made more content:

This one goes over the work to put the Alfa back together and transport it home, along with a peek at the 306 and E320.

I appreciate it’s not the format for everyone, so I will do a proper write up this evening or tomorrow to cover all the excitement* that took place over the weekend.

[RoadworkUK]

Have just subscribed!

Was lovely to hear Donkey firing up. So glad it went in your direction, and we very much hope things work out for you. Also best wishes to family and doggo.

 

[Rust Collector]

On 25/11/2025 at 11:28, Rust Collector said:

I will do a proper write up this evening or tomorrow

Yeah, so, about that...

Let's catch up on all the fun of the last few weeks then! The main theme is that I've been ill, stressed and a bit miserable - hence a lack of enthusiasm to update this thread. Last week I did the thing which us chaps aren't always great at doing though, and talked through the things that were troubling me; I'm pleased to say that I'm back to a much cheerier state of existence again, even if life's challenges still persist.

Firstly, a jump a bit further back, to when this magnificent beast arrived!

@RoadworkUK kindly allowed me to rehome Donkey, and even more kindly entertained both myself and Daisy the golden retriever for a cup of tea and a chat. 14/10, was fantastic to meet you both - next time I'm up the yard I will remove the steering wheel to ship up to you (I hadn't forgot!) along with the beers (which I also haven't forgotten, I promise!).

So, jumping back to the weekend which the last video covers. My plan was to head to the yard on Saturday, refit the alternator and aux belt, load the Alfa up on the trailer and then bring it home so that I could do the fuel lines and welding on the driveway. Every time I go back to this car, I just can't help think what a pretty little thing it is; looks can be deceptive though, and it remains a total bastard to work on.

Refitting the inlet plenum etc. wasn't too agonising, now I knew where all the fasteners were it was a bit quicker to reinstall. The worst part was routing the wiring loom, I had a few false starts on that front. Once I figured out all the routing though it was again not too bad to connect everything back up.

I then had what can only be described as the worst experience of fitting a belt that I can ever remember having. There is no space at all to work in, and the amount of force needed to keep the tensioner in the 'slack' position is absolutely mad, and the route the belt takes around it is not conducive to feeding it into place one handed. I swore my arse off, phoned my mrs to vent, and resolved to give up for the evening. Once I finished having my tantrum, I got back under the car, pushed through and managed to get the belt on. Fuck ever doing one of those again though...

The good news is that with the belt fitted, the car now has a working alternator and power steering, happy days! The fuel leak also couldn't be seen anymore... Had it been the line on the rail which was leaking, and removing/refitting it had cured it? (of course it hadn't, but that's for later in the chronology of this post).

It was too late to load up, so I decided to come up another time. I was looking after the kids whilst my mrs was teaching the next day, so didn't plan on coming back that weekend.

However, I didn't want to delay work further, so against my better judgement I did bring the kids back with me the next day. It definitely wasn't the best experience, but it also wasn't a catastrophe - a lot of squash and snacks were consumed as a bargain for toddler patience whilst I dicked around.

One thing I wanted to sort out before loading the car up was the tie down points on the trailer. These were on the A frame for the front straps, and caused issues with rubbing on the bumpers of most cars I loaded up - the straps have scuffed the bumper of the Alfa, which I hope will polish out. My plan of attack for the trailer was to put a hole in each front corner of the bed, using a 30mm hole saw. The first one worked great, the second one snapped the pilot bit fairly quickly, and so new levels of desperation innovation were reached:

With the trailer improved*, I loaded the Alfa up. I really wish I had of made those holes sooner, it's much nicer securing the straps on a straight pull rather than at an angle across the bumper.

I don't want to jinx it, but the recent work on the trailer seems to have paid off, and besides some damaged outline markers it was a painless experience to drag the car home. My son was properly excited about the concept the whole time - he was talking about the trailer for ages afterwards! Here we are near home, and you can see the strap positioning a bit more clearly.

Bringing this home meant I needed to dump something else to make space, and so the E320 went back to the farm whilst I wait for the log book to arrive.

Whilst I was up at the farm, my Mum reminded me that I left the ZX there with no rear end attached, and suggested that it would be good if it could be moved to make space for the mini tractor. I went to go and have a look at it and remind myself the state of play, and discovered that if you dump an old car into a barn and then leave it for a few years, it slowly turns into a clickbait style barn find!

I will probably get that shifted this weekend, all being well.

Back to the Alfa, I picked away at it in the evenings after work. The first snag I discovered, whilst trying to avoid replacing the fuel lines/doing the welding, was that the front and rear windscreen wipers did not work. Bummer. I still couldn't be mad at this face though:

And now, according to my camera roll, a brief interruption to our normal service:

The Clio decided that working was over-rated, and left my partner and daughter stranded. The A-frame was well worth the £30 or so I paid for it, as towing my partner has never gone well before - this setup was able to maintain harmony* in our relationship:

A bit of digging around once I was home revealed this:

I'm sick to my back teeth of shite quality return line hose. It doesn't seem to matter what I pay or where I buy it from, it is always shit and splits after a few months. Luckily I had recently found the original return lines in the back of a BX, and so I've refitted these - hopefully they hold up for a decent amount of time.

Back to the Alfa then - some head scratching, researching and testing resulted in the conclusion that the electrical fault in the wiper circuit was either the column switch or the wiper control unit, which was apparently also in the column switch. It turns out the clock spring and both column stalks are all one unit, so it was steering wheel off time.

I left the nut threaded on when removing the wheel, and so I didn't punch myself in the face for a change. The stalk unit then wasn't too much grief to remove either, which was a nice change.

I did strip it apart and test the components inside that I could, but nothing obvious was broken.

Oh well, it was worth a try.

I tracked down a used replacement for about £30, and that arrived promptly. I installed it, and beside an initial false start where some fucking idiot (me) misread the wiring diagram and left an unimportant* connector unplugged, I was pleased to find that I now had working wipers. There was a split screen wash hose in the engine bay, but happily there was some spare hose laying around in the Lada and so I threw that in to replace the damaged stuff.

Victory as short lived though.

That was new and exciting. I checked the dip stick, and the oil level was right at the end of it - 2 litres of whatever I had in the boot of the Disco had it back up to the minimum mark, and the warning cleared. I did read the fault code logged, and it was recording an intermittent issue with the pressure sensor; I'm not sure where this lives, but the warning did pop up immediately after I refitted the engine dress-up, so I am wondering if there is an electrical issue (although of course it was low on oil).

This brings us to the most recent weekend. Before the joys of shit cars could be appreciated, it was necessary to go and obtain a Christmas tree - this was fun, if not a little bit sad that it was the first year of this tradition where we weren't joined by our lab.

We still had a great time though, and stopped at the Five Bells on the way back for dinner at the pub. This proved to happily coincide with the turning on of their Christmas lights, which featured a couple of classic cars and a Traction engine attending - Fuck me was the steam whistle on that loud!

With fun family stuff completed, it was back to rolling around on the floor under the Alfa. The main focus was the rust, and the fuel lines. I took Monday and Tuesday off to tackle some of this work, and was secretly pleased that it was too windy to weld:

My gratitude for the weather was in no way influenced by having seen this:

Procrastination was sought, and I went and polished the cloudy lights on the Disco.

Enthused by how little effort this takes, I went and did the same to the E320.

I should have taken a before pic, but handily the E430 next to it has headlights that are comparable to how these ones started out.

I also grabbed an aux battery from the local breaker's yard, throwing this in solved the red battery warning light I was getting as a result of the old one being knackered. Obviously a new battery would be best, but I don't want to spend the £40-50 on one when I don't know for definite if this will pass the MOT when it goes in - I definitely wanted the warning off the dash pre-test though.

Jumping back to the Alfa again, seeing as I ran out of distractions, I pressed ahead with looking at the fuel lines. The line is a single run from tank to fuel rail, with no return, and is nylon up to the engine bay, then steel up the bulkhead, before switching to rubber as it crosses to the rail. It is of course absolutely buried in the engine bay as it makes its way through.

The start of the metal section is exposed to spray from the offside wheel, and looked most suspect. I wire brushed the rust off, and this caused the evap line to disintegrate:

I moved it, gently(ish), and it snapped.

Oh well, it's just the evap line, looks like the fuel line is saveable at least... Let's just prime the pump again to check.

Mwahp-mwaaaaaaahhhhh.

I went under it last night to try and remove both lines - I failed due to poor access, and I also got a fair old glob of petrol in my left eye. That really hurt, and I'll definitely wear safety specs next time. Probably. Maybe.

I'm pretty sure that at the very minimum, I will need to remove the inlet plenum again in order to make enough room to get the fuel lines out. I will also need to remove the track rod end. I will also also need to get my head around how I'm going to replace these lines which are made out of a mix of materials - not knowing how the car was put together when I got it, I was assuming it would just be a case of splicing in some cupro-nickel and being away. My plan is to remove the lines from where they transition from nylon to steel, look at how the originals were assembled and then see what can realistically be done at home. Replacement used lines are £150, which I'm just not ready to put into it at this point.

CTB also wanders through my mind, but I hate giving up on things... I'm not happy that it's immobilised now though, although at least I swapped it with the Pontiac and so it's at the back of the front section of driveway.

I see the tools and fittings for making up nylon lines and quick connect fittings on metal line are prevalent in the states, but don't seem to be readily available here sadly. Any pointers greatly appreciated on that front!

[RoadworkUK]

I'm utterly exhausted after reading that. Fair play for your efforts! I've done nothing much more involved this year than replacing wiper blades...

[N Dentressangle]

That's a hell of an effort. Not surprised you got a bit browned-off.

I used 8mm micro-bore central heating pipe to re-make the fuel lines on the 924, with 8mm ID rubber fuel hose for the tricky bits. I used the copper micro-bore mostly because I had a roll of it, but it's very easy to flare with a cheap shit £15 Halfords flaring tool which is fuck all use for brakes. You can also use compression fittings on it to join or size up or down, which you can get from Screwfix / B&Q.

My return pipe looks similar to yours, so I'll be re-making that in microbore and hose at some point.

[Stinkwheel]

Amazing efforts and persistence as usual, my only though looking at the pics is 'wow, i've never seen a car that age with such galloping rust' 

That car really needs to knock it off with all those negative waves.