164 'Restoration'

[V AR 164]

Yes I certainly have opened the bottle!

I actually found this one in the background picture of an Alfa 1750 ad on here. I messaged the guy and he said 'yes it's for sale if you are interested'. Here it is now!

Mechanically it is in great condition, the only problem being is that it has a noisy power steering pump. Although I am going to give it a full service soon (timing belt, water pump, oil filter, spark plugs etc).

She is also lowered all round on Koni yellow shocks and has a k&n intake which makes some sweet sweet noises 
I am wanting this to be my everyday car because it has a lot of kms compared to my red car (360,000 in fact, and still pulls hard).
Today I gave her a bath with a clay bar, which took off years of grime. Next stop a polish, wax and full interior wet clean.

[V AR 164]

Can't wait to continue work!
Cheers, Andrew.

[gtv6sv]

Glad to see you're taking care of the car brother sold you! Couldn't be more happy for you to have bought the car! My brother knows it's in good hands:-)
Like i said when i met you, if you ever need a hand or some advice just send a message, having a Q myself in the past i know a bit about the manual and the auto:-)
Once you get the power steering pump sorted you'll have a fantastic car to travel around, i assure you that! If you can, try put an upgraded exhaust from the cat back and let that busso sing!
All this 164 talk is making me want to buy another Q again!

[V AR 164]

Cheers gtv6, yes it is happily sleeping next to all the other 164's. Since that post, I have taken out all the seats and thoroughly cleaned the interior, came out really nice, the carpet is like new!
I'm going to ring around tonight for a power steering pump and get it replaced so it can go off for a roadworthy, can't wait to drive it around!
Oh and yes you do need to buy a Q again, there's one on gumtree for $5,980 I believe, looks to be in great condition, if I only had that money 
Thanks, Andrew.

[V AR 164]

Well instead of posting updates on my new Q in the thread named '164Q Clutch Issue', I decided to move it over to this thread because it makes more sense IMO.

So far I have managed to fix my sunroof, it turned out to be a bad solder joint coming off one of the switches. So now that's fixed and my sunroof works a treat 

I have also stated to 'cut n polish' the roof as the paint had lost its shine. It takes a loooong time but after several hours of hand polishing and sore arms I have done half the roof. Just need to do the other half haha.



Also I have cleaned the interior and 'restored' the leather seats with conditioner and shoe black, works a treat!





She still hasn't fired up yet. I believe the injectors are clogged as it seems fuel is not getting into the cylinders. The fuel fump does work though.

She's coming along nicely though 

Thanks, Andrew.

[V AR 164]

Car parts have arrived!!! Thanks to the boys up at Itallian Automotive Spares.



Time to get the Q up and running! 



Andrew.

[poohbah]

No wonder I could never find a decent 164 when I was looking, Andrew ... you keep buying them all!

Great to see the collection blooming.

Where do you put them all?

[V AR 164]

Hahaha thanks poohbah. Yes the collection is coming along nicely, although I have a few too many haha.

As for where I put them all, my motto is, wherever there is an empty space, put a 164!

Cheers, Andrew.

[stustustu123]

Best looking driveway in the street (& possibly Melbourne for that matter!)!!! 

[poohbah]

Hear hear, Stu! I've still got a way to go at my place:

[V AR 164]

Hahaha thanks guys.

Very nice poohbah, love that lineup!

I put new wheels on the Q this evening. Love how it sits right now 



Cheers, Andrew.

[poohbah]

Nice wheels Andrew. Are they from a 156?

BTW - I loved your idea to wrap the roof of your daily driver. It got me thinking about possibly wrapping the roof on my 156 which also has some peeling clear coat. I got a quote to have it done professionally in plain black for $350 or $400 for black carbon fibre-look vinyl - both of which could probably give it a unique racy look.

But I'm going to get a quote just to have the paint/clear coat redone and then decide what way to go.

[V AR 164]

Thanks poohbah, yes they are from a 156. They bolt straight up and fill the arches quite nicely.

Yes I think the wrap idea turned out pretty good. Honestly you can do a decent job yourself, you just need ALOT of patience and an extra helping hand. I bought my vinyl for $90 at Supercheap, they have satin black and carbon fibre. All up it took me about 2 hours to wrap.

Also I must add, if your clear coat is peeling and there are 'high and low' spots on your roof, you will need to sand it down completely smooth otherwise you will see where the clear coat has peeled underneath. I sanded my roof down but if you get up close you can clearly see the outline of the peeling clear cost, oh well, better than it was before.

Hope this helps,
Andrew.

[poohbah]

Thanks for that Andrew, the quotes I got included cost of sanding roof also ($50).

How big is the sheet from Supercheap? I'd want to practice on something before I tried the 156 itself, so  if I need to buy two sheets, I may as well just get it done professionally.

Regardless, I will get a quote from a panel shop in the next few days. If the cost of getting paint and clear coat redone is going to cost $500 or more, I will get it wrapped.

[V AR 164]

Fair enough. The sheets of vinyl come is different sizes. Not sure on exact dimensions.

Yeah it seems logical to get it done professionally as it is tricky doing it yourself.

Also this leads to another point, can anyone tell me why it costs so much to respray a car? I heard that for a closed door respray on a 164 would set me back a minimum of 3k. Respraying a roof IMO shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred dollars.

Andrew.