Shock Repairs

[colcol]

Recently on the 33 TI, the left front suspension started knocking and there was oil all over the strut, so it looked like the shock absorber was on the way out.
The 33 of 84 vintage had shock absorber problems from day 1, it had a similar set up to a series 3 Alfasud, and all the cornering stresses went through the spindle, so they worked real hard.
At the time the standard Alfa Romeo shock absorbers were made by Spica, who i was told was a Italian Goverment owned company that had no money and were not being helped out with any funding from the Goverment, so the shocks were less than ideal.
In about 83-84, i saw at an Alfa Romeo Dealer about 20 Spica shock absorbers sitting on a bench....all leaking, my brothers twin carb Sud had the same leaking shock absorber problem as well.
The solution, back in the day, was to grind a 45 degree chamfer at the top of the strut, where the shock absorber spindle came out, then the whole shock absorber would come out, along with any remaining oil, that hadn't leaked out.
Then you would drill a 12 mm hole in the bottom of the strut for a bolt hole, then put a new insert in, being a KONI or whatever make could supply Alfa Romeo at the time, the shock would be inserted into the strut and bolted down at the bottom, with a good fit at the top of the strut....unless your strut was bent.
Anyhow, back to the problem, my 33 front shocks were replaced under warranty with KONI's, by the original owner, and they have worked good up until now.
I pulled the KONI out and took it to the local KONI agent here in Melbourne and they informed me that, they no longer fix these shocks, as they are too old and they can't get parts for them.
I enquired about new KONI's, and you can see where this is heading, the car is so old, we don't keep shocks anymore.
Now the series 1, 2 and 3 33's all have different shock absorbers, so there is no interchangeability, and after checking ebay, the only new shock absorbers i could find were old Spica's.
There are some company's on ebay selling complete struts, but they are $600 per set, plus about the same for delivery from overseas, but i like my struts, as i have fitted a camber kit to allow for a bent strut, and i can adjust the camber to get the alignment spot on, so if i went with new struts, i doubt if K-MAC still make camber kits for 33's.
I used to get shock absobers repaired by a company in Heidleburg Melbourne, but they are long gone, so after a bit of searching on the internet, i found a shock absorber repairer in Queensland called WW Shock absorber repairs, i asked them, would it be a problem, as they are KONI's that you can't get parts for, and they informed me that they are a KONI agent and that parts for KONI's are not a problem!!!!!
They received the shocks on Monday morning, rang me on Tuesday night, said they are repaired and on their way back to Melbourne, they charged me $180 to repair it and $20 to send it back, i put it back in the car and so far it seems all good, hope it lasts as long as the original, Colin.

[ANG156]

I think you would still be able to find someone to tune these cars well provided they have some experience. Chris from centreline did some work to my 16valve when I owned it. He knew the car back to front.

It's a shame Kevin from kmac doesn't make camber kits for the 156 as some really need them.