Can you convert a selespeed into a manual gearbox on a 156 2001 model ??

[nathanlancaster]

Hey guys,

I have recently had my 2001 156 written off due to some idiot P Plater, However I am in the process of finding another car in the same color, same interior and same year.

I have found one exactly the same but it has a selespeed gearbox.

When I was buying my first Alpha, I was strongly advised not to buy a selespeed for many different reasons, so I found a 5sp.

Now...

My question to anyone who could help is.....

If I buy the exact same model as my smashed 156, could I convert the 5speed manual gearbox that I still have into the new car which has a selespeed gearbox.... if the selespeed did give me trouble

Any advice is great advice, Thanks guys,

Nathan

[Jekyll and Hyde]

If I buy the exact same model as my smashed 156, could I convert the 5speed manual gearbox that I still have into the new car which has a selespeed gearbox.... if the selespeed did give me trouble

Theoretically yes.  In practice, it would probably cost you a lot more than fixing the Selespeed, and you won't have had the money from selling your old car (you'll need quite a bit more than just the gearbox).  Why not just wait for the right manual car to come up?

[Phildo]

What exactly is involved in doing a Selespeed to manual gearbox conversion?

What is involved in fitting a clutch pedal?

Is it a relatively simply bolt out/bolt in procedure?

I bought a hail damaged 2000 156 Sportwagon at auction a while ago at a reasonably good price.  The car is ok but I really, really, really hate the Selespeed gearbox. I drive a taxi about 2,000-2,500km a week with an automatic gearbox so would like to have a clutch and manual gearbox in the Alfa.



As I described it to someone a while ago:
"Not quite the ultimate Italian red sports car but it'll do for now (ie it is a very distant cousin of Ferrari).

Love the car. HATE the gearbox. It's a manual gearbox with an automatic clutch. You push the gear lever backwards and forwards to change gear, or press the buttons on the steering wheel.

Nice idea, bloody terrible implementation. Clumsy doesn't even begin to cover how this thing operates. This thing makes Mr Bean look like a professional stuntman.

I do rather like how it automatically changes gear when you rev it to 7,000rpm, but by the time it actually does get around to finishing the gear change you could have put the kettle on, built a house and solved world hunger. With time to spare.

Alfa Romeo is owned by the same parent company that owns Ferrari (ie FIat). Ferrari gearbox people and Alfa Romeo gearbox people need to start having lunches together. I'm positive that Alfa's employee recruiting policy consists of making job offers to people that fail completely at gearbox school.

People that commit hideous crimes such as rape and murder should be punished by being forced to drive a car with an Alfa Romeo Selespeed gearbox.

Number one item on my birthday/Christmas list now is a voodoo doll of an Alfa Romeo Selespeed gearbox that I can keep sticking pins into."

[aggie57]

Phildo - if you have buttons rather than levers then the Selepseed you have was one of the very first modern implementations of a self-shifting manual.   The single clutch self-shifter setup in recent Ferrari's is the great-great-grandchild of the same system. The engineers do talk......

A later Alfa setup is also much better than the one you have, although still not as good as a decent dual-clutch system like VW's DSG or Porsche's PDK.

[John Hanslow]

It would still be cheaper selling the car and getting a manual one but the theory is sound.

although still not as good as a decent dual-clutch system like VW's DSG or Porsche's PDK

I thought the DSG system has now been discovered to be just as problematic as the sillyspeed ?

[L4OMEO]

So Phildo, what are you trying to say? Don't sit on the fence, just come out and say it!



Nice looking wagon. Gotta say, while not perfect I didn't find my '01 Selespeed as bad as you've described. Are you sure yours is working as it should? They can be adjusted and calibrated & the software updated, mine improved alot when I had this done. I think the whole gearchange process should take 0.7 seconds in fast mode, which is determined by revs and throttle position, and (an admitedly yawning) 1.5 seconds in slow mode when cruising. Yes, newer systems are vastly quicker and have generally been superceded by DSG systems, but in fairness we're talking about a technology that was developed in the mid- to late-90s.

Don't know about the economics of doing a manual conversion though - crunch the numbers carefully first!

People that commit hideous crimes such as rape and murder should be punished by being forced to drive a car with an Alfa Romeo Selespeed gearbox.

Love it