GTV Spider (Type 916) 1995 - 2004

I became obsessed that I needed a classic car after watching Bangers & cash series on TV. After a bit of research and the fact that Jeremy Clarkson said everyone should own an Alfa at some point.

Bought this from Perth in Scotland, drove it home to Cumbria with the hood down as it was one of the hottest days of the summer & it didn't even overheat.

Steering felt heavy and front brakes didn't really stop it. Turns out the tyres were over 15yrs old. New rubber all round made a huge difference.

Ordered some front discs & pads

Jan 24 got round to fitting the New Front discs and pads. Schoolboy error, managed to scuff one of the wheels getting the nuts off.

2nd schoolboy error, sheared the pins off that hold the brake carrier on one side. Good mate of mine sorted it my drilling & tapping the threads out, 2 second hand pins from Alfa Romeo city sorted.

New electric aerial fitted as the original jammed halfway.

2nd hand centre console cubby hole from Alfa city, original had a broken hinge so flopped about when opened.

Also purchased a 2nd hand drivers window as original is marked (job for the summer)

Car lives outside but bought a Richbrook custom cover which seems pretty good

& 1st snow foam wash.

Bought a Ctech battery charger to check & renovate the battery over winter while it's not getting much use.

Feb 24 momo seats out for a leather clean & refurb. Found that someone had previously cut the  connector off for the air bag sensor, now repaired with a new connector.

Shampooed carpets

Fitted a wind deflector from Totally Alfa which was 1 easy to fit & 2 makes a huge difference in the cabin with the hood down

Had an accident on my bicycle & ended up in hospital 

Asked my son to put the hood down as I'd been out in the car & left it on the drive with the hood down to finish drying the interior after the carpet shampoo. He managed to trap the deflector under the hood clam! I'm currently recovering from the accident until such time as I can fix it.

Booked in for it's mot, 1st one for me. Following a cycling accident I haven't been able to do any work on it so asked Tony at my garage to change the oil & filter which I had & was due. New n/s/r wheel bearing which I also had but hadn't been able to do because of my injury.

Ordered a cat back stainless exhaust from Cybox which I also asked Tony to fit.

Passed the MOT no issues, exhaust sounds great (he said the old one was ready for the bin so just as well I'd bought this one)

Happy days.

So after I had the rear wheel bearing changed the ABS light started coming on but only once you'd been driving for 10mins or so.

Then the battery went flat as I hadn't used it for a few weeks. Charged the battery & started no problem but now the airbag light was on all the time.

A visit to Tony at my local garage, he reset the airbag light as I suspected it was to do with flattening the battery following a Google search. Fingers crossed hasn't come on since.

The ABS fault said incorrect number of teeth on a wheel bearing? I'm sure I bought the correct part number. Anyway light was off on restarting and hasn't come on since. Time will tell if it stays off.

My electric roof stopped working, turned out the roof  power steering fluid reservoir was low. I had seen a garage bill from a few years ago when they topped it up and commented one of the pistons was leaking. Close inspection showed at least 3 pistons that operate the hood were leaking. The two for the clam looked ok.

After reading the manual several times I decided to take them out myself. I managed this carefully over two days. Turns out no one in the UK refurbishes these. Wheeler dealers used top hydraulics in Oregon USA. I duly sent them off, got them back in three weeks  

I managed to refit them in half a day, topped up the reservoir, cycled the hood a few times and was delighted when the electric hood worked first time. A daunting job well done I think.

My driver's window was covered in pock marks from someone using a grinder nearby at some time.

Then the electric window stopped working.

Auto Italian do some very good YouTube videos.

Managed to removed the door card, the window wouldn't move so unbolted the regulator and the whole lot dropped.

4 bolts & the window was out, a new 2nd hand window from Alfa Romeo city £20, a bit fiddling got the new window in.

Regulator on the bench & just seemed it got stuck in the up position, connected without fitting & it would fine. Some WD40 & more fiddling got the regulator in & window working.

Only to find on replacing the door card it wouldn't stay locked. Turns out it's a common fault with the Bowden cable. Door card off again a cut down rawl plug in the cable socket in the door card (cable stretching is the problem) pushes the cable about 5mm back and all was good again.

Felling pretty pleased with my self.

Top tip, buy wheel bearings from an Alfa dealer not Halfords, turns out the bearing I had fitted that I bought online from Halfords (that their online process said was the right one was not) it was for chassis nos after mine and has a magnetic sensor instead of abs teeth 

1999 appears to be the year they changed the type but Halfords only show 1 version which I assumed to be correct. I'm trying to get a swap or refund from them but it may be £92 down the drain, we'll see.

Watch this space.

So turns out the forums were of course right. The wheel bearing I needed has a toothed ring at the back not a magnetic ring like the one supplied by Halfords.

After much wrangling they have agreed to refund me (£92) when I take the now used bearing back to the shop.

Meanwhile I have purchased the correct part from shop4parts Italian parts service for only £45 delivered. 

I swapped them over today and low & behold no ABS light even after half an hour of driving.