Chris there is only 1 other 164 I know of here and it sits in a lot behind a fence with other European cars. That 164 has been sitting at least since 2014 and haven't seen it move. I know of someone in Michigan about and hour away from me who owns a 164 but dont remember his name.
Put my muffler back on today. I had filled the rear connection between the pipe and muffler body with some epoxy to hold thing together for the season and tack welded a bracket on top, between the rear of the body (rolled portion) and pipe to give it some extra support. Added a new hanger as well. No leaks at this joint but based on the amount of stuff that fell out of the tailpipe when I was I was holding it up, I don't think there is much left intact inside. The sound of the car without a muffler wasn't too obscene and more quiet than the average Harley but with the muffler, not too much of a reduction either. A new one may be in order. Also went for a short test drive and the front felt a bit wonky so back to the driveway to find the drivers wheel was loose!! A moment of carelessness that could have been a disaster. No damage to wheel, etc.
Well, the muffler patch held up for a few hours but the rear groan is back and I can smell exhaust in the cabin. I purchased a used-new Stainless Magnaflow from someone an hours drive away (he put it on his dad's truck...dad said "no" and took it right off). It is a more flow-through design than the stock Ansa, but as there was little intact in the stock muffler, I expect the noise will not be too much more than what I had and that was perfectly fine. I have to revise 2 hangers on the new muffler, adapt a 3" in into a 2.5 and adapt 2 x 2.5 outs so the exhaust is after the bumper skin. Might as well remove the middle section and check all connection points as I do hear a slight buzz from somewhere in the middle. Will post more pix and a decibel reading before (no muffler) and after.
Well, probably NO chance of having saved this regardless of what I did on the outside. The inner pipe was completely gone. The insulation felt so much like real hair, I thought I might find a skull in there.
Replaced the old, tired door cards which would fall off when you shut the doors of my ‘91 Spider S4. Was an interesting process finding correct clips especially the top corner of door. Once I figure out what I want to do from a stereo perspective I will reinstall new speakers and grilles. There were more than a few self tapping screws used to hold the panels to the doors which were clearly not from factory.
EDIT - I took some pictures throughout the process. If anyone interested I can write up a DIY with pictures.
hey Steve, quick question... my base 164 driver's power seat will not move forward... it will move back and I am not a very tall person...will I need to remove the seat to fix this? I can feel both electric motors trying to work when I power them up.. so many things I am working on before it gets too hot outside...
As for Alfa related today, I bled my slave and got the clutch working much better... tore the trunk interior to locate fuel smell.. found split elbow hose... located fuel leak on 83 Spider.... thinking I will just put new fuel lines in the Spider from the tank... drove the 164 to Arbys... drove the Spider around the block (before I located the gas leak) and smiling still even though there is much to be done!
hey Steve, quick question... my base 164 driver's power seat will not move forward... it will move back and I am not a very tall person...will I need to remove the seat to fix this? I can feel both electric motors trying to work when I power them up.. so many things I am working on before it gets too hot outside...
As for Alfa related today, I bled my slave and got the clutch working much better... tore the trunk interior to locate fuel smell.. found split elbow hose... located fuel leak on 83 Spider.... thinking I will just put new fuel lines in the Spider from the tank... drove the 164 to Arbys... drove the Spider around the block (before I located the gas leak) and smiling still even though there is much to be done!
I would try rocking the fore/aft seat switch back and forth while tapping that dead seat motor with small hammer. If no joy and up/down motor switch works run seat to level you want and then swap wire connectors to see if up/dwn switch will work fore/aft motor.
Also look under seat to see if you have to "recall" blue "pencil box" adapter box to make seats work better.
Have not done much alfa related, was going to swap broken bumper for good bumper but did not get time last weekend. Going to try for this weekend since I am off for 3 days. I spoke with my uncle about repaint my 164 he looked it over again so he has an idea how we will paint it and his shop wont be ready until end of next month. We are going to remove everything we can off the body but I'm not sure what can and wont come off easily, not trying to brake anything. How do the rear badge lettering "Alfa Romeo" and "164" come off? Are they glued on? And there is a black rubberish stripe that goes from the top roofline all the way to the back. Is this removable also? I know the lower cladding there are a few screws under the bottom I think. During the repaint the front seats are gonna get sent out to a guy he knows the will repair and color match to the rear seats.
"We are going to remove everything we can off the body but I'm not sure what can and wont come off easily, not trying to brake anything. How do the rear badge lettering "Alfa Romeo" and "164" come off? Are they glued on? And there is a black rubberish stripe that goes from the top roofline all the way to the back. Is this removable also? I know the lower cladding there are a few screws under the bottom I think."
None of that comes off easily. Leave cladding alone mask and paint it. You can slice off Alfa script and 164L with razor blade.
You can remove rear emblem and lock assembly from inside deck lid by rotating black locking piece.
Do not try to remove black strips on roof they have breakable plastic clips.
I believe my painter after prepping and sanding everything he was going to paint first:
1. Taped and papered off windows, and top of car and cladding.
1. Painted flat black on the mirrors, the rocker panels and lower part of front and rear bumper and then covered those with paper and tape.
2. Painted cladding and bumpers gray and then also papered and taped off cladding and mirrors.
3.With windows, black strips, grill, mirrors and lower half of car papered and taped off painted white top of car.
Well I've started on removing broken bumper so that I can replace with good clean bumper. Bumper came off really easy, the washer nozzles not so much. 2 of the screws broke inside that hold the nozzle body to the metal bracket so needed to grab bracket from old bumper. Replaced the bracket with good one and just need to reinstall washer nozzle bodies. Nozzle head came off but not without a fight. Reason I am replacing nozzle heads are because the new ones are green and my old ones are silver. It suddenly decided it was to remain half way through so covered front end with painter's plastic so front foam wont get wet. Now just need to wait for rain to die down so I can finish.
Did a ton of work on the car this weekend. First I broke 3 of the 4 rear swaybar bolts:
But in the end I got the whole rear end assembly removed:
But the day was not without casualties
No I didn't bend that myself, it was like that on the car. Didn't notice it while it was all still assembled. I have brand new of almost every part back there except these, so if someone has a spare they want to let go for a reasonable price, I am buying ASAP.
Tomorrow a lot of cleaning and painting. Want to keep the rust monster at bay.
Finally got around to reading the May issue of the Alfa Owner mag, and was very pleased to see the brief but very interesting bio of Steve in the member profile column. Was pleased that he talked about his admiration (as we BBers have always known) of the 164 model.
I was becoming disappointed in the Alfa Owner magazine, as there always seemed to be no articles or pictures of 164s, my impression being that it is a forgotten model wrt the Club and most members. So, glad to see his bio and his 164 history written up.
There are many of us 164 owners who do agree with Steve's conclusions about driving the 164, as my pristine 86 GTV6, while fun to drive, didn't last long after I first test drove a low mileage 91 164S (my wife said that it was the first Alfa in a while which put a really big grin on my face). That was in 94, and the car is still running great at this date with 192k fun dd miles on it (my wife likes her 89 Milano, so we still have that one, as well as our "trip" 94LS beast).
No desire to go back to an older Alfa, except (maybe) a nice 67 Giulia Super just for kicks, nor any desire to buy a new Giulia with all it's electronic excesses (and of course, the lack of a manual transmission).
I only have a straight one with the Honda bushing(s) that I was experimenting with. One needs to be pressed in a hair more, and the other you can see is still in the Honda link. The Honda bushings don’t seem quite as robust as the OEM. They press in,but are a hair tighter than OEM. PM or email if you want more info.
Did a ton of work on the car this weekend. First I broke 3 of the 4 rear swaybar bolts:
But in the end I got the whole rear end assembly removed:
But the day was not without casualties
No I didn't bend that myself, it was like that on the car. Didn't notice it while it was all still assembled. I have brand new of almost every part back there except these, so if someone has a spare they want to let go for a reasonable price, I am buying ASAP.
Tomorrow a lot of cleaning and painting. Want to keep the rust monster at bay.
Have not done much alfa related, was going to swap broken bumper for good bumper but did not get time last weekend. Going to try for this weekend since I am off for 3 days. I spoke with my uncle about repaint my 164 he looked it over again so he has an idea how we will paint it and his shop wont be ready until end of next month. We are going to remove everything we can off the body but I'm not sure what can and wont come off easily, not trying to brake anything. How do the rear badge lettering "Alfa Romeo" and "164" come off? Are they glued on? And there is a black rubberish stripe that goes from the top roofline all the way to the back. Is this removable also? I know the lower cladding there are a few screws under the bottom I think. During the repaint the front seats are gonna get sent out to a guy he knows the will repair and color match to the rear seats.
Not certain which year you have but if the LS with chrome strips, the ones around the front and rear bumpers come off with torx bit after you remove the bumpers. You can remove the front-side strips with the bumpers on but may have to remove front wheel liners and make an extension to get up there. I have done it both ways. Be careful removing the rear bumpers as you have to slightly widen out the sides to clear the bolts or risk scratching something and if too extreme, you may crack the paint on the edges. The badges are on with tape (mine were). side cladding is screwed on from the top and have large rivets (mine did) along the underside. The Alfa triangle can come off the front by removing the bolts (8mm I think) but the grill has to stay on as it contains the hood latch.... don't drive without it....I am referring to a 95 LS in al cases.
So, yesterday, I drove the car to the muffler shop to get a quote to have the Magna Flow installed. I did try to buy some fittings and use part of the existing pipe and flange but too many angles and too many possible failure points so elected to have a custom pipe made up instead. That will be later today and cost me $200 (Cdn) and no more I hope. The old muffler (Ansa) was devoid of any interior metal. The DB level of the car without muffler at idle is 86.5. Less noisy than some of the pickups and definitely less noisy than most of the Harley 2 wheel tractors driving past my home. The Magna Flow is an open-style (more open than stock) and should be equal or a bit louder than stock. It's not a custom fit and the hangers will be reworked but the casing is the same size and should hang perfectly once the hangers are re positioned. The casing is stainless. Not certain about the tail section (it is a 1 in, 2 out at this time).
Today's forecast is rain, rain and rain. I tightened up the lose wiper arms and added a split washer under the nut... seems to have done the trick, and coated the windshield with Rain-x for an extra measure of clarity and reduce drag. having the wiper arm fail is just embarrassing. I will post some finished images and the DB level after the install.
I only have a straight one with the Honda bushing(s) that I was experimenting with. One needs to be pressed in a hair more, and the other you can see is still in the Honda link. The Honda bushings don’t seem quite as robust as the OEM. They press in,but are a hair tighter than OEM. PM or email if you want more info.
My upper strut mounts are clean, I didn't pull the struts as I ran out of time but I saw nothing alarming, the rust seems to be centralized around the right rear trailing arm mount but once I peel away the chipping undercoat is not nearly as bad as I expected. However my trunk floor on that side is swiss cheese.
I have a 164 and the Blower motor is stuck on full blast. It doesn't turn off or change speed by any input from the A/C unit. Air is the same temperature as the outside so that A/C compressor is not engaged.
Any ideas on where to start or what it might be?
I have just added quite a few NOS 164 parts to the NOS section of our online store. I know from our day-to-day interactions with customers that some of these are quite difficult to find, and I thought I would give the AlfaBB 164 group a heads-up that they are available. For most of these items...
Hi,
Don't know if anyone has ever had a door lock jammed but I have twice, both within the last 2 years.
The symptom is unable to lift the unlock button while door handles ineffective (inner and outer) at releasing the door.
The first time it happened I ended up destroying the door card to...
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