Suppose I should post on here now...Brera.

[Andyk]

HAd a quote for the side bolster to be stitched....£120....Does that sound right. Not had to get this sort of repair done before so not sure. May get a few more quotes. There only concern was if the leather had suffered and could be stitched.....

 

[GeoffCapes]

They're not far from me. I'll pop in and have a chat about a remap on my 159 ti. Do they have a rolling road there?

Red Dot did mine, and they have a rolling road. They're not far from you Mark.

http://www.reddotracing.co.uk

 

[Evo Cymru]

Thanks for the recommendation LJ....

Been to the body shop today and quoted £500 for the bonnet and both side skirts and protective film on the side skirts as per OEM......

Hi Andy,

That seems a good price - may I ask who is that with? still need to sort the wings on my Alfa out...

 

[Andyk]

That's with www.smartabc.co.uk ...... They are just outside Chepstow, Parkwall, Crick. Not used them before but a few people have said they are OK. Going to get another quote form Union Motors in Newport as I have used them before and have a great reputation...Have a feeling they may be a bit more expensive. Will see.

 

[Evo Cymru]

Cheers Andy - wondered if it was the Newport guys you used some time ago. Just need to get the cam belt done on mine and then I'll start looking to get it sorted.

 

[LJ_GQV]

They're not far from me. I'll pop in and have a chat about a remap on my 159 ti. Do they have a rolling road there?

Yea they have a rolling road there They are really good for everything (servicing, tuning, repairs etc) I've been using them for years & never had a problem, thats why i still use them. I go past most days & sometimes just drop in for a chat & see what they have in . If you ever go to Ace cafe they are usually there too .

 

[MAF260]

Yea they have a rolling road there They are really good for everything (servicing, tuning, repairs etc) I've been using them for years & never had a problem, thats why i still use them. I go past most days & sometimes just drop in for a chat & see what they have in . If you ever go to Ace cafe they are usually there too .

I dropped in to Pro Alfa yesterday and had a chat. My car is booked in for early July for a diagnostic check prior to discussing a remap. They're keen to make sure everything's in full working order before making any alterations. Seemed like a decent place, I will report back in due course.

 

[Andyk]

So had three quotes so far to get the driver side bolster restitched.......

£80 - take the cover off re-stitch it, put the double stitch back in and fit. (have asked if it includes colour restore the bolster)
£120 - Restitch but if leather has perished they have said they would have to replace but do not have the correct leather ??
£125 - will cover re seaming and colour restore the bolster. (these will come to my home or work to do the job)

WHat do you think as never had this sort of work done before...

 

[CatmanV2]

Personally I'd go for the top option. The cost is still pretty reasonable, I feel

C

 

[Andyk]

Either the 80 or the 125....I have asked a few more questions...The pictures on the £80 one web site looks good quality ....

 

[StuartW]

Personally I'd go for the top option. The cost is still pretty reasonable, I feel

C

+ 1

 

[spkennyuk]

Think mine has 210 but can't could go 250/260ish and have better economy.

It will be a 200 BHP Andy. They didnt change to 210 till the TI spec 159 was launched in late 2007. There should be a sticker on the drivers side door telling you which it is.

Veloces of londons racing / sports dpf improves the tone of the exhaust when you get round to having a remap. Thats if you go for a full dpf delete. I've got a straight pipe if you want it instead but you will need to put the DPF back on when the mot is due if you use a straight pipe.

Nice looking car and its polished up very well. I keep looking at 156's at the moment. I may look at one as a run around once the 159 has gone.

 

[Andyk]

Thanks mate....yep realised it was a 200 bhp after speaking to you the other week.......Need to get the seat, wheels and paint sorted before s re map etc...

You will have to excuse my ignorance but the straight through pipe does that delete the dpf....It take it DPF is the particulate filter that I understand is an issue on the Alfas...Don't know much about this stuff.......but yes may be interested in the straight through.....Has it made a big difference to the sound and any other differences you notice...

I am amazed....well probably not...that ALfa got this DPF so wrong........I take it you saw an improvement in performance and economy when you replaced yours.......MPG in the 2.4 isn't great so getting ride and doing something different is a must me thinks.

 

[spkennyuk]

Thanks mate....yep realised it was a 200 bhp after speaking to you the other week.......Need to get the seat, wheels and paint sorted before s re map etc...

You will have to excuse my ignorance but the straight through pipe does that delete the dpf....It take it DPF is the particulate filter that I understand is an issue on the Alfas...Don't know much about this stuff.......but yes may be interested in the straight through.....Has it made a big difference to the sound and any other differences you notice...

I am amazed....well probably not...that ALfa got this DPF so wrong........I take it you saw an improvement in performance and economy when you replaced yours.......MPG in the 2.4 isn't great so getting ride and doing something different is a must me thinks.

DPF is the particulate filter. Alfa in their wisdom put it half way down the exhaust so it doesnt get up to temperature often enough to do a full regen. If you get any issues with your clogging up until you have a remap the easiest thing to do to force a regen is 4th gear on the motorway keep it above 2500 revs. You will feel the power drop when the regen starts and if its at night then you will possibly see glowing particles behind you as you drive. If your in 6th and a regen starts then you may well have to drop to 5th to easily maintain your speed. You will notice the tone of the car changes when its in regen mode as well. The tone goes deeper and more muffled a bit like your ears have not poped when flying. I could never understand why there is nothing to tell you on the dash that a regen is in progress. BMW and others fit the DPF straight to the engine block

DPF delete is a two fold process. 1st stage is the removal of the DPF itself. You can either replace with a straight pipe or the veloces racing / sports DPF. The second part is during the mapping process the instruction to perform a regen is removed.

The advantage of the Veloces DPF is that it complies with the current MOT visual inspection. The straight pipe won't if the MOT station realise that a DPF should be present. Its luck of the draw at the moment.

The straight pipe sounds a little better that the veloces DPF. Not much in it but i can detect the difference when i am driving the car. Both options will make the car sound more like a petrol than a diesel. Its a richer tone and a lot less taxi like.

MPG wise I get 45 to 48 on the motorway. Round town, stop start and short jouneys 30-35 mpg and combined 40-42 mpg
There all using the loud pedal when I chose to as well.

It will drive more like a petrol as well, very little turbo lag. Turbo will spool up around the 1200 to 1400 rpm and the power band is there upto 4000 to 4500 rpm. The torque is enough that I can put mine in third gear from a standing start and it will accelerate up to around 15+ mph without my foot being on the gas. You will also see a vast improvement in the 30-50 50-70 and 70 to hmmmm speed brackets.

If you drove carefully I would suspect you can get 50 MPG on the motorway. At motorway speed there are a few sweet spots where according to the realtime mpg info you get better MPG for example at 72 it shows me a better MPG than at 68 the same applies at 82 as against 78. That bit is difficult to prove as accurate as I can only rely on the cars display information. I did do several brim to brim fills to work out my actual MPG against the cars data and there was very little in it. The maximum I got out of my car prior to the remap was 38 MPG and that was all motorway driving

Its worth talking to Gus at Alfatune, He may have an agent in your neck of the woods that he can recommend but regardless of that he will talk to you about what can be done safely and otherways to improve your car in the ways that you want.

 

[Andyk]

Thanks buddy, I know you have told me some of this before..appreciate your input as it is a great help. I see Veloces DPF replacement etc is £400 plus VAT..20% increase in power and mpg they say.....

 

[spkennyuk]

Just as a foot note Andy. If your doing a lot of miles then a remap and DPF removal will pay for itself in 15 to 20 tanks of fuel depending on which options you have. Your looking at roughly a 25 to 30 % improvment in econcomy.

The other quick check if you havent been in the car when a regen has started is to bring up the realtime MPG on the trip computer you will find it drops to around 15-20 mpg if your on the motorway and 8 to 15 mpg round town. It will revert to normal once the regen has finished and the burning smell you get will go away. If you arrive home and the car is mid regen then let it finish before you turn the engine off. It usually stops after a minute or so when you come to a stand still as the temperature drops off.

 

[spkennyuk]

The only other thing to keep in mind when you have the remap done is if your existing EGR valve is worn or sooted up beyound cleaning then you may need a new one even though its going to be blanked off. If it wont seal properly the remap will be all over the shop when they are trying to fine tune it.

The auction on mine ends this evening so will see if it has a new owner come the morning.

 

[MAF260]

Andy - before you consider any modifications make sure your engine is in good health. These 5-pot 2.4s like to clog up with carbon deposits which can lead to poor cold starting, smoking and a drop in power. My 159 had some of these symptoms last year so I took it to Auto Lusso and had the EGR deleted, swirl flaps removed and also had the inlet manifold removed and media blasted to remove to hardened deposits. The car was significantly better afterwards and fuel economy improved also.
When my car went for the remap this week ProAlfa told me that they've never seen a 2.4 make its claimed 200/210bhp on the rolling road due to some of the above. They were very surprised to see mine make 209.6bhp as standard and said its down to the work I had done last year. My car is now 5 years old and has done almost 60k miles, so I'm delighted it's only lost less than 1hp over that time.

 

[Andyk]

Thanks both...sounds like I will need to get it looked at first before I do anything...It starts OK......SOmetimes a little smoke out the back but goes within a min......although the first week it did not start as well as it does not but took that as it had been stood around for a while maybe.

 

[casadalloro]

DPF's are a disaster on most cars.... Renault, Vw group etc and very few people realise they need to be replaced over time like shocks/clutch..... Thats expensive..usually 600-800 ish...

Thats why i shifted from diesel to small turbo petrol for last new car... No issues like this and 38 mpg.... 80,000 miles on the Giulietta now.. Upped to around 200bhp...clutch still fine, timing belt and water pump done before 70,000...