[alfa] Of front stuts

["John Fielding" <johnf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,

With all the discussion of front strut replacements for the 164s etc I thought you would
like to hear of my experience with another Fiat empire model.

I bought a Fiat Uno Turbo from the factory in 1998 when they stopped production of this
very limited edition vehicle.  The production annually only ran to between 40 to 200
units.  Mine was one of the last batch of 10 made and hence a very "collectable vehicle".
Recently  I had a serious front end impact that meant that a new body shell was required,
along with most of the front suspension components.

When I stripped the old shell I was amazed to see the date on the front struts.  These
struts were originally used on the Lancia Integrale and mine had the date June 1970
stamped into them.  As one strut was bent I needed to change both and I was surprised to
see the agents still carried these as stock items, and cheaper than Munroe or Gabriel
after-market parts.  The new ones were dated 2002 and obviously a different manufacturer,
the original were Biltstein nitrogen filled.

So it shows that even though the struts were over 28 years old when the car was built they
behaved perfectly.  I guess the shelf life must be pretty indefinite?

John
Durban
South Africa
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