Working on my Alfa Romeo: Removing rear shocks & driver door trim panel

These might well be original or at least have been on the Spider for longer than I have had the car, which means well in access of 30 years!

BHPian Jeroen recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I decided to remove the aft shocks on my Spider and see if I could adjust them.

The aft shocks are a little bit more complex to remove than the front ones.

Here you see the top of the shock, inside the boot.

Obviously, the bottom part is attached to the trailing arm using a double nut.

To get better access I also removed this little black canister in the boot. It is part of the emission system. It's also fragile after all these years. Best to handle it very carefully.

Took the rubber top cap off, to get clearance to get at the two bolts holding it in place.

In order to be able to extract the shock, you need to peel back the trim inside the back of the cockpit as well to reveal this little panel, held in place with two screws.

Remove the screws and voila, you can pull out the shock from inside the cockpit!

Here you have it. Much to my surprise, it was not an adjustable Koni shock, but a plain Sachs gas shock. So I checked all my maintenance files. Sure enough, I did find the invoice for the two adjustable Koni's at the front. But I could not find anything about the rear shocks. So these might well be original, or at least have been on the Spider for longer than I have had it. Which means well in access of 30 years!

One of the two shocks did show some signs of wear, so I have decided to replace them.

I also decided to remove the driver door trim panel once again. You have seen me remove this panel many times. The window is rattling in the guidance rail and I wanted to see how I could fix it.

Getting the rail out was a bit of a fiddly job, as you can't really see what you are doing. All by feeling and cursing!

The belt/rubber guidance in the rail has come apart. I need to find myself some new stuff.

The first thing Monday morning is to call my friendly Alfa Spider specialist and parts supplier Goos. I am pretty sure he has the shocks, not so sure about the rubber felt window guide. I also need to book an appointment with Goos for the Spider annual APK (MOT).

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.