Alfa 3.0 GTV Engine

allandwf

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Well I have decided to make a start on the V6 GTV I bought as a project. Water in the oil, and blowing steam out the exhaust. I did a compression test today, cold, figures as follows, 202, 202, 202, 202, 210, 220psi.
I was surprised thought I would have an obvious bad one. Also all plugs were good, no obvious one. Ongoing....
 

conaero

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I had the same on mine Allan, when we pulled the heads off the gaskets looked as if they had been living at the bottom of the sea. You should also change the cylinder base seals too.

If I were you, take it or ship the engine to Duncan, he charged me £250 labour to rebuild mine.
 

allandwf

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Eventually an update. I tried to remove the heads in situ, just to see. Some said you could others you couldn't. It's a nightmare! Gave up. Remove the engine as you nearly have everything disconnected anyway. I should have the engine removed in the next few days. ( Spider took priority for a while, so this has taken a bit of a back seat.)
 

conaero

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Let's see some pics Allan.

Duncan told me a quick way to remove these engines. Remove all the rads and front end then you don't have to remove the subframe. Then you can just pull the whole thing out forward on s trolley Jack.

Good luck.
 

allandwf

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Let's see some pics Allan.

Duncan told me a quick way to remove these engines. Remove all the rads and front end then you don't have to remove the subframe. Then you can just pull the whole thing out forward on s trolley Jack.
DSC_2088.jpg
Good luck.

That's what I've done up to now, radiators removed, cross member removed. You still have the main front horizontal bracing piece in place though, which is welded which the engine will need to clear. It will have to go under or over. Picture attached of the one, albeit slightly bent, of the spider but you can see the part I mean.
 

conaero

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I would have thought over?

Been out in the Spider today, took Rachel out to lunch, she loves it!

She has asked to borrow it to go shopping in but I have told her the flanks are too delicate to leave in a public car park.

It's been back in my garage to fix the puddle that kept appearing in the passenger footwell.

People said it was the pollen filter and AC drain, the same issue as the Maserati's have but it wasn't.

Right hand drive GTV's and Spiders don't have the pollen filter, something to do with the wiper motor. There is a splash panel were the pollen filter woukd be, under the passenger scuttle panel above the fan. It has a sort of plastercene silicone type substance to seal it which had cracked so I siliconed it up. The passenger half of the scuttle panel had warped in the sun so when stationary, the rain runs down the windscreen, under the warped scuttle panel, then washes over the fan cover and down and through onto the passenger footwell. A new half scuttle is £40 so I siliconed it, put some old brake discs on as weights and left overnight. Trimmed off the excess clear silicone, job done.
 
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allandwf

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Yes over I think.To pull it straight out on a jack though it would need to go under. Crane at the ready. Unfortunately back to work Wednesday so will be at least another month. Spider was Mrs Allandwfs daily drive, she loved/s it.
 
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conaero

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Indeed, I suppose dare I say it, it is a bit of a ladies car :)

If she had asked last year before I had it painted, referred wheels, detailed and all the flank dents pulled out I might have considered it.

TBF, when I first met her, her cars were a mess. She then drove the Alfa 156 SW I bought her and was introduced to parking dings, not curbing wheels etc and now she is really careful.
 

lisknik

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Indeed, I suppose dare I say it, it is a bit of a ladies car :)

If she had asked last year before I had it painted, referred wheels, detailed and all the flank dents pulled out I might have considered it.

TBF, when I first met her, her cars were a mess. She then drove the Alfa 156 SW I bought her and was introduced to parking dings, not curbing wheels etc and now she is really careful.

Told you she would want it! :lol2:

Get her to bring it to brooklands and you bring the masser ;)
 

allandwf

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10,958
An update. Engine is out, left the subframe on. It is very tight if you do this, not sure if I would be able to get it back in with it in place. First head removed, the one nearest the front of the car, pretty grimy looking but can't see anything immediate. Gasket in reasonable condition, but spaces between the liners are filled with what looks like wallpaper paste!DSC_2349.jpg
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conaero

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Oil and water mix mate, otherwise known as "Cafe Creme". You can try and hang your wallpaper with it but I don't think you'll have much luck mate!

Back to the gaskets, yes mine looked in a similar condition and replacing them sorted it so your on the right track. Just check for cracks and replace the liner lower seals too. If your not indenting to go that deep, don't move the liners as you will break the seals and have to take the engine out again.
 

allandwf

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10,958
Todays update, got the rear head off now, it had a fair amount of oil sludge, first time I've really encountered that. I had to dig it out to get near the head nuts. Again nothing really jumping out though this head appeared worse than the front head. A few pics before I start cleaning everything.
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Just need to figure out best way to clean it all up and clean out oil/water ways.
 

conaero

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Wait till the wife goes out and bung it in the dishwasher mate, then shrug your shoulders when she said the cutlery tastes weird :)
 

conaero

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I did mine, then sprayed with silver King silver paint then hand painted the lettering with some red engine paint I had at the back of the shelf.

Came up like new.