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another clean and polish well my work car megane dieded so i had to replace it with something fuel efficient so i bought alfa number 3 a 156 jtd sport, 186bhp as does 50mpg perfect for work, looking good after a clay and upgraded to 18s r32 alloys

Im tempted to spray my centre console black but not sure so after finishing the interior off, door cards in, carpet, leather interior, italian gaiters and sony cd player all fitted it was im eto sort the engine out. connected the v6 up to laptop and showing a maf fault I managed to source a good used bosch maf for £35 so happy with that while swapping the maf over I found a big crack in the air intake hose leading up to throttle body at the back on the corner. while i was playing with the engine bay i thought why not give it a quick once over, i had some shinny chrome pipes i bought before i even had a v6 (they were a bargain at £35)i couldn't resist. i popped down to halford and bought some metric heat proof paint and after removing the two covers and giving them a blast decided i would paint the fuel rail silver and cambelt cover black, so back down to halfords. I spent about £30 on paint. I need a intake hose and while looking i spotted another ebay bargain and ordered a used red silicone intake hose for £20 including delivery and ordered a nice shiney oil breather pipe for £3.99. while taking everything apart i found the cause of the lump noise a large crack in the gaskets on the chrome pipes. I ordered two green chrome pipe gaskets as there were both cracked but only £8 from main dealer. so maf sorted and engine light off, plus i painted the engine bay looks much better. I decided not to tackle the v6 camblet i will take it to a specialist, i did one years ago on my old ts but and v6 is way out of my league. to be honest the red isnt red enough for me and i still need to paint the lettering but looks way better than it did and only cost me just over £100 before/during/after (still got coolant tank and lettering to do)

So with money put aside for a gearbox i didnt need the money was spent else where THE GOODIES new front grill and badge £50 new rear badge £25 new Italian leather gaiters for handbrake and gearstick £40 clear side lights (didn't go with black as dont want that all black chavy look £15 hid bright white £45 new alloys wheels I already had on my old gtv new italian leather gaiters £35 black leather interior £200 new black gtv mats £30 Sony mp3 Bluetooth £120 So interior stripped out and had a look at the heater controls. sold the old interior recovering £350 and old alloys sold for £200. old alloys off, clear indicators, grill, new badges and alloys on A nice teasing pic

so i start with the gear issue, and assemble the shatter broken gear surround and try selecting the gears, after a while i can engage 1,2,3,4 but not 5th and no reverse after a bit of research i discovered this is a common problem on the v6's and this could well be my gearbox problem. so me and my dad stripped it all down and could see the problem the casing was shattered. I ordered a replacement houseing and we fixed the gear linkage/housing. It was a nightmare job and took a whole day, a right fiddle **** of a job, although it only cost £50 in parts so not expensive in money but it was in time. dropping the exhaust and tightening it up from underneath was great fun but hey i have all gears now. The gears were still very stiff going but i could now select all gears. I then replaced the two little linkage bushes on top of the gearbox end and all sorted, nice and smooth and they were only £5 from car4parts amazing the difference they make. so what a result no expensive replacement gearbox that i feared just a few scrapped knuckles.

The first thing i do when i get her home was give her a clayx4, clean and polish.

well i had a good look round and maybe i should have walked away as the list of issues seemed to get alot longer, engine- so gear issue, engine management light on, running rough, lumpy, exhaust blowing in four places, loosing water/steam front the coolant tank and engine stabilizer looks battered. exterior- no damage and only a couple of dings but lots of scratches down the passenger side where the car had been driven in and out of the drive scratching against plants/bushes on the drive way, but no rust. front grill damaged past repair and both badges faded. interior- ok just pimpish red lol! heating doesnt work, gear leaver busted, water in passanger footwell and airbag light on. underneath- suspension looks tired and reading mot sheet needs new dog legs and steering gaiter, brakes felt knackard with binding pink brembos. it also hasnt had a cambelt in 10 year so ...... I bought it! woohoo my first v6 He called her his devil and set a fair price we both agreeded on........ £666 and i had her collected (£100) a couple of days before xmas 19/12/2013

The seller well he was a character, a artist and a really nice guy, he explained one day when he was backing it out of the drive the gearbox went. plus a few other problems ment it had been sat for a few years.