RE: Shed(s) of the Week: Alfa GTV and Fiat Coupe
Discussion
ffhard said:
As always seem to have come into this thread late so I just KNOW I'm repeating stuff already said.
Sorry!
But, a few points.
Shed money or not why would you buy a GTV that doesn't have a V6 in it? But, for shed money (or near enough) you can get a 156 that DOES have a V6 in it, and pretty much just a larger GTV.
On the same note why buy a Coupe that doesn't have a turbo? If youre going to go for it then go for it! Personally I would far sooner have the 4 cylinder turbo than a 5 cylinder non. If there's any left?
Last point, and I hate to take issue with Shed (maybe I'm just being pissy because there was no "fnarr, fnarr" stuff this time!) but please, PLEASE do not believe that you can leave the belt changes on a 2.0 twin spark for 72,000 miles. You can't, hardly ever.
Even Alfa grudgingly admitted it and changed the interval to 36,000.
Horses for courses really.Sorry!
But, a few points.
Shed money or not why would you buy a GTV that doesn't have a V6 in it? But, for shed money (or near enough) you can get a 156 that DOES have a V6 in it, and pretty much just a larger GTV.
On the same note why buy a Coupe that doesn't have a turbo? If youre going to go for it then go for it! Personally I would far sooner have the 4 cylinder turbo than a 5 cylinder non. If there's any left?
Last point, and I hate to take issue with Shed (maybe I'm just being pissy because there was no "fnarr, fnarr" stuff this time!) but please, PLEASE do not believe that you can leave the belt changes on a 2.0 twin spark for 72,000 miles. You can't, hardly ever.
Even Alfa grudgingly admitted it and changed the interval to 36,000.
I have a GTV 2.0 TS. Cost (a touch over) shed money.
When I was looking it just happened to be a really tidy looking car in my modest price range so I went for it.
Personally, unless you're an Alfa fan/enthusiast (I'm not), I don't know why you would splash out 4 or 5 times shed money on a v6. If I had that cash I'd probably so for something like an nice Impreza turbo or WRX - quite a bit quicker than a v6 GTV and much more interesting to me.
A GTV V6 for shed money would be a serious project and by the time she's straight and/or running properly three to four times the original budget.
These are not cars you can run a polishing mop over and say they are "fully restored" like they do on Wheeler Dealers and other "magic of television" tripe. Proper time, care and knowledge are required and if you can not do that yourself it will cost you money instead.
Widely regarded as the worst job to do on a 916 platform (GTV or Spider) is replacing the clutch slave and master cylinders. The slave is a ten minute job but the master is a monumental pain in the faff due to the lack of space between the inlet manifold and bulkhead. Oh the lines have 13mm ends so you have to order a special pipe spanner as all the ones I had were 10mm, 12mm or 14mm. It took longer for me than expected as it had been bodged before and over three days (I was supplied with the wrong cylinder the first time round) around nineteen hours work.
No wonder my local Alfa specialists wanted £800 parts and labor for the same job.
These are not cars you can run a polishing mop over and say they are "fully restored" like they do on Wheeler Dealers and other "magic of television" tripe. Proper time, care and knowledge are required and if you can not do that yourself it will cost you money instead.
Widely regarded as the worst job to do on a 916 platform (GTV or Spider) is replacing the clutch slave and master cylinders. The slave is a ten minute job but the master is a monumental pain in the faff due to the lack of space between the inlet manifold and bulkhead. Oh the lines have 13mm ends so you have to order a special pipe spanner as all the ones I had were 10mm, 12mm or 14mm. It took longer for me than expected as it had been bodged before and over three days (I was supplied with the wrong cylinder the first time round) around nineteen hours work.
No wonder my local Alfa specialists wanted £800 parts and labor for the same job.
"magic of television" is a polite way of saying bullcrap.
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