Alfa GTV V6

Author
Discussion

Jw Vw

4,832 posts

164 months

Tuesday 8th May 2012
quotequote all
That interior is gorgeous smile

strangehighways

Original Poster:

479 posts

166 months

Tuesday 8th May 2012
quotequote all
5charlie46 said:
Looks spot on, wheels need to be silver though imo
I will put the wheels back to silver at some point, but it's £200 that I can't justify spending at this moment as there are so many important things that need doing on the car soon!

anonymous-user

55 months

Tuesday 8th May 2012
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Get some unsilenced quad pipes on it! My old GTV had a regazzon setup. Sounded awesome through tunnels! I loved my old GTV but they are a car that ALWAYS needs stuff doing to them. Cheap to buy but not cheap to run smile

strangehighways

Original Poster:

479 posts

166 months

Sunday 6th January 2013
quotequote all
Been a while since an update.

The GTV is going strong. A fair bit of money has been thrown at her because she had cooling issues.

Though the cambelt was changed by the last owner, I was not sure if the waterpump had, and suspected not. After changing the radiator and the thermostat, my overheating issues continued; behaviour was strange in that the car kept to a reasonable temperature in traffic and behaved ok but on the open road where you would expect the car to be cooler, it actually got hotter!

The culprit was the waterpump and a crack in the plastic impeller which caused slipping at higher engine speeds. Once replaced, all was well.

I had a Wizard Unicorse replica quad exhaust put on the car and it now sounds fantastic. Not boomy at all when cruising, but very loud when accelerating hard...

Alfa Romeo GTV V6 Wizard Quad Exhaust - YouTube Stationary

Alfa Romeo GTV V6 Wizard Quad Exhaust - YouTube Drive By

While getting the exhaust fitted at Autolusso (great place), the guys noticed that the 3 litre busso engine was actually a 2.5!! I was shocked and pissed off to say the least. Still, I'll stick with the car as I love it. If I do manage to blow the engine up, I'll get a 3.2 dropped in from the phase 3 GTV. The 2.5 is quick enough, but does not have the mid range of the 3 litre and needs to be revved hard to get the best out of it.

Recently someone reversed into the passenger door and the damage to it meant it had to be replaced. The insurance company wanted to write the car off and offered £1400. I laughed in their face and asked if it was possible to fix the car myself. They offered me £1000 to do this and I managed to sort it for £400 by getting a door from another black GTV being broken biggrin


I love Alfas more than ever!!






GTiFrank

625 posts

185 months

Sunday 6th January 2013
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Very tidy, black on black has worked very well. Any idea how a 2.5 lump ended up in there?! I would be really cheesed off!

RikZR

677 posts

150 months

Sunday 6th January 2013
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Lovely Alfa, nice to see one that's not in Red either! biggrin
Wow that's odd it having a 2.5 though! Is it registered on the V5 as having a 3.0 then?

AlfaPapa

277 posts

161 months

Monday 7th January 2013
quotequote all
Firstly, absolutely stunning GTV.

strangehighways said:
I had a Wizard Unicorse replica quad exhaust put on the car and it now sounds fantastic. Not boomy at all when cruising, but very loud when accelerating hard...


Great choice, I went for a single pipe. Sounds slightly different but still amazing. Who needs a radio when your car sounds like this!?
GTV Wizard new toy
('scuse my squealing)

strangehighways said:
While getting the exhaust fitted at Autolusso (great place), the guys noticed that the 3 litre busso engine was actually a 2.5!!
Gutted! Absolutely gutted for you.
I managed to break a piston in my previous engine and was sold a Busso V6 "3l" engine. It wasn't until the garage was cleaning down my broken engine trying to find a hole in the block (though I'd pushed a piston through the block at first) that we noticed that the engines have the capacity stamped on them... checked the "new" engine to find it was a 2.5. Sneaky, very sneaky. It went straight back and I spent another month searching for a suitable 3l.

strangehighways

Original Poster:

479 posts

166 months

Monday 7th January 2013
quotequote all
GTiFrank said:
Very tidy, black on black has worked very well. Any idea how a 2.5 lump ended up in there?! I would be really cheesed off!
I am not certain but I am pretty sure that the guy who sold it to me changed the engine in it. He had told me he changed quite a few things on the car and had tidied up the engine bay and replaced bits and pieces. He also had a fair few Alfas so I wonder if he put the 3 litre in a 156 or something. Who knows?

RikZR said:
Lovely Alfa, nice to see one that's not in Red either!
Wow that's odd it having a 2.5 though! Is it registered on the V5 as having a 3.0 then?
It is currently registered on the V5 as a 3 litre.


anonymous-user

55 months

Monday 7th January 2013
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OP, I wonder if the seller of the car was entirely straight with you. If you want to keep the car, that's fine, but you might, depending on how the sale was handled, have a firm basis for complaining about the price that you agreed to pay. You cannot now honestly sell the car on as a 3 litre car, and as far as I am aware it is the 3 litre that is the most sought after variant of the GTV and the one most likely to hold its value or appreciate as a modern classic.

The 2.5 litre V6 is still a great engine - I have one in my 156, but I would be distinctly miffed if I had bought 3 litres and obtained 2.5.

anonymous-user

55 months

Monday 7th January 2013
quotequote all
strangehighways said:
GTiFrank said:
Very tidy, black on black has worked very well. Any idea how a 2.5 lump ended up in there?! I would be really cheesed off!
I am not certain but I am pretty sure that the guy who sold it to me changed the engine in it. He had told me he changed quite a few things on the car and had tidied up the engine bay and replaced bits and pieces. He also had a fair few Alfas so I wonder if he put the 3 litre in a 156 or something. Who knows?

RikZR said:
Lovely Alfa, nice to see one that's not in Red either!
Wow that's odd it having a 2.5 though! Is it registered on the V5 as having a 3.0 then?
It is currently registered on the V5 as a 3 litre.
I had to have the top end of the 3.0 in my GTV rebuilt as the cambelt slipped a tooth and bent some of the valves. It's possible that something similar happened to yours and the owner saved some money by dropping a 2.5 in instead. I'd keep an eye out for a 3.0 being broken if I were you. You said you took yours to Autolusso? I'm sure Ned could help out?

edited to add - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ALFA-ROMEO-3-0cc-V6-ENGI...

strangehighways

Original Poster:

479 posts

166 months

Wednesday 9th January 2013
quotequote all
Breadvan72 said:
OP, I wonder if the seller of the car was entirely straight with you. If you want to keep the car, that's fine, but you might, depending on how the sale was handled, have a firm basis for complaining about the price that you agreed to pay. You cannot now honestly sell the car on as a 3 litre car, and as far as I am aware it is the 3 litre that is the most sought after variant of the GTV and the one most likely to hold its value or appreciate as a modern classic.

The 2.5 litre V6 is still a great engine - I have one in my 156, but I would be distinctly miffed if I had bought 3 litres and obtained 2.5.
I will be keeping the car until it dies, so I guess the value of it is meaningless really. I would never sell the car on as a 3 litre and it is worth literally bugger all with a 2.5 in. I will just keep it, and one day replace the lump with a 3.0 or 3.2.

St John Smythe (surely a reference to the awful but still enjoyable James Bond film), I have dealt with Ned before and will be using Autolusso from now on for all my Alfa servicing etc. Very knowledgeable guys there.

anonymous-user

55 months

Wednesday 9th January 2013
quotequote all
OK, but you might still have a beef with the seller for over pricing the car, if he knew that the engine had been changed. If you can't be bothered with the hassle and possible acrimony involved in pursuing that beef, that's fair enough. Enjoy the car!

Andy665

3,627 posts

229 months

Wednesday 9th January 2013
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They do get under your skin, only two cars I have regretted selling and ended upbuying another - Racing Puma and GTV V6 - my current GTV, funds permitting is a lifetime keeper

strangehighways

Original Poster:

479 posts

166 months

Saturday 9th February 2013
quotequote all
Had a great day out at a Rolling Road place in Leeds with some other Italian machinery and people. Mostly Alfas but there were a couple of Maseratis - 4200 and 90s Ghibli (coolest car ever).

About 12 of us ran. Most cars were around the factory figures. The odd diesel was a fair bit above having had remaps.

My 2.5, not 3 litre GTV made... 191.2 bhp! I was very happy with that as this is around what they are meant to be (somewhere between 187 and 192 I think).

Two other 3 litre GTVs ran and made 219 and 223 bhp (factory is between 218 - 220 I think).

Only car down on power considerably was a 2.2 JTS which made 161 bhp - should have been 185!!

Best sounding? Either the 4200 or the 155 v6 with a custom exhaust.

Great day out biggrin







ConorE

317 posts

141 months

Saturday 9th February 2013
quotequote all
5charlie46 said:
Looks spot on, wheels need to be silver though imo
This.

waynedear

2,179 posts

168 months

Sunday 10th February 2013
quotequote all
It was a good day out and i agree, nearly, 155 V6 was indeed best sounding car..

bmthnick1981

5,311 posts

217 months

Sunday 10th February 2013
quotequote all
strangehighways said:
Been a while since an update.

The GTV is going strong. A fair bit of money has been thrown at her because she had cooling issues.

Though the cambelt was changed by the last owner, I was not sure if the waterpump had, and suspected not. After changing the radiator and the thermostat, my overheating issues continued; behaviour was strange in that the car kept to a reasonable temperature in traffic and behaved ok but on the open road where you would expect the car to be cooler, it actually got hotter!

The culprit was the waterpump and a crack in the plastic impeller which caused slipping at higher engine speeds. Once replaced, all was well.

I had a Wizard Unicorse replica quad exhaust put on the car and it now sounds fantastic. Not boomy at all when cruising, but very loud when accelerating hard...

Alfa Romeo GTV V6 Wizard Quad Exhaust - YouTube Stationary

Alfa Romeo GTV V6 Wizard Quad Exhaust - YouTube Drive By

While getting the exhaust fitted at Autolusso (great place), the guys noticed that the 3 litre busso engine was actually a 2.5!! I was shocked and pissed off to say the least. Still, I'll stick with the car as I love it. If I do manage to blow the engine up, I'll get a 3.2 dropped in from the phase 3 GTV. The 2.5 is quick enough, but does not have the mid range of the 3 litre and needs to be revved hard to get the best out of it.

Recently someone reversed into the passenger door and the damage to it meant it had to be replaced. The insurance company wanted to write the car off and offered £1400. I laughed in their face and asked if it was possible to fix the car myself. They offered me £1000 to do this and I managed to sort it for £400 by getting a door from another black GTV being broken biggrin


I love Alfas more than ever!!





Sounds amazing! Whats the cost for one of these exhausts?

strangehighways

Original Poster:

479 posts

166 months

Sunday 10th February 2013
quotequote all
bmthnick1981 said:
Sounds amazing! Whats the cost for one of these exhausts?
I sent you a message about the cost. The makers don't seem to like the price being banded about. Dan from Autolusso is the guy to contact if any of you Alfa owners out there want a superb sounding exhaust....

strangehighways

Original Poster:

479 posts

166 months

Saturday 30th March 2013
quotequote all
Met with a friend recently who also has a black GTV (twin spark).

Was great fun blasting down some roads with another GTV!

His car is much comfier than mine. It might be down to the fact that mine is lowered and not sure what else, but it's certainly stiffer and much worse over bumpy roads. His steering and throttle pedal feel are slightly heavier.







MrBrightSi

2,912 posts

171 months

Saturday 30th March 2013
quotequote all
You have no idea how much your car is making me want a GTV. I think for the past year and a bit ive wanted one, shame i got a chance to own a financially deadening williams. I guess you have to meet your heros when you get the chance.

I think this or next year will see a v6 living in the garage.

What are the costs like? Im not fussed for petrol as it'd be a toy, but servicing and bits and bobs, how much does it throw its toys out the pram. All my weekend cars had their issues, the only perfectly reliable car was the spitfire.