Alfa 3.2l V6 Engine

[NeilC]

Hi all,

I apologise for joining to post on a purely selfish pursuit but in short, I have a mechanically sound Alfa Romeo GT 3.2l V6 (2004) with 99k miles. Very smooth and pulls strong. Good service history with all the essential work carried out (cambelt etc replaced at 85k). But... it has rot along both sills (surprise, surprise) and won't pass it's MOT next month. The repair bill is unknown and quite off-putting. After some discussion with my mechanic, he suggested that the engine may be of interest to Stratos owners as the kit car's mounting is designed specifically for this engine?

If this is correct, would this engine (attached to a car!) be of interest to anyone? As the car is still perfectly drivable, the engine is fully testable. Any advise you might be able to afford me will be greatly appreciated and I suppose this might lead to another post in the 'for sale' section.

I'm based in Belper, Derbyshire. The car is Lipari Grey with tan leather.

Thanks,
Neil

Moderators: Please move this to the classifieds section if I have incorrectly posted

[Guy Mayers]

Hi and thanks for posting - I may well be interested in buying the car as a donor, I've got a 12v 164 motor out for rebuild this weekend but after 8 years of not running it may be beyond help.
I'll PM you.
Cheers
Guy

[strat24v]

Fit the 24 valve engine Guy.
Just remembered what David May had said to me a few years ago, the ecu won't work as its too tied into other systems so you'd probably need a emerald, omex or dta.

[NeilC]

Just a couple of photos to give you an idea of what it looks like. Thanks to all those who have contacted me thus far.

1201212013


Cheers,
Neil

[The Slug]

And what price are you looking for?
Or did I miss that bit?

[Guy Mayers]

Fit the 24 valve engine Guy.
Just remembered what David May had said to me a few years ago, the ecu won't work as its too tied into other systems so you'd probably need a emerald, omex or dta.

Thanks for that piece of info John, I'd forgotten about that. It'll double the price of any transplant so I'm beginning to think that the 12v route is my best option. If this one had been a goer I was contemplating taking the motor and box out of the Stratos 1 for Stratos 2 and dropping the 3.2 into Stratos 1. Only slight advantage is that I have the registration docs and chassis plate for the current motor which would then do for IVA. Big downside is having to work on 2 cars at the same time in a single garage and not having one to drive at all..... I'll know more next week when Howard strips the engine I'm dropping off on Saturday....
Another potential option is an engine and box from AutoLusso (North or South) with Jenveys/Omex fitted but I'm really thinking this donor isn't for me. I think Neil ought to consider welding it up and keeping it!
Guy

[john]

Looks nice. I'm tempted to get the welder out myself!
You can always change the engine number onto the donor V5 in these circumstances. Without the car being on the road or MOT'd. Perfectly legal to do so.

[westonTB]

Neil, don't bin the Alfa for the sake of welding parts of sills, here speaks the owner of a Lancia beta!!! You could try Roger Evans at Peak Alfa, not a million miles from Belper.
Also anyone considering the phase three motor, I do believe it has a higher road tax cost.

I think my mates Alfa GT is a 2004 or 05 and he has just welded his sills up, not a world ending job.

Tim.

[NeilC]

Thanks Tim. Another helpful member on here suggested I let Automotive Solutions & Racing (in Langley Mill) have a look and give their opinion.

Up until now, all I've been told is that the cost is unknown. It's not until you start peeling back the layer will you know the extent of the damage and what it might cost to repair. I'm not very mechanically minded so I'm at the mercy of the advice I'm given. We think that the problem was caused because at some point in it's lifetime it was dropped on it's sills and wasn't repaired properly; and the rot has been building underneath the botch-job for who knows how long.

It is a shame because the car drives really well. I guess I'm just scared of taking on a money pit; getting out now could be less stressful.

I'll definitely speak to Peak Alfa. So far, I've only spoken to Alfa Tecnico as they are the closest to me. They are nervous about what lies beneath.

[NeilC]

We also suspect that when it was dropped, it also buckled the front left inner wing as the outer wing doesn't line up parallel with the sill; if you follow the line of the sill, where the front wing cups over the sill just behind the front wheel, it tapers out at an angle. I was too focused on making sure all the mechanicals were correct when I bought it and just chalked up all cosmetic issues as easily fixable. You live and learn, as they say!

[NeilC]

And what price are you looking for?
Or did I miss that bit?

At the moment, it feels like I couldn't expect more than £3.5 for it as a 'whole car'. Viewing the car from you guys perspective - as in, only being interested in the engine package - I'd probably have to accept a lot less. I only fitted a brand new Quaife/Q2 last Nov which wasn't cheap so I'm hoping to cover my most recent costs at the very least. Basically, I'm not sure what it's realistically worth.

I'll probably know a bit more when I've had few expert opinions come in. But maybe investigating the welding option in greater detail (as is suggested on here) may change everything.

[Strat Fan]

Also anyone considering the phase three motor, I do believe it has a higher road tax cost.


Tim.
Kit cars aren't emissions declared so it is a flat rate whether it be a phase 1, phase 2 or phase 3 engine based on the pre 2001 road tax bands so it would be £245 per annum currently.

The 3.2 GT & the 146 Gta are the ones which are apparently very difficult to wire in due to the number of Canbus connections to the ecu. An aftermarket ECU would be the simplest solution but as Guy points out this will add approx £1500 to the cost. If you throw throttle bodies into the mix then you would be looking at over £3k by the time you have done the mapping session.

[Steve C]

I agree with Craig's estimates: to get my 3.2 up and running was about £1500 without TBs (£1k for the hardware and approx £500 to set up and tune), but it is putting out 280 at the wheels.
Steve