So it has begun!

[NoCorseChris]

Try joining AlfaOwner and listing them there. Much bigger audience but some of them might want to do you harm.....

That's a good point Guy. The GTA community are likely to be somewhat unsympathetic to breaking a good car for parts

Even the 166 gang are starting to get a bit twitchy about breaking cars now. It's how they become extinct though isn't it. Not many made, fall into an unloved state, then into bangernomics territory...then all but a few special cases expire one way or another. My own 166 is starting to look like rust will do for it before anything significant wears out.

[powelly999]

Its on a well known auction site and I can't keep up with the emails!!!

[hedge]

It'll all be available shortly, door cards front and rear etc. Let me know if your interested.

I'm interested. I'll need pics - especially as I'm not going to be able to exactly pop over to see them :-)

Cheers,
Hedge

[Andrew Peterborough]

If you do a deal I would be happy to pick them up and deliver to you. I work in Chepstow all week so its not real deviation on the way home.

Andrew

[hedge]

If you do a deal I would be happy to pick them up and deliver to you. I work in Chepstow all week so its not real deviation on the way home. Andrew

Thanks for the offer, appreciate it.

Cheers,
Hedge

[powelly999]

Its all still together at the moment, well I say together, just taken the necessary off to do a 'quick' compression check to see the health of the engine. I sort of had an idea it may not be perfect although it does run smoothly so the results weren't too unexpected.

The results below seem to suggest I'll be taking the heads off looking for head gasket failure I hope, and nothing more sinister lurking around!

Cyl 1 -180 psi
Cyl 2 -150 psi
Cyl 3 -55 psi
Cyl 4 -180 psi
Cyl 5 -150 psi
Cyl 6 -180 psi

So at least it'll be getting the new gaskets, heads skimmed and maybe I'll look a little deeper!

[Spartan]

What kind of tool did you use for the compression check? When I did mine, I had some problems getting a good seal at first (see here for details).

I'm no expert but I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that something is wrong based on (as you say) a 'quick' check alone. If there is a problem, low compression on one cylinder might not point to head gasket failure (certainly not between two adjacent cylinders anyway).

Here's hoping for the best!

[mel lewis]

If the engine has been standing for quite a long time ,it may be surface rust built up on the valves. Run the engine for as long as possible and do another compressing test and compair results, before stripping it down.

[ChrisCar6]

Or sticking piston rings after inactivity. Leave to sit with a spoonful of oil in the appropriate cylinders?

[powelly999]

Ahhhh good advice, I'll look at doing that sometime. Unfortunately I don't know when though, shortly after I posted the readings I ended up on the Stroke Ward in the local hospital so the strip down will have to wait for a couple of weeks now, but hey ho, lots of time to read and gather more info!!
Andy