Filip

Still nice! I'm looking for a set of studded tires on alloy wheels, preferrably from the 242 GT or 244 Turbo...

Nice! You selling?

I'm sick of exhaust problems .... A set of winter tires for my Volvo is what I need!

It's not pretty, but I'm looking forward to a lot of sideways action when it starts snowing And it makes my rat-race GTV look really nice, great!

Sounds all good to me! Yea, some oil and these engines will run for a long, long time. Photo of my latest "great idea" coming up

The Y thing seems to come to mind often with you...Could it be your wife has a point?... Is it a good thing or a bad thing that I will end up having exhaust parts from Volvo, SAAB, Opel and Renault on my GTV? Tomorrow, I'm gonna check out a Volvo 240 for my retro winter ride... Thumbs up from the Alfa community or what?!!

Welcome! 3 good looking Spiders. How come you went from one TS Spider, then another and then a third?

I agree - a 150 hp 2.0L engine shouldn't need more than 2". I doubt that BM improved on Alfa's original design tho, especially since the Y-pipe was such a crappy product. Hard to tell whether there's more power because it's leaking in a few places. I guess it doesn't hurt because the old front pipe had leaks BEFORE the lambda so this one should make the engine happier.

The front pipe from BM arrived today and it was quite a disappointment. Unfortunately, I forgot to shoot some photos of it before fitting it. Cons: The Y-pipe is shitty, for lack of better words. The pipes have been squished and deformed to fit into a normal sized 2" pipe. It looks bad and I don't even wanna know how obstructive it is for the gas flow. The diameter is 2" instead of 2.5" like the original product. The above means that the clamp that bolts to a rubber mount beside the gearbox did not fit anymore. Pros: It's cheap. I payed £77 incl shipping. Walker's got one too, but that costs 4 times more. It's lighter than the original. Feels like at least 1 kg but I didn't measure. The bolts obviously broke off but we managed to drill and make a new thread without issues. Fitted with a new gasket... Cleaned this: Beneath the oil and dirt, there was a layer of very bright, very fine sand. Probably from France where the car came from I will probably paint the part before the silencer black so that you don't see as much of it from behind the car. My friend said "Aluminium is my thing, not this. Guess it won't fall apart, tho." Looks good to me

Thanks! Just to be sure, I sent my VIN to BM, who were extremely easy to deal with and quicker than most, and they confirmed it. Thumbs up for BM I got confirmation that it had been shipped off just 30 minutes after placing the order (buyspares2 on eBay). Almost too good to be true.

Sounds great! And looks race cool

Using a torch and other instruments of violence, the front pipe came loose. It turned out to be in bad shape. Repairing it and welding in a new flexi felt like a waste of time and energy. I will order a new front pipe. Looking at this one from BM Catalysts, art no BM70486: It says in some eBay adds that it's meant for engine code AR 32301, while my car's got 16201. Is there any reason why it wouldn't fit anyway? It looks perfect in the pic... http://www.bmcatalysts.co.uk/catalogue/details/BM70486/7717/

Progress might not be accurate... Couldn't get any welding done because the front pipe bolts (where the manifold connects to the front pipe) were seized. Anyone know if they are M8? Gonna get new ones and copper nuts. On the plus side: The driver side power window is now alive again! The lock nut on the long bolt holding the window slider on the "B-pillar side" of the door had unscrewed itself, preventing the window from moving freely. Tightening it, and putting some extra grease on the mechanism, made it run smoothly. Smoother than the passenger side window...

Please Looks like a very nice trip and the fact that your girlfriend seems to be enjoying road trips in a "noisy and uncomfortable" car (quoting friends of mine) is a rare quality

Completed my exhaust system prototype and it's awesome. It makes less drone at constant revs and the drone that's still there has a more comfortable frequency. The farting is almost entirely gone! Also, I've got three leaking welds in the front pipe-cat area, so it's gonna get even better Will get help with the welding soon. Currently, it's being held together by clamps For me, it doubled the car's value. Money-wise, I doubt it made any difference on the value...

Great color combo on your GTV! Some day I must own a 105 series coupe...

Welcome! More photos, please! Ph1 with the original pepperpot wheels is rare these days

Definitely?! The white leather interior is stunning! I'd get rid of the side skirts tho

Don't see the connection to tooth paste... Anywho, I kicked some major butt in the garage today and constructed a new exhaust layout. I moved the silencers further back, went medieval on some heat shields and fitted proper mounts along the whole thing No photos tho... yet.

Filled up the gearbox tonight but I estimate that only 1.5L stayed in there. The oil wanted very much to come back out... And I wasn't fast enough with the plug. The price for that piece of knowledge is a new bottle of oil, I guess. A new attempt to put the remaining 0.4L in there coming up...

Very nice!

Do all Scandinavians have great taste, or what do you mean...

Thanks. Already bought a Liqui Moly 75W-90... The gunk market is confusing... I prefer Permatex for some reason.

Got started on changing the transmission fluid today Modified some tools so that I could get to the stupid drain plugs, see the separate thread about that problem: http://www.squadra916.com/forums/topic/3438-gtv-ts-gearbox-drain-plug-problem/ The oil looked fairly fresh, surprisingly. While I was at it, I decided to remove the casing and have a look inside. http://www.alfaworkshop.co.uk/alfa_4th_gear.shtml No metal fragments! Will reassemble and fill it up with new oil as soon as I get around to buying gasket sealant. I took the opportunity to clean the casing with a wire brush so it looks a lot nicer than before. My car is missing arch liner gearbox cover flapadap so the 'box gets covered in dust and dirt in no time, but I usually don't put greasy and nasty parts back on the car without cleaning them.

Enjoyed reading the story, especially since you seem to be doing all the work to yourself or by trading services with friends.