lozz wrote:ilove alfa's but iwouidnt own another,
they loose Value too quickly, not worth owning one unless someone elderlys had it since day one,
Fiats are just as Bad. the fiat Marea ihad, 6cyl job, fiat wanted 2k to replace the cam belt,
not many of them left now,alot just ran them till belt let go and weighed them in,
I might consider a 159 diesel. The engine is GM/Saab/Vauxhall so should be ok (plenty of Taxiied Vectras about).
You don't see Mareas anymore. The Bravo saloon, they were a good looking car in my opinion. eBay has a couple but the diesel would be the one to go for.
FarmerPug wrote:i remember reading a review somewhere with the rover KV6 engine if you need to do a timing belt change its easier to buy a new car
As for the alfas id love to try one just to join the petrol head club and to hear the exhaust note of a proper engine.
I wonder how many 75s are scrapped because of this?
The exhaust note in the Alfa was nice until the cat fell off, then it sounded like a chavs corsa.
the old ones are better,
the 33 ihad took some pain, it cost me more in fortune in tyres, wife 0.1 refused to get in it, inthe end isold it to keep the peace.
I ended up with the primera the other day, it had a flat battery i took it to a mechanic to test the battery but asked when the timing belt needs done since its reached 70k, but the primera has a chain it doesn't need done.
A chain sounds like a better idea than a belt.
Don't most/all BMWs and some Nissans and Toyotas use timing chains?
I would have thought chains would be better because they're more durable (longer-lived) than rubber/kevlar belts? I understand that in order for a chain to work, it must be kept properly lubricated, meaning the chain has to live inside the block and is therefore more expensive to change.
Why are chains a bad thing?
2002 (D9) Peugeot 406 Coupe SE, 2.2 litre Petrol. Scarlet Red/Rouge Ecarlate/Rosso Scarlatto. Black Leather interior. SOLD
2008 (E60 LCI) BMW 525i M-Sport, 3.0 litre Petrol. Carbonschwarz Metallic. Black Dakota Leather and Myrtlewood interior.
FarmerPug wrote:Is it possible to change the belt at home or is it best left to a mechanic?
I did it (my first cambelt change!) on a hdi90 a couple of months ago and had no problems whatsoever other than the usual f*&£ing wheelarch liners. Once you've got the crankshaft pulley and belt cover off you'll be able to see the water pump, and whether you've got the original pump or a shiny new one will tell you to a reasonable degree of confidence if the belt has actually been changed (although don't forget if it's older than a few years it'll probably want changing anyhow).
Be prepared for mucho water leakage when you pull the pump out, even if you've drained the rad...
<steve_earwig> I think this forum is more about keeping our cars going with minimal outlay than giving our cars more reason to go bang
I plan to change the water pump at the same time it seems to be about £100 in parts at least though so it might need to wait a few weeks.
As for the chains, one of the old primeras my dad had i think it was a 1997 1.6 made a clattery noise, the timing chain tensioner needed done but the mechanic had it sorted in a few hours it only cost £30 to sort.
I know this is an old thread, but I used the excellent guide posted by jasper (and Haynes) to do the job last weekend. Encountered very few problems but it did take around 6-8 hours solid work, purely because of the labour involved in removing/relocating thingss plus my inexperience with this job on this engine, so I took my time. Unfortunately one of the bolts securing the engine mount bracket to the engine snapped and became stuck. We could not extract the bolt over that weekend, so I sourced (with difficulty) Peugeot part 9628311880 which bolts onto the engine with four bolts. After this the job was straightforward.
- Jasper's guide mentions removing a horribly-designed engine cover, and that it needs to be teased and bent out of position. If you remove the engine mount it's actually easy to remove, but this is only mentioned much later in the guide.
- When removing the pully bolt, there's no need for somebody to sit in the car and hold the brakes -- just lock the engine as described, which allows you to un-do the nut.
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you dont want timing chains trust me 
