It's so good to be back working on the V6 again
It was so frustrating last week to have lovely weather and not being able to do anything
Anyway, to business. I spent some time pondering the possibility of removing the gearbox with the engine
in-situ and came to the inescapable conclusion it's just impossible to do so
To that end, I've started the work to remove engine and 'box and surprisingly, on the V6 scale of things, it'll not be too bad a job. I've worked out a special V6 BoL "spanner code". One spanner equals 5 normal BoL spanners and and a normal BoL 5 spanner job is a 10 V6 spanner job
On that scale, engine removal is about a 6 spanner job...
In fact, PSA were very clever when they designed the V6 and it's not hard to see that the engine and gearbox assembly complete with loom and inlet manifold would have slotted in the shell very early on in the build, complete with all ancillaries. I have to admire their packaging skill really beause the engine/gearbox will come out complete with downpipes, starter, alternator, HP pump, complete loom, accumulator/PR block and most coolant hoses. In fact, now I know this, I've dismantled too much already...
The engine/gearbox must come out dead vertical (a straight up lift) and this has meant removing some things that normally would not need removing such as the engine fuse/relay box (ever removed one? It's tricky!) and the ABS unit as it's not enough just to move it a bit to one side.
The main thing though is the engine electrical loom. It's big, complex and stays with the engine/gearbox and it's necessary to disconnect it at the ECU, the RH and LH inner wing interconnect sockets, the inertial switch, the relays in the ECU box, the O2 sensor, the brake pressure sensor and so on. Even the ECUs themselves and the ECU box has to come out! Not an easy job and it was obvious all these bits were put in after the engine was dropped in at the factory.
Apart from disconnecting the exhaust, the lower engine mount and coolant hoses to the rad, I'm almost ready to go for the big lift
In looking at how to get the loom in a removal condition, I had the coil pack off and was staggered at just how deep the plugs sit in the cylinder heads
I still marvel at what a brilliant job they did of the V6 and how it's all packaged in there. Everything is geat-attable and in some cases it's easier than on the Activa or 2.1TD. In short, there is nothing to be afraid of in a V6 except it's incredible complexity but really it looks worse than it is. Like a dog having a bark worse than its bite
Having disturbed so much wiring, I shudder to think how many electrical faults I've made for myself when it all goes back together
On that subject, my next-door neighbour came to check on progress this afternoon. Seeing how dismembered thisngs are getting she asked a question: "Do you think you'll ever succeed in fixing it Jim or will it end up being scrapped?"
I can see where she was coming from but no, defeat is not an option in this case. The V6
will live even if it takes me all the summer...
In fact several neighbours now make regular visits to inspect progress...
Anyway, I'm having too much fun with it to even contemplate for a minute ever giving up on it even though I fairly admit it's the biggest challange I've attempted to date
