Further to my last post, I recently fitted a tow bar to the green estate and that one, like Assich's, had the crosstube in front of the bumper valance.

These things are incredibly heavy and fitting them involves laying on your back and doing a weight lifting bench press, then supporting it with one hand whilst you struggle to fit bolts to hold it in place. After three attempts I wedged a couple of large screwdrivers through convenient holes in the underbody to support it.

Not recommended for the fainthearted.

Derek

Hi Assich,

As our two cars are almost twins, I wondered if you've faced up to the cambelt change yet? Mine's on 73k now but I'm inclined to leave well alone. I also have to consider what to do about the autobox oil change.

Derek

Hi Derek. Mines on 117k so heading for a belt in a while. Not looking forward to it but will do it myself. As for gearbox see - Auto Gearbox Oil Change.

Hi Assich,

Thanks for the autobox lead, I'd completely forgotten that thread. It reminded me I'm going to ignore the autobox until something goes wrong.

I'm doing very few annual miles in the V6 now, I use it as my summer car because of the air conditioning and swap the insurance over to the turbo estate during the winter. I also use it only for long runs (so everything is thoroughly warmed up), and I don't seem to do many of those.

Some years ago I bought a complete set of setting pins and other tools for a cambelt change off ebay. You are welcome to borrow them when you come to do your cambelt, give me a shout when you're ready and I'll post them to you.

Derek