*** New Flash.... Vendor works on his own car ***

Maintenance advice to keep your Spider in shape.
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Ramzi
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Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2009 8:51 am
Your car is a: 1972 Fiat 124 Spider

*** New Flash.... Vendor works on his own car ***

Postby Ramzi » Sun Feb 12, 2017 5:27 pm

With the weather in the 80's this weekend, I decided it was time to get off my duff and do some work on my Sedan ... of course with the help of my 10 year old daughter.

I finally replaced the cobbled together exhaust with a new Imasaf system from the down pipe back. While under the card I noticed the transmission mount was all but gone and flex joint had a few cracks.

Image

This guibo could have probably gone about 1000 mile.... or perhaps not! Im certainly not suggesting everyone should rush out and change their's too, but at least have a very close look at the flex joint before pulling the car out this spring.

Also...
When last I parked the car this fall, it had a 1/4 of fuel a in a brand new fuel tank and also a brand new DCOF carburetor. Upon starting it fuel poured out of the top of the carb onto the manifolds (OHV cars have the intake and exhaust on the same side). My duaghter grabbed the fire extinguisher and I shut the car down. Once we were sure the fuel was cleaned up, I took the top of the carb off. Amazingly, the inside of a NEW carburetor was full of brown crystalline formations.... they appeared mostly on the softer metals in the carb. Im assuming they were caused by the Ethanol additives - but will need to look into that more. Point forward, I may plan on draining the fuel system before storage.
Ramzi
1939 Fiat 508cm Coloniale (military)
1939 Fiat 508c Coloniale (civilian)
1966 124 Sedan RHD (oldest 124 in America)
1972 124 Spider GCRE (modified 2.0L)
2017 124 Spider Abarth (highly modified)

AriK
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Joined: Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:58 pm
Your car is a: 1979 Fiat Spider
Location: Montreal Canada

Re: *** New Flash.... Vendor works on his own car ***

Postby AriK » Sun Feb 12, 2017 8:43 pm

Don't be misled by the looks of that guibo. No chunks have fallen out. A good scrubbing with steel wool will clean it up nice. Then give it a good finger massage with Nivea Cream. As a final step give it a good bath in Armor All and this rejuvenation will extend its life considerably.
Run a mix of toluene, kerosene and sambuca through the tank and pour about a half a cup of the solution down the barrel of the carb, let sit for 45 min. That should dissolve all of the brown crystalline formations out of the lines and carb.

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So Cal Mark
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Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:45 pm
Your car is a: Fiat
Location: upland, ca.

Re: *** New Flash.... Vendor works on his own car ***

Postby So Cal Mark » Sun Feb 12, 2017 10:52 pm

with today's fuel, you can't let a car sit for more than about 3 months without issues. It's time to treat your tank and fuel system with Carb Defender
Mark Allison
allisonsautomotive.com Fiat and Alfa Romeo parts and service. Performance parts our specialty!
Headers, ignitions, wheels, cams, flywheels
starsmark@hotmail.com 909-981-3566

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KevAndAndi
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Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2014 12:14 pm
Your car is a: 1981 Fiat Spider 2000
Location: Chatham, NJ

Re: *** New Flash.... Vendor works on his own car ***

Postby KevAndAndi » Tue Feb 14, 2017 11:44 am

Should Carb Defender be used in FI cars, as well?
Kevin
1981 Spider 2000

AriK
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Your car is a: 1979 Fiat Spider
Location: Montreal Canada

Re: *** New Flash.... Vendor works on his own car ***

Postby AriK » Tue Feb 14, 2017 8:16 pm

Driven Racing claims that the product is specifically made to protect the fuel system and components of the carb but can also be used for FI engines. You can read their FAQ here:
http://www.drivenracingoil.com/news/dro ... -additive/
Pretty pricey but you get better value for the dollar when you buy a 6-pack. I have a hard time finding this stuff in Canada and shipping over the border is a no-go.

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So Cal Mark
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Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:45 pm
Your car is a: Fiat
Location: upland, ca.

Re: *** New Flash.... Vendor works on his own car ***

Postby So Cal Mark » Wed Feb 15, 2017 12:05 am

liquids can be shipped via ground to Canada
Mark Allison
allisonsautomotive.com Fiat and Alfa Romeo parts and service. Performance parts our specialty!
Headers, ignitions, wheels, cams, flywheels
starsmark@hotmail.com 909-981-3566

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courtenay
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Your car is a: 1980 Spider 2000
Location: Courtenay, BC, Canada

Re: *** New Flash.... Vendor works on his own car ***

Postby courtenay » Wed Feb 15, 2017 12:18 am

Bruce Shearer
'80 Spider Fi
'10 Volvo XC70
'06 GMC 1 Ton PU
'72 Spider a long, long time ago

AriK
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Joined: Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:58 pm
Your car is a: 1979 Fiat Spider
Location: Montreal Canada

Re: *** New Flash.... Vendor works on his own car ***

Postby AriK » Wed Feb 15, 2017 4:38 am

Thanks, i stand corrected.
In November i took advantage of a local speedshop that had a closeout sale and discounted the rest of their inventory. And thanks to ORFORD2004 last night he kindly pointed me to another deal that i could not resist that will ship them to a U.S. address. Thanks John!!! (Generally this stuff is not given away.)
The best course of action is to avoid the ethanol altogether which is easily accessible in my neighborhood. During roadtrips however that's a different story especially in the U.S. where i trek often in recent years. There's a map of locations for pure gas but they are often out of the way and not worth the time to detour.
http://www.pure-gas.org/


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