Well after driving the car across the continent doing a few things each day I thought I should formally move to the restoration forum for the rest of the work.
So just a recap.....
So far.....6000 km
headlight relays
new sun visors
cleaning of ground pods
refab of taillights soldered bulb holders to the circuit board, cleaned all contacts and ground
lubricated seat rails
lubricated window mechanisms and door locks
refurbished courtesy light
started cleaning contacts under dash
purchased new front rotors and caliper rebuild kits, and wiper relay kit
was given new air cleaner, 4 shocks and new muffler.
about to get
kits for the rear brakes
new muffler (well middle resonator)
transmission input shaft bearing
clutch kit
after all that is installed then will look more at the suspension/steering.
cheers ( and finally figured out photos)
dinghyguy
Last edited by dinghyguy on Thu Oct 03, 2019 11:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
1981 Red Spider "Redbob"
1972 blue Volvo 1800ES "Bob"
1998 Red Ford Ranger
Car looks really nice! You've got a keeper. But its hard to beat a So Cal car (for its entire life) when it comes to rust, so I don't think I want to trade at this time...
How about posting some picture from the cross country venture? Including the eclipse, flip flops and cowboy hats?
You should do the dash diode upgrade. I did a write up including my parts list/source that might get you started.
I have looked at the LED option for the dash, and while I like the bright, I think first I will do the brown wire upgrade and ignition switch rebuild, clean all the contacts and generally see if the existing system can be tuned up at all (besides I need to sort out some of the PO's wiring). I have already rebuilt a spare dimming rheostat for installation and I am hoping that helps too.
first is brakes and muffler.
Oh and has anyone installed the pop out cup holders which are single DIN or thinner in place of the bottom piece of wood in the middle section of the dash? I have not looked to see if there is enough room, but the idea appeals to me.
dinghyguy
1981 Red Spider "Redbob"
1972 blue Volvo 1800ES "Bob"
1998 Red Ford Ranger
Front brakes completed finally. Delayed due to stuck bleeder screws but solved with lots of heat on caliper and then new seals. Car now stops straight. Yea
Looking at wiper relay task next, as well as lubrication linkage. A nice weekend project. Living in Vancouver wipers might be needed!
Wondering what to do about the fibre optic stuff that illuminates heater which seems to be missing from car. Not sure where I am going to find the parts but will start looking soon
Oh, noticed tires are rubbing inside bit of front fender liner at full lock. Stock wheels 185/wide tires. Do people just take out the liner when they put on 15" tires even with more spacer offset?
.
1981 Red Spider "Redbob"
1972 blue Volvo 1800ES "Bob"
1998 Red Ford Ranger
Thanks Royn, not a bad car but not yet really nice.....
So recent updates
Wiper relay install - removed the cowling and no surprize found 3 dual bullet connectors to the wiper motor. But of course the kit I bought has single white 6 pin plugs. Not to mention there is no real schematic, and in fact the wiring guide only covers one plug end. So, off to the auto parts store to by some two pin bullet connectors. (now I had read elsewhere on the forum that fiats bullet connectors are special (duh) so I was not surprised to find the regular ones from the auto parts store don't fit.) Hmmm, then I looked at some old bits of fiat wiring harness I recently acquired and found two plug ends that would mate to the relay kit plugs. Snip Snip. But the connectors were dirty and the wires were different gauges than what I need, so two hours of plug disassembly, carefully removing the connectors, removing the bits of wire and cleaning the connectors ready for the new wire install. (yes i checked the auto parts store, no connectors that fit the plugs). I am now ready to cut the car wires and solder the cleaned up connectors on and insert into the plugs. Only issue is my car is in the darkest underground in the world, and because the wiring info provided in the kit is so crappy i have to do al the work in the dungeon, none on the dining room table so i can make sure I match the wires properly. Good thing the fiat wiring diagram actually has the colors on and they match the car.
In the meantime I took the cowling to the dining room table and disassembled the mechanism, cleaned, greased and lubed everything. Some improvement was evident (only lost one small snap ring in the process). Even went so far as to disassemble the motor, checked the brushes, lubed the bearings, replaced most of the grease and cleaned the park contacts.
So only the soldering in the dungeon remains and this project should be completed.
Oh well, lets do something simple, lets install the dash light rheostat I rebuilt. No problem I figure, undo the two nuts, pull off the centre dash panel, remove the rheostat, replace and reassemble. A perfect job for the parking lot at the beach, not in the dungeon, right? Off I go to the beach, top down, sunny afternoon all is well with the world.. No problem removing the nuts, take the panel off, and then I find the switch does not fit through the hole in the centre of the dash no way no how. GRRR.
Well then lets investigate the extra panel gauge install from the PO. He installed an oil pressure gauge and a voltage gauge, a switch for the gauge lights, a red light that comes on when the door is open with the key in, and a switch and light to manually turn on the rad fan.I have an old fiat oil pressure gauge (from the PO) and i was curious to see if it would work instead, if so i might install it in place of the clock.
So a little investigation was started. Imagine my surprise when i found a little battery holder with 3 AAA batteries in it and wires leading to this panel. Turns out the reason for the gauge light switch is because they are LEDs and don't run on 12V but more like 4V, thus a need for a battery pack and switch. That will GO, All gauge lights will be 12V in the near future.
Then I dropped the relay panel so i could clean the contacts to the wiper timer and found that the red open door light was powered by some wires connected to what i think is the seat belt chime (but not sure yet) not the contact on the courtesy light. Plus some wires near the chime have been cut. So more mysteries to be solved, oh and the seat belt light does not come on, not sure if it is bulb or more wiring changes. Back to the dungeon I go with nothing really concrete accomplished just the identification of more issues.
The good news is than working in the dungeon has inspired me to want lighting, in particular unde rthe dash. So i happened to have some really cheap 12V LED strip lighting and with a bit of wire soldered on and some spade connectors i built a strip of footwell/underdash lighting (currently hooked up to the red light source, but soon to be hooked to the courtesy light switch instead. I left the strip loose for now so it can be repositioned under the dash to suit the wiring job of the day. Works really well in the dungeon.
This morning took the car in to the muffler shop to discuss how to make it quieter, and maybe get rid of some of the rattles. Car only has the rear muffler no cat and no middle resonator. After some discussion the muffler man says, go away, buy the original parts including the cat and come back for him to install. Not sure I really like that answer. I did find that the ebrake cable is hitting the muffler pipe and that is one of the rattles, another is likely the heat shield on the exhaust manifold. Put some high temp wrap around the exhaust pipe as a temp fix to see if that is the rattle. Still think adding a middle resonator is the right move instead of a whole new exhaust. Comments from anyone who has read this far?
All going well before the end of the weekend i hope to have the wiper relay system installed, the gauge question answered and maybe even the chime wiring and courtesy light wiring reinstated, but of course that means removal of the upper centre console and the radio which will bring a whole new set of mysteries to light, not to mention the seat belt light issue.
More reports from the dungeon to come.
dinghyguy
1981 Red Spider "Redbob"
1972 blue Volvo 1800ES "Bob"
1998 Red Ford Ranger
Four hours later, success with the wiper relay project
So, armed with my schematic, the wiper relay kit, my salvaged connector parts, soldering iron, etc into the dungeon I plunged.
Opened up the cowling, checked carefully what the wiring codes on the bullet connectors were and they matched perfectly, read the wiring guide description as well and tried to match to the photo in the relay kit. The relay kit wiring of their connectors did not make sense, one relay was on the slow speed to the motor and the other was on the ground connection. But after much thought I concluded the relays must be installed one on the slow speed to the motor and one on the fast speed to the motor, so carefully moved a couple of pins on the kit connector to match the schematic below.
Then I cut off the bullet connectors one wire at a time soldered on pins and inserted them into the connector, checking all matched up. I installed a new 2 pin connector for the power and ground, attached the entire system to the wiper motor support, add the fused supply to the battery connection on the starter motor and the new ground to the passenger side ground pod and turned it on.....
WOW, what a difference. Even though I had cleaned and lubed the mechanism last week prior to the wiring upgrade, the change was dramatic. Fast is so fast the car almost shakes (well that is exaggeration I suppose) but wow what a difference.
So to help anyone else in the same predicament I have produced a schematic of how I did it. see below.
cheers from the dungeon
dinghyguy
1981 Red Spider "Redbob"
1972 blue Volvo 1800ES "Bob"
1998 Red Ford Ranger
As I said a spectacularly successful update.
I originally was hoping it was a plug and play I could have done on the trip across the continent, but when I found the plugs were different and the instruction sheet was poor I postponed the mod until I got home.
If I were to do it now I would buy the relays from an auto store, use my diagram and solder all the wiring in between the plugs for the motor and the motor itself. That way I could do it all on the dining room table in good light and under better controlled conditions. But since I had all the plugs I was able to arrange it so the relay mod could be taken out if desired. Maybe to move all the relays under the dash somewhere some time.
Again, not hard with the diagram and as long as you know exactly which two wires go to the slow and fast speed on the wiper motor.
cheers
dinghyguy
1981 Red Spider "Redbob"
1972 blue Volvo 1800ES "Bob"
1998 Red Ford Ranger
After the wiper relay success I figured I might as well continue on wiring issues. Specifically wanted to see if I could get rid of the extra gauge panel the PO had installed, see photo
The PO included a set of older style gauges with both Italian and English, so out came the gauge panel, out came the clock and in went the gauges for the Oleo, Agua and Benzina. I also diassembled and cleaned all the contacts on all the connectors and connections. By carefully following the wiring diagram I was able to add the connector for the oil pressure gauge to the loom including twinning the oil trouble light so it comes on in the oil pressure gauge and on the Tach as original. Nothing really special in this task. The photo below shows the finished result. I also fixed the fibre optic light issue as well.
What I did find s that the speedo cable is just pushed into the speedo, not screwed or snapped on at all, see photo.
so I guess I wll put a speedo cable on the list of items to get. Interstingly, I just pushed it back on and it seems to work.
Oh and the rad fan switch upgrate, I got a rocker switch and installed it in the blank plate where the power wndow switch goes, see photo. It worked really well.
I also took all the black taped wires for the radio install out and put in proper plugs, one for the 4 speakers and one for the power, so stereo upgrades will be easy in future.
So now if I can just sort out the seatbelt light/timer/relay issue all the electrics should be back to spec.
And finally, I went for a drive.
[
back to mechanical bits I think.
cheers
dinghyguy
briefly escaped from the dungeon
1981 Red Spider "Redbob"
1972 blue Volvo 1800ES "Bob"
1998 Red Ford Ranger
Took out all the relays from the relay panel and tested them all. All work fine BUT the timer is not a 4 pin relay sipea 0218, it is something else which just instantly changes state when power is applied. So staring at the circuit and looking at what actually happens I think a new 0218 might solve the mysterious no seat belt light issue.
I also finished cleaning up all the terminals and contacts on the wiring to the dash lights and while stuff does work it is too dim for me. So I left a Christmas list lying around with the following:
a timer relay 0218
a chime instead of the sick buzzer (from 1980 and newer I think)
Brad artigues book Maintaining the Italian Roadster
superbright LEDs for the dash. The updated parts list is as follows:
bulbs Color qty DESC Lumens Dimmable price/each total
3710-WWHP6-V2 warm white 1 6 led 105 n 5.95 5.95 Courtesy light
194-WWHP5-LAN warm white 11 5 led 65 yes 4.95 54.45 gauge lights
194-GHP5-LAN Green 2 5led 63 yes 4.95 9.9 indicators
194-BHP5-LAN Blue 1 5led 21 yes 4.95 4.95 indicators
194-RHP5-LAN Red 5 5led 34 yes 4.95 24.75 indicators
Note that this also does the courtesy light and the fiber optic light. Also note that I have an oil pressure gauge so I have 2 oil pressure warning lights (red) . And I am NOT doing the alt light for all the reasons mentioned in other posts. Before and after pix from the dungeon will be taken. Note that I went for the dimmable ones, but not the 6 led version. I also got two extra warm white bulbs for the newly installed footwell lights ( live on the edge I say)
I have also almost finished a custom rework of the 1979 manual using the graphics from Todds high res scans. I have made the manual as a word file very similar to the original but with updates lubricants, and a list of modifications at the end specific to my car. If anyone wants the basic version before I made the mods so they can do their own mods let me know. As noted elsewhere the PDF of the proper manual is now up on Mirafiori as well (thanks again Todd).
Cheers to all and enjoy all those left over turkeys from the Canada thanksgiving in your upcoming holidays,
dinghyguy
1981 Red Spider "Redbob"
1972 blue Volvo 1800ES "Bob"
1998 Red Ford Ranger
