My First Fiat - Parts car

[launieg]

Well, I wish my interiors (three of them) looked as good as that! Well done.

Also, despite the rust, you have plenty of parts for that price, not to mention the wheels. In fact, to get that car DELIVERED at that price around here would be great. It's fairly difficult to find a $300-$500 parts car around here, and it won't be FI, and it won't have that good interior. And then the trailering would add up to at least $300 more. I think you did all right. Can't wait to hear that you have it running Have fun!

[wachuko]

Cleaned the gas tank and coated it with some truck bed liner paint. New fuel lines, fuel filter, cleaned the fuel pump (just a little on the outside to remove most of the grime...), and painted one of the wheels just to see what it would look like (will do the other three next weekend).

I have been soaking all the bolts and nuts with WD-40 every so often, plan is to take out the tranny, back end, drive shaft,e tc. to clean, scrape, sand, check the internals, change seals, put it back together and repaint.

After I fire up the engine and check that all is in order, I will start cleaning the engine and dressing it up a bit (well, mostly just cleaning, polishing, painting here and there, replacing old hoses...

Gas tank before:




After:



New fuel filter in place, started to replace the fuel lines for new lines...



Also started to make the fan housing look better:
Before:


Work in progress (painted everything, waiting for it to dry to put it back together):



Rear wheel painted:


That is all for tonight...

[wachuko]

Not much done today... was only able to finish the fan housing and put everything together

[wachuko]

Lowered the car to have access to the engine bay:



Removed radiator and fan (car had a perfectly working spare fan and housing in the trunk, that is the one I cleaned and repainted). Radiator is now clean and drying in preparation for a coat of paint.

Removed air box and airflow meter (there was also a spare airbox/airflow in the trunk, need to check if it is working correctly), and a few related hoses to prepare the engine and engine bay for a good clean:

[wachuko]

Baby steps, baby steps...

Radiator is done:



Also got a set of front calipers from the local Advanced Auto Parts for 38.00... that was the lowest I could find. Now, the rear calipers is another thing completely... I got a rebuild kit and will try to rebuild those as they were close to 100.00 for each side.

[rlux4]

I also bought the front calipers for my car, but because the rears were quite a bit more expensive I went with the rebuild kit. It turned out not to be a very difficult job. The only tricky part was getting the emergency brake acctuator back in place and with a little help from Ventura Ace (a lot of help actually) when he sent me photos of his vice/C clamp trick, it went together easily.
Let us know if you need the trick revealed when you get to it.
Ron

[wachuko]

I also bought the front calipers for my car, but because the rears were quite a bit more expensive I went with the rebuild kit. It turned out not to be a very difficult job. The only tricky part was getting the emergency brake acctuator back in place and with a little help from Ventura Ace (a lot of help actually) when he sent me photos of his vice/C clamp trick, it went together easily.
Let us know if you need the trick revealed when you get to it.
Ron

Thank you, if everything gets here on time I should be working those on Sunday.

[wachuko]

Car is got to be at least 20lbs lighter... pressured wash the car . It still needs another wash because there was grime in the transmission tunnel that simply would not bulge... plus the bits of rust that flew away

A little bit of cleaning in the engine bay:









I then use the air hose to dry all the connector and put some dielectric grease on them as recommended by a forum member.

I can see the starter!


No, that is not a new belt...



Brake fluid canister cleaned up good...



I also removed the rear bumper. No wonder people complain about the weight, those bumpers are heavy!



Waiting on parts to arrive so I can turn the switch...

[wachuko]

After sucking all the dirt with the vac, I removed the sparkplugs, sprayed just a little of WD40 inside each cylinder, removed the cover to the timing belt, made some marks with liquid paper, and turned the engine via the crankshaft bolt (had to get a 38mm socket).

Engine turns great. Now, the timing belt is old... I thought about replacing it before firing the engine... but to change the belt requires that I remove the crankshaft pulley! That is the cover that everyone recommends to leave out for ever!?

I had installed the radiator back in place... so out it came againg.... was too tired to finish that task today... will continue tomorrow.

New brake lines, rotors, and a few bit came in today. Still waiting for the cooling system hoses and sparkplug wires.

[rlux4]

The timing belt can be changed without removing the crank pulley. Good ole Ace helped me do mine when I did it for the first time, and the old belt and new belt will go on and off with a little patient threading of the belts by the tight spot down there. It should be easy for you, your radiator isn't going to be in the way.
Ron

[pooldoctorstl]

The timing belt can be changed without removing the crank pulley. Good ole Ace helped me do mine when I did it for the first time, and the old belt and new belt will go on and off with a little patient threading of the belts by the tight spot down there. It should be easy for you, your radiator isn't going to be in the way.
Ron

Ron - please explain how it is done without removing the crank pully because I must have missed something. On my 82 there is a lower steel cover that had to come off to remove the belt, and the crank pully had to come off. If there is a way to do it without removing the pully and the lower cover, I would love to know it because it would sure save a lot of time. The manual I have also required removal of the pully and the lower cover. You do have an 82, right?

Thanks,
Jeff

[narfire]

I have a 80 fi. I don't have any of the metal covers on the engine,just the plastic cover.
I don't have to remove the crank pulley either. What I do have to do though, is move the timing pointer out of the way. There is a 10 mm bolt and a pressed in bolt. Take the 10mm out and swing the pointer out of the way. It is a bit fiddly down there but do-able to thred the belt around as Ron said.
Guiness helps

[wachuko]

Mine had all the original covers in place. I removed them all but the bottom one. No way to take that one out without removing the crankshaft pulley. So I am guessing that the bottom cover and the back covers are the ones everyone recommends leaving out. Without that bottom cover I can see how it would be easy to change the belt without removal of the pulley.

[pope]

I have a 80 fi. I don't have any of the metal covers on the engine,just the plastic cover.
I don't have to remove the crank pulley either. What I do have to do though, is move the timing pointer out of the way. There is a 10 mm bolt and a pressed in bolt. Take the 10mm out and swing the pointer out of the way.
Guiness helps

Chris, there is no pressed in bolt. It is a regular bolt with a rounded head. If you grab it with a pair of vice grips, it will turn and than you can extract like a regular bolt.

[narfire]

Thanks Pope, I did'nt know exactly how to describe it. I remember now doing something like that when tearing down the engine.