1971 Spider Restoration Puzzle .

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Which brings the question; where do you ground the block?

The normal (stock) ground is from the bellhousing lower cover bolt (the larger one on the driver's side) to a strap that is welded to the underside of the body. Other possibilities are from the body to one of the engine mount bolts, or directly from the battery to an engine mount bolt (if you have the battery in the engine compartment). Basically, anywhere you can get a very large cable from the body to the block.

Oh and on a whim I picked up a barely running 1965 Austin Healey Sprite which sucked up any remaining time.

Dave, you're a crazy man!

Oh, and things are fine on this end. Working on a few engine rebuilds currently.

-Bryan

[davebdave]

Hi All,
The engine is in! The car project came with the engine stand and the hydraulic hoist. I bought the cheapest adjustable balance I could find on Amazon and it worked perfectly. I'm hoping to start it tomorrow just to get the oil in the engine. I primed the oil pump by turning the aux shaft before I installed the timing belt last month but I'm afraid it will lose the prime if I don't get it going soon.

Is it safe to run without coolant just long enough to get oil pressure and to give me some assurance that the engine doesn't have to come out again?

With an iron engine I know this is common practice but with the aluminum heads I'm a little worried about it.

thanks,
Dave

Hoist1 by Dave W, on Flickr

engineGointgIn by Dave W, on Flickr

engine2 by Dave W, on Flickr

[davebdave]

I fired the engine! I decided to put coolant in it (water only) for the first fire so that I could let it idle. I poured fuel in the bowl vent and it ran about a minute on that. The fuel pump didn’t draw fuel for some reason but Luca’s engine purred like a kitten.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

....Luca’s engine purred like a kitten.

Awesome Dave! I'm glad you added coolant before firing it up. I once forgot to add coolant on a rebuilt engine, and while it ran fine and seemed no worse for the wear, I definitely don't recommend this. I only ran the engine 20 seconds or so without coolant, but still. Oooops... By the way, the engine has a different sound without coolant.

Nice touches with the kitty litter "drop pad" and the ancient handmade heirloom Persian rug!

-Bryan

[18Fiatsandcounting]

PS: Two things about those mechanical fuel pumps. Make sure you have the right one for your model year, as some of them have a pump lever stroke that is too short to pump fuel. Also, make sure you have the inlet and outlet hoses to the pump connected right. On my '71, I had inadvertently swapped them and of course got no pumping action. Reversing the hoses solved the problem.

-Bryan

[davebdave]

Thanks Bryan,
I'll look in my receipts and see if I have the correct pump. I did realize that the feed and bypass for the carb were on backwards so it's just as well the pump didn't work. Maybe I got the pump wrong as well.

I wired the engine to a $20 Amazon racing panel and relied on the oil pressure light switch for oil pressure.

Now I have to decide if I want to get a "Painless" wiring harness or put the original back in.

harness by Dave W, on Flickr

Dave

[davebdave]

I'm stoked! I finally got it to run off of the fuel tank. I had the fuel pump arm installed off of the aux shaft cam lobe. Once I saw the witness mark on the pump arm I knew I had a smoking gun.

I have the oil-pressure-low light wired to the temporary ignition switch LED. I am 99% sure I have the oil pressure gauge wired properly but nothing! I'm now suspecting the sender or the gauge. Next I'll hook up the water temp and then get it hot. Then re-check the valves (They sound noisy) and then put in the drive shaft!!

This is a new Carb with electric choke and a single plane manifold. I rigged up a generic throttle cable from Amazon. I may have to redo it later since the cable stay for the pedal is on the engine and not the firewall as it should be. I don't want the same throttle surging I have with the linkage in the orange 124 but if it does surge under acceleration I think it will be less drastic.

Here's a video of a start-up (click on last photo to watch)

Dave

fuelpump by Dave W, on Flickr

carb by Dave W, on Flickr


IMG-3852 by Dave W, on Flickr

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I have the oil-pressure-low light wired to the temporary ignition switch LED. I am 99% sure I have the oil pressure gauge wired properly but nothing! I'm now suspecting the sender or the gauge.

Awesome, Dave B. Dave!

Checking the low oil pressure light and the gauge is pretty straightforward. Turn on the ignition (but don't start the engine), and if you touch the pressure switch wire to ground, the low oil pressure light should come on. If you touch the sender unit wire to ground, the gauge should go full scale. They are simple "grounding" circuits, so if either doesn't happen, the problem likely lies somewhere with the +12V to the gauge.

The temp sensors work the same, by the way. Shorting either sensor wire to ground should send the gauge to max. Same with the fuel gauge/sending unit.

-Bryan

[davebdave]

Checking the low oil pressure light and the gauge is pretty straightforward. Turn on the ignition (but don't start the engine), and if you touch the pressure switch wire to ground, the low oil pressure light should come on. If you touch the sender unit wire to ground, the gauge should go full scale. They are simple "grounding" circuits, so if either doesn't happen, the problem likely lies somewhere with the +12V to the gauge.
-Bryan

Thanks Bryan,
I touched the oil sender wire to ground and it pegged the gauge. Attaching it to the sender didn't even cause the gauge to flinch so I have ordered a new sender. It's either that or I have zero oil pressure but the light acts like it should. On first start-up the light flickered a little and then went out. Now it goes out on start-up right away so I'm pretty sure I have pressure. I won't start it again until I get the new sender installed.

Dave

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I touched the oil sender wire to ground and it pegged the gauge. Attaching it to the sender didn't even cause the gauge to flinch so I have ordered a new sender. It's either that or I have zero oil pressure but the light acts like it should.

Your oil pressure is likely fine. It's very common for the pressure sending units to read less and less pressure over the years. The solution is exactly what you're doing, a new sending unit. Let us know what you find out.

-Bryan

[davebdave]

Your oil pressure is likely fine. It's very common for the pressure sending units to read less and less pressure over the years. The solution is exactly what you're doing, a new sending unit. Let us know what you find out.

-Bryan

Thanks Bryan, it was the sender. Good oil pressure!
Dave

[davebdave]

Hi all,

I changed the u-joints and center bearing on the driveshaft.

I noticed I had an extra front yoke in my parts stash. I didn't think anything about it until I noticed that they are different. I had assumed the one on the driveshaft was the one from the car but if so it's too large for the centering bearing, although it looks like it (being longer and of a larger diameter) would have gone on the rubber seal that goes against the spring on the output shaft of the transmission.

I switched to the smaller yoke but will either one work?

Or is the larger yoke for an automatic or something different?

Thanks,
Dave

yokes2 by Dave W, on Flickr

yokes1 by Dave W, on Flickr

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Good question. If you look at fiatplus.com, he shows two different versions but it looks like the shorter version is just the more modern one. It also kinda sounds like there's an additional collar of sorts on the larger one.

My guess is that either will work, but one is the part that's "supposed" to be on your car. I just don't know for sure which one that is.

-Bryan

[davebdave]

Thanks Bryan,
After more research it seems like I have everything I need to go either way. My parts book says 1971 is the switch over but it also says 1438 and I have a 1971 1608. I guess I'll go with the later type.

Parts by Dave W, on Flickr

LateTail by Dave W, on Flickr

earlyTail by Dave W, on Flickr

Choice by Dave W, on Flickr

[davebdave]

The car is ready to drive!!! It's not legal, but that's not going to stop me from running it up the cul-de-sac.

My question is:

Do I need the doors?

There is a slim chance that I will stab the throttle when I get it on the street. Even if I don't nail it, our driveway is pretty steep so there will be some torque in the drivetrain.

How much structure is in the body?

Has anyone joy-ridden one of these as just a shell?

thanks,
Dave

itsacar by Dave W, on Flickr