1800 engine swap into '69 124 electrical question

[GP69124SPORT]

Ok, so I read through the forums, and the biggest question I would have about taking the 1800 out of a '75 124 I have, and dropping into my '69 124, is the wiring on the 1800 dist. Before someone says "USE THE SEARCH", I did. I didn't/couldn't find anything in the forums covering this exact topic. If there is something covering it, please feel free to direct me to it so I don't waste anyone's time. I need to know where the 2 wires coming off the 1800s dizzy go to inside the fire wall. I can of course, just follow them and pull the wiring, and put it in the '69. I'm NOT an electrical engineer by any means. Actually I hate wiring (Don't Fiat 124s have electrical issues? Please tell me they don't! Lie if you have too!) If there is an easy solution to the 2 Dist wires I am refering to, please let me know. I know I have to move the coil etc, but I was just planning on moving it from the location it's currently in the '75, to the location it's already in, on the '69. Basically, from one side of the car to the other.

I see that the engine should pretty much drop right in according to what I have read on here. Unless I misunderstood, which is totally possible. I do however have a 1970 with what I believe is a good engine, that I could easily just pull and do a RnR on, but I like a challenge. Unless it's electrical, then I turn around and run, really fast. Anyway, I welcome everyone's imput, and have a great day. -Dave

[maytag]

(Don't Fiat 124s have electrical issues? Please tell me they don't! Lie if you have too!)

OK. There are no electrical issues on 124's. None. As a matter of fact: I've pulled-out ALL of the wiring and fuses on mine, and everything still works!

[Mathew26]

Those wires are for your points. Its for a cold start and when the car warms up its uses those wires to switch your dizzy to the other set of points. So you can do away with that by running a wire from your coil to your points, switch to single point set up, or best of all electronic ignition.

I hope that helps

[GP69124SPORT]

Those wires are for your points. Its for a cold start and when the car warms up its uses those wires to switch your dizzy to the other set of points. So you can do away with that by running a wire from your coil to your points, switch to single point set up, or best of all electronic ignition.

I hope that helps

Thanks. That helped a lot. Now at least I know what they're for.

[baltobernie]

Here's a link to the single-point conversion process.

http://www.international-auto.com/fiat- ... ersion.cfm

[GP69124SPORT]

Here's a link to the single-point conversion process.

http://www.international-auto.com/fiat- ... ersion.cfm

Thanks for your help Mathew. As time goes on, and I learn more about the 124s, I'm sure I'll do some upgrades, like an electronic ignition, etc. The big decision right now I have to make is whether to go with the 1800 engine/trans out of the '75, or the 1438, 1592 and 1608 or what ever size engine/trans it is out of the '70. I know for a fact that the 1800 runs because I started it, but not sure yet about the engine in the '70. The ignition switch was removed from the column in it, and there's some other engine bay wiring missing/fried. I'll probably just go ahead and attempt the 1800 conversion, and not chance that the engine in the '70 is good. I can try to get it to fire later, and then just sell it if it runs. I'll make the decision tomorrow, because I'm running out of time, and want to try to have it at least running by 12/11.


I'm in the middle of putting the ignition switch out of the '75 in the '69 now, since it too was missing. I actually just pulled the whole column out of both, the '75 and '70 and was going to just switch them, and then discovered the shafts were different sizes. Now I'm back to reinstalling the original column back into the '69. I wasn't going to use it originally, because someone pried the ignition switch out of it and did some damage to the area the switch goes in, and the '75 had a nice complete column and wheel. Lots of lessons learned so far. I just wish I had more time to sit and search through the threads to avoid timely mistakes like that one. One good thing is that the steering wheels interchange, and I have two to choose from.

[GP69124SPORT]

Update 12/10/10.

Okay, so I decided to chance it, and put the engine out of the '70 in the '69. I did this mainly because in the event that my girlfriend happens to be driving it, and breaks down somewhere and I'm not around, a repair shop can pretty much check the car out and look up parts for a '69 and not have to guess what motor I put in, and why the electrical makes no sense, etc. She drives it like a little old lady anyway, so 91 hp will suit her just fine.


So I got the engine in yesterday, and learned why you should use the motor mounts off the original car. 2 hrs of sweating and grunting, and I couldn't get the engine to go back just one more 1". I walked over to the original engine, and looked at the motor mounts, and noticed that they were slightly different. That slight difference made all the difference. Yet another hard lesson learned.

My newest issue is no spark. Everything seems to be wired correctly, engine cranks, have power to the + side of the coil, but no spark at the spark plug, or coil. I took the dist out, checked the points, everything seems fine. Even tried the dist. out of the original engine. I hooked it up to the ballast resistor - side, and spun it by hand. Still nothing. Even tried 3 other coils I had, and still nothig.

Oddly, I have power on all terminals of the coil, and ballast resistor. I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have power on - side of the ballast resistor when the points are closed, or at the - coil, but I do. The wiring goes as follows.

Blue/Black to B+ of coil (yep, have power when the key is on)
Brown to D side of Ballast resistor
Red from - side of coil, to Ballast resistor
Black from D side of ballast resistor to Dist. (points)

I'm going to get a fresh set of points, and a new condensor. From what I read on here, and remember about points/coil set ups, I could have a bad condensor? All I know is I have one bad headache... Did I mention I hate electrical issues? Ya, I think I did. Here's a pic of the coil in the car and the wiring. If any of you guys see something wrong, PLEASE let me know. Right now I'm banging my head into the wall trying to figure out what's wrong..

One other thing I should note is that I took the ignition switch out of the '75, and put it in the '69. It was missing it, and I followed the ignition diagrams I found on here to connect everything again. I'm assuming the electrical was working, before someone decided to take the ignition out. The car was sitting in a RV storage lot, and someone had taken some parts off it before I got it.

[mdrburchette]

What wire do you have going to the condenser? My 70 is showing this:

From the coil B+ blue/black goes to #15 spade on ignition switch
coil B+ black going to condenser

From the coil (-) pink goes to box (can't think of what it's called) below coil. The other post on box has a black wire to distributor and brown going to tachometer.

Hope this helps

[GP69124SPORT]

What wire do you have going to the condenser? My 70 is showing this:

From the coil B+ blue/black goes to #15 spade on ignition switch
coil B+ black going to condenser

From the coil (-) pink goes to box (can't think of what it's called) below coil. The other post on box has a black wire to distributor and brown going to tachometer.

Hope this helps

The condenser has a black wire that's connected to the same terminal as the points, which are then connected to the D side of the ballast resistor. The '70 had the condenser on the same bracket the that holds the coil and the ballast resistor. On the '69, the condensor is located under the dist. I'm assuming the the dist. that was on the engine in the '69 is original, but it may have been changed out at some point. I used the same coil that was already in the '69 as well.


I did finally get spark, and got it running. This is after I ordered a new set of points, and condenser. It never fails that when I run out and buy new parts, the old ones start working just fine. However in this case, it's not a bad thing at all, because I'll have the extra set handy when I'm ready to actually tune it up. It runs great. I think the problem was a bad ground somewhere, but I'm not totally sure about that. I took everything apart so many times today, that it's possible I missed something being grounded out to begine with. The car has sat for so long, that it may have just been a corroded terminal. Who knows.

I have to finish putting the radiator in it, and connect a few hoses, etc., but the majority of the major engine swap work is done. I'm going to bypass the heater coil for now, since the hose connections look bad, and I don't want to flood the inside of the car with antifreeze if it is bad. The heater coil looks like a pain in the neck to remove, so I'll just save it for when I remove the dash to replace it.


I'm going to give it to her tomorrow, so I don't have to sneek around to work on it anymore. I got it running, and that was my goal for this week, so I'm a happy camper!

[mdrburchette]

Awesome! Let us know how that goes. I know she'll be surprised.

[GP69124SPORT]

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