79 Low Budget Resto-Mod

[WBPDX]

I decided I should start a thread about my CS2. I love reading other people's build threads of bikes and cars.

I picked up this 1979 a few months ago from Craigslist. It was advertised for about a grand, but the seller's ad made it clear she was fed up with the car and wanted to be rid of it. When I wen to look at the car, I had the full asking price in pocket, but quickly decided it was worth nowhere near that. The car smoked like crazy, had been repainted very poorly with what appeared to be rattle-can, and I couldn't find anything on the car that actually seemed 'right.' But, the car is exceptionally straight and it was complete. I could also tell someone started working on it; someone had fitted a transmission that was all cleaned up (I was told a 'rebuilt' transmission was installed just a few thousand miles ago) and the rear brake calipers and many of the cables appeared to be brand new. The reason I bought the car was I could find no rust or prior accident damage. Everything else appeared to be a good starting point. I paid about the same the junkyard would have paid for the car, which I think was fair, really.

This is the only way I felt safe brining it home. It would run\drive, but it was absolutely terrifying to drive (I would later realize this is because ALL of the bushings in the front end are damaged\cracked\squished\gone.) I can't believe the PO was actually using this car as a DD, with her young daughter in the car!



Here it is after brining it home, with the top down. The paint looks much better in the photo than it is... Which is sad, because it looks pretty awful in the photo.


The interior looks great, but only from 10ft away. Up close it is a total disaster. Many things missing and damaged or non-functional. Even the dash and center console 'caps' aren't installed correctly.




Eventually, I finished up with one of my motorcycle resto-mod projects enough to bring the Fiat inside. I was all set to pull the engine, but as I took things apart, I realized that wouldn't be required.



Here is a 'before' engine shot:


Looks like it had a slightly bad headgasket:



But the bores are in great shape (and the compression was pretty good)



Lots to be done at this point. You can see the brown in the engine bay; in the other photos you can also see the white primer in the engine bay, and the red. What a mess.

[WBPDX]

Started looking at the head:


Found one missing valve stem seal, and 5 badly damaged valve stem seals. 2 were 'okay.' This is where the smoke was coming from I am pretty sure. Good news! Most of the mess on the head appears to be caused by a bad crank seal and one bad cam seal. While looking at those leaks, I also discovered the leaking oil pan and bad motor mounts. All are fixed now!

A little cleaning on the cam towers:


Testing to see how the valves seal. The answer would be GREAT. I was only testing three at this time, but they were still at exactly the same level HOURS later!



After tons of cleaning (soaking in Pine Sol really did the trick) I am starting to put the head together again with new seals and gaskets:

[WBPDX]

Since things were apart on the front end, I decided I needed to paint the engine bay.

I have painted many motorcycles, usually with rattle cans, but I recently started using a cheap HVLP turbine sprayer. I decided this would be my first 'big' test.

My real issue was picking\mixing a color however, not the actual painting. The paint I am using is boat paint; Interlux Brightsides, which has been popular in the $50 paint-job circles for many years. It has way better shine and UV resistance than Rustoleum, but is still an inexpensive 1-stage paint that is VERY easy to work with (which is the most important thing for me!)

Sadly, it does not come in orange. My first two batches were way too pale. Not enough red. You can see a comparison of the new oranges and the old here:


Low center is the first 'orange' (really yellow) and in the background you can see the whole bay painted in barf-orange. The new Orange is much more red.

Last night I resprayed the engine bay and did a quick thin coat on all the detail bits on the front of the car, so I can move forward with reassembling the engine. This way, I can have all the engine running gear in place and just mask off the bay\grille opening\etc. when it comes time to do the 'real' painting. Feel free to laugh about my materials and painting process; this is a budget project, and I am having fun with it. My total paint job cost will still be much less than a Macco job, and I bet it turns out better than they would have done! Hopefully I can fire her up (complete with new Empi 32/36) this weekend!

The colors are a bit off as this is a cell phone photo:

[bwilson27]

Continue....

[WBPDX]

I will when there is more to post.

Finished head assembly last night, and just got my new carb from the post office today. Sadly, before I can move much further forward I am going to take off the oil pan again and install a new oil pump seal. I made one initially, but I have since then acquired the proper seal, and figured I shouldn't risk it.

I'll take photos of that work this time, to make the thread more entertaining.

I am hoping to have it running this weekend if all goes well!

I have taken a week off work at the end of the month; there will be a lot of progress before May begins!

[lamborghinikid]

keep it up looking nice

[WBPDX]

Here is the head all assembled...


New carb, filter, and link kit from Mark. Unfortunately, I didn't realize I needed a spacer. I ordered one from Mark on eBay this morning. I hope it arrives quick!



I really wish I could get this color to look appropriate, but using my cell phone camera, I guess it is always going to look pale and washed out. Just a shot of the engine bay without the masking.



Was working on making a block off plate for the fuel pump, but my drill batteries kept dying and the bit was too dull.



Getting the new manifold cleaned up and all the ports blocked off. I took a photo for comparison. Still have to make a trip to the hardware store for some more plugs, and shorter studs (I will run with just shorter studs and a smaller spacer for now; will switch back when I get the 20mm spacer from Mark.)

[WBPDX]

This is a minor update post; I have a lot more photos loaded on my real camera; I just need to get them off.

A buddy of mine helped me with my exhaust studs. I had two studs snap off; one stud I was able to get out with a torch, lots of PB Blaster, and Channel-Locks. The the other would not budge no matter what I did. First, we welded nuts to the stud, but either the welds would break or the stud would just break further down. After breaking an easy out, we decided to call it quits and drill and re-tap. This turned out to be super easy (since he had a drill press.)

I welded closed the EGR tube, since I couldn't get that broken free either.



During engine assembly, I went to put the (unused) thermostat housing thing on the head, when I instantly broke off one of the bolts. I didn't even have the bolt close to tight yet.



A little work to get that bolt out, and a trip to the hardware store for some grade 12 allen head bolts, lots of anti-seize, and I was back in business.

Here is a teaser for my next update. Yes, I know I got the valve covers switched around and the distributor is facing the wrong direction.

[WBPDX]

A question:

Someone put in new fuel lines when they switched over to an electric fuel pump. I know this because I found the old line disconnected (looks like it broke.)

There is no fuel filter right now, and I really don't want to run my brand new carb with crappy gas. Can I just add any fuel filter designed for a fuel-injected car and use hose clamps on the flexible part of the fuel line under the hood? It would make sense to me that this is fine, but I thought I should ask before I make a mess or start a fire.

I suppose I could add the filter in the trunk before the hard line, but that would be awkward placement.

[NSDave]

I just replaced my fuel filter, it was in the same place you're talking about, just before the inlet to the carb. I only replaced mine because it looked like it'd been there for half of forever, and I too just put a new carb on. So, I don't think there's any problem with that location. A decent inline filter is only a couple of bucks, make sure it's got the right size nipples for your line and use good hose clamps.

[baltobernie]

There is no fuel filter right now, ...

More electric fuel pumps have probably died from contamination than from wear. The OE pickup has a bronze screen or nylon "sock" around the opening to catch the big stuff, but these wear out. Some aftermarket pumps like the Facet have provision for a cartridge prefilter. It screws into the pump body. If you don't have something like this on your pump, fit one to avoid being stranded some day. An inexpensive inline filter near the carb as Dave recommends completes the job. If you have a clean fuel tank to begin with, these two filters will last many years.

That "broken" fuel line is probably either the return line or the vent line, abandoned by the PO

And Dave ... great work on a true "budget" build!

[WBPDX]

It is the original fuel line... The return and sending hard lines are still there and still functional; of course the return is disused now.

I will take your advice!

Mark sent the 20mm carb spacer in record time. Sadly however, after installing the spacer and setting up the throttle linkage, the car runs terrible. It appears to be misfiring at idle. I found some small problems that improved it's running (alt belt was wet with coolant from bleeding and was slipping, engine ground came disconnected, dynamic ignition timing was off and needed to be reset) but in the end, it still wasn't running anywhere near as well as it did on Sunday. By the way, I did recheck the timing of cams, crank, and (static) ignition, and nothing had slipped.

I ran about a gallon of gas into a clear container to check for rust\dirt, and found almost none (Literally, 4 little specs total) so I don't think I clogged the new carb up.

I am a bit worried about my bleeding of the cooling system, and\or the thermostat definitely seems busted; I can NOT get the lower hose to get warm. I am going to order a new economy thermostat and pick up one of those flush\bleeding valves, just in case.

I was able to take it around the block however. The neighbors gave me a lot of looks... Probably not smart to be driving around at dusk in a car with no lights... and no hood. Especially when it backfired a bit just as I was getting to my driveway.

[baltobernie]

I vote you leave it just as pictured - FrankenFiat

[WBPDX]

Minor delay while I have sorted out running problems. Most resolved now!

Drove it to emissions testing while it was 4 different colors, all patchy because I was in the middle of sanding... with no grille.

Four women my age waved at me.

Got home and decided since I have a few days before I can go back for testing, I should move forward with paint. Sadly, after a TON of prep work on the front end, I didn't thin the paint enough and got pretty significant orange peel. To add insult to injury, this coat also wasn't heavy enough. I am looking at a LOT of work tomorrow to flatten it back out.

I also adjusted the color AGAIN; the last color was just too pale in the sunlight.

[TulsaSpider]

Progress is good! Keep on keepin on!!!!