Back to Life!

[kmac33]

A few months ago, a failing oil pump on my 74, triggered an oil starvation issue that trashed the main bearings and rod bearings on cylinders 3 and 4 and scored the crank. I pulled the motor a couple of months ago and have been slowly...okay very slowly...working on rebuilding the bottom end of my beloved Spider's "heart".
I have been planning on pulling the motor for a few years to take care of a paint adhesion issue from my original resto-mod. The failing oil pump forced me to finally take care of it.
Over the last 2 weekends, I finally got the bottom end back together with a nice new oil pump! new bearings and a perfect condition used crank. Got the block prepped and resprayed with a nice fresh coat of paint (for those wondering...yes it's still blue ). Dropped the motor back in yesterday, snuck away from work a bit early today, and got everything hooked back up. The motor fired right up on the first crank and with a very minor tweak to the Computronix ignition, is purring like an Italian kitten again! Just in time for Spring too!!
Video quality isn't very good - cell phone camera and dim light, but thought I'd share anyway .

[So Cal Mark]

sounds good, and looks good too! Congrats!

[Zippy]

Very nice looking motor.

[kmac33]

Took the Spider for a nice hour long drive yesterday evening. My nice fresh motor is running better than it ever has! I probably still have the grin on my face from a drive in a perfectly running Spider.
A shout out to Csaba and Ramzi at Auto Ricambi for having all of the parts I needed in stock.
And another shout out to Mark Allison and the Computronix ignition system. I have been a fan of this system since I first upgraded to it, but setting the car back up really reminded me how great it is. This system makes dialing in the timing too easy!
Now to find some time in the next couple of days for a full wash, polish and wax and I'm ready for Spring!

[georgeramos]

are they supposed to be that smooth? dang, I have a long way to go...

[RRoller123]

Man that is nice!

[SLOSpider]

What radiator are you running in there?

[rodman]

What radiator are you running in there?

You saw that too???

[kmac33]

The radiator is custom, aluminum build from Auto Ricambi. When you order an aluminum radiator from them, they are custom built to your specs, so it was built to the exact measurements of my stock radiator. Fit is perfect.
Here are a couple of better pictures if you haven't seen a good photo of my motor before.
Radiator pre install:

[grittracing]

kevin glad to hear your back on the road

[azruss]

nice, clean compartment. what is the purpose of the flat bar on the PS inner fender.

[kmac33]

nice, clean compartment. what is the purpose of the flat bar on the PS inner fender.

It is supposed to hold the windshield washer bag. I ended up removing the bag and the associated plumbing as I never used the washer - just keep the windshield Rain-X'ed and clean it if it even starts to get dirty - and the bag really "cluttered" things up. I guess I need to go ahead and pull that piece off and cap the mounting bolts.

[georgeramos]

Hi Kevin, what is the idle speed set at? Maybe I need new motor mounts or something because seriously my motor seems to run fine but there is a distinct shakiness about it at idle that your car clearly does not have!

Gorgeous, congrats on getting it back to life!

[giuliot60]

Yes. Sounds and looks great. Are those chromed valve covers or polished aluminum?

[ga.spyder]

So....lets do a rumble in the mountains!!! Glad to hear you got 'er up and running again.How about you and Wanda join me on April 6th,for the 1st Annual Fiats on the Dragon? There will be a bunch of those little new 500's for us to drive around and show them how its done!!! Call me
Craig