New Project, Rough Idling

[NDTrav]

I bought a 1975 Fiat 124 spider which I drove home, over 400 miles. It ran well. Once I got it home I figured I'd start to give it a better inspection. While doing so I learned that most of the wiring was not correct. I have corrected the wiring for just a few components including the ignition switch, according to the schematics in the shop manual.

Now the Spider will start, have a rough idle for approximately 30 secs, rev up about 500rpms, then die. I have checked the carburetor's jets and they are good. I checked and all 4 plugs have good spark. What are my next steps? Here is a picture of the vacuum hoses and fuel lines. I am not exactly sure if these are connected correctly - no indication in my 3 books. Any help is appreciated!

[img][IMG]http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/q680/travisaamodt/e2b174fd-2004-4241-9e29-c1cbe7ae33a5_zps5f91b272.jpg[/img][/img]

Here's hoping the picture loaded!!

[NDTrav]

[vandor]

I don't think it's the hoses, as the car drove home with them like that. You can remove/plug all vacuum hoses, except for the fuel feed and return. Do not plug the carb bowl vent, the nipple that points forward at the top of the carb.
This should go the the charcoal canister. If it's missing then connect it to the metal vapor line going back to the gas tank.

Is there good fuel pressure at the carb? Is there a strong spark? My best guess would be that you are losing spark for some reason. Check the points gap and that the points are not burned. If stock your car has dual points. You can try to disconnect the points from the car's wiring harness and connect them one at a time to the negative side of the coil, to see if it will run on either.

[NDTrav]

The fuel feed and return lines are the two lines at the very front of the carb one straight one angled down, both facing left. They are connected directly to the metal fuel lines. The bowl vent line at the top of the carb and facing forward is not connected to the canister. It is going to that small solenoid on the fender wall (can be seen in the picture). I will change that.

I have not tested the pressure on the fuel line. Fuel is consistently flowing when I disconnected the hose and turned over the motor. I wanted to know if the fuel pump was working. I did this because I read that the fuel pump is grounded at the rear lights and I recently took those off to clean up the wires & connectors, lenses, and grounding points.

I don't know what strong spark is.. I put new AC Delco plugs and wires on the car before the drive home. When I rechecked the plugs for spark there was spark on all 4 some did seem "weaker" than others. The plugs had a thin layer of black soot.

I will research the points as I am not aware of what exactly those are and I'll give those a check this evening after work. Thanks a bunch!! It's nice to have a direction of action instead of guesswork.

[NDTrav]

Distributor points DUH hahaha I'll be checking the cap, rotor, POINTS, and the gap. I'm kind of hoping it is the distributor.. I've never had to fix one before and then I'd have to do the timing, which I've never done before! So much fun ahead!!

Thanks again for the help, & I'll keep posting

[azruss]

the dizzy can be serviced without removing it from the car. The timing wont change. just have to set the point gap and make sure you get the plug wires in the right place.