1978 124 Engine - 78K Miles

[topdownstl1978]

Engine runs pretty well. Timing belt never changed yet. Smokes a lot when first started and not driven for awhile, I'm guessing blow by. I was thinking of trying ZMax engine treatment for the spring/summer. If no luck, I'm considering rebuild next winter. Any suggestions Fiat family?

Topdown stl

[bradartigue]

All that engine treatments do is swell things up. It may mask whatever problem you have for a brief time. Once the problems come back they'll be much worse and you'll need to replace every seal and gasket - "treatments" that you dump in the oil to "restore" a motor just ruin these things long term.

First things first, if you know that belt hasn't been changed then change it. Right now you probably have something worn out -like rings or a valve guide or seal - and those are no big deal to replace. You lose a belt on an 1800 and you're going to break something - a valve at the least, or your head, or a bore being torn up. You can drive a smoky engine - you can't drive an engine with bent valves.

[topdownstl1978]

Thanks for straightening me out. Any good sources for replacing the timing belt myself? I'm fairly mechanical but have not done much with motors.

[131]

Any good sources for replacing the timing belt myself?

If you do a search on here you'll find discussions and diagrams on how to do the timing belt. Quite easy, but daunting if you haven't done similar before. Identify all the bits from the diagrams before you start so you're familiar with the setup. The auxilliary shaft pulley has to be pointing in the right direction or you can do some nasty damage at startup. Same with turning the motor over without the cam timing being correct. Read, learn and have fun.

[psg]

You really can do the belt change. You may get a tooth off so be careful to get a feel for how the old belt sits on the pulleys and put the new one on as quickly as you take off the old one instead of a couple of weeks later. It will all look different after a couple of weeks.

Just a thought I rebuilt my original '78 back to spec and it ran nice...but not nice enough. A year later I went back in and got a more aggressive intake cam, hi compression pistons and had previously put on a larger exhaust system. It isn't a street racer but it sure increased the grin factor. You can do a lot more than I did but this is a very nice change.