My First Fiat - Parts car

[rlux4]

Way to go Wachuko. I didn't catch it if you said, was this car sitting for a while?
Ron

[wachuko]

Way to go Wachuko. I didn't catch it if you said, was this car sitting for a while?
Ron

Yes, sat for 10-12 years...

[wachuko]

Congrats!!! Yay!! You did a lot in short time. Ignore the O2 sensor. Of no importance. Check the threads.

Once again, good work. Hope you sort out the clutch/tranny issue.

(I have not watched your video - will do so in the morning.)

I will check the threads for that, but good to know that I can ignore it for now. Thank you!

[wachuko]

Good job Wachuko. That's gotta be a good feeling.

The oil pressure gauge on my '83 hovers around 4 bar when the engine is cold and running. It drops back to close to zero when warmed up and idling. The needle will swing a bit when the engine is revved.

Ps. I am still on a quest to follow up with my neighbor about his parked '81 Spider. I'll try again today.

Man it felt great to hear it run fine (it was running poorly at first, would not rev past 2K rpms... then little by little revs started to go up and everything started to look and feel normal). I was worried about the oil gauge behavior thinking the worst. Now I know that it is behaving normal.

Thank you!

[wachuko]

Out to the garage to start it up again

[wachuko]

Ok guys, I hope this is a better video, oil pressure is fine, temp raises fine, fan comes on. I need to check all the vac hoses, idle settings, put the timing gun on it, etc...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pt4NQFoglo

and a short video of the engine bay and the fan operation after the car has been turned off...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E8wo7-OwYU

That is all for today... I need to head out to Jacksonville to pick up a puppy for the children.

[azygoustoyou]

Good job Jaime! I had a good time watching your video and of course all the other videos that came up about the Fiat on you tube. Like the superbowl strut and the abarth ones. Wow, if you need motivated, just watch some of the videos on you tube. I think I'm going to go build three fiats today.

[ga.spyder]

Way to go ,Jaime!! Great feeling when all that work comes pays off.Any ideas on the tranny,have you posted anything? I am curious as well as to what that could be!Good luck,
Craig

[rlux4]

It's amazing to hear of another Fiat that sat for many years, and is able to be up and running without major work. I wonder how many engines of the period would be able to do this.
Ron

[mdrburchette]

I would make sure the crankcase gets flushed out somehow. I had an old Toyota that sat for 10 years. After doing a little maintenance on it, it started right up and my Dad drove it to work and back for a couple months. The day I picked it up to take it home, the engine locked up. The old sludgy oil that was still in the pan, even after changing the oil three times, had plugged the oiling system.

[wachuko]

I would make sure the crankcase gets flushed out somehow. I had an old Toyota that sat for 10 years. After doing a little maintenance on it, it started right up and my Dad drove it to work and back for a couple months. The day I picked it up to take it home, the engine locked up. The old sludgy oil that was still in the pan, even after changing the oil three times, had plugged the oiling system.

Very good point, but I am not ready to remove the engine... need to deal with the transmission and rear end first.

IF it is possible to remove the oil pan without removing the engine I will do so and clean it out (and push out a small dent it has). But if the engine needs to come out, it will have to wait.

[wachuko]

Getting ready to drain the transmission... I had forgotten to order a gasket/seal set for the tranny, so ordered that just now.



Let me read the procedure for removal... not sure if I can just remove the transmission without touching the clutch and bellhousing or if it is one big happy unit...

[CajunMike]

Jaime,
Congrats on your project car. You have given me inspiration. Thanks for posting your progress. My fiat has been sitting idle for many years and I am pumped up about getting it running again.

[wachuko]

I found one of the issues with not being able to shift... my transmission was low on WATER!!!

When I removed the drain plug an insane amount of water came rushing down... yikes!

So guys/gals make sure all those seals and gaskets in the transmission are in good condition...

I took a few photos, and it looks like it might be fine. The gears were all covered in oil sludge, so when I pass my finger over them they cleaned out fine, same for the shafts. So that sludge maybe save them... You can see one of the shafts I just cleaned with a rag and the other one all rusted looking... they were both the same when I first looked inside. Here is to hoping anyway...

Drive shaft is out as well...



Oil in the differential came out normal... wow, it had been awhile since I had smell differential oil... yuck!

Now printing the workshop manual on clutch and transmission removal...

Here are a few photos:





Here you see the cleaned shaft on the left, dirty on the right... ..reason why I think it might be fine after cleaning, fingers crossed...

[wachuko]

Jaime,
Congrats on your project car. You have given me inspiration. Thanks for posting your progress. My fiat has been sitting idle for many years and I am pumped up about getting it running again.

Let me know if there are any photos that you need to help you along. I am only posting a few in the forum.

So anything I can do, as payback for the information I am getting from the members here, just let me know.