My Second Fiat - The Runner

[Snoopy]

Very nice story. You could write a spiderbook with fantastic picures.

[wachuko]

Very nice story. You could write a spiderbook with fantastic picures.

Thank you Snoopy!

OK, more surprises... a 12mm hex wrench is what? US$5.00!?? Seems the mechanic that worked on this car before could not find his... or this puppy was welded in place. Makes me wonder if they ever changed the oil in the transmission

Good thing I did not drain the fluid first... always check that you can remove the fill plug

I was planning on removing the transmission anyway to replace the rear main engine seal and clean the area, check and replace the clutch if needed... but not right away... change of plans I guess.





New oil drain plug with magnet



and a few things here and there: painted the cover/heat shield for the engine mount with some high heat ceramic paint:

[kilrwail]

Lookin' good. The drain plug is a great opportunity to try Narfire's trick of welding a nut to the mangled plug and using the new nut to turn it out. Good luck.

[wachuko]

The oil pressure sender unit has a different plug than the wire in the car...



So let's make it fit:



Had a few spare covers from the parts car, so putting them to good use:





Since the cover is already there, let use it as well, overkill but what the heck!



Timing belt in place, now for the rest of the pulleys, belts, covers... some spray paint to make it look better, but keep in mind that this will not be the final engine. So I am not spending much time prepping the parts... the one in the other engine will be powder coated or ceramic coated depending on their location. But this engine will work well and be bone dry (changing any seal or gasket that I see leaking).







Finito! All done on this one. Filled with coolant. Pending oil (want to give the patch material another 24 hours to cure) fill.



New wipers installed... (dash is not installed... just needed a place to put it since it was sitting inside the house, in my office, and did I tell you how my wife loves when I do that?!... )

[wachuko]

Lookin' good. The drain plug is a great opportunity to try Narfire's trick of welding a nut to the mangled plug and using the new nut to turn it out. Good luck.

What I am showing there is the oil fill plug for the transmission. Not made out of steel. I don't have a welder for aluminum and, being in the transmission tunnel, it would be a pita to try to weld there...



I am going to try a 14mm wrench to see if that would do the trick, if that does not work then the transmission comes out (it was coming out anyway for a clutch inspection).

[wachuko]

Not sure why I took this one... must be because I love the lines of this car

Anyway... had to share:

[Burningmustard]

Lookin' good. The drain plug is a great opportunity to try Narfire's trick of welding a nut to the mangled plug and using the new nut to turn it out. Good luck.

What I am showing there is the oil fill plug for the transmission. Not made out of steel. I don't have a welder for aluminum and, being in the transmission tunnel, it would be a pita to try to weld there...



I am going to try a 14mm wrench to see if that would do the trick, if that does not work then the transmission comes out (it was coming out anyway for a clutch inspection).

I thought the lower plug was the correct fill plug for the transmission. Am I incorrect? I ask because I just replaced the pan gasket and used the lower plug to fill it up and may not have put enough in.

BTW, great job on the car, really enjoy your posts.

[kilrwail]

Jaime's mangled plug is the correct fill plug.

Have you tried a couple of modest taps with a wood chisel, counterclockwise of course?

[courtenay]

Jaime's mangled plug is the correct fill plug.

Have you tried a couple of modest taps with a wood chisel, counterclockwise of course?

According to my owners' manual (80 Fi), the lower plug is the filler plug. I poured almost 2 litres of fluid into that plug when I changed my tranny oil.

[courtenay]

Found the following from Ventura Ace from a posting a couple of years ago. I'm not sure how to insert the posting itself, so I just copied and pasted it...


"For one, don't take it back to that mechanic anymore. That top 'plug' is not a plug -- it is a sensor, and should have some wires coming out of it (though it does look like a plug, especially if the wires are missing). The lower one on the side of the tranny is the correct fill plug, and filling the tranny to the point where it runs out of the plug hole is correct. As long as the mechanic got that far, you should be OK."

[Burningmustard]

This thread was where I got my information.

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... &sk=t&sd=a

[kilrwail]

I stand corrected. It's been a while since I was down there.

[wachuko]

Jaime's mangled plug is the correct fill plug.

Have you tried a couple of modest taps with a wood chisel, counterclockwise of course?

According to my owners' manual (80 Fi), the lower plug is the filler plug. I poured almost 2 litres of fluid into that plug when I changed my tranny oil.

That is what the manual says.. but there is no way 1.75 US Quarts would go in there... We just did Frank's car and using the upper plug we only got about 1.30 quarts in the transmission... How can you get the proper fill using the lower plug

[launieg]

Well, there is a bit in the tail end, as per Alvon below: (and several others have posted about this too, to give credit where credit is due)

If you do decide to change the tranny fluid, be sure to remove both drain plugs: the one on the gearbox lower cover plate, and the little square headed plug on the tail end of the tranny. The tail end doesn't hold much oil, but it should be drained out during a change.

In the same thread, (can't find it now) it was mentioned that the new oil will find its way back there, but that the oil in the tail end won't find its way out through the main drain plug.

I don't think I got much more than 1.3 litres into mine last time.

[wachuko]

Well... finished it by filling it with oil. Try to start it and it runs like crap... At this point I am tired, can't figure out why is running like that... I see that is starting to melt the header exhaust flange coating... I am thinking plugged cat, out of timing, f*-up, whatever...

I get under the car... temperature is way hot, cat is smoking, headers are melting... thinking it is a plugged cat I undo all four bolts... try to start the car again, same sh* but more noise... turn it off and drink an espresso, water, shot of tequila, a beer, and some happy pills...

I take a deep breath and start going over the car... I remove some coolant, the coolant "T" to remove the cover (after this I am cutting that cover as I saw on another thread, that way I can remove it without the need to remove the "T"), to be able to look at the timing marks...

I check timing again, everything is aligned correctly... remove the distributor cap, all is good... check to make sure I have not made a mistake putting the spark plug cables incorrectly... then I start to check vac hoses, wires, etc... and find this:





I had a new one so I replaced it and the universe went back to its balance, life looked better, I could hear birds sing, a big breasted woman with a hot body went by the front of my house jogging, my wife just smiled, even my mother-in-law sounded happy ...

I think I will end the day on that note Good night!