The Ugly, the Bad and the Good

[4babycar]

First the Ugly - It was ~90F and 80% humidity in Lynchburg....... Miserable day for wrenching.

Second the bad. I finally had the time, the parts and the guidance to start the processing of changing the head gasket on my 80, the second of my two spiders to blow their head gaskets. Well, on Saturday we spent all day changing the head gasket, replacing all the fluids and generally giving the jealous car a lot of attention. Around 5 we discovered that the gasket did not seal and that I had low compression on cylinders 3 and 4. Since I had another head gasket for use on my other spider with the leaking gasket, I would do it all again today. Since my help from the previous day was not so pleased with the current weather, I was going it alone today. Everything was great and after over and hour ensuring everything on the head and block was clean, polished and flat I put everything back together. Breaking the torque down into 3 steps all the bolts were great until on the last bolt and last torque IT SNAPPED.... inside the block! I am not sure where to go from here on this one.

Finally, the good! Since the head gasket on my other car the 82 was only leaking, I had borrowed a good torque wrench for the day, and I had already used the gasket I bought on my second attempt of my 80, I decided to try to re-torque the head. After re-torquing the head and finding that at least two of the bolts were not at the proper torque...... the leak is GONE! Now to fix the the air leak around the injectors with some new o-rings and hopefully she will be road-worthy.

So, after a weekend of wrenching I have made one car worse and one car better and my friend regret his decision to move from CO to VA and our climate. I am really starting to believe that it is impossible for our family to have two running/driving Fiats at one time. My wife might just be right (for once and please don't tell her I said this) that they truly are jealous little Italian B*tches.

[zachmac]

Craig Nelson is bringing the 76 I bought to me on Tuesday but I haven't told my 80. I am going to keep them in separate garages miles apart for now. Hopefully they won't find out about each other any time soon. Mine are male, Mario and Luigi so hopefully it will just be an Alpha male contest and they will vie to see which one can run best!

[mdrburchette]

Don't worry boys. They eventually get along just fine together. Here's a picture of Don and Juan, bonding:

[zachmac]

Don't worry boys. They eventually get along just fine together. Here's a picture of Don and Juan, bonding:

Denise,

This shot really demonstrates the difference in tires / wheels. What are the wheel and tires sizes on the two cars pictured?

[ga.spyder]

Good move,Jeff.Keep'em seperate.My 82 has been having a hissy fit ,ever since the 76 arrived.I delivered it today,played with Fiona(the 82) for a while and...VOILA...she is running well again.Jealous bitch!!

[mdrburchette]

Denise,

This shot really demonstrates the difference in tires / wheels. What are the wheel and tires sizes on the two cars pictured?

The burgandy one has 205/60/13s on 6" Carroll Shelby wheels and the red/black one has 185/70/13s on 5" Cromadoras.

[ga.spyder]

Here is one with left to right.205/50x15 on my 82,14'' on the 76,and 13''on the red 80

[Fiat88]

Don't worry boys. They eventually get along just fine together. Here's a picture of Don and Juan, bonding:

They do look like good buddies!