azzurro

sparkplug?

just pay on the basis that it is worth something as a collection of potentially usable parts and if you find it runs later then you win, rather than paying over the odds on the assumption its a 'good runner' you require desperately for your daily.

vary $ on the basis of truthiness of mates of mates claims and any objective testing tips raised in this thread?

Did the non-obvious thing and richened up the idle mix considerably and seems to be both going and idling much better (if a bit fast - 1500-2000rpm), and maybe the total advance is a bit too much, static could maybe come back a bit now that the carbs seem to be dialed in a bit better, and i also think it may be a bit lean on the mains as it runs/accellerates in all gears better on less than 1/2 throttle (progression phase incl a bit from teh idle mix curcuit) than on WOT (mains only), but is particulalry noticable in 4th.

Yet to have the valve clearances checked/shims done or book in withWeber Specialties.

Also put the meshies back on with some awesome near new Direzza tyres i got from Sambo, and also painted them a bit darker grey (after this photo)

My closed road testing suggests handling is improved.

Went to the Kumeu Classic Car and Hot Rod Show over the weekend, we run Mrs Azzurros boss's coffee cart as a bit of an annual thing, so this is pretty much the only photo i took there, we did quite nicely on the coffees too:

Had plenty of piners and "I/my brother/mate had one of those back in the day and it was bloody awesome" as well as a few "wha' the fark is that", and plenty of "dont see many of these any more" as well as a couple of offers to buy

Here is an 'after' shot back at Volt HQ with the van:

I have a carb balancing tool for my carbs if you want b to use it but IO will need to get ur back fro down south

Hey man good to see you today, be much keen on a hoon with that carb tool, ill pm you you to discuss further - happy to pay postage etc + beer tokens

Hey man, I need to re set the valve clearances again on my motor and I was wondering how it is best to go about it? Thought I may as well ask you as you probably have real world experience

Sorry bro, this i have not done - the Fiat Twin Cam uses a shim on bucket setup (set and forget) rather than an adjustable nut type thing and you need a special tool (or a specially bent screwdriver) and a box of shims.to swap in/out to gain the correct cleances neither of which i have. I may have a guy lined up to do mine for me but i need to take my car to him he wont lend his tools.

ive made a wee bit of progress on my list in the post above.

I have topped up the oil, and purchased some BP5EY plugs which are a bit hotter and have a fancy v cut in the electrod and it defintily etter, still dropping cylinder 4 at idle.

Pretty sure its compression related but will also check for vacuum leaks and improve the engine and battery/chassis earthing tomorrow.

Other than that i hanvt touched the engine since returning from Nationals.

I have however teed up an exFIAT mechanic and race guy to check out the shims at some point and am pondering getting some vernier camwheels first to properly dial the cams in at the same time.

These engines the factory camwheels are only adjustable in relation to each other and the crank by skipping a tooth on the belt which is way too much.

Will go these if i do. Sooo shiney and billety...

http://www.millersmu...y-aluminum.html

I have however installed the seats i had lined up for it which ended up being simpler to do than i thought. Still took almost 2 days tho! (Whole day for the first one, less than half for the second)

They are from a 80's Corona GT Coupe (a luxo version of the Celica) so are the peak of Japanese over engineering.

While they may be a bit 'new' they are a gazillion times more comfortable and supportive, and i have the blue faux-sheepskin covers to hide them with if anyone is offended

Surprisingly they are also quite a bit heavier than the high backs, not surprising when this is the seat tilt adjust mechanism!

Turned out pretty good and required only a couple of bits 'remanufacturing' to fit to allow for the 125's stupid 50mm mount height difference (inside to outside rails) and the Toyotas slightly narrower rail 'guage'. I have basically rotated the Toyota mounts 90 degrees to line up with the Fiat captive nuts, the inner is fitted as per Fiat mountings. I will probably improve the outer rail mounts eventally by getting some steel plate bent up into a long 'Z' shape, 50mm in overall height, one for each seat.

That should also allow fitment of almost any OEM or aftermarket seat in the future.

Interior only needs the dash swapped out (heater box too) im seriously procrastinating on this job!) for my better spare and some new carpert and that should be that.

Mrs Azzurro and I are running the Volt Espresso (http://voltespresso.co.nz/#/home) coffee cart at the Kumeu Hot Rod Show again this year, which is on this weekend. Should be another doozy.

Pop in and say hello (by the swap meet/bouncy castles) if you are attending, free coffee for all OSers that say hi!

Took this for a shakedown hoon a couple weekends back to a Fiat club fun run at Hampton Downs, Fiat Nationals racing was on the sunday, this was the low key Saturday.

Line Up:

Fave Car:

These are a few of my favourite things:

On the fun run, having fun following directions

Action Shot (photo by Myte128)

Driving to and from the Nationals the car went pretty well, burning about 500ml of oil, ~40l of premium and a set of plugs over 300km, but it also highlighted that there are a few issues still. However im pretty confident that they are issues of (my own) adjustment/setup and not mechanical failure.

- carbs/running - still a bit funny, definitly running rich, dropping cylinders esp at idle (fouled plugs?) and have hard starting and hot idle problems. My neighbour came over yesterday for a fiddle, and we had a play around and tested a few things. The brand new hotter plugs (BP7ES instead of the usual BP6ES) were quite fouled from the 300km drive! Reset the idle mix to only 1 1/4 screws out each which usually would be very lean, but the carbs are emissions ones that already have been modified with oversized idle mix jets (58 instead of a usual 35-40) to address the typical lean progression phase with these carbs. Seems to idle much better now (i think the plugs were periodically flooding/fouling?), but i will take it to Weber Specialties to properly tune & balance, after...

- tappets and timing - still have not got the tappets sorted out, but hopfully this week. Setting up the timing is also a bit of an issue due to the very limited rotation with the position of the manifold and carbs, tho i think ive got it pretty much on now. I think the leading carb should/could be moved about 3-5mm rearwards which will mean tigging and redrilling the mount bolts, but would improve dissy clearance significnatly. Will ask Murray about this.

- random oil pressure drop! happended a couple times on the cruise on the way back and not on any particular bendy bits, - OMFG code brown!!! idiot light on, also guage v low, but no noise or rev changes, and then just as randomly is fine again. I think a baffled sump might be in order, though to be fair oil was a wee bit low (like 1/2 to 1/4 below full). Could have been an odd air bubble in the filter take off (where both the factory light and my oild guage are connected?)

- seats - current high back ones have a few springs poking in annoying palces and are not that comfortable on longer drives as we found, so thats a bit of motivation to crack on with fitting the blue velour Corona GT ones i have.

I have been informed that we will definitly be having BF for dinner on the 23rd.

ha, tempting to 'upgrade' my present parts car to something that is more likely to both yield useful parts and made mostly out of metal.

Looks like he is making a move overseas. Not sure if doing a 125 resto or mining in Aussie is harder work.

Lincooln good you found what you needed, Fiat twin cam era engine/drivetrain parts are pretty readily avaliable ive found, its the body type stuff thats a problem, which is dumb as those are the bits that need repairing/replacing the most.

Cheers chaps,

pulled the plugs today, one with a touch of wet (petrol + oil) fouling the other 3 with dry carbon fouling, cleaned em and back in and it starts and runs fine, so thats nice i guess.

fiddled with the carbs some more to even up the vacuum as best i could by ear, and also lean the idle mix right back (2 1/2 turnsish on the idle bypass screw), seems much happier/smoother now.

Have Fiat Nationals at Hampton Downs on the weekend of the 5th & 6th of January that i want to attend (the Saturday), will take some spare plugs i think!

Anyone else going along?

yay christmas/time off!

New front component speakers ive had for a while installed, woofers in the kick panel and tweeters in the old centre dash

Music sounds awesome now but, I think while driving it might not get used so much

Also tidied up a bunch of wiring, and moved the amp to under the seat.

Didnt swap my uncraked dash in or even look at the heater while i was there.

These photos also show how much that front carpet needs replacing

Scored a pretty much NOS Momo Montecarlo steering wheel off Ridal of this very website

had to swap bits and pieces between the various horn 'buttons' and logos around to get a working 'momo' logoed one, but worked out sweet.

This is the momo logo awaiting modification to fit in the delogoed sportline button, and the completed momo to sportline 'holefiller'.

I was a bit hohum about its modern design but after using it even for a little while it its definitly staying

The Momo logo fell off the horn button immediately after this photo

Need some foam stickies.

This is the previous wooden Sportline, which I never quite liked the look or feel of for some reason, that will be for sale soon

And some blue filter socks so i can put the rams on, as well as some spare filter stuff for the ramflows to justify the postage.

Family drive to a picnic today didnt go well, started running on 3 that some itialian tuning on the throttle didnt fix. Luckily we still were pretty much around the corner to nurse it home getting progressivly worse and stall on the driveway. I suspect carboned up plugs from rich running and/or crap in the carbs from that crappy filter material that was in the ramflos.

more media than im allowed to! what?

Video 1:

Video 2:

well a much better day today.

Woke up and checked my brake fluid leak checking paper towelTM on the passenger side - nothing , check the drivers - totally soaked

Swapped out the piston and seal for another, and tested by bleeding it and then putting a bit of wood between the piston and the arms, then pressing on the pedal and it seemed to be ok. Excellent.

Wheels on, and then FINALLY!!! a bit of this :

and then into town for this:

This also happened somewhere along the way

Is there such a thing as too much Doooooorrrrt?

and this one because WoF:

Merry xmas everyone

Woke up this morning hoping to fire her up, back up the ramps, fit the battery tray, test drive and pootle into town for a WoF, and then onto the Burger Fuel meet this evening.

Best laid plans and all...

Got the bigger battery tray in OK with plenty of help from my small assistant who fits in the boot, but hang on, whats this:

(the big patch on the mat is the brake fluid from sitting overnight, the puddle next to it is from taking the wheel off and getting the camera!)

My old calipers that i put back in fingers crossed have bitten me right on the ass.

These have been leaking out the piston.

This is how much fluid leaked, overnight, just sitting - yep, pretty much all of it faaark!:

Somehow they have got worse.

The reason i didnt replace the leaky calipers and put my spare calipers in the first time (like 2 months ago) is this broken bleeder screw:

I thought i was toast, but of course there is nothing that cant be fixed or improved with a few blobs of weld:

And after two or three attempts (the easyout i broke off in there some months ago came out first!) got it out:

Swapped all the innards over, cleaned off most of the crap and they are in and bled now, and hopefully no leaks. Ive left the wheels off andput a towel down to check for leaks over night.

So, no Burger Fuel for me tonight, but I think that should just about be it, pending any further catastrophic failures.

WoF tomorrow maybe

I second the killrust, worked ok, and seemed happiest straight on bare metal. Havnt used POR15 tho.

thin it out about 20% (with turps) and it seems to stick better, dry smoother and go further/creep into cracks, you will need multi coats tho and make sure its dry before trying to recoat (it takes aaaages to dry) or you will peel off your previous coat with the brush.

I found if you slap it on thick it can peel or chip off, esp if its over primer (even the wattyl killrust primers)

125 failed to leave the shed today, so wont be attending

Have just got it buttoned up now (replaced both rear calipers and a lot of brake fluid), but my wof place is now closed. Dammit, should have got up a couple hours earlier...

Got a new battery today, nice big sucker, aheapsa volts.

I was also hoping to go for a test run and final tighten & tidy up before going for a warrant,

BUT

i stalled it and it wouldnt restart

Seemed so sudden (running ok, then nothin)I suspected electrics and swapped all the dissy and leads over (again) to the other set. No.

While fiddling around I also retested the compression while it was warm - 130psi all round, so nice and consistent (better than preior cold/unstarted test), and a good sign of no damage.

Turned out it had skipped a tooth on the timing belt >.< so that wrote the rest of the afternoon off.

Just got it going again, seems to start and run ok, if slightly tappier, so fingers crossed for a test run tomorrow and BF after that!

Big thanks to Chris (Abarth) who came over Saturday morning and had a tutuu and got her to run! Yus

dizzy was 180 deg out (doh!) and gave the carbs a basic balance as well.

had to leave it at that with heaps of other stuff on over the weekend, but spent the day on it today and she runs and starts good now, except for a few pops out the carbs from the tight tapppets/shims.

- alternator needed to come out, the brushes had popped out of position so the already crap battery couldnt run it alone.

- ran it up to hot a few times tap in side of the block not done up - woops!

- bled the brakes, including the master, now seem to catch nice and high on the the pedal work better than ever and no leaks, yet.

- took trumpets off (tape already melting off from petrol) and fitted ramflow filters, much quieter might get socks just for the noise

- fixed wiper park position

- put bonnet and new catch on

- steelies back on for new tyres/no rubs wof

- and fittened the ramflows after some 'adjustement':

just a final fettle tomorrow before getting a new battery and going to the wof shop if it aint raining

Edit: photos

-

Thanks to Chris (Abarth) for coming over Saturday and getting this beastie running

dissy was 180deg out (firing 1 when should have been 4), opened up spark plug gaps to .75, adjusted the time a bit, balanced the carbs up much better.

Super stoked it was just something simple in the end and not fatal (yet!)

Alternator is now dead (wont run without jumper leads) and need a new battery, but she runs, and like an angry bag of bees too

needs,

-new/spare battery,

-find working alt/voltage reg in spares,

-bleed brakes

- fit air filters,

- wof...

I will try to get the family to BF meet Wednesday

Lincooln, Mal @ www.fiatparts.co.nz should have what you need, OEM quality bits.

or if you know what you need, need quite a bit (to make postage worth while), and can match your engine to the US Spider model years, then these guys are pretty good. www.autoricambi.us. Dollar is high at the mo

Thanks guys,

Chris you are most welcome to come and tinker - i look at it too and ponder the unfariness of having a nice looking engine that doesnt go as good as its show.

Compression test is more to see cylinder relativity rather than absolute, but the higher figures are what i would expect to see in a std Twink.

i think 4 is definitly being held open, 3 and maybe 2 are as well, and all the cleances are below spec. Dont know if this is from valve recession, poor shim set up by PO, or bent valves.

Car is in disgrace at the mo, but here is my plan of attack (panding the sourcing of shims and the tool)

1- increase spark gap a bit (currently 0.5, which is factory, but may need bigger gap for fatter spark, max is 0.9, ill try 0.7)

2- recheck firing order/timing

3- check accelorator pump/settings

try to start.

4- try other carb/manifold

try to start

5- take head off, check looks ok, if yes take to a shop, if no swap engines

If i could get a box of shims and the tool, id set them all properly first and then do the rest of the list.

cheers chris,

there is no point doing anything more untill i sort the compression issues out.

Ill pull the head off and have a visual, and go from there.

if the valves have recessed or maybe bent or something ill put the other engine in, if they just need new shims, then ill do that. Any suggestions for fiat workshops in auckland that would have shims and the tool?

in other news, received some cheap NOS stuffs i found on ebay today,

bonnet catch, side repeater and a cromodora boot lock, with keys - now noone can steal my battery!

shipping was over half the cost

yeah, i was surprised they fitted so sweetly and the tape is definitly temporary only. I was thinking some sorty of V band clamp, but those are even more than proper mesh filters!

gonna have to pull it all off anyway

tried the car on a jumper leads, and got a few more coughs and splutters, but nothing even close to running. Spak is good, fuel is good (flooding if anything), air is getting in, so only leaves compression...

Then borrowed my neighbors compression guage,

results are (average of 3 runs on the starter, cold engine (obv)):

1: 135psi

2: 132psi

3: 100psi

4: 110 psi (with a low of 90 and flicking - valve not sealing?)

they all seem fairly low to me (psi/14.7 = 9:1 CR max at sea level???, which is about right as stock these are 8.8CR) but the concern is 3 and 4

Then i checked the tappet gaps (they run a bucket and shim), I had previously assumed the gaps were sweet as there is still numbers in white pen in the cam boxes.

Cyl: Inlet: Exhaust:

Spec: 0.45mm : 0.5mm

(figures are the largest feeler i could get in in mm)

1: 0.18 : 0.15

2: 0! : 0.25

3: 0.15 : 0.33

4: 0! : 0! (ie could not get any sized feeler guage between tappet/shim and cam on In or Ex)

Thats what ya get for assuming someone else did a good job i suppose

My thinking is that If the valves had bent if they would not stick high up (i guess this could happen if they have been bent and then jammed up by the piston with the valve shaft jamming in the seals???)

I guess normally, bent valves would have oversized/bigger shim gaps due to the flat of the valve bending up and holding the end of the valve away from the tappet when the cam is not in action?

I figure I Have a few options

1. pulling the head off to have a look, and then ill know what ups (but ill need to replace the head gasket and do # 2 anyway)

2. just doing the tappets (need a box of shims and that special tool!), or

3. tidying up the original engine quickly and chucking that back in (with most of the stuff ive bolted onto the engine in there now) just to get it running before xmas and do 1 and 2 anyway.

sigh.

so i spent $15.60 for 12 'mesh filters', instead of about $30 for one

needed a bit of modification, (that is snap off crappy spot welds, invert the mesh round the other way) they even have a bell mouth shape and they even line up with the rams nicely too

the fitment method is hardly OEM but it is blue...

thell do for getting it started (!) anyway and hopefully keep small children and logs from getting sucked into the carbs

thats the only good news this weekend however, couldnt get the $%(#ing thing to start.

It did pop back though the carbs a couple of times early on but other than that not even a chuffle

nice looking fuel pump was a dud, so changed that out for the orignal one, but then the carbs leaked, tightended them up.

set timing about 3 times, 180'd the dissy, swapped leads, sparks, and dissy over, still nothing. multimeter checking all sorts, every thing seems to be getting power, everything seems to be int he right place, its just not catching.

there way a lot of this today.

I think its possibley

not enough spark to catch though all the fuel (voltage drop when cranking?)

not enough crank speed to atomise the fuel? (battery too flat/too far away)

Maybe those cams have too much overlap?

not enough compression to work no matter what (bent valves?)

I will get a compression tester as it is much easier to crank over than the oringial engine even with the sparkplugs in.

Maybe some starting spray as well to see if it fires?

Battery(s) are really struggling now esp from the boot, so ill try craking it on the jumpers from a runner tomorrow. Its always been a bit funny so it may be a drain on the secondary batter ive been using int he front closer to the starter?

If the compression test is ok ill try it with the old single carb, otherwise the entire old engine is going back in.

BAH! Goddamn car. :bomb:

Fingers crossed its just something silly

illegal?

unless of course you own a black later model falcon with the factory louder exhaust package and then they are compulsory

Spent a few hours at home midweek fiddling with the car, so i can spend the weekend doing other stuff for a change.

doesnt look like that much, but there was a hell of a lot of messing around with the hundreds of little things required, but especially
- the top 2 engine/tranny bolts (1/6 of a turn at a time x about 1000000, lying on the engine with one arm jammed in to place the spanner, the other to turn it), repeat on tother side but kack handed
- the clutch cable (needed an extra spacer in the end?), will see when it runs
- starter (its hard enough to install with a single carb, I do not want to replace this one, even connecting the wiring was a pain!!)



after that filled the gbox and engine with oil, installed the radiator and fan filled that up, and lastly attached the carb linkages and adjusted them. That leaves up here:



pretty much just needs the dizzy timing set (there is very limited adjustment) and ill try to fire it up

I have run into an semi-unexpected issue tho, i have some K&N pancake filters that i wanted to run, , they dont fit as the outside bottom edge of the filter rubs on the fender.

I also have some ramflow ones as a backup I was kind expecting this problem (the round profile avoids the rubbing), BUT they wont fit either as the carbs are set too close together and the backing plates over lap! Bah!

As i have the backing plates should i use a foam type of thing? I have some springs for filter socks but I dont really want to pay $100 for some and i hear they are quite restrictive?.

Id prefer something like this:
http://www.sbdev.co....Air_Filters.htm
A blank plate cut to suit and a foam over meash type thing that would allow the rams to stay on (both the K&N and Ramflows require the rams to come off.

Any suggestions? This is how close the rams are (45mm) to the fender. BFH is an option but Id prefer not to do that to my fresh paint (shouda test fitted before Painting!).