azzurro

I bought some tyres for my daily off Michael J Fox (they are sweet, cheers!) , borrowed an engine crane off Sambo (thanks man!), and bought a dash from TradeMe this week - and they all lived in Beach Haven! WTF

Dash looks a bit rough in the sellers photo but that white stuff was old polish or something, and the brown stuff was dry mud

- it shined up nice with a spray of interior cleaner stuff and a rag and only has one crack instead of heaps of them

That will go in when i eventally get new carpet/new speakers in the kick panels as its a total PITA removing the dash.

Anyway, having Sambo's hoist meant i could change these out, which went well enough:

The old one doesnt look that crooked in the photo for some reason but they were, and the engine now sits at least 10mm higher.

Fired it up after wards and the IGN light wouldnt go out - ohohh. Unfortunately hoisint the engine must have pulled a wire

and the terminal on the + alternator had pulled itself, along with its carbon brush right out of the body of the alternator That also meant parking up in the garage and removing the alternator and carb etc instead of test my nice new mounts with a drive.

The damage wasnt 'terminal' however (ha!) and I reassembled the brush spade terminal with a blob of Ados

to help hold it in the housing against the enourmous force of the little brush spring, and put some new spade terminals

on the wires, and retaped a bunch of the loom in the engine bay back up as well as some inside and its all

better and tidier now. I also had to readjust the carburettor linkage as it was now binding and vibrating

though to the pedal at idle, so thats now better than it was too.

No photos tho cause it all looks much the same as it did before

Having the hoist also allowed me to lift my spare engine onto a stand to finally have a proper look at it.

Drained the black but not gritty or metallic or milky oil, took a few ancilliaries off, gave it a bit of a

degrease and then flipped it and popped the sump off to find...

Excellent! - nice clean oil strainer, standard unmodified crank and big end (oh well),

and oooohhh whats that shiny thing?

Why its nice new pistons and pins Hopefully they are high comp ones to go with the cams

- can anyone tell from underneath?

That also means that someone has been in here before me and has had the bottom end off (to put new pistons in)

- Is it best if I leave the main bearings done up and just assume they were replaced at the same time or can i

pop them off? Will i need new bolts and a tourque wrench and all that stuff if i just take one off?

At the top on the inlet side, everything seems nice and clean and has been smoothed/ported a wee bit and i think the valve stems could be new as well:

I dont really want to touch the head gasket at all but I am curious about the pistons, so i might have to have

to settle for a poke though a spark plug hole with a small screwdriver to try to feel if they are domed or flat.

Pretty stoked anyway It also has a new fuel pump and a few other bits as well, as well as newish gaskets on

most things.

Looks to me like it has been rebuilt with the pistons and cams and run but maybe only for a short time and then

left in the shed for ages (as per the sellers story), so i think ill put this one back together as a spare/upgrade

engine.

Meanwhile it can be a dummy block

I put the sideys on to check clearances etc and make it easier to work out a linkage.

I think Im going to try to construct something much as per the factory rod linkage arrangement to keep it tidy

and clean. At least as a first go!

This is an unmodified manifold with a scallop for the dizzy, and a standard s124B dizzy fitted

- its pretty tight!:

And the modified manifold that came with the carbs - its rubbing:

The s155 dizzy i have is only a couple of mm less in diameter but i will need all of that

+ some more to run the 'straight shot' manifold.

There is a wee bit of meat able to come off the wall of the mainfold if absolutely required

as a last resort but i definitly dont want the spark bridging out on the intake manifold!

Looks really good tho!

just installed one in mine, was easy peasy.

if it is 100% mechanical you can check it works by putting the sender it in hot water. It takes a while for the tip to warm up and eventually register on the guage.

Could just be a dud if it never worked, or maybe needs a bit of 12V to work?

Photo of the back?

Haha,

some GC should set up a sweet man-shed with heaps of tools and helpful friendly people where you can take your car and do shit to it/get help/extra hands/borrow tools and hang out/drink beers/make cool shit at the same time.

Like a mechanics but less pay by the hour, and more members/invite only (so cool stuff/tools parts dont get nicked), but not gangpad or Area 52 either.

One day, Oh yes one day....

Sambo, you has PM

My green alloy holder thing turned out to leak like a sieve - right out of the hole i drilled/filed which i was hoping it wouldnt but kinda expecting it would- the brass adaptor thing had a wierd taper fit (found in a gasfitters bin?) and my drilling and filing was not very precision and i had nearly stripped the threads on the brass expexting it to cut into the ally. Feck - what to do? Ive still got a great big hole in the top radiator hose that i cut on purpose and now cant fill, and ive wrecked both the sender fitting and a $20 generic internet part.

The answer is of course welder! Take one old skinny peashooter exhaust pipe. After some basic maths* figured out to make a 38mm OD pipe to 36mm OD (so the rad pipes fit) gotta remove about 6 or 7 mm of circumference:

Also turns out the temp sender has the same thread as FIAT radius arm nuts, which i have a couple in my 'big bolts and washers' bin so the sender can still be fitted - i think this might end up being a permanent solution

Had to 'machine' the stupid tapered adaptor down on my 'lathe' (lol) to fit inside the new nut, instead of 'be' the nut:

needed the bevelled seat to seal up the sender, and i was pretty stoked with the nice relief on the bottom to fit the pipe radius given it was my first wizz and by flap disc :

Whaddup! - my grandad was right, never throw anything away - it might come handy one day. Today was that day

Also fixed my oil feed line, and now all the guages are go

* by basic, i mean its so simple but buggered if could remember how to work it out, lucky google remembered tho: (Circumference = D*pi, so (36-38)*pi = -6.28mm section to remove).

got some packages of electrical stuff to relay the ignition switch during the week - got it all from capitalinstruments.co.nz - reccomended!

Started off tidy

and ended up with this

which goes in here,

meaning the guages are staying where they are. Id did all this to take the load off the flaky ignition switch contacts, through which the full current for the starter solenoid, all the lights and coil all run, unfused. WTF!

So now the wires that went to the back of the ign switch to supply various things from the 'brown wire' still do, they just plug into the out pin on the relays, which are idividually fused by and powered from the distribution box, supplied by a big fat new red wire (replacing the brown wire), and so now only a small trigger current to fire the relays goes though the ign switch via new colour coded wires.

Blew a few fuses and renewed a few OEM spade terminals (radiator fan was a bit dicky but new terminals on the thermo sitch is all better) but now all the wiring is better then factory, all power is fused and relayed and as ive left most of the original wring in place can easly be returned to original or removed into another car. I still need a new ign switch tho

This set up also makes it really easy to relocate the battery into the boot which ill do eventually/when i pull the engine out to tidy the bay/put my other engine in.

I also got a package of distributor bits, but unfortunately only the points fitted and they couldnt supply a dizzy cap . Nevertheless running seems to be better and I cant blame it on electrics - eg coil now has a solid 13-14V supply instead of a wobbly 12-0V and everything seems to be brighter and faster.

I need to borrow a hoist/crane to:

1. lift my spare engine off the floor onto the engine stand ive got to inspect and rebuild it; and

2: lift the engine currently in the car up a bit to change the knackered engine mounts.

Will hire one when i eventually swap the engines over; but hefting these things about is beyond the power/reach of my small collection of dodgy scissor jacks and precariously balanced blocks of wood, and should only take a couple hours or so.

So, anyone got one I could borrow/hire for an afternoon or so? Happy to provide liquid compensation.

Could be interest in a purchase if the price is right too.

GTFO!

there were heaps of rad cars there

viewtopic.php?p=880758#p880758

those idle jets work ok/betterer?

I have a steep driveway and because i angled the exhaust down when i fitted the towbar it scraped pretty bad and has now been bent back up and rattles like a bitch on the tow bar esp at idle, so I decided on cutting a relief as i couldnt really move any other bits and my spare/other towbar is much weaker looking and was possibly home made back in the day.

remove the two bar and have a nice clean rear end, no towbar, no overriders no nuthin

chop (yep its haggard but i couldnt get the grinder in there to cut, had to slice it and then bend the tabs off with pliers)

buzz

grind

slop

super fugly rear end with towbar, tennis ball and overriders with bonus plastic bits.

yay! no rattles, car sounds much much tighter now. I guess its probably a no-no modifying a tow bar but as i wont actually be towing anything, and i reused the steel and welded the shit out of it im sure it'll be ok. I also took the roofrack off as it whines and drags in the wind, but its good to have for just in case/missions etc.

also finally drilled a big hole in my cheap t-me water temp guage fitting to fit the adaptor for the guage sender

guage even works (left)

just need an olive joiner thing for where i cut the oil feed line to the oil pressure guage (the middle one) with the grinder aages ago and all three would work (volts on right). Pondering putting them up where the stereo blanking plate is in line with the clock etc like a 124 coupe.

Also need to relay the ignition switch esp the starter and main power feed next i think - driving in the dark to BF meet was ok, but having everything dim in time with the rattling of the keys in the switch really is not so good - dodgy voltage to everything is probalby also partly to blame for the annoying miss which I also have reduced a bit by putting in a bit more advance and cleaning up the dizzy again.

anyone tried these guys for 12V electrical bits and pieces?

http://www.capitalinstruments.co.nz/afa ... ducts.html

yes sparkle i believe you did

proof - some blue has also infected SPandLEs mini

edit: ul9601 - yours will look like that again - get cracking!

cheers sam good to meet you to. door card is installed already

sweet whip man! stop playing with your skyline and get on to this already and install the bumper and boot you got!

also, more build threads please.

azzurro, mrs, mini and dog had a great time. mrs A even said she would go again (if i buy dinner again)

good to finally get there and meet some more of you all for reals!

have been playing with my van a bit lately, rust fixing and other general tidy ups and it will also need a new clutch slave soon

may start a thread on that one

the mrs daily needed a new water pump as well (lucky she spotted coolant!) and that has sucked the car fund down.

So only little jobs. My camera is also dying so fuzzy grainy phone shots it is.

Tried the overriders on - they were the fist thing i removed when i got the car, as i hate the plastic protector bit on them, shame theres so many holes in the crome im gonna have to put the plazzy bit back on. I might just run them on the rear to hide the tow bar a bit, or may even try my other less beefy tow bar .

finally got onto changing the jets AGAIN!

went as close as i could to the 1600 GLS settings, which are much leaner than the others, incl smaller main jets different emulsion tubes and larger airs and it seems to be running much smoother, no hesitation on throttle (in the driveway) but biggest difference was after doing that, changing the slow running jet from a 50 to a 45 as a last resort.

I also got new sparkplugs and leads on too,but have yet to obtain other dizzy parts to tick all these things off the list as well, but the recently cleaned plugs were very black and sooty, so hopefully got the jetting right and thatll do it untill i get a linkage sorted out for the twins.

I also got an gine stand - in prep for this ive dug my spare engine out of deep storage (ie took all the crap off it), to fit it on and check it over and dummy up the linkage on. Just need a crane to lift it up onto the stand and ill change the 40yo engine mounts on the engine in the car as well while ive got the crane.

Also got a package of shiney wheel centre caps from Aussie

not really a fan of them on the meshies,

but they also fit in my slots, so thats where theyll live.

Its amazing how fast the shine has come off these rims from just sitting in the shed!

super duper keen

this is why:

vs

you have PM

Please don't rain/snow/wet this time..

keen.

^ yes, what he said

Not so there is no flow at all but to see if excess pressure from the dodgy wired electric fuel pump is a prob before spedning $100 on a regulator. But you wouldnt be able to set your vice grip guage to 3psi

. Its probly something else if it has been ok until now, but worth checking if new car or new setup/pump

yes

You could test before you buy a regulator with vice grips or hoseclamps or a kinks and see if the symtoms change?

Yep a regulator, or better yet a fuel pump that provides the correct pressure (so your not wasting money by restricting your fancy new pump). I think webers like no more than 4 psi. They do like volume, but not under pressure.

Not a problem ive actually had to resolve myself, just been reading up on carbies a lot lately and I read that high pressure leccy fuel pumps (esp those designed for FI) are often an overlooked cause of problems on carburetted fuel systems. Sometimes more is not always better.

unsure on SUs but webers/dellortos like to have a restrictor to limit the incoming fuel pressure otherwise the needle valves cant shut off leading to just as many problems as a weak supply.

so, your electric fuel pump could be providing too much fuel pressure to the carbs, so your bogging could be flooding?

wahwah NOS panels wahwah

thats just cheating!

Went and visited a dude off my Fiat forum the other night, and talked some crap, checked out his 2x 131R Super Mirafioris (hes in the middle of putting Thema turbo engine in one) and also picked this arrangement up:

looks a bit crummy on top, but thats just 10 years of garage dust, as underneath and inside they looked like this:

Chucked the rams on the the "lathe"

And spent a couple of cold nights inside by the heater taking them apart to check the jetting etc, and reassembled this morning after a rinse with some fuel and a blow through with some air. Very happy, they are in such good condition and have new gaskets, isolators and diaphrams and stuff all round from a refurb by the PO before 131R who hardly ran them as they leaked from not being nipped up. They are also very purdy. Cant wait for some DOOOORRRRT!

Only possible problem is they are DHLA G (the dreaded 'Emissions' ones from a later model 1.8 Alfa) that still have most of the original jets and emulsions tubes with a couple of pretty minor (?! famous last words?) changes having been made (smaller needle valve and auxilliary venturis only) to try to weaken them a bit (to suit a 1400 cosworth? :dontknow: ) so thats hopefully Ok , as most problems with these type seem to be related to them being 'tuned' like the Universal Performance types, which messes them up as they have a different operating principle to the performance ones all together. They apprently dont seem to like 'hot' cams either, so should be ok on my basically stock 1608. I doubt they wouldnt be any worse than my current carburettor and they look 10x better too.

I will also need to sort a linkage to connect them up to the throttle, but i cant really figure out how it might work as the rotation is 'backwards', pushing away from the cambox down between the carbs from about 2 o'clock to about 7 o'clock, or essentially requireing a pull from back underneath the manifold.

They also came with a 125T manifold that 131R had modified himself, and the difference is pretty stark to my unmodified one with the big restriction from the block mounted dizzy scollop:

Looking down #1 runner, OEM on top, modified below

From above, OEM on top, modified below

Nice Job! Hopefully my skinny X-19 dizzy that ive got fitted will clear the reduced scollop which was designed for the big OEM one, or i can just pop them on with the unmodified manifold

cheers man, dunno what your worried about - you can get new clips! These worked out as good as i could have hoped, except the sill holes are not properly plugged. i got some rubber blanking grommet things but the clip wires are so fat they couldnt fit as well. Might blob some silicone poop in there or something.

I got the mirror with a forum load of boot rubbers from Spain (its a SEAT parts ebay seller), its only a cheapie and probalby not worth shipping by itself.

I found it hard to find a good one to fit becuase of the 45deg door top where they mount - most generic ones are designed to be flat or vertical and dont have enough ajustment to look right . I have a few other mirrors i collected too will put a pic up next time i go to the lock up.

finally fitted the last bit of trim to the car post refurbishment - the sill trim. When i bought the car these were long gone to the extent that the holes had been bogged over.

I managed to score these trims from MF131 who had got them off old blue for his 125 racer project, but they were dead weight so were not required.

However ive been searching for the factory plastic clips:

ever since and as far as i can tell they are NLA, so I took a punt on these, being 1 3/4" wire spring clips:

http://www.rarespares.net.au/rsnz/Produ ... oduct=2347

I knew they were too big, (trim is ~1 1/2" wide) but as they are metal i thought i could make them work.

They turned up yesterday, and so last night a lot of pissing about with pliers ensued, but by the 16th one i had it down:

As supplied (bottom) vs customised (top)

fitment check (i cleaned and polished the trim before fitting and got rid of the worst bends):

and on:

I had to put a small SS screw in each end just to hold them on secure and as they were a bit bent + my wonky panels, but im stoked. Covers up the row of 8 holes in the sill and you can't have too much bling on a 125. They also stick out a bit more than i imagined (like side skirts almost) and so seem to square off the car nicely and balance the chrome up top.

I also changed the air correction jets (150's, which were smaller than the 170 and 180 in there) and emulsion tubes (F61's which were the same as before but i think the ones i originally installed had been drilled out, hence the fluting?!) so carb is now to 132 1800 GLS spec (rather than 1600 GL), and car idles a lot slower on the previous settings (which is a good sign) but still stumbles on throttle a bit. :/

However, going to see a guy tomorrow about some twin sideys and electronic ignition