It's allllliiiiiiivvveeee!!!! muahahaha!!!! (plus ?s)

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:27 am

Woo-hoo, worked on it hard saturday and sunday. Yesterday, after charging the battery over night I tried to start it. turned over nicely right away, so everything was in smooth working order, but it wouldn't go ahead and run, I heard a couple of vrooms but no starting. a little starter fluid, no help. checked timing (need a new belt soon) timing was good. tried to start again. finally it ran. it ran for a good minute or two with me revving whenever it sounded like it was dying. I've choped off all exhaust just before where the cat was, so it was LOUD, no air filter on it either, that made it even louder. Sounded like a race car!!!! Anyway, it may not be driveable yet, but it surely has the potential to start!!!!

I think it's been 5 years since it ran last!!!!

Big problem is the dead battery. Just bought it about 2 years ago to try to start it, battery says three year warranty, anybody have luck with a changeout at Wal-mart? I got a nice new battery charger and it won't charge, I'll do a 2amp charge and after a few minutes the charger will flash "check" battery. manual says this probably means bad battery. I know it's weak for sure.

Modified a pre-75 air filter from Mike Bouse (mbouse) so that it fits well. but the connection for the crankcase hose from the separator won't hook in as the location of the input on the filter housing is in a bad place for this carb. do I need to MAKE it work somehow (it won't be easy). Or is there another solution? can I vent that someplace else and plug the crankcase vent hookup on the carb?

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:10 am

too bad you live so far away. i have a new-this-year battery for sale from the parts car for $20.00 to the first come, first serve person that smiles in my drive way.

mdrburchette · Post by **mdrburchette** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:38 pm

They'll prorate it Dan. It may be worth a couple bucks.
On the vent hose, I've got mine vented to the atmosphere since there's no place to hook it on mine:

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:07 pm

how often do you change that cheesecloth cover Denise?

and, i have seen guys put a small (about 2 1/2" filter on the end of theirs when they have no place to vent it into the air breather.

mdrburchette · Post by **mdrburchette** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:00 am

Haven't changed it since the engine rebuild, Mike. It's been on for over 2 years. One of these days I'd like to add a filter though.

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 5:53 pm

Quick update. it runs and it runs well. and consistently. Too excited to stay around here, will give more information later!

WOOOOHOOOOO (faster than I thought it would be, too!!!!)

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:30 pm

I went for a drive in my Friat. It was AWESOME. It starts right up every time now (or at least it did tonight the few times I tried)

The problem? Who the heck knows?!?! Seriously, i had lots of problems starting it before, ran my electrical tests on the coil the dizzy,etc etc etc. Took the coil off of the car, dbl and triple checked, you've seen my posts about it all. Put the coil back on the car and I wasn't getting anything at all, not even short little runs. I was smelling a lot of gas, so I knew I wasn't getting any fire at all. I messed with wiring to the tach in case that was the problem, found that the condensor wasn't wired in today when I got home, that fixed it! my theory is that something had a bad connection and my taking the coil off and putting it back on rubbed enough corrosion off that it made good connections.

Now the next project is getting the tach to work, because I never fixed that.

I waited until my son got home (we like to be mechanics together, he says. -->he's 3 1/2) and I had him "help me" start it for the "first time" He was sooo excited that daddy got his "new car" running. Mommy hopped in and we drove once around our block. I drove it around town earlier this afternoon.

I can't believe it runs as strong as it does. I had it in my head that this < 100hp weak car wouldn't really go too fast even with its small size, shows what I know! I'm impressed. I wish I could comment on power increase from the 28/32 carb to this new 32ADFA, but at least it runs now where it didn't at all before!

questions:
I'm having problems hitting Reverse with the 5-spd, I bump it forward in 1st and then I can find it. I'm not up on my manual transmissions, what can I do about this, or is it a sign that i'm about to have significant transmission problems?

Someone know the size of the plug it takes for the smog valve on the head? I know you can buy it at IAP, or one of those guys, but surely someone knows the thread and pitch so I can buy an oil drain plug or something. I mean, the visegrips on a folded hose are nice and all, but surely there's a "fancier" solution.

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:38 pm

reverse has a lockout, so you've got to push down on the shift lever to get it in
the air inj check valve should be pipe thread

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:39 pm

So Cal Mark wrote:reverse has a lockout, so you've got to push down on the shift lever to get it in
the air inj check valve should be pipe thread

Thanks Mark, I'll try my reverse technique right now.....

Danno · Post by **Danno** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:45 pm

hmmm, never had to do that with a 5-spd before. I'm young though, so maybe I just don't have the experience yet.... Thanks again mark, that was my problem and it definitely works!

mdrburchette · Post by **mdrburchette** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 7:55 am

Good deal, Dan! I'm glad you finally got it on the road. A funny thing about engaging reverse: On the early cars, you have to pull up on the shifter, so when I test drove a 79 model, I pulled the shift knob right off the stick trying to get it in reverse.

racydave · Post by **racydave** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:54 am

Alrightee then, lets cruize!!! I plugged my head air valves with two oil drain plugs that I found at the hardware store, and they look good. Just take one of the valves with you to match it up. And 100 hp is cool when you think about the power to weight ratio. FAROUT!!! YOU-DA-MAN!!! Fiats seem to infect whole families. My 21 year old daughter even attended a out of state car show with me! My son- Dan- wants to drive her all the time, but NOT! Heres to sucess!