Distributor

[124JOE]

do a compesion test all 4 should be close

[Chihua33]

Again, I don't know much about engines besides what I've done.
And I really don't want to screw anything up, so more information on how to do tests and what not would be great.

[majicwrench]

Easy quick painless way to check compression is to disconnect coil (so engine will not start) then crank it over an listen to the cadence. A solid motor has a nice even sound....RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.... as it cranks. An engine with compression issures will have a funny "miss" in the sound ....RRR u RRR u RRR u RRR.....
I you have another running vehicle around unhook it's coil and listen to the sound. Then do the same to fiat.
And have someone else look at plug wire to see if they are on correct. Our eyes can trick us!
I would NOT bend wires, that is what damages them. You will not likely feel the damage (if there is any) anyway.
Keith

[124JOE]

ask a parts store guy for a comp tester and how to do it
he shloud say somthing like"this end goes in a sparkplug hole hand tight
and the other side is a gauge you watch and wright down the psi(pownds per squareinch) it goes to durring cranking"
do this on all spark plug holes the psi should be close if one or two is lower then you need a gasket installed
i have a haynes manual #094 for an early spider/coop
the books go over step by step

first you MUST understand the timing(misplacment of the cams or crank"and on our fiat"the oil aux drive pully)
there is a small mark on the crank a hole in the aux oil drive pully and a hole in each cam pully
"if you remove a belt"you will"get a new one

[Chihua33]

That's the problem.

I don't understand the timing on the car... I'll have to do some reading in the books that I have.
Sure would be nice if I had someone in town that knew anything about Fiats hah

[Chihua33]

In those two pictures you can see the slack in my throttle cable and then me pulling it tight, should it be loose like that? or tight like I have it? also if it should be tight, is the adjustment with the two nuts?

[RRoller123]

The slack gets taken up by lengthening the cable jacket, but yours is at the end of its adjustment range, so it can't be done at the engine end. I have the same issue on my car, but I have not as yet investigated the pedal end, to see if the slack can be taken up there. Maybe someone else here has experience with this.

[rlux4]

The throttle cable should have a little slack in it.
Timing. There are two things to time on our engines; ignition timing and valve timing.
If you put pistons #1&4 at top dead center and then look down at your crank pulley (the big one at the bottom/front of the engine) there should be a notch in it that lines up with the shortest of the three points on the indicator bar mounted just on top of the crank pulley. Mark this notch with white out. Put a timing light on #4 spark plug wire and pull the vacuum line of the vacuum advance and plug it. Start the car, the white mark you made on the crank pulley will show up as a stationary point when the timing light flashes. It should be in the area of the larger of the three pointers, which is 10° before top dead center. If it's not, loosen the hold down bolt on the distributor and turn the distributor a little and see if the white mark is moving towards where it should be (10° btdc). Adjust the distributor until it is set to 10° btdc. That is factory spec. Your car may run better at a slightly different setting and you can fine tune the ignition timing by ear to your liking. Just be sure if you're not using factory spec. to check after you've set the dist. that the car not only runs good, but starts easily also.
Valve timing is something you really need to get a manual for.
Ron

[Chihua33]

Thanks Ron, I think maybe I might take it into a shop to get this done once I have everything else that I want to get done myself. Everything you said makes somewhat sense to me, but I feel it is WAY over my head!

[RRoller123]

Mine is slack to the point where the PO put both of the nuts on the cable jacket side in order to take up as much slack as possible at the engine, but it stays in place in the slot. I obviously need to resolve this right away. Anyone know how to take up slack at the pedal end?

[124JOE]

if your cable slpit somewhere along it then the outter casing is shorter than factory leaving the cable long"get a new one"

i dont have FI so i cant look to see if thrers a set screw on the other end to pull put the slack
if you do find something under the dash to reset it
before you do re adjust the outside first to give out the most cable"slack"that you can
then go back in and pull the slack inside and reset the screw

if it has one


just another guess

[rschreiber]

The fi cable does NOT have an adjustment on the pedal side, just put my new one in last week. But luckily enough the cable is super cheap from IAP or Vickauto, like 10.95 cheap. Its a pain in the ass to replace tho, you gotta reach up under the dash to the top of the accelerator pedal and get the old linkage out, which is easy, and put the new one in, not so easy but an easy enough fix with the only tool needed is wrench to remover the locking nuts on the intake plenum.

As for the other problem you're supposed to adjust the idle speed from the intake air bypass fitting towards the front of the engine on the intake, but that is a little more difficult to get to as quick as just adjusting the set screw in the pictures that has the red thread lock coating on it to adjust the throttle valve. You need to remember that if you set that you will need to set it back after fixing whatever problem is found, and when you set it back to"just open" that you move the throttle as you adjust it to make site the plate doesn't stick closed.

[RRoller123]

Thanks for the cable info, I need to take another close look at the best way to resolve this. Pulling a new cable through is a PITA I agree.

[So Cal Mark]

the locknuts are supposed to be on one side of the housing, not one on each side

[RRoller123]

But the cable pops right up out of the slot that way? All the pics I have seen on the forum have the threaded portion locked in place by sandwiched nuts, which seems to make a lot more sense.