no horsepower fiat spider 2l pls help

[DRHSMITH]

hi im new to this forum ive been wanting help wiht this for so long, i have a 79 spider 2L , dome top pistons heavy lift cams 40 idf's with 32 venturis ballanced crank lightened flywheel, orignally after break in motor had tons of power was soo fun to drive, head gasket blew i had replaced which i had done many times before in the past, i retimed engine and ever since it has not even comparable power to a stock engine, car runs smooth as can be cruises great i have recheck timing so many times even looking at engine schematics showing where cams are seated in relation to the crank everything ican think of , reading through the forums ive made the following changes went from electric pump at 5 psi down to a manual pump from an original car, added original air scoop up to first carb to get fresh air into it , opened and cleaned carbs checknig jets floats ect, checked compression 125 even each cylinder whgich makes no sense as they are huge dome top pistons but checked cylinders for blow by there is none,

i really need some advice as this is driving me insane it was very fast before the gasket went arre there different gasket thicknesses for this engine ?, i had port and poslished and doen alot of the engine work myself and then had the block done and assembled by a mechanic who deals in everythign fiat but its quite a travel to get to him and hes always too busy to look a at it

[124JOE]

do you have points?
how are the springs under the plate thats under the rotor?

if there fine i would bump up that timing

[DRHSMITH]

i have multiple times gone either way and restarted engine u can tell its wrong right away when u hit the throttle so by bump up what exactly do u mean ? i have purposely out of desperation changed a tooth off the timing mark on the crank and driven it multiple times ( after manually turingin the engine alot to ensure valve dont meet the pison

[azruss]

sure the mechanic didnt pull a cheap one and swith motors on you

[DRHSMITH]

ha no defenetly not ive had the engine apart dome top pisotns are very nice were def brand new i redid thje head myself i pickjed and dropped off the crank for machining, and the flywheel i had done to the engine about 8 years ago , the pistons are certianly alot different then the flat stock ones lol but a good idea and after the head gasket blew (after a rly fun couple months) i was the one who changed the head gasket as i had done many times in the last 15 yeears

[124JOE]

i ment to addvance it from 10 to 15 or 20
just to find a power band

[DRHSMITH]

u mean the crank timing right ? and as far as iginition i think im going to order the electroinic kit just so i dont have to worry about it anymore and hopefully get something more in power

[124JOE]

no ingition setting

these are simple points
and newer ones are magnetic"ele"

but the advance is what i was refering to
if the springs arent right it will be crappy,andif the weights are sloppy or sticking
no matter how much money you throw at it


in the cap under the plate is the weights and springs for the advance

hope this helps

[DRHSMITH]

i have left the bolt holding the distrubter unit semi loose so i could turn by hand to experiment witht the timing didnt help much so one of two options either get the new style electronic ir maybe even go grab another distrib off one of my parts cars and toss it on seee if any difference occurs?

[BEEK]

check and see if you reversed the cam pullies, a=intake s= exhaust

[DRHSMITH]

i did not change the cam pulleys or remove them while i did the head gasket i had a smal oil leak on my exhaust cam box pulled it and left all shim towers inplace replaced gasket and retorqued to spec

[bradartigue]

I would stop adding things and diagnose what you have. In fact, I would remove things like the "air scoop" or whatever you mentioned that you added when the problem first arose. No air scoop is going to make or break a motor.

No power could mean a lot of things, so explain exactly what it does. Does it idle nice and smooth but have no power when you accelerate? Does it idle like crap? Does it seem to be "holding back?" Does it run better when you spray carb cleaner around the carbs?

To be redundant with things you've already done:

- plugs clean and gapped?
- wires in the right places?
- ignition rotor pointing to #4 when timing is at TDC and cams are lined up?
- coil tests out okay and you know you're getting good spark?
- fuel pumping at 3psi?
- does the motor get very hot when you run it?

Smooth running and very hot = ignition is very, very, retarded. It has the odd effect of making the motor run very smoothly at idle but absolutely no power. Just some things to think of. It certainly isn't your head gasket unless it is leaking water into every bore!

[BEEK]

i did not change the cam pulleys or remove them while i did the head gasket i had a smal oil leak on my exhaust cam box pulled it and left all shim towers inplace replaced gasket and retorqued to spec

I would start with this, changing the cam housing gasket will change the valve adjustment. did you check the valve clearances? if not go there first! intake .17thou exhaust .19 thou

[124JOE]

ok ill ask again
HOW ARE YOUR ADVANCE SPRINGS?

[DRHSMITH]

i honestly do not know how to c heck them any advice ?