Piston Vs Screw in Cylinder

Maintenance advice to keep your Spider in shape.
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adrians
Posts: 851
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:07 am
Your car is a: 1981 Spider Turbo - missing the turbo
Location: Sydney - Australia

Piston Vs Screw in Cylinder

Post by adrians »

What started as a overheating problem and a suspected blown head gasket, has now evolved into replacing the pistons !

The mechanic believe a screw or bolt got into the engine a some stage bounced around in number 3 cylinder for a while then back out through the valves and down into another cylinder. It's going to be an expensive repair bill.

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THE FLEET
2014 Abarth "SS"
1981 Spider 2000 (Legend Industries Turbo - minus the Turbo)
1978 X1/9 1.3 Dual IDF 40's, Coupe Cam, Allison Header/Exhaust
1971 128 Sedan 1100cc, Coupe Cam/Headers
Motokhana Special 127 rear engined Rail 903cc
So Cal Mark

Re: Piston Vs Screw in Cylinder

Post by So Cal Mark »

what does the combustion chamber look like? are the cylinder walls okay?
adrians
Posts: 851
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:07 am
Your car is a: 1981 Spider Turbo - missing the turbo
Location: Sydney - Australia

Re: Piston Vs Screw in Cylinder

Post by adrians »

Yes, The cylinder walls are ok, only require a simple light honing and will be ok. The head was going in to have new springs and valves anyway ! One piston had a crack just above the top ring.

I've managed to get a set of original Turbo pistons, so their going in today.
THE FLEET
2014 Abarth "SS"
1981 Spider 2000 (Legend Industries Turbo - minus the Turbo)
1978 X1/9 1.3 Dual IDF 40's, Coupe Cam, Allison Header/Exhaust
1971 128 Sedan 1100cc, Coupe Cam/Headers
Motokhana Special 127 rear engined Rail 903cc
So Cal Mark

Re: Piston Vs Screw in Cylinder

Post by So Cal Mark »

turbo pistons? is your car a turbo? Aren't the turbo pistons dished, lowering the compression?
adrians
Posts: 851
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2008 6:07 am
Your car is a: 1981 Spider Turbo - missing the turbo
Location: Sydney - Australia

Re: Piston Vs Screw in Cylinder

Post by adrians »

Mark,

Yes the car was original a Turbo, which was removed when converted to RHD, ( space problem with steering box ). I now have all the original parts and intend on restoring it back to Turbo charged. Hence putting in the low compression pistons. In disussions with John ( kristoj ) he was of the opinion the turbo cars didn't have any mods done to the pistons, not even the thicker head gasket.

Regards
Last edited by adrians on Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
THE FLEET
2014 Abarth "SS"
1981 Spider 2000 (Legend Industries Turbo - minus the Turbo)
1978 X1/9 1.3 Dual IDF 40's, Coupe Cam, Allison Header/Exhaust
1971 128 Sedan 1100cc, Coupe Cam/Headers
Motokhana Special 127 rear engined Rail 903cc
pope

Re: Piston Vs Screw in Cylinder

Post by pope »

Hey guys,
My manual says Fuel Injected and Turbo used 8.1: 1 pistons. Nothing about using a 7.6:1 that I thought was being used for some reason.
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bradartigue
Posts: 2183
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 2:35 pm
Your car is a: 1970 Sport Spider
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Piston Vs Screw in Cylinder

Post by bradartigue »

pope wrote:Hey guys,
My manual says Fuel Injected and Turbo used 8.1: 1 pistons. Nothing about using a 7.6:1 that I thought was being used for some reason.
VX Spiders had lower compression, Turbo Spiders were just a regular Spider 2000 with the turbo stuff slapped on.
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