Car won't start after rebuild of the head [FIXED!]

[spider2081]

If you had the timing belt pulleys off the cams, are you positive you have them back on the correct sides? The intake and exhaust timing belt pulleys although side specific are easily swapped. Also some folks recommend only using the metal pulleys as the plastic ones are beginning to fail.

[Vandrid]

Well the auxiliary shaft won't fit, but for the life of me I can't figure out why. I measured both of the pieces (old and new) they are both the same size. the new one has a slightly different shape on the lobe for the fuel pump but that is it, am I missing something?

[blazingspider]

Won't fit or won't go in? Was number 4 set to TDC with the valves timed as well when you took the timing belt off? The aux shaft will hit the crank on #2 if you are trying to install it without setting #4 to TDC and aligning the mark on the aux shaft sprocket to approximately the 1 o'clock position. Temporarily attach the aux shaft sprocket to the shaft so you can determine the correct orientation. If you did not have all your marks set when you took the belt off be very careful when rotating the crank independently from the valves as they may clash.

[Vandrid]

Won't fit or won't go in? Was number 4 set to TDC with the valves timed as well when you took the timing belt off? The aux shaft will hit the crank on #2 if you are trying to install it without setting #4 to TDC and aligning the mark on the aux shaft sprocket to approximately the 1 o'clock position. Temporarily attach the aux shaft sprocket to the shaft so you can determine the correct orientation. If you did not have all your marks set when you took the belt off be very careful when rotating the crank independently from the valves as they may clash.

Yes all timing marks are set correctly, I now have the correct auxiliary shaft and it still won't slide in like the broken one did. I went in with and endoscope and checked the bearing and they look good, not sure what is stopping it from going in.

[blazingspider]

Do you have the mechanical fuel pump still bolted to the block? If so you may want to remove it and try fitting the aux shaft again without it in place.

[Vandrid]

Do you have the mechanical fuel pump still bolted to the block? If so you may want to remove it and try fitting the aux shaft again without it in place.

It is out. I talked to a semi local fiat mechanic who specializes in 124's, he told me that the auxiliary shaft braking may have damaged the inner bearing enough to make it not fit. He suggested going at it with some emery cloth and if that doesn't work than I'll have to get a new one pressed in the block... not the best of news but I'll keep at it and see what happens

[Vandrid]

OKAY! I am now in a step in the right direction but still having issues.
I got the right parts, got them in and the car actually runs! not for very long however... there are a few problems I am now faced with:
1) the car overheated. I think this is do to me not fully bleeding the coolant. If anyone has any tricks for how to do this the best I would greatly appreciate the advice.
2) I am getting a backfire through the carb. I tried to rev the engine once and white smoke shot through the air filter. Is my timing off? I've read somewhere about my distributor being out of wack? (I did remove it from the exhaust cam and put it back in.) Any other thoughts on this as well would be handy.
She is getting so close to running and I would really like to have her out on the road before the snow creeps into Ohio.
Thanks for everyone's help on this, it really is the best forum on the internet thanks to you guys/gals.

[phaetn]

What year is your car?

To bleed the rad you can lift the front end so the rad cap is the highest point (e.g. above the head) and run the engine without the cap (starting from cool so you don't scald yourself because it is under pressure when hot) and let any bubbles escape. If the engine isn't running well then this might be a problem, though. You can also buy a Tee fitting that you put on the hose between the heater pipe from the firewall to the top of the head which makes it the highest point. Then when you go to fill the rad with coolant the air escapes out there when the cap is off.

Overheating is never a good thing so hopefully there was no resulting damage.

Re. the backfire: If the car was running well before then if might well be an ignition timing issue. If you removed the distributor then this could well be the case. I can't help a lot here since I use electronic ignition mounted low on the block, but I do know points have to be timed to cylinder #4.

I presume you took the timing belt off because you were playing with the aux shaft. Make sure it's dead on, with the engine at top dead centre (both #1 and #4 are in the same position) and the cams in the right spot (dots on the pulley lined up with the indicators on the cam tower). Intake and exhaust cams are different. Being off a tooth can really affect how the engine runs and is surprisingly easy to do. If there as any flex as you put it on the cam pulleys or cranky pulley can jump a tooth as it first turns. When putting it on, start at the crank pulley, then up to the intake cam pulley, then across to the exhaust cam pulley. Make sure it is tight, tight. Then make sure the tension is pulled up from the crank from the other side and then slide it over the tensioner. If you go over the tensioner right after the exhaust pulley (as some might do) then there might be hidden slack at the bottom and as soon as the crank moves it skips a tooth. Same thing if you move the engine backwards by hand -- it can mess up the tensioning.

Cheers,
phaetn

[Vandrid]

What year is your car?

To bleed the rad you can lift the front end so the rad cap is the highest point (e.g. above the head) and run the engine without the cap (starting from cool so you don't scald yourself because it is under pressure when hot) and let any bubbles escape. If the engine isn't running well then this might be a problem, though. You can also buy a Tee fitting that you put on the hose between the heater pipe from the firewall to the top of the head which makes it the highest point. Then when you go to fill the rad with coolant the air escapes out there when the cap is off.

Overheating is never a good thing so hopefully there was no resulting damage.

Re. the backfire: If the car was running well before then if might well be an ignition timing issue. If you removed the distributor then this could well be the case. I can't help a lot here since I use electronic ignition mounted low on the block, but I do know points have to be timed to cylinder #4.

I presume you took the timing belt off because you were playing with the aux shaft. Make sure it's dead on, with the engine at top dead centre (both #1 and #4 are in the same position) and the cams in the right spot (dots on the pulley lined up with the indicators on the cam tower). Intake and exhaust cams are different. Being off a tooth can really affect how the engine runs and is surprisingly easy to do. If there as any flex as you put it on the cam pulleys or cranky pulley can jump a tooth as it first turns. When putting it on, start at the crank pulley, then up to the intake cam pulley, then across to the exhaust cam pulley. Make sure it is tight, tight. Then make sure the tension is pulled up from the crank from the other side and then slide it over the tensioner. If you go over the tensioner right after the exhaust pulley (as some might do) then there might be hidden slack at the bottom and as soon as the crank moves it skips a tooth. Same thing if you move the engine backwards by hand -- it can mess up the tensioning.

Cheers,
phaetn

Okay I believe I got all the air out of the coolant, and also adjusted the ignition timing. Thanks for all your help!
I now however have a new problem: my water temp gauge isn't working. The car seems to be running fine but without that gauge I don't want to take a chance on the road. I have no experience on any wiring so I don't even know really what I'm looking for or how to diagnose the problem. I do know where the temp sensors are in the head and I do know I hooked them back up correctly but that's it. Currently the engine is warmed up and it's showing I'm cold on the gauge.
What should I look for and how do I test what I need to test? The gauge worked correctly before I started all this work

[gm404]

I now however have a new problem: my water temp gauge isn't working. The car seems to be running fine but without that gauge I don't want to take a chance on the road. I have no experience on any wiring so I don't even know really what I'm looking for or how to diagnose the problem. I do know where the temp sensors are in the head and I do know I hooked them back up correctly but that's it. Currently the engine is warmed up and it's showing I'm cold on the gauge.
What should I look for and how do I test what I need to test? The gauge worked correctly before I started all this work

I found this video from an other topic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DtcIlkt4BY

[Vandrid]

Yep, I found that video and fixed up my wiring, I broke the speedo cable in the process of all this and got that replaced as well. (wish everything was that easy) but she runs now! Took her out a few times when the weather was nice but now its starting to get cold and shes about to go into the garage for the winter.
Thanks to everyone who helped on this, couldn't have fixed her up without you all helping out.

[autotransportcity]

Thanks for the advice, really appreciated