Fixing a basketcase...

[Raze]

So I bought a 72 spider / 1608 and the PO (father/son resto project) thought it had bad rings cause it's down on power, starts, idles fine, even runs a bit. I pull the plugs, they're black soot fouled, reek of gasoline. Drain the oil, blacked out and reeks of gasoline. Get the engine to what I think is TDC, the little mark on the aux wheel looks to be around 34 deg clockwise off vertical, the exhaust cam dots line up with the pointer, but the intake cam dots are several degrees advanced of the pointer. PO said he rebuilt the carb. Methinks he might have put the wrong jets in there, it's on an aftermarket 32/36 DFEV. I will pull it apart AFTER I correct the cam timing. The Haynes manual talks about a locking tool, yada yada, but I need to pull the belt and get them all lined up, anyone have any tricks for this procedure? Worst case I can lock what I can and then turn the offending cylinder by hand and try and reinstall but I've done this on a SOHC engine and had enough problems.

Also, isn't this motor an interference motor? How many degrees +/- can you run before you have problems?

Finally, I'm going to snag a leak down tester to verify total health of the engine but I want to get it at least mechanically line up for a proper test.

Thanks for any insight.

[SLOSpider]

What I do is when you loosen the tensioner bolt and nut on the pulley is to pry the mount towards the passenger side to loosen the belt. Once you have it pushed over tighten the nut on the pulley back up so it stays in the slack position. Adjust your marks and you wont have to fight to get the belt back over the tensioner. Once belt is all on its marks then loosen the nut on the pulley to get tension back on the belt. Yes the valves can hit but would need to be further out than just a few teeth. Aux shaft sounds like its about right in the 1-2 oclock position does not have to be exact just somewhere in there so the fuel pump lube does not hit connecting rod as they spin around.

[majicwrench]

You don't need the locking tool. If you have done a single OHC before, this will be a piece of cake.
Keith

PS 72 is the best year

[Raze]

thanks SLO, that's what I was looking for, it just made me wonder cause there's some sort of odd procedure in the Haynes manual for different types of tensioners, looking at mine it looks like a self adjusting mousetrap type given the spring and layout. I'm not going to lie this is the first Fiat I've ever owned or worked on but it's pretty simple which is really nice.

One question about moving the cams though, on SOHCs I've worked on when you move the cam sometimes it doesn't like to sit where you put it, do these cams like to move when you place them or will they pretty much hold up their given position?

[SLOSpider]

Mine have always stayed put but they can move. Some folks have made there own tool to go between the cam gears to keep them in place, I never had a problem with this. Once you get the belt on and tension on it you will want to turn the engine over by hand a few turns and recheck all your marks.

[rasouth]

Hey Raze...
I just got done doing my timing belt and it's not hard at all. Follow what SLOSpider said to do. There are the pointers on the front side of the pulleys but also some guides on the back side, on the front end of the cam housing that point to the marks on the back side of the puley. If the belt does not fit into the grooves you might need to turn one cam slightly to get them to fit, usually the exhaust cam because you fit the belt from crankshaft to aux pulley to intake then exhaust and around tensioner. My cams have always stayed where I moved them. Once you have put tension on the belt and tightned the bolt turn engine over once or twice by hand to be sure nothing is hitting and alignment marks are correct

[mdrburchette]

What seems to move easiest is the crank sprocket. Make sure you mark your pullies in some way so you can make sure they're exactly as they were before the belt was removed. My 1608's run better around 10 btdc.