Sorry I’ve been gone too long…(long)...

[leeputmanjr]

But I’ve been busy! Let me catch you up…

First, did you see the Fiat Freak Out footage on PBS that Motorweek shot? I’m sure somebody posted that here, but did you know (if you saw it), you got to see me and my latest project?

http://video.pbs.org/video/1305118447/

I’m the one huffing & puffing as I push my burgundy Spider into place on the showfield who mutters, “God, I love this car”. I was the ONLY car there that had to be PUSHED onto the showfield, and I had to push it the last 200 yards by myself, as (for reasons unknown) they wouldn’t let me TOW it onto the field.

…anyway…here is my car:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/3806653736/

I found her in May of 2008, just about 20 miles from my house. I bought her from the original owner, who got her from the Chicago Fiat dealer in the fall of ’74. He drove this car 32,000 miles in three years, and due to some mechanical difficulties in 1977 he put the car in the garage & NEVER TOUCHED IT AGAIN, until I got it.

Here she sat, complete down to the ’77 plates!:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanj ... 019936450/

As I dug into the car, I found things that were shockingly good, and some shockingly bad. Like - the previous owner had taken out the floor mats when the car was new, folded them up & put them in the trunk – they were NEVER USED! The top boot was still in Fiat logo cellophane! …and I believe, he’d popped the head gasket back in ’77, and let it sit with coolant in the piston for 31 years.

Needless to say, the entire engine had to be pulled. As did the trans. And all the brake components. And all the fuel components.

Holey Cripes, it was SO MUCH MORE than I’d imagined! It’s been a hell of an education, but man alive – NEVER AGAIN!

April, all my sourced parts awaiting install (engine in the plywood box under the trans):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/3427413263/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/3446818640/

Anyway, the first year was spent sourcing parts & figuring out my “plan”. I knew it needed a motor, and likely a transmission; so my plan was to go ahead & do both. I sourced a known-good 2000cc motor from San Francisco, and got 40/80 cams, a lightened flywheel, dual IDF 40’s, and a Fiat electronic ignition to “liven it up a bit’! I took the engine all apart for cleaning, painting, seals & gaskets.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/3692366223/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/3714861215/

..and sometimes I needed motivation:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/3715671038/

I did not pull pistons or valves, but every piece that went ON the engine got either cleaned & painted, or outright replaced! The brake system was totally re-done with vented disks, braided stainless & Ferodo pads, and I got a grungy set of CD-3’s to blast & paint for the new sumimoto’s.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/3759579303/


The original radiator, alternator, and starter all got re-habbed at some local ‘old-school’ shops who unanimously confirmed these pieces were ‘like new’.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/3760712356/

(Note the Lancia cam covers, the ’69 style cover-bolts, the open-slot cam pullies, and an in-head themostat housing)

Assembling the engine was enough, but attaching the trans, dropping it in, and hooking it all up was a BEAST of a long-hard-sweaty project. Ugh.

The end result of May/June/July:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/3779288875/

My customized throttle linkage:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/3934371675/

So, I got it all put together & assembled BARELY in time to drag it to Freak Out as my ‘static display’. With all that damn work, I wanted people to see her! But I’d not yet tried to turn the key & fire her up. I still had a bit of work to do, like replacing the gas tank (with it’s 3 inches of black goo in the bottom), but I did get ‘er started at long last:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/3971633477/

That’s her VERY first moment of life! I was doing the old trick of : try the key / get out / bump the dizzy / try the key – and here she actually ran for a moment!

…and 20 minutes later:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanj ... otostream/

Suddenly, she was running, and I got to check lights, cooling, all SORTS of fun stuff! (We all know the joy of seeing a cooling fan kicking on it’s first time!) But we all also know that once you get to a watershed moment like this, suddenly your to-do list becomes 100 items longer. Ugh. The damn project would never end, and suddenly it was October, and driving season was rapidly coming to an end. My project had been an all-summer oddesy of heavy-labor, and I wanted just ONE day of good top down cruising!

Another month goes by with a weird 5th brake hose issue solved (Brakes = GOOD!), learning to use a Uni-Sync for the carbs, solving a horrific oil leak, figuring out a fuel starvation issue traced down to the main fuel line & a clogged filter (that looks clean when wet!), swapping several sets of jets, and getting the oil pressure gauge working.

Fully functional:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/4109854694/

This past Friday I got home from work, and at long last figured out the remaining fuel-starvation issue. The car was suddenly begging to be driven, and I gladly obliged her! What a BEAST! W O W!

…and then I broke the transmission, and had to tow ‘er home…

I guess the 'one day of cruising' will be in 2010!

[racydave]

Lee, I still remember having Breakfast with you at the FFO in Detroit. You seemed very impressed with the sucess of W\MI FLU, and were wondering about starting a FLU chapter in Chicago. No one expected that your new chapter would kick butt as it has! Sorry I never made it to any of your events yet, but I will for sure! Anyway its always good to have friends on the forums. I have followed the progress of your steed, and am quite impressed! Of course its not hard to follow being on Mira, Facebook, and Chicago-lands own forum Two rules hers, don't call me an old fart, and don't take crap from Bouse

[leeputmanjr]

...but Dave, not only are you my Good Friend, you ARE an Old Fart! It's just part of what we all love about you!

...and Bouse is so full of "it", he has enough that he spreads "it" around everywhere, and once you've known him for a few years you learn not to take any "it" anymore!

Ok...I'm headed home to crawl under The Beast to try and shine a flashlight into the hole on the side of the trans to see if I can tell what's going on...

I'll keep y'all updated. In the meantime, here is a pic of just one of the MANY events RacyDave missed here in Chicagoland:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/4109823143/

(That's Fred, not Sam!)

[mbouse]

define "IT"

[racydave]

Sh

[mdrburchette]

Great story Lee. I've been following your progress on that car with great interest. You can tell that's Fred. He's not as fat as his cousin Sam.

[leeputmanjr]

Last night I jacked up The Beast to get a good look at the trans:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/4114966257/

Here you can see that the throw-out bearing was NOT stuck in the pressure plate, and I could see that the plate's fingers were not bent.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/4115735122/

So, I pulled the tranny drain plug:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/4114927255/

I wiped off half the accumulated shavings to show how much was there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanj ... otostream/

Next, I pulled off the trans belly-plate:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanjr/4114967635/

...and found this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanj ... otostream/

...and notice all the silver goo covering the black belly-plate:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanj ... otostream/

I have no idea what I'm looking at HERE:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanj ... otostream/

Yes, ok I know those are the gears - but how to know if good/bad/ugly?

...previous experience tells me that silver goo in one's oil is a VERY BAD THING:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanj ... 692651691/

…back when we found silver goo & extra bits of metal in my LAST Spider:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leeputmanj ... 692651691/

I guess I'm just lucky, right?

...ok, so...if I pull a trans from a parts-car, how do I check to see if it's ok?