A red 124 Spider with a 1.8 new to me owner

[spkx714]

I live in Lake Zurich, IL and I am the proud new owner of the above car. After I bought it on St. Patricks Day, 2008, I took it for a ride and found that the heater fan didn't work. I later found that the heater core was bi-passed. I was able to bye a new heater core and a heating fan swich and I found that the fan motor does work. (Amazing). I was out driving and the car wouldn't idle, it sounded like it had a stuck float, but it's not a Holley. I used the same technique to loosen the float and tapped on the Weber with a wrench. I guess I accidently tapped the idle solenoid because it started to work. Then I unpluged it and I had the same symptoms. So I plugged it back in and continued with my ride. A few miles later it failed again and I had to hobble home. Since it was Saturday and i couldn'i order parts, I decided to change the timing belt, but I screwed up the valve timing. I bought a book that tells me how to reset he valves, crank and So Cal Mark pointd me in the correct way to time the Auxiliary shaft. With a little bit of luck my car should be running this weekend. BTW - I am not upset that I have to fix it, I'm not, I love to tinker with cars and this is exactly what I want. Thanks to you all, I'm hoping you don't mind all of my questions in the future.

Sreve King

[kristoj]

If you love to tinker, you definitely came to the right place. Welcome aboard.

[rlux4]

Hello, and welcome to the forum. Sounds like you're getting dialed in on getting her fixed up. Good luck this weekend on the timing. Don't forget to get the auxiliary shaft pulley in the correct position. That Mark is quite a guy huh? Lucky me, I live about 70 mi. from his shop.
Let us see some pics of your car.
Ron

[jprisbe]

Welcome...

There is a growing group of Fiat owners in your area that make up the ChicagoLand chapter of FLU.

You can find them here: http://italiancar.meetup.com/46/.

I suggest you look them up. I know they have several events planned for this driving season in your area.

[So Cal Mark]

welcome to the site. It sounds like the idle cutoff solenoid may be bad. If you can wiggle the terminal at the end and hear a click with the key on, it's time to replace it

[mbouse]

after you introduce yourself to the boyz in chicago, please be sure to post some pictures of that Spider, 'eh?

and if you are really into tinkering, stop by any time and see me. i'm generally out in the garage doing the same thing.

[spkx714]

My motto is; if it's broke, take it apart and fix it. If it's running, take it apart and make it better. But, if you don't know what you're doing, ask for help. I love my "Fiasco". it's like driving a toy car with a drop top.

Steve