How do you wake up this monster?!

[salieri124]

Hi All,
I’ve recently bought 1979 Spider 2000 (w/carburetor) that has been sitting for about 14 months. Apparently it was running great when parked. PO did nice job storing it in his garage.
Anyways, I am about to wake up this little monster and was wondering if any particular procedures I should follow. Anything specific on these Fiats I should pay attention to?
Thanks

[SoFlaFiat]

You'll get many responses, but start with replacing rubber... Timing belt, hoses etc.
Check fuel or drain the tank and clean, change the plugs, make sure all the fluids are good. Once you have it going, you most likely have a dual plane intake and you want to start looking for a single plane. Toss any smog stuff still on it. Clean the ground connections on all the electrical...
The list can go on but there's a start.

[salieri124]

Thanks. What is the smog equipment I can toss?

You'll get many responses, but start with replacing rubber... Timing belt, hoses etc.
Check fuel or drain the tank and clean, change the plugs, make sure all the fluids are good. Once you have it going, you most likely have a dual plane intake and you want to start looking for a single plane. Toss any smog stuff still on it. Clean the ground connections on all the electrical...
The list can go on but there's a start.

[vandor]

Assuming you do not have to pass visual or tailpipe emissions testing, and that these items are still present, you can toss the smog pump, it's hoses, the reed valves in the middle of the head (plug the holes with appropriately sized oil drain plugs), and all the vacuum hoses and switches, except the hose going to the distributor. You can also remove the gulp valve from the left inner fender. Any holes left in the manifold with have to be plugged.

On a '79 a popular upgrade is to use the much better flowing 1800 intake manifold with a larger carb. The current setup is so restrictive that this simple upgrade will give the car ~20% more power!

[BEEK]

+1 on vandors comments, the only other quick gain is if you have a single down pipe exhaust, would be to install a twin down pipe and manifold or a proper header. please note, not all headers are created the same, there are a few out there that may actually hurt performance even over the twin downpipe

[salieri124]

It's alive! After changing all the fluids and filters, re-charged battery, new spark plugs, wires, dizzy cap and BROKEN rotor, the Italiano started without a sweat.
Here is the first discovery: Carburetor is leaking fuel in one spot. See the image or photos in my album. Is this something easy to get and replace? Should I take the whole carb out and maybe re-build with new kit?
Eventually I will upgrade to better carb and all the good things you guys mentioned, but for now, 124 needs to deserve that Thanks for help.


http://s1029.photobucket.com/user/salie ... t=3&page=1

Cheers,
Salieri

[azruss]

A good cleaning and a rebuild kit is in order. make sure the kit you buy has that specific diaphragm. Make sure you keep good records of where everything came from. many parts look the same with just a number on them to mark the difference.

[Ptoneill]

I have a good 79 carb with the hoses and manifold that I took off my running 79, 50 plus shipping and it's yours. Or you can donate the 50 to a church or veterans program and you can have it for shipping!

Pm me if interested

[narfire]

perhaps donate to the site???

Today I was cleaning out the shop as I'm moving to another location and threw 3- 79 carb's out(metal recycle)

[Ptoneill]

perhaps donate to the site???

That would be alright also although I have a soft spot for church's (any denomination), and veterans groups. My grandfather was USA, my dad was USAF, my brother was USA, my oldest was USN Surface and my youngest and I were USN Submarines. I don't make a huge amount of money but I am not hurting either and I can afford to have this great toy (79 fiat) so I like to "sell" parts by having the "buyers" donate the cost to those who are not as fortunate....everyone wins, I get rid of stuff, people get stuff and both of us feel good for helping someone without stuff.

Enough of my soapbox!