My Spider is back! Rebuild woes and triumph!

[17alloveragain]

I had my engine rebuilt and it was running well until the oil cap let go and spewed oil on everything, including the timing belt. The belt later jumped and chewed up valves and pistons.

After that, I took it back for another build with new pistons, rings and a new head. The shop put everything back together, and got it running. When I drove it home, though, it was knocking but only under load at about 3k rpm. Lower or higher, it made no noise. A lot of troubleshooting revealed nothing external.

Then, my impatience and frustration got me. I had the front up on jack stands - two on the outside and one for safety in the middle of the crossmember. In my haste to turn it over after checking some things over, I did not take it out of gear. The car lurched forward, came off the two outside stands, sending the middle stand into the rear of the oil pan. F me. It dented it pretty significantly but it thankfully did not break and dump oil everywhere.

Back up in the air and off with the pan, which was dented but not broke open and not in contact with a rod cap. Turns out, taking the pan all the way off is not easy and requires a lot of additional work with the engine in the car. So, I left it there. But I could reach the front rod caps. Nos. 1 and 2 were loose and clearly knocking. F.

I resolved to starting over with the engine. Completely. (And not taking it back to the shop that did the work.)

I got in touch with Jon at Midwest 124, talked through the saga, and ordered an engine. I then set about pulling my engine to take the parts I would need for the new one off. I shipped Jon the head (which he previously built to replace the one that got chewed up). He then set out to build the engine.

While waiting for the new power plant, I tore down the knocking engine. All four of the rod caps were loose. The nuts were torqued, but they would knock when wiggled. Micrometer measurements confirmed the crank was exactly at the first undersized step. It turns out the shop that did the work forgot the crank was ground the first time and used standard bearings on build 2. No bearings had spun, and there was no damage to the crank, rods or caps. I hadn't put more than 15 miles on it before digging in.

The "new" engine arrived in a crate after not too much time. It was pure artwork. I cleaned up all the accessories that were going on it, took care of a few other things with easy access, and put the new motor in. Got it cranking and after a lot of trial and error got it running, but terribly. At one point, the choke stuck open and the exhaust got h-o-t. I was sure I destroyed another engine. For the life of me, I could not get it to run without backfiring and bogging down under load.

I was going to give up and just move on from this car. But it has sentimental value, so I made one last call - the call I should have made in the beginning of this saga. I called Allison Automotive in Upland. I hadn't before because, though I am in Southern California, I thought it was a bit far to get the car up there. I spoke to Juvi, the owner now of RestoMotive that took over from Allison. He listened to my tales of woe and found time for me to bring it in. Hail Mary it is.

I hauled the car up there with a U-Haul trailer (it was not too far for me to go and I really should have taken it there from the get-go). We got it off the trailer, and fired it up. Juvi confirmed it was running poorly. He saw that the carb was dumping fuel and the secondaries were stuck open. I was getting hopeful.

As an aside, the RestoMotive shop is like a Fiat enthusiast wonderland. Fiats galore. Fiat parts galore. If I had any real skills as a mechanic, I would beg Juvi for a job.

The next business day, I got a call. The car is running. And running well. A combo of carb issues and my poor ignition timing were the culprits. While there, I figured I would have them do a few more things beyond my pay grade (new exhaust, fix a window regulator, fix brake calipers that were binding after sitting so long, and a few other nits). A couple weeks later, I picked up the car with another trailer. I had to set it aside for the rest of the week, but this weekend I took it out for a good shake down. Damn if it isn't running like a bloody top. It is smooth, powerful, and throaty. Oil pressure - great. Temp - great. Throttle response - great. Sound - amazing. I've put about a hundred miles on it in the last two days. It is finally loving me as much as I love it. *Knocks wood*

As an added bonus to this whole ordeal, I have a "spare" engine now that I put back together on a display stand in my office. It has the correct rod bearings, the old head machined and rebuilt to erase the time-skip carnage, and a few refurbished parts. It is a helluva conversation piece. Who knows, it might go into a car one day....

In closing, don't give up. These cars can love you back. And, if you have the need and the means, call Jon and/or Juvi to make your car happy. If you're out there, fellas, I cannot thank you enough. Thanks, too, to Bryan and others on this forum for the many replies and advice.


-Sean aka 17alloveragain

[calvinconrad]

Happy to hear you are back on the road! RestoMotive formally allison automotive is highly recommended. I used to get AAA to flatbed the car to upland from San Diego. Within 150 miles was no charge with my membership. Do the Tow driver a favor and schedule when traffic isn't heavy. photo of my 76 is on the lift on Juvi's website. https://www.restomotiveauto.com

[wizard124]

Sean,
Whew! Quite the ordeal. Good thing you persevered. Finding the right person/shop that knows these cars and can get problems sorted is priceless.

My last problem was an intermittent rough/stalling issue caused by a loose or corroded sensor connection. This took me some time to troubleshoot but the fix was easy.

These cars are a blast when running well.
Enjoy!

Warren

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Warren said it best, that is quite the ordeal. Sean, glad to hear that you have gotten the engine sorted out and it's running well. Yes, when everything is tuned like it should be, the cars are a blast to drive, but it doesn't take much to go from blast to slug. As you found out.

-Bryan