Help!! 79 Fiat X 1/9
Uncle Dodo
and idles up and down but it ran home with very weak power.
Timing belt was loose and I started checking things out........
Firing order is 1-4-3-2 and wires on cap were wrong 1-2-3-4 . So 2 and 4
were crossed. It did not pop or backfire at all. I switched them and it ran
worse. Barely enough power to move car forward. It pushes fine BTW so not
dragging or brakes.
Started from scratch on the timing belt. My book seems to contradict itself.
Talks about number one at TDC with the 3rd mark lined up with the notch and the
dot on clutch flywheel at 0. Then later it says to put number 4 at TDC for
belt replacememt. I'm too confused.....
IF I put number 4 at TDC , where do I point rotor button??
At number 4??
Is it that easy?
Why 4 and not 1 like a 2.3Ford or anything else?
I did it with one at TDC and the balancer marks at 0 and the cam notch at the
pointer and it runs like crap.
I have to really advance the distributor but no power at all.
Wierd thing....If I retard the timing a bit it will pop thru the carb! I
should pop thru the carb when it is advanced too far and exhaust pop when it is
retarded.
Any ideas?
I'm doing the number 4 thing tomorrow.
BTW Before I touched the belt the compression was screwy.
It would go to 75-90 to 120then fall straight to 10-0 psi. I figured timing..
Now it has good looking compression in all cyls. Number 3 is about 10 psi
lower than rest but within specs.
Please help me if you can....
J. Davis
Uncle Dodo wrote:
> (Starting to kick myself now)..... Just bought a 79 Fiat X/19
Yeah, I did that after the second one - both '79's. You're probably
smarter than me if you're kicking yourself on the first one...
> Started from scratch on the timing belt. My book seems to contradict itself.
> Talks about number one at TDC with the 3rd mark lined up with the notch and the
> dot on clutch flywheel at 0. Then later it says to put number 4 at TDC for
> belt replacememt. I'm too confused.....
> IF I put number 4 at TDC , where do I point rotor button??
When you have it at #1 TDC, set the rotor at the #1 plug wire then, then
turn the engine around as needed to... although, my literature says nothing
other than line the crank & cam timing marks up, stick the tranny in first
with the parking brake on (to prevent engine movement), loosen the
tensioner and replace the belt....
If you want copies of my service literature (old Chiltons) email me... I
just purchased a nifty scanner :)
Uncle Dodo
>itself.
>> Talks about number one at TDC with the 3rd mark lined up with the notch and
>the
>> dot on clutch flywheel at 0. Then later it says to put number 4 at TDC
>for
>> belt replacememt. I'm too confused.....
>> IF I put number 4 at TDC , where do I point rotor button??
>
>When you have it at #1 TDC, set the rotor at the #1 plug wire then, then
>turn the engine around as needed to... although, my literature says nothing
>other than line the crank & cam timing marks up, stick the tranny in first
>with the parking brake on (to prevent engine movement), loosen the
>tensioner and replace the belt....
>
I got the timing belt issue resolved. Apparently they just put the pinter on
the cam cover mark as an easy to see place that happpens to be #4.
UPDATE: I had another carb I decided to try. It is a Weber with mechanical
secondary and not vacuum like the one that was on it. ( I just prefer
mechanical)
Put it on and got a the best idle so far.
Before it has not idled below 2000rpms without stalling.
This one was doing good and went around the block with a lot of added power.
When it got warm though it barely ran.
By spraying fuel out of a spray bottle and into carb I determined in was
runnning way lean. revs up great when I spray extra gas into it.
Checked pump and fuel supply. ALL OK.
Found float level too low.
Fixed it and ran great for about 10 minutes.
Now it revs up good and fast, so it is getting enough gas but it is rough and
won't idle down and stay running.
I'm stumped!
Another thing that is kind of odd. The distributor seems overly touchy. I'll
get a light on it tommorow, but when retard it , it slows down and acts ok with
less power etc. When I try to advance it I can 't go as far as I think it
should before it starts to miss badly at idle. I can't even approach a ping
from too far advanced timing. It barely raises rpms then starts to miss so I
have too put it back where it was.
J. Davis
> I got the timing belt issue resolved. Apparently they just put the pinter on
> the cam cover mark as an easy to see place that happpens to be #4.
> UPDATE: I had another carb I decided to try. It is a Weber with mechanical
> secondary and not vacuum like the one that was on it. ( I just prefer
> mechanical)
If you want cheap performance, use the factory Weber off a Yugo - it's
bigger than anything Fiat ever used. The stock 1100 Yugo - not the 1300
GLX's either. Grab a pre-86 cylinder head for a boost in CR, too...
look them over carefully, as the Yugo's had poorer QC than the Fiat's.
Expect to have to do a light removal of all the casting ridges and imperfections
with a Dremel.
I have a write-up somewhere of a 140hp X1/9 powered Yugo - it ate anything
thru a slalom and left stock V8 musclecars in the hole (when it ran >:). They
spent
$1500 total. Mileage may vary.
<snip a lot of misc. repairs and ensuing troubles>
> Now it revs up good and fast, so it is getting enough gas but it is rough and
> won't idle down and stay running.
> I'm stumped!
It's a 20 year old Fiat - you've got cruddy badly manufactured crap that happens
to have put up with two decades of abuse... I'm not surprised.
They handle sweetly though, and any car that NOS/OEM rotors cost $4 more
apiece than machining them.... you can afford to fix it.
> Another thing that is kind of odd. The distributor seems overly touchy.
It's called Marelli... all those Lucas jokes were Ferrari/Fiat/Lancia's high-budget
smear campaign to divert attention from the true inferior product.
> I'll
> get a light on it tommorow, but when retard it , it slows down and acts ok with
> less power etc. When I try to advance it I can 't go as far as I think it
> should before it starts to miss badly at idle. I can't even approach a ping
> from too far advanced timing. It barely raises rpms then starts to miss so I
> have too put it back where it was.
Rip that dist out - you have slop in the bearings. If I'm wrong, the pick-up is
funky, or a bad ground.