fiat spider

So I decided it was time for the extended freeway test drive. Destination: my doctor's office, to drop off some paperwork. Before I even got 300 yards away I noticed I now have a leak in the heater control valve. Coolant in the cabin. Yuck. When I stopped fiddling with it, the leak stopped. And continued when I fiddled with it again. So I stopped fiddling with it. I also discovered very very quickly that I need to rebuild my brake system. Brakes not so good at stopping from higher speeds. The car seemed to be doing well till I got off the highway and sat in traffic for a bit...and it just died. I pulled off the road and sat for a while. It started after a few attempts.

Bailed on my test drive and started driving it home. And it died again. At first I thought it was fuel loss or something, but I could feel it this time, it was ignition related. This time, on the side of the 15N, in rush hour, during a traffic jam. I let it sit for a while. I didn't know what was happening, but I figured something was overheating and needed time. I called a tow truck in the mean time. And took a bunch of pictures of the excitement. People started zipping by at 85mph on the median, narrowly missing my little car. A motorcycle cop started writing tickets. Yes! Thank you! It was great, he would see people doing it before they got to me...they would see him and dart back in traffic, and then he would just walk into traffic, right in front of the offending car and yell at them, forcing them off the road. It was fantastic! Idiots.

After a few close shaves and the realization that my risk of ending up in the hospital again was going up fast, I decided not to do any road-side diagnostic or repair. I think it was the electronic ignition overheating. I gotta figure out why. I bet it was the ballast. I never found any, and I bet it's hiding somewhere. Either that or it is just getting hot and I need to relocate it.

Gotta figure out this starting crap too. It takes forever. Maybe the timing is off, it used to fire up on the first try. Hopefully, rebuilding the carb will fix it. It is pretty dirty.

It's kinda neat to sit on the highway and watch the commotion. Some people yelling at other cars, some people singing, some look asleep or dead, some daring in and out, and a few, smiling at me. I took a few cool pics before the tow truck came. I realized that my car looks really cool from a low rear corner angle. Even the sky copter came to watch.

Well, at least I figured this out before I made a time-sensitive trip. This one cost me about 4 hours.

Went by the Pyramid to do a bit of paperwork for my new job. The car almost didn't start. Seems to me like it's getting harder and harder to start, a fuel problem I think. Hmm.

Then I took the car to Miramar Radiators Inc (8448 Miracrest Pl D San Diego, CA 92121-2646 Phone:(858)457-8103 ) to have the cooling system reverse power flushed and pressure tested for problems. Seems like a pretty cool place. While I waited, I noticed a really clean 2002til? What's a "til"? Karl? Anyway, it's having it's engine rebuilt. And it's for sale. Neil, could this be your next project car? :-)

Arne picked me up in his 69 Porsche 911 and we went to lunch. His car makes mine feel so slow. It's a 2.0L flat 6, seems to have pretty rad torque. I'll get there eventually, hopefully the carb rebuild will help quite a bit.

Tracy didn't have to work today so we went down to the Hotel Del in Coronado and had some drinks, sat in the sun and relaxed. It was nice. It's incredible that we live so close to this vacation paradise. Too bad we're not on vacation all the time.

On the way home, we stopped back by the shop to pick up the car. Everything seemed to check out. No leaks, pressure test and reverse flush went great, installed the new hoses from IAP. The guys pointed out that my old hoses were probably causing the leak, I just didn't see it. Probably true.

I'm so proud to be getting it on the road more. Now that cooling is taken care of, I think it's time for a carb rebuild. But I may put that off for a little drive time.

Oh yeah, Tracy (who followed me home from the shop) said my car exhaust smells rotten.

Didn't do much today. I cleaned my apartment and watched a bunch of TV. Actually, I called a bunch of places to schedule up stuff to have done to the car. Talked to Carlos at ITAL about tail lenses...apparently they're hard to come by. Talked to a radiator shop about getting that done. Talked to a steam cleaner about getting it cleaned, etc.

Found a bill for $21 THOUSAND &*(^$(&#!!! dollars from my medical group. Such assholes. No, it's not something I'll have to pay, but it said "don't send cash!" Heh.

Took a night-time drive. I like driving the convertible at night. Peaceful. Even figured out the heater, sort of. Went to the bank and to get some late dinner.

Tomorrow I get things done. Well, car things. Cleaning is good, but not that good.

So after yesterday's little problem with getting the oil pan plug out, I decided it had to happen today. I compared with a few tools I had laying around and found it to be between 10mm and 18mm. I go to Autozone to see if they have allen wrenches of that size, and after looking for about 10 minutes, finally found some. I took them out of the package, ran them outside. The 10mm was too small. Found some more. Ran outside, slithered under the car, the 12mm was to big! How is it that all the stinking fiat stuff has to be odd metric? 17mm, 11mm, 13mm, 21mm, it never ends!

But I take a look at the 10 and the 12 again and I swear it just has to be the 12mm. So I buy it, along with a Butterfinger and drive home. I get under the car and AGAIN, the 12 doesn't fit. So I try the channel lock's again. Ouch, messed up my finger. No luck. Then It dawns on me...I could use a 10mm and jam a screwdriver in there, making it lock. Hell yeah. So I slither under the car and get right up close to the plug. I noticed it was a little whack from somebody else messing with it...Oh. I see. It IS a 12mm, but it's got burrs on it. So I hammer the 12mm in there, destroying the burrs and then nearly broke my hand trying to get the plug out.

But it came out. Damn, finally. I let it drain for 10 min and then replaced the filter too. The new Bosch is so shiny. And while I was at it I slapped on new cam-shaft cover gaskets.

Started to do the radiator hoses, but after reading what I needed to do and knowing the age of this car and the probable length of time it's been since it last had a radiator flush, I think I'll have somebody do it. Or at least take it to a friend's house that has a freakin garden hose. I also noticed a leak in the bottom passenger side corner of the radiator. Grr. So I popped on the new radiator cap.

I cleaned my garage too. Tired of the mess. I used the trunk rack to run to the dumpster. Yay, clean. The apartment security guard and I chatted for a while about the car. He has never been friendly, but I guess that he's restoring a Grand Marquis and was interested. Cool.

Also noticed I have a short in my dash lights. Which reminded me I needed to re-do the cable to the starter. So I did that too. Boy, it's hard to cut and strip 6 gauge copper wire.

HA! Found the info for the detail place:

Detail Works
9210 Dowdy, Unit I
San Diego, CA 92126
Phone:(858)689-8989
Categories: Special Trade Contractors | Window Glass Coating & Tinting | Auto Steam Cleani
ng | Car Washing & Polishing | Auto Cleaning & Detailing | Builders & Contractors

Spent about an hour tonight, trying to get the oil drain plug out. It's hex and I don't have an Allen wrench that size. So I tried vice grips for a while, to no avail. And since I started so late, the stores are closed and I can't go pick anything up.

But earlier I finally dropped off my oil. Those guys at Kragen are such dicks. I called Autozone first, they went and checked (without me asking) to see if the vat was full. It was. So I called Kragen. They wouldn't check it, even after I explained that I didn't want to make the trip down to find that it was full. Jerks. Anyway, I dumped my oil at Kragen and then drove (the Spider) to Autozone to buy a few things. Heh.

I also spent a bit of time trying to identify why the head of my 1608cc 125BC engine has a head with 124AC000 stamped on it. It must be the series of the car because that number has no significance. The numbers 124A000 identify a 1197cc block with SOHC head. If it said 124AC040, then I'd be worried I had a 1438cc block. But my block has 125BC040 stamps all over it. And the car is stamped with 124BS1, which is also correct according to this and this. Oh well.

Tomorrow I go to Sears to get some large allen wrenches and finish up the oil change job.

When we got back from TN last Wednesday, I had a very abused box from IAP waiting for me in the office. My parts arrived. Except for the Sport Air Cleaner. Yay, now I can get to it.


Friday, some friends and I gathered for the mostly weekly Motorsports Lunch. A couple gear-heads and I have been doing this for a while, this time I got a picture of us. On the way home, I stopped by Autotech Motorsports, run by my friend Jeff. It's another auto repair/performance shop but with one key difference. They specialize in rotary engines. We hung out for a while and he showed me a few projects they've been working on. The first is a 3 rotor (Cosmo 20B) twin turbo RX-7, 2 was a 13B-REW transplant into a 1st Gen. He said it pushes about 270hp. Wow. Another was a !!! 4 rotor (2 12A's) 3rd Gen. It may be the first anywhere in the world. It should get them quite a bit of press. I'm stoked to see that beast run. Very cool.

Saturday I milled around reading my manual for a while for the right way to install the Oil Pressure Gauge Sender and Oil Pressure Light Sender. It wasn't really in either of my shop books. Hmm. So I just went to it. Couldn't get a wrench in to get the Gauge sender out so I tried a pipe wrench. Just ended up making it leak. No matter, replacing it. Finally managed to get it off with some leverage from a really long screwdriver. Heh. After it was off, the Light Sender was much easier and at a better angle. So I replaced them both. Maybe if I replace everything on the car, the only thing left that will be dirty is the engine! hehe!

I also slapped on some new spark plug wires. They're blue! The package actually came with 6 wires, 4 for each plug and 2 HT wires, one short, one long. On my 1608cc engine (which is the best engine to have I am told) the distributer is off the exhaust cam (on the passenger side), so it's a lot further away from the coil, which is mounted on the driver side, thus needing a much longer HT wire. So I assume that the shorter one is for all the other twin-cam fiat engines, which have the distributor mounted on the other side.

Then I took the car for a spin, even in the nasty weather. Which was good because I was finally forced to drive the car with the top up. And it was misting which provided a bit of moisture for me to clean the car too. Yay. Now my luggage rack looks better. I also cleaned the fluffy crap off the inside of the hood. It looks much better.

Oh yeah, it drove great and now I have decent oil pressure. Tomorrow I will change the oil and filter, which should make that even better (since I believe my filter is old).