fiat spider

Tonight, I managed to pull off a few more things and figure out a few good things. I pulled off the water pump, it needs replacing. One of the bolts (4 total) has been broken off inside the block. Not sure how I'm gonna get it out. Drill maybe?? It was held on by just the three fine I suppose. When it came off, it leaked a LOT of coolant from the block. Glad I have that tub below the car. I removed the rest of the cooling lines that ran up to the carb (auto water choke). Pulled off the belt tensioner bearing, that thing was totally shot. As soon as I started messing with it, all the bearings fell out all over the place. Sheesh. Pulled off the old manifold and set it aside, lost a bit more coolant in the process.

Now for the fun stuff. The engine is filthy, so I busted out my little steamer I picked up at Home Depot and went to work. Pretty rad results I must say. Especially compared with before. It wasn't totally touchless, I had to use the little copper scrubber brush attachment that came with it, but it worked really well. You can finally see the make and model of the engine on the side. It says "FIAT 125A".

I also test fit the carbs. They look hot. And they just barely clear the hood when it's closed. I hope that when they're fully mounted up that it won't be any taller. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to set up a throttle linkage. I am thinking that breaking off the levers inside the engine bay and installing a cable that runs from the pedal is gonna be my best bet. I'll see what advice other people out there have or what they have done.

Tomorrow (hopefully) I order a bunch of parts. Something like this:

1. Tensioner bearing
2. New belts (aux + timing)
3. Thermostat
4. Radiator temp sender
5. Assorted radiator hoses
6. Assorted Gaskets
7. Something fun, maybe a t-shirt that says WEBER or FIAT.

Anyhow, I am really trying to get this thing on the road by the 24th of Sept. If I can't make that, I must make it to the Speed Festival in October.