1971 Fiat 850 sedan

Trent, you're an inspiration to many. Thanks for posting all this. I love that I'm reading a UK based message board to find out what "the other" Fiat enthusiast in Eugene, Oregon, USA is doing...

-Cheers!

This thread continues to amaze. Sorry to hear about the head woe

Just wondering if the cradle wouldn't be stronger if it was braced to the block via the oil pan bolts?

Agree about the cradle, I don't think you really need it, but it cant hurt either.
I used a "pusher" on my Fiat 1500 for years without problems, but of course it was mounted on in the front.

It is an old 903 cam that was coated with the dry film lubricant.

Finally a weekend that wasn't overbooked. I got a solid 4 hours to putter around and get things done. Of course there are so many active projects that it is easy to get sidetracked. Start on one thing and push it aside to do another and then oh look! I forgot about that, might as well finish it up real quick.

I try and fab up the bits I need during the week so I can get them installed


A new waterpump adapter/block off plate, a timing gear spacer and a new oil pressure relief valve. The first pressure relief fouled the oil sump. This time I turned it down to clean it up a bit and give more clearance. Sure looks nicer than the first. I turned on the oven and set about powder coating a few pieces. While they were curing I decided to modify my blow off valve.

1G DSM BOV.

a quality piece that holds 12psi. I am planning 16 to 18 on the new motor so I might as well get it ready for the task. The "dodge mod" is well documented and seems a bit classier than crushing it in a vice to preload the spring.

Step one. Tap the boost reference port on the bottom to 10-32 (not 10-24 like all the DIY's say)


Step two. Drill an intersecting passage to the flange


Step three. Harvest a vacuum nipple from a junk throttle body. Just grab onto it with pliers, twist and pull. It comes right out.


Step four. Break out the thread cutting die and cut some 10-24 threads about a quarter of an inch up the nipple


Step five. enlarge the first 3/8" or so of that hole you drilled with a #25 bit and tap it 10-24


Step six. Thread in the recycled nipple, tighten with pliers, perhaps with a drop of loctite. Screw in a 10-32X1/4" into the old boost reference hole that was tapped in step one.


Now if you run a vacuum line from the new nipple to a ported vacuum source it functions just as it did before. If you leave the boost reference line open to atmosphere there is no longer any boost pressure working against the diaphram weakening the spring and while the BOV is slower to respond it can hold up to 30psi or so I am told.

This took all of 5 minutes to do. I bolted it back on and took it for a test drive. Before this mod the boost was set to 10psi exactly. After the mod it was hitting over 12! This means it was leaking before and was part of the problem that I associated with soft valve springs. The sound is now a bit more forcefull. Before the blow off sounded like a girl sneezing......seriously. Now it is a bit more aggressive sounding.

By that time the parts were out of the oven and I got to start bolting them on.

The new coolant piece AKA the "Water Dong"


and the completed bottom end. The girdle now bridges across 2 of the three mains. The front main bridge acts as the block off where the oil pump used to force oil into the crankshaft to be sent to the centrifugal filter. That is where the pressure relief now resides.



Of course at this point after got the cam and crank timed I got to looking at the cam gear and thought....It would be easy enough to make it adjustable so I grabbed some spares to make an attempt.

I will work on that this week.

On to other bits. I scored a pair of rotten old Porsche 914 seats at the last swap meet.


They look the part but are not supportive enough. I removed the seat bottom and they got better....well at least better than the MX5 seats in the car already. I figure it is worth a try.


Asked SWMBO about that old memory foam matress topper and she said it was fair game . I hacked it up roughly and fit it in. Tried it out and it feels OK. Could use a bit higher density foam on the bottom. It will be good enough to cover and try in the car for a while.


Cloth centers or vinyl though?

I looked at this and grinned. I'm sure if I tried it I'd miss the cross hole



Top notch as ever.

Started in on the cam gear project.

Started with the two from above


Bored the center out of one and took the outside off the other


They now click together with just enough clearance to rotate


The "ribs" in the inner piece will be drilled and tapped for the securing screws and the outer piece just needs slots for adjustment.

I suppose I should try and suss out some sort of removable panel on the timing cover so that I won't need to pull the crank pulley if I want to adjust this.

What a fantastic topic! The work you do is very inspirational for me