The long march begins for the 78

Bob Even swept the garage floor

Black-Tooth said:
of what I love about this site, these cars, and the great people associated with them!

Jim... ya gotta tell me how ya got Bob to actually do some work though...

All he does when he comes to L.A. is eat all my food and drink all my beer. Then he wants to P-A-R-T-Y! (p.s. Don't tell Carol!)
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Bob is wicked good with a broom Tony. He insisted on sweeping the garage for me. ;)

We did get Bob some delicious frozen custard on Monday, but maybe I better get some beer for tonight. Mmmmm... beer.
 
FI schtuffs

bbrown said:
All went together without incident. Looks more like a car now, right Jim? Maybe we can get part of the FI system sorted out tonight...
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It definitely looks more like a car at this point. I hate to put you to work again, but I suppose we can take a look a laying out some of the FI stuff. Maybe you can show me how to remove the gauge cluster? I need to replace the speedo cable while I have the gas pedal removed.

Thanks again. :woot:
 
Swept the garage floor

Well, I didn't want to get my shirt dirty. :angel:
Mmmm... Ice cream.....
 
Electrifying

Bob has the electrifying personality that get the genes moving. Nice setup :woot::woot::dance::dance::angel::angel::nod::nod:
 
Mr. Wizard wires my car

Bob swung by again today when he got off work. He wired the electronic ignition box to the existing wires in my previously "carb/points ignition" 78. He also helped me figure out where to find most of the wires needed to connect to the power side of the double relay.

After that he showed me how to pull the cluster so that I can replace the speedo cable. That task was pretty easy once Bob walked me through it.

I will get to work getting the coolant plumbing, exhaust, intake, fuel pump, etc mounted.

Thanks for all the hard work Bob! :woot:
 
Any time Jim,

It's always more fun working on someone else's stuff. :)

Now get to work! :laugh:
 
I always enjoy spending someone else's money too!

HAHAHAHA!

Great stuff you guys!

And Jim... be sure to have someone video the first time you light this thing off!
 
Installing FI specific accessory mounts

I have been working my way thru figuring out how to mount the AFM bracket. Fiat actually did a pretty good job of making these FI accessory mounts fit where old carb'd car components used to be.

An example is this AFM bracket. It fits where the carb cooling fan used to live. The problem is that the studs that held the fan are too short. Each mounting hole on the AFM bracket has a thick rubber vibration isolator and a metal sleeve in it. The isolator and sleeve were too thick to allow a washer, lock washer and M6 nut to be placed on the old stud.

Here is my solution: M6 "Tee nuts". I believe these are designed to be used in wood. They have a threaded sleeve, a large flat base and 4 "spikes" to keep them from spinning once installed into wood.
IM003094.JPG

I flexed the spikes until the metal fatigued enough to allow the spike to snap off. Now I could flip the nut over and thread it down onto the stud:
IM003093.JPG

Seem to work well and the long threaded sleeve serves the same function as the metal sleeve I removed. Now I will do the same for that lower stud on the bracket. :)
IM003092.JPG

I got these Tee nuts at Home Depot. HD has a very slim selection of metric parts and I had to hit two HD stores to get what I needed. I was just damn happy to find a solution locally.
 
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Bob and Gregory

Thanks guys. I have made some more progress since Bob was here. I put in the thermostat housing and switched the carb gas tank strap for the FI tank strap that has the mounting boss for the tank shield on it.

I also put in the alternator and got the belt on that spans the alt, water pump and crank pulleys. I found that if you take the curved and slotted top alt mount off the block you gain about a 1/4" travel for the alt body, which adds some much needed slack to the belt. I got it almost all the way on and then walked the belt the rest of the way by turning the crank with a wrench.

I did stare at the wiring some as well.
 
JimD said:
I got these Tee nuts at Home Depot. HD has a very slim selection of metric parts and I had to hit two HD stores to get what I needed. I was just damn happy to find a solution locally.
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When are you guys going to make your lives easier and switch to metric anyway? ;-)
 
Keep your X out of storage

Better yet, send it down to the balmy south for the winter. I will see that it is well cared for and driven on a regular basis.
Allen
 
Another storage tip.....

Albert is right about the carpeting. Also, inflate your tires to about 45PSI to avoid any flat spots that can occur during a prolonged storage period.
Or.......send it south.
Allen
 
I sold the 86 Allen

Hi Allen,

I sold the 86 to another Xweb member (tim5055) last July. So no more storage problems with that car. :)
 
intake and exhaust today

I am making steady progress on the 78. Today my neighbor helped me get the Vick's header and Midwest-Bayless refurbished FI intake onto the block.

IM003095.JPG

Fitting the intake is a pretty fidgety job. We could not get it lined up at first and we had to back it off a number of times. Naturally, we have no idea how we got it to slip on when it finally got itself seated, but we accepted this gift from the automotive gods without questioning it.

IM003096.JPG

Biggest issues are that the lead at the end oxygen sensor rubs on the frame (just noticed I didn't get that in the picture :() and the header is barely touching the center cross member.

IM003097.JPG

I plan to put the car down on the ground and see if anything changes. If not, I will grind the corner off the cross member. If the oxygen sensor is still touching, I guess I will need to look for a shorter sensor?
 
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