1976 Fiat 128 engine number not matching

Mutyuli

Mutyuli

New Member
I purchased this 1976 Fiat 128 Custom 4 door sedan for renovation from Washington state, and so far I am full of surprises. The engine is not the factory original, although the marking on the back of the block below the coolant drain says: 128 A.1 FIAT. That is the 1,300 cc Fiat engine type.
The timing belt cover seems like missing some part - see photo.
There is a part above each spark plug that I have no idea what are they - see attached photo. Looks like they are decommissioned by kinking the copper pipes on it.
Anybody has any idea what kind of engine is this and came from what Fiat car model?
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I don't recall any SOHC USA car having an engine like that, but what you are seeing is an engine that was equipped with an air injection pump for emissions control. This was universal on several DOHC Fiat models in the USA. So the crimped fitting is for air, not coolant, these can be replaced by an allen-head grub screw that looks better. If it's a 12mm (hard to tell from the photo) you can buy these from AutoRicambi.us or you can also cut off old wheel lugs. The timing cover looks weird because there was an air pump there. On the twincam, owners often just slice off the excess.
 
It’s missing the air pump and the air injection ports were kinked to block them off. Not the most elegant solution. I plugged mine with Allen head threaded plugs.
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Looks like an early car with a late engine. This looks like a @75 motor which had EGR using an air pump. The now bent over tubing is the way the air was forced into the exhaust passage in the head from the air pump, they used to be part of a simple piped manifold with a vacuum driven valve which opened to inject the air. You can see other emissions related stuff such as the water temperature driven vacuum valve to the right on your pic.

The single barrel carb is an odd one, my recollection which could be faulty is it should have been a two barrel progressive carb. An 1100 might have had a single barrel but its outside my knowledge area. The carb is certainly not what came on this engine.
 
Regarding the question about what engine you have, I haven't seen that carburetor on any 1300 engine. Perhaps you have a combination of 1100 and 1300 parts under the hood.

I'm not so familiar with the 1100 to know if the block was marked 128A, or if the 1100 head might have had the air pump fittings. My guess right now is that you have a 1300 engine with an 1100 carb.

If you look at the rear of the cylinder head, near the distributor, you can find the model number of the head. That will help us answer your questions.

Edit: I see Karl replied while I was fiddling with this tiny phone keyboard.
 
You can plug the air injection ports with M12x1.25 set screws. I knew someone who used lug bolts which gave it a rather unusual look.
 
On my 124 spiders I would take four wheel bolts, cut the head and about half the shank off and then Dremel a screw driver slot in the top to make a plug for those ports. That was pre internet and no one was selling nice allen grub screws back then.

You should be able to source a non-air pump timing belt cover that won't have that big area where the pump was.
 
If you find the STAMPED in engine number (with it's prefix / suffix) the top line of that number will tell you which model / year (more or less) that the engine actually came from, but so far you're correct that it's a 1300. The STAMPED in engine number is found on the transmission end of the block, in an area below and rearwards of the thermostat housing. It's going to read maybe 128AS.040 if it's originally from an X19, or maybe 128AC1.040 if it was from a 128 coupe.

1300 engine is definitely an upgrade from an 1100.

SteveC
 
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