Hello All,
I've owned my 68 850 Spider since 1994. It was my first car I purchased back in High School. I learned a lot working on it through college since it was always breaking down. After college I stored it for about 18 years. I finally was able to dedicate some time to working on it after moving back to the US and I have managed to replace pretty much all the suspension, brakes, rebuilt the carburetor (3 times), replaced the radiator, water pump, generator, plug wires, plugs, installed an electronic ignition and amazingly got it running & "driving" after sitting for that long. I had replaced the rings and had the head redone back around 1998 or so. I have taken it out around the neighborhood and it has absolutely no power or torque. Seems to just sputter and misfire even though the timing is clicking along at 825-870 rpm. I have checked the compression and have between 110-120 psi in all four cylinders and I have reached a point that anything more would most likely require purchasing equipment and tools would be cost prohibitive (wife would kill me) vs just finding a mechanic/garage to take it that actually knows what they are doing. It also has quite a few electrical gremlins, some of which I fixed 20 years ago, although looking at them now I really have no clue how I managed it.
My next step was to switch back to the points distributor to see if anything improved. With the electronic ignition the tach doesn't seem to work right (it's all over the place)and the red stall light (or whatever the light is for) on the tach stays on. Just wondering if anyone has any advice as to what could be causing the loss of any power. The clutch does not seem to be slipping, it has been in there for almost 20 years, but it hasn't covered very many miles. I'm wondering if it could be something with the carb, setting the float always seemed to be a hassle to get the distance it hangs off the top cover and quite frankly I don't know if I'm doing it correctly. It rev's fine, but the first time I rebuilt it every time I would rev it, it would lag and backfire back up through the carb. I rebuilt it a second time and that seemed to correct it, but it still backfires every once and a while.
If anyone knows any reputable mechanics around Missouri (I'm pretty much smack dab in the middle) they could recommend I would sure appreciate it! I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel, but it's close.
I've owned my 68 850 Spider since 1994. It was my first car I purchased back in High School. I learned a lot working on it through college since it was always breaking down. After college I stored it for about 18 years. I finally was able to dedicate some time to working on it after moving back to the US and I have managed to replace pretty much all the suspension, brakes, rebuilt the carburetor (3 times), replaced the radiator, water pump, generator, plug wires, plugs, installed an electronic ignition and amazingly got it running & "driving" after sitting for that long. I had replaced the rings and had the head redone back around 1998 or so. I have taken it out around the neighborhood and it has absolutely no power or torque. Seems to just sputter and misfire even though the timing is clicking along at 825-870 rpm. I have checked the compression and have between 110-120 psi in all four cylinders and I have reached a point that anything more would most likely require purchasing equipment and tools would be cost prohibitive (wife would kill me) vs just finding a mechanic/garage to take it that actually knows what they are doing. It also has quite a few electrical gremlins, some of which I fixed 20 years ago, although looking at them now I really have no clue how I managed it.
My next step was to switch back to the points distributor to see if anything improved. With the electronic ignition the tach doesn't seem to work right (it's all over the place)and the red stall light (or whatever the light is for) on the tach stays on. Just wondering if anyone has any advice as to what could be causing the loss of any power. The clutch does not seem to be slipping, it has been in there for almost 20 years, but it hasn't covered very many miles. I'm wondering if it could be something with the carb, setting the float always seemed to be a hassle to get the distance it hangs off the top cover and quite frankly I don't know if I'm doing it correctly. It rev's fine, but the first time I rebuilt it every time I would rev it, it would lag and backfire back up through the carb. I rebuilt it a second time and that seemed to correct it, but it still backfires every once and a while.
If anyone knows any reputable mechanics around Missouri (I'm pretty much smack dab in the middle) they could recommend I would sure appreciate it! I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel, but it's close.
