New 1500 build + new 5 speed install

No start root cause: 3.7 volts at the + pole of the coil / ICM. Tracing fault upstream: ignition switch receiving 12.5v from battery, and sending same to ignition switch out to pink and blue black wires out after the connector. Observed both of those wires hot to touch while testing. That connector is super burnt, already have improved the PO’s old Brown wife mod bypassing the connector there. Will verify the pink/ blue black connector is the fault and if so bypass with new spades or ring terminals.
 
Fault identified. Spade connection between light blue / black wire from ignition switch to light blue & pink wires now resolved. 12.3 V to coil and ICM. Also cleaned and secured the red wire spade connection to starter solenoid. Rear wheels and hub nuts torqued. Topped off transaxle with MTL. Re-checked ignition timing. Pulled #1 spark plug. Smelled like fuel. Should have spark fuel and air now. First heat cycle ETA tomorrow.
 
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Fired the new motor! Started nearly instantly. Carbs spit sometimes, ran it up to over 2000 revs. It stalled once, was able to re-start. Issues: oil pressure lamp illuminated at lower revs (maybe I am missing another galley plug?) And it didn’t want to come off higher revs with no throttle. Keep in mind I did nothing to the DCNFs bolted them on as is from prior owner. At times it would idle fairly well. I had the rad cap off to get the air out of he system and heated the engine up enough to push water out of the reservoir so the temp was 3/4 up toward the red. Wanted a full heat cycle so I can retorque when cold tomorrow and start to tune. Sorry folks video file not allowed to attach.
 
Congrats! Do you have a mechanical oil pressure gauge you can put in place while learning what is going on? A new engine shouldn’t have low pressure. I would look for data before spending more engine run time.
 
kmead said:
Congrats! Do you have a mechanical oil pressure gauge you can put in place while learning what is going on? A new engine shouldn’t have low pressure. I would look for data before spending more engine run time.
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I do not have a mechanical oil pressure gauge at the ready. I do have at least one spare oil pressure lamp sensor. Thanks Karl!
 
kmead said:
You will want to paint that, it will likely rust unduly after having been heated. Nicely done.

Watch for stress cracks, especially in the threaded section as the threads are stress risers.
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More closely inspected the linkage last night under bright light. The linkage at full throttle closed position was colliding with the top corner of the cam tower box cover, interfering and preventing clean butterfly closure. Also, when I popped off the linkage at the carb end, its natural position due to that interference was 1/2" above the carb ball, indicating I needed to bend the linkage rod again. Hit with the torch and pliers, and promptly broke the rod at the threaded end! You were totally correct about the threads being stress risers, suspect you have an engineering / physics background. Ordered a new linkage from Pierce, but meanwhile will repair the original so I can continue tuning. Hoping the behavior yesterday where the idle would not consistently drop was due to the interference.

On the oil pressure lamp issue, I went to swap the existing pressure switch and discovered I had not fully torqued the switch. Changed it out anyway for the switch that came out of the car with the good running engine I just pulled. Topped oil and coolant.
 
Head re-torqued to 69 ft lbs stone cold. Interesting to note the far ends of he head were less secure than the middle head bolts.

Cleaned the idle jets and blew compressed air through the idle circuits. Second heat cycle: started right up, newly slackened throttle linkage allowed for too low idle (good) bumped it up so it would run. Oil pressure lamp off (good). Upon warmup engine temp super stable. Ran idle mixture screws in and out for each port, apparent normal reaction, though the #1 cylinder screw seized so hit that with PB Blaster and will wait on it.

Ready with the timing light - then checking for leaks observe yet another oil leak. Certain now the second oil galley plug must not be present behind the flywheel, so lesson learned the transaxle and flywheel will need to come off.

The upside is in the end those plugs will be secure. Looking forward to timing and driving.
 
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Hey Jim, can you tell us more about this oil galley plug? Behind the flywheel? With this missing does it mean your oil pressure is affected? Leaking?
 
CnC79X19 said:
Hey Jim, can you tell us more about this oil galley plug? Behind the flywheel? With this missing does it mean your oil pressure is affected? Leaking?
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Sure. See referenced post below from SteveC. Behind the flywheel to the left. Symptoms/observations leading me to believe the plug is not present (1) another oil galley plug was missing, the one below the auxiliary drive to the right of the crank pulley. This one caused a major oil leak and the low oil pressure light to illuminate below 2k revs (2) the galley plug behind the flywheel, to the left of the crank end, is the likely culprit to the current leak emitting at the bottom of the bellhousing / crossmember area. There's no obvious leak anywhere above that location. The amount of oil leaking in the time it took to run the motor to operating temp while I was adjusting DCNF's amounted to a puddle the size of a dinner plate, a bit less than the first galley plug leak produced. So I saw no alternative to dropping the transaxle, and fortunately I have one more oil galley plug in stock from my machinist.

Question for you all: Are there more than two 13mm oil galley plugs, and if so, what are the locations other and those proximal to the aux drive / flywheel? I've looked at factory manuals and Haynes and did not find documentation, and searched the Forum here. I also inspected the running long block that came out of the car and could not identify more oil galley plugs. Thanks in advance.

The positive benefits of dropping the transaxle as much labor as it is are: (1) securing the flywheel galley plug and knowing it will be correct (2) having a precise scribed location of where to BFH relieve the frame rail to clear the five speed end of the transaxle - hard to know exactly where that is without fitting the transaxle. Now I can well hammer drift that section clear. (3) fitting a new flex line to the clutch slave, which I had deferred, and (4) cleaning the frame-end of the braided copper ground strap. It was a actually a pleasure yesterday removing the peripheral connections to the transaxle, axles, and starter over a freshly cleaned garage floor. Since the drivetrain had just been re-freshed, everything is clean and easy to disassemble. I've already loosened the bellhousing bolts; today / tomorrow, it will be crossmember off, transaxle, clutch and flywheel off.

Oil leak again

I had a fairly large oil leak in the rear of the engine so that after a run I would have a 6 inch across puddle centered around the forward corner of the oil pan nearest the fuel tank where the oilpan tucks under the crossmember. So I replaced the oilpan gasket with the thicker composite type...
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Agnelli said:
Sure. See referenced post below from SteveC. Behind the flywheel to the left. Symptoms/observations leading me to believe the plug is not present (1) another oil galley plug was missing, the one below the auxiliary drive to the right of the crank pulley. This one caused a major oil leak and the low oil pressure light to illuminate below 2k revs (2) the galley plug behind the flywheel, to the left of the crank end, is the likely culprit to the current leak emitting at the bottom of the bellhousing / crossmember area. There's no obvious leak anywhere above that location. The amount of oil leaking in the time it took to run the motor to operating temp while I was adjusting DCNF's amounted to a puddle the size of a dinner plate, a bit less than the first galley plug leak produced. So I saw no alternative to dropping the transaxle, and fortunately I have one more oil galley plug in stock from my machinist.

Question for you all: Are there more than two 13mm oil galley plugs, and if so, what are the locations other and those proximal to the aux drive / flywheel? I've looked at factory manuals and Haynes and did not find documentation, and searched the Forum here. I also inspected the running long block that came out of the car and could not identify more oil galley plugs. Thanks in advance.

The positive benefits of dropping the transaxle as much labor as it is are: (1) securing the flywheel galley plug and knowing it will be correct (2) having a precise scribed location of where to BFH relieve the frame rail to clear the five speed end of the transaxle - hard to know exactly where that is without fitting the transaxle. Now I can well hammer drift that section clear. (3) fitting a new flex line to the clutch slave, which I had deferred, and (4) cleaning the frame-end of the braided copper ground strap. It was a actually a pleasure yesterday removing the peripheral connections to the transaxle, axles, and starter over a freshly cleaned garage floor. Since the drivetrain had just been re-freshed, everything is clean and easy to disassemble. I've already loosened the bellhousing bolts; today / tomorrow, it will be crossmember off, transaxle, clutch and flywheel off.

Oil leak again

I had a fairly large oil leak in the rear of the engine so that after a run I would have a 6 inch across puddle centered around the forward corner of the oil pan nearest the fuel tank where the oilpan tucks under the crossmember. So I replaced the oilpan gasket with the thicker composite type...
xwebforums.com
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Thanks Jim
 
Results from today's wrenching session: Transaxle, clutch, flywheel uninstalled. First observation: oil galley plug on the rear of the motor factory installed, intact, based on the four peening marks. It did not appear to the the source of the leak(s). I left it as is. Upon close inspection of the area of the engine, appears the culprit was the rear crank seal carrier. Was able to significantly tighten all its fasteners. It's possible the heat cycling settled it in relation to the oil pan, which I had installed before the seal carrier due to gaskets in stock at the time and wanting to protect the mains from airborne dirt. Checked the water jacket plate while there, it's fine. Sheet metal, flywheel and clutch (aligned) are re-installed.

I can see the value of being able to spin the oil pump without a starter in place. It would have been good to pressurize the lubrication system and watch for leaks. Hopeful I won't have to drop the transaxle again. It'll be interesting to see if I can wiggle the transaxle up past the A arm and mate it to the block, it was a bit gymnastics to get it out of there.
 
I used a cordless drill with a socket on the auxiliary shaft to pressurize the lubrication system for a leak check before first start. I did it on a engine run stand. Don't know if there is clearance to do it with the motor in the car - maybe with the RR wheel shield removed.
 
Swapped the flex line to the clutch slave. Relieved the frame area with a sledge. Here's where with reference points for those of you contemplating a five speed swap in to a four speed car. And, successfully with much sweat seated the transaxle. Very tight squeeze getting it in there with the A arm intact.
frame rail.jpg
 
New MWB clutch slave flex line installed replacing worn but functional old four speed line. New line shorter and perfectly so. Two new crush washers installed at banjo bolt. Took the time to tap one of the mounting points that was hard to thread and ran a die over the M8x1.25 bolt - much improved. Bled the slave and verified the actuator adjustment. Starter remounted also with an improved fastener. Improved the ground strap frame mount cleaned with bulb grease and tightened spades on reverse switch. Backup lamps have never worked hopefully will now. Bellhousing bolts torqued to 58 lbs. and crossmember mounted. Swapped original battery negative cable for a new one of larger gauge. Next need to refabricate throttle linkage and bolt in the axles.
0A744850-0C60-42D6-858F-52D94A1DFA96.jpeg
 
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Axles reinstalled. Method: soaked the OE hex fasteners in mineral spirits, then ran a wire wheel in a drill over the threads to clean remnant red loctite from the pre-oil leak install. Marked a single fastener with yellow paint pen then torqued sequentially, a lot of exercise crawling from beneath to activate and release the hand brake a dozen times. Leaned on the 3/8" ratchet with Proto bit to at least 31 ft. lbs. per with fresh red thread locker.

Next step: re-address the throttle linkage. Discovered first attempt not optimal having read this thread:

twin weber DCNF(VH) throttle linkage ideas needed...

Hey Folks, I sure would appreciate ideas and photos on creating a throttle linkage for the new twin Weber carbs I am installing on my X/19. I have a PBS manifold. The throttle rotation on the twin carbs is opposite of the stock carb. One suggestion I was given was to turn the carbs around on...
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Will iteratively improve as I tune the carbs. Another throttle linkage rod on way, this time a Redline product with swivel ends

www.ebay.com

Weber Carb Universal adjustable Throttle Linkage Rod - 7"- swivel ends 1/2" adj | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Weber Carb Universal adjustable Throttle Linkage Rod - 7"- swivel ends 1/2" adj at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

And a linkage arm

www.ebay.com

GENUINE WEBER DCOE THROTTLE LINKAGE ARM FOR DOWN ROD - FREE SHIP! | eBay

AN EXCELLENT QUALITY WEBER PART FOR YOUR DCOE LINKAGE! The best way to fix it is to buy the good linkages and linkage components which is why we stick with real Weber parts. The third picture shows this lever on a dual set-up.
www.ebay.com

Idea is to get the geometry right per the forum thread referenced above, for a smooth linear pull from the pedal. Have done much reading also on 2x DCNF tuning
 
Improving the throttle - disassembled the spring pivot mechanism on the cam tower cover and attempted to mount the throttle linkage arm (source, eBay vendor Bughaus, no affiliation) Good news, the mounting section of the linkage arm does fit the 8mm Fiat shaft, and allows for a straight throttle rod to the DCNFs. Bad news, the heel of the arm collides with the cam tower cover, because nothing is ever as simple as it seems. Measured the thickness of a spare cover, marked the in situ cover and broke out the Dremel. Carved a divot in the cover, and shaved the heel of the arm. Voila, it fits. The linkage shaft is now a hybrid with Pierce ball ends and a hexagonal Redline shaft. Some day I'll get around to mounting the really nice Redline swivel ends.

In the nothing is ever as simple as it seems category, upon heat cycle #3 discovered the back end of the engine from somewhere above the corner of the oil pan (closest to the driver front of the car) is still leaking after fire up. Pulled off the crossmember and tried to re-torque the fasteners in vain, no improvement.

Trying to see if there's a way to spin the aux shaft with the engine in place to allow oil pressure once the starter and transaxle are back off, to absolutely identify if it's the rear crank seal or seal carrier or galley plug as the source. I really don't want to have to remove the transaxle a third time if I fail the next attempt. Already ordered a new OE rear seal carrier, gaskets, premium silicone crank seal, and premium fiber oil pan gasket in case I eff the pan gasket when removing the seal carrier.

Meanwhile though, the motor fires right up and I am figuring out how to tune the DCNF's. Throttle linkages are totally fiddly!
arm.JPG
divot.JPG
 

When a favour turns into a mistake! (2x dcnf issues)

I had my car in to a clients shop (they do fleet service and such) and had them set the timing and check the carbs for me. What a mistake that was. Timing seems fine but the carbs are just hosed now! What i mean by that is it idles way to high, sputters and spits fuel back throught the air...
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Followed ChrisO's advice and bought the early (printed in 1974) 124 Coupe Haynes manual explicitly for the dual carb tuning section. Agree it's excellent. Will report back.
 
Transaxle, clutch & flywheel now un-installed. Closely inspected rear crank seal carrier and seal - it appears the root cause leak is the oil galley plug. Drilled a 1/8" hole in the plug, employed a slide hammer and screw to remove the plug. Appears that the factory used a tool to stake the plug in place - gently used a dremel to relieve the edges from the staking tooling to enable removal of the plug. New plug installed with a bit of blue Hylomar.
 
Tacked the transaxle and starter back in place (not fully torqued, left off everything not required to fire the engine and test the leak solution in case of failure). The good news is it fired on first clicked an settled right in to a nice idle. Not so great, still an oil leak though I speculate the oil galley plug issue was part of the problem. Since the transaxle has been on and off now twice, I really don't want to have to do that more than a third time. Thus motivating making the effort to be able to test the next attempt with the engine in place an no transaxle to avoid having to install / uninstall it and the clutch and flywheel to access the rear crank seal cover and oil pan. Plan now is to take those off once again. This time, spin up the oil pump to get as much information about the remaining leak as possible.

Located the original Ducelllier made in France points distributor to harvest the section needed to drive the oil pump (will remove the aux gear drive in situ, this way can leave the timing belt installed). This is all described in an old post. I have a 90 degree drill. Managed to fully disassemble the Ducellier, a beautiful casting, with no carnage.

Oil pump priming

What is a good method for priming the oil pump / circulating oil throughout the engine (e.g. prior to the first start-up on a SOHC engine that has sat for many years)? The ignition distributor cannot be spun due to the interface with the intermediate shaft. Perhaps remove the timing belt and...
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Duc.jpg
 
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I used a drill with a socket adapter on the auxiliary shaft nut to generate oil pressure when the engine was out. I haven't checked to see if that would work with the engine in but perhaps with the right engine shield removed it might have a chance. Your right angle drill would make it interesting.
 
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