Rusted Out 1970 850 Spider Fix-Up

Is plating expensive? Downright cheap compared to a paint job, and look at the difference! Just a sneak preview.

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Daniel Gibson said:
Timing chain back on, engine all back together, and it is still not running. Timing checks out, spark looks good, so that leads me to the next likely culprit…the DIC! If I pour gas in it, it is trying to run, so it is time to see if it is all clogged up. Taking the top off leads me to believe that this is indeed the case. It will run…sooner or later.
Onto better news.. the chrome is back, and man does it look nice and shiny. Didn’t have time to do much with it today, but I did put the gas cap back on. Not a very good “before” pic, but you get the idea.
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Oh, and if anyone ever asks you, taking out and pressure washing jeep carpets is not as much fun as it promises to be.
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Can I ask who did your plating? The car looks great btw.
 
I hope everyone else got to drive top down on such a beautiful fall day!
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And yes I know I am a white haired old man…in some respects! And yes the drivers side idle jet clogged on the way home. And yes it is being a pain to start when warm. But man, I was zooming when going! :)
 
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I don’t know about y’all’s cars, but my fiat’s doors need some “assistance” when closing. May have something to do with it basically being rotted in half at one point. The factory armrests on mine make terrible door pulls, as they are cracked and pretty flimsy. This is not an issue when the windows are down, but in wintertime….
Anyway, I ordered up a set of these door pulls. British looking, but they will work nicely. I will have to drill and cage up some nuts to keep them super secure for maximum yankage.
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Yet another custom touch to the finest fiat 850 on my driveway!
 
Daniel, if you haven't tried a nut riveter, that could be a good option for those handles. I bought one this past year and wonder how I never knew of it before. There are SO many snapped off studs I could have repaired with a rivet nut instead on my vehicle repairs in the past.

This is the one I bought:

I bought a set of stainless metric rivet nuts to use with it, as well.

One of the first repairs where I used it was to replace the license plate mounting nuts on my son's '01 Jetta, and then I added them in place of the flimsy rear plate mount on my daughter's '06 Mini.
 
Daniel Gibson said:
I don’t know about y’all’s cars, but my fiat’s doors need some “assistance” when closing. May have something to do with it basically being rotted in half at one point. The factory armrests on mine make terrible door pulls, as they are cracked and pretty flimsy. This is not an issue when the windows are down, but in wintertime….
Anyway, I ordered up a set of these door pulls. British looking, but they will work nicely. I will have to drill and cage up some nuts to keep them super secure for maximum yankage.
View attachment 55479
Yet another custom touch to the finest fiat 850 on my driveway!
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Close to what Alfa used.
 
khnitz said:
Daniel, if you haven't tried a nut riveter, that could be a good option for those handles. I bought one this past year and wonder how I never knew of it before. There are SO many snapped off studs I could have repaired with a rivet nut instead on my vehicle repairs in the past.

This is the one I bought:

I bought a set of stainless metric rivet nuts to use with it, as well.

One of the first repairs where I used it was to replace the license plate mounting nuts on my son's '01 Jetta, and then I added them in place of the flimsy rear plate mount on my daughter's '06 Mini.
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That is seriously awesome. Think I could river nut into the door sheet metal, and have these hold during times to slamming?
 
So in an effort to resolve the endemic idle jet clogging issue (which 3 in-line filters, and a cleaned and sealed gas tank have not resolved), I ordered up some .055 and .070 jets to replace the stock .041 (or .042) jets. The .070 jets were just too much, and it just choked up at idle. The .055 jets make the car idle very nice…but are they big enough to let micro chunks pass? We will find out. Took it for a couple of drives today, and it did not croak!
I also took measures to ensure no more washers falling down the carb. This was a trial fit.
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Do you have a transparent fine filter between the fuel pump and the carb? If yes, is it clean? That could rule out things upstream like the pump and tank. I've followed your thread since the beginning but I forgot how deep into the carb you got. Any chance there was some crud that was in some deep inaccessible corner that is finally starting to dissolve in fresh gasoline and making its way to the jets? I had that happen with what I thought was a clean gas tank. It ran fine for a week or so, I then left it for about a week, went to start it and nothing. Opened the engine compartment and both the pre-filter and post-filter looked like somebody took a dump in them. Fortunately, the post filter was a 12um variety so the carbs were spared.
 
dllubin said:
Do you have a transparent fine filter between the fuel pump and the carb? If yes, is it clean? That could rule out things upstream like the pump and tank. I've followed your thread since the beginning but I forgot how deep into the carb you got. Any chance there was some crud that was in some deep inaccessible corner that is finally starting to dissolve in fresh gasoline and making its way to the jets? I had that happen with what I thought was a clean gas tank. It ran fine for a week or so, I then left it for about a week, went to start it and nothing. Opened the engine compartment and both the pre-filter and post-filter looked like somebody took a dump in them. Fortunately, the post filter was a 12um variety so the carbs were spared.
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I have had that carb apart and cleaned and air compressed really more times than I can remember. Except for some large chunks of crap, the filters are remarkably clean. When you think about it…041 is a mighty small opening. Guess they did that for emissions? It is possible that crud is still dissolving in the tank, but if it is getting past all the filters, how big can it be? Big enough to clog micro jet for sure!
 
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