What goes there?

sbortoloni

sbortoloni

1980 X 1/9
In the engine compartment on the left hand side there is a small pedestal on the fire wall with two threaded stand offs. I have a green and red wire, about 20 ga in size, just hanging there. Anyone have any idea what is supposed to go there?
 
Yep!

Early carbed models had a thermostatically controlled fan that mounted there for cooling the carb.

Late F.I. cars instead have the AFM bracket mounted there and the fan (now for the injectors) mounted in the left rear fender of the rear trunk.

The logical followup question is do you need it? The answer is yes, depending on what temps you drive in, and other personalities like Tony Natoli who will say he's never needed his in the last 20 years of driving in SoCal. The real question is, would the Fiat factory have installed it if it wasn't needed?
 
Granted I've only owned my X one summer (about 2,000 on it though) but I've never heard any fans run, engine, injector, nothing, some'n's broke but so far not needed I guess.
 
I think FIAT and AAA stuck a deal back then...

... whereas FIAT installed the fan to run down the battery and AAA would then come out and jump start the car. Kept everyone in business!

Do that two or three days in a row and you'd tear it out by its roots too!

HA!
 
Well, different folks have different experiences

Depending on the ambient temperature, you may or may not hear the cooling fan operate. On hot summer days though, you will need to come back to your X about 10 to 15 minutes after a hot run to hear it kick on. Whereupon it runs for maybe 10 minutes, max, and then shuts off. You can go for years without ever being near the car in that time interval, and as far as you know, it does not work.
It has been reported that some of the folks in Iraq have taken to retrofitting some sort of cooling fan on Army vehicles to do just the same thing in that excessively hot environment. The concept is mostly to reduce the boiling and vaporizing of fuel in the intake/carb. Whether you need it or not just depends apparently!
In any case, here is what it looks like
mounted.jpg
 
thx guys. Awesome to have such support. Unfortunately i will not hear it run seeing its not there. I think the previous owner disconnected things as they broke.
 
Lookin' GOOD Larry...

BTW... that's an electric fuel pump also that I see???

Is that reservoir one that Obert sold or what? I thought his was more angular...
 
Tony, thanks, yes, and yes.

That's my second electric pump in 30 years. Just replaced the old Facet with a modern one. Running it through a pressure regulator set at 3.5 lbs and calibrated via a fuel pressure gauge.
The tank is indeed Obert's reproduction. I got tired of replacing split plastic ones and decided the peace of mind was worth it. Now I know that at least the dog gone expansion tank will not be the show stopper!
 
Second pump in 30 years... Did ya...

... return it as defective?

HA!

I replaced my mechanical pump about 8 years ago with another I bought from Bruce's Parts Bin... 'cause he had it ON SALE for $5.00. I installed it as a stop-gap measure as the other one was still OK and working... but GEEZ... it was 23 years old or so!

I think it goes to show ya if ya DRIVE these cars a lot they do indeed keep on running for ya. Its leaving them to lie around an rot that kills them.

I STILL have the old one wrapped in plastic as a "good spare" in my on-board toolbox... but I may be dreaming here that it is still any good.

As for the tank... I had a great SS tank that Bob Brown sold me and I procrastinated about installing it... until I finally sold it to Andrew Leahy (wrxdrew) 'cause he wanted/needed one badly.

I don't think it was a month later when my plastic one let go!

HA! Now it was me scrambling around my junkyard looking for another... I may haveta get one from Obert if he still has any but they are way too much BILLET and BLING for me. Might haveta spray it Satin Black!
 
It'll be knackered, Tony..............!

Black-Tooth said:
... I STILL have the old one wrapped in plastic as a "good spare" in my on-board toolbox... but I may be dreaming here that it is still any good.
Click to expand...

........no use holdin' onto it any longer! Just pack it into a cardboard carton, put it into the post care of my attention, and I'll check it out thoroughly for ya!
No charge for ol' friends, mate! :thumbsup:

cheers, Ian - NZ
 
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