Fiat 124 Spider, a project car with an accent

[MrH]

Dump it and move on.  That's what I'd say.  Lesson learned, put money towards 944 instead.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Solution: strip it out, race car! Srsly, unless you're ready to do a restoration, may as well have some fun with it. What are you going to do, lower the resale value? Neh.

[Secret Chimp]

What if the whining is a thrust bearing or something expensive? FUN!

[hotrodalex]

What if the whining is a thrust bearing or something expensive? FUN!

Or a mouse colony stuck in the crankcase.

[Rupert]

Too loud for mice. Rats!

I don't know. Both arguments are compelling. I wish I didn't have a job and another $3000 to spend on this car.

Best case, gut the interior, but still have to address the rusty interior structural bits, who cares about the electrics, pull off the muffler, but still have to weld the exhaust, and then there's whatever is happening with the engine whine and leaks. And then I'd have to upgrade the suspension and brakes.

I bet the whine is just the timing belt being new and tight.

[Secret Chimp]

Too loud for mice. Rats!

I don't know. Both arguments are compelling. I wish I didn't have a job and another $3000 to spend on this car.

Best case, gut the interior, but still have to address the rusty interior structural bits, who cares about the electrics, pull off the muffler, but still have to weld the exhaust, and then there's whatever is happening with the engine whine and leaks. And then I'd have to upgrade the suspension and brakes.

I bet the whine is just the timing belt being new and tight.

Have you checked the tensioner? If it has one. It shouldn't make noise.

[Rupert]

I replaced the tensioner, and it sets tension automatically.

[Secret Chimp]

Shit is fucked

[Rupert]

Fucked is indeed what shit is.

[Secret Chimp]

How about you purposefully blow this engine up and buy a Miata drivetrain :s

[Rupert]

How about I just buy a Miata.

[hotrodalex]

Rotary Fiat!

[Rupert]

Good Jesus, no.

I don't think I would want to put another engine in. I think the engine is one of the cool parts of the car.

[Rupert]

Well, not this engine or this car necessarily, but the Fiat DOHC four in the 124 Spider in general.

[hotrodalex]

Well, not this engine or this car necessarily, but the Fiat DOHC four in the 124 Spider in general.

[Rupert]

The manuals I have and the Fiat forum say that you aren't supposed to retension the timing belt; once it's tensioned, it's tensioned. Something about making it weaker and risking breaking it. The 944, on the other hand, requires a couple of retensions between changes.

I think that maybe it's OK to retension the timing belt, and the Fiat manual is old and the Fiat people are full of it. Since the timing belt being too tight is what I think is causing the whine, I want to just retension the thing. Thoughts?


(Though the tensioner is automatic, I can puch it back a little and tighten the bolt to keep it there).

[Soup DeVille]

The manuals I have and the Fiat forum say that you aren't supposed to retension the timing belt; once it's tensioned, it's tensioned. Something about making it weaker and risking breaking it. The 944, on the other hand, requires a couple of retensions between changes.

I think that maybe it's OK to retension the timing belt, and the Fiat manual is old and the Fiat people are full of it. Since the timing belt being too tight is what I think is causing the whine, I want to just retension the thing. Thoughts?


(Though the tensioner is automatic, I can puch it back a little and tighten the bolt to keep it there).

Let's see, who makes the more reliable car- the Germans or the Italians??

I'll take the germans' word on it. I doubt the italian timing belt is made of some super special material that disobeys Young's Modulus.

[Rupert]

Yeah. I think maybe belts were crappier 40 years ago.

[Soup DeVille]

Yeah. I think maybe belts were crappier 40 years ago.

maybe.

[Rupert]

In particular with a new belt. Maybe a belt that had already exceeded the replacement mileage.

[Madman]

I've always heard you should never re-tighten a timing belt once the tension has been set.  Supposedly, doing so causes the belt to stretch and may lead to either the belt jumping a tooth or eventually breaking prematurely.

Maybe one of our resident techs could enlighten us?

[Eye of the Tiger]

Timing belts do not require enough tension to stretch the belt significantly.

[shp4man]

Technically you aren't supposed to retension a timing belt. In practice I haven't seen any issues. You aren't supposed to bend or fold a timing belt either.

[Rupert]

I will retension it, then.

Next weekend. :P