New Fiat Owner in Colorado

[CentFiat]

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,
My name is Richie and I am in Colorado. I just bought a 1977 Spider and I pumped about it. It isn’t in the worst of condition but I for sure have my work cut out. With the fear of gas sky rocketing again, I have turned my focus to the little 4-cylinder engine with hopes of saving more money. The problem is, the car is becoming my money pit Since you people probably have the most knowledge of these cars I am anxiously awaiting to hear some solutions to my problems. To cut to the chase here is my question:
I bought the car about a week ago and when I did it ran great. Started up every time and drove like a car made in 1977. The car sat in my garage for a week as I replaced the rear brake pads. I also changed the oil, the air filter and proceeded to check the spark plugs. In checking the spark plugs, I broke one of the wires and therefore decided to change all the wires (one at a time). When all is said and done, I went to start my car and it has the hardest time staying started. I have good spark coming from the coil and at the spark plug. The crazy thing is, if I floor the gas pedal while starting it, it starts and stays started as long as I keep the pedal pushed down. The engine barley chugs (rpm’s are low and constant) as the pedal is pushed down but it does stay started. As soon as I let up on the gas it dies. I am not sure if there is a problem with the brand new wires I put on or if there could be a problem with the coil. I really have no idea where else to look.
Thanks and I hope someone has some great insight as to what is going on with my new adventure.

Richie

[So Cal Mark]

check the point gap and are you sure none of the plug wires are crossed? BTW, welcome to the site and Spider ownership

[htchevyii]

Congrat's on the new car. They are alot of fun, but sometimes it takes a litle time to correct the repairs done by D.P.O's. If the wires are on correctly, maybe it's just a coincidence and it's something else? Did you have the cap off or anything? Here's a link with some good info wiring diaghrams etc.
http://www.artigue.com/fiat/index.html

[SpiderHead]

If everything occurred just as you described, you almost certainly:

a) have the firing order incorrect.. it should fire 1,3,4,2.

or

b) have faulty wires.

probably not the wires, so check the firing order. You must have half of them firing at the top of the compression stroke, or it wouldn't even run poorly with the throttle all the way down.

So label the wires with masking tape and a sharpie, see what order you have them firing in, label the positions on the distributor cap, and make the adjustments.

Easy mistake to make, and an easy one to fix.

-Ryan

[mbouse]

agreed! check with the last thing you tinkered with to find the resolution to the new issues first.

crossed wires is likely, and very easy to have done.

welcome to the site! Pictures soon?

[rlux4]

Welcome to the forum Richie, and welcome to Fiat ownership. It's pretty common to have some snafus when you first start to work on these. The funny thing is, after you've worked on them for a little while you ask yourself, what was so hard. If it is a problem of having your wires crossed, don't feel too bad, I spend most of my life with my wires crossed!
Good luck, let us know how it's coming.
Ron

[TulsaSpider]

Welcome to the site! Make sure you didn't disconnect any vacuum lines too. There's lotsa little bugaboos it seems when you are getting her back in shape, but once you do you'll love it! Be sure to change the timing belt ASAP if you don't know the last time it was changed and inspect the guibo, or large rubber donut behind the tranny for cracks, chunks missing and wear. Failure of either is bad news!

[CentFiat]

Thanks for all the replys. After a couple of days of heavy thinking, the car is up and running again. I knew I didn't have any of the wires crossed and that the problem was not around here. The sympons really seemed like something was going on with the carb. I came home from work and decided to try starting the car with the air filter cover off. Low and behold the car started right up and idled fine. Perhaps my logic was incorrect, but I was thinking perhaps too much fuel is being fed into the carb with too little of air. The spark plugs had the condition of running rich so maybe... I put back on the old air filter and sealed it up and the car still ran great. Perhaps the pressure drop across the new filter was just to great or something. But i did try running it with the new filter again and the car ran fine. Crazy!

I hope all is well and thanks again.

Richie

[mbouse]

successes come from all over. glad you got your first one!!