She runs, well almost...

[scarlson]

Why is it so hard to get a car that has been sitting for 25 years to run? The carb and ignition system are stressing me out I thought she was running good enough to take her around the block. I have been running the car in the driveway on and off for the last week as I get some of the issues worked out.

I got to the stop sign at the end of the block, started to take a right, got about twenty feet, then nothing. The spider went dead and I pushed it to the side of the road I cranked the starter for several seconds. Held the throttle wide open and tried again. Pumped the gas peddle and tried again. She was dead. I walked home and grabbed some tools. I checked the electric fuel pump. It was still working. Took the air cleaner lid off. Accelerator pump squirted fuel when throttle was opened. On to the ignition. Pulled out the multimeter. The coil had power. I decided to dig a bit deaper and pulled the distributor cap. the points looked horrible. I walked home and grabbed some emery cloth to clean them up. It still would not start.

I gave up, walked back to the house defeated. My daughter asked, Where's the car daddy? Did it break down?. I told that the car is just tired and resting right now. Anyway, I got the truck, some rope and the wife. drove down the block to tow the car back. After I untied the rope, I pulled out the timing light and connected it up so I could see if the ignition was working. I turned the key and the spider started right up but ran a little rough

I turned the idle speed from 800 up to 1000 since the idle was a little rough, then turned the idle mixture out a bit and the engine smoothed out nicely. Feeling brave, or stupid, I took off down the block the other way. I made it to the stop sign, looked to make sure it was clear, then tried to take off. The car died again just as I started to move. I cranked the started for a few seconds. Nothing. I tried several times before giving up and just pushing the car back by myself. I grabbed the timing light from the garage and reconnected it. I cranked the engine for a few seconds but there was no spark. I tried again and the spider started right up

So is my spider just afraid to leave the comfort of the driveway? Could the points or a bad condensor cause the car to die after putting the engine under a load? Bad coil?

The steering is rough. I might have a dry idler or steering box. The brake peddle drops when I hold it down.

[So Cal Mark]

since you mentioned fried points, rough running and a sinking brake pedal, I'll assume nothing has been replaced. There really is no reason to go driving in a car that needs lots of service. If you're losing spark, I'd hook up a test light so you can determine if the ignition is losing current when the car stalls. I'd suggest though that you thoroughly go through the electrical system from battery positive all of the way back to the negative terminal

[perthling]

Check your distributor button - I had a similar problem where the spring in the rotor was not sufficient to continue to engage with the contacts on the inside of the cap once it came off load. Would result in the car losing power particularly when trying to accelerate up to traffic lights etc.

I presume you have already been through the basics (no rust in fuel tank, new fuel, new plugs etc etc).

[scarlson]

The car had been partially restored before I got it so some things were in working order. The engine did not run well and leaked oil when I got the car. I pulled it apart and found a bad head with extreme pitting in the exhaust seats and ports of cylinder three and four. I have a "new" used head now with new gaskets and timing belt.

I pumped out most of the gas and put five gallons of fresh fuel in. There was no rust in what I pumped out.

Nothing on the ignition has been swapped yet except the wire that runs from the ignition switch to the coil. The PO connected the cooling fan to it for some reason and fried the wire. I converted the dual point distributer to single points by running a wire directly from one set of points to the coil and removed the second set. I'll get some new plugs tomorrow. I'll have to check the button on the cap. Maybe swap with one of the spares if needed.

I've replaced the rear brake calipers, hoses and pads front and rear. The master cylinder was clean so I thought it was good. I'll check for leaky calipers too. I might have a bad master cylinder though.

[scarlson]

I spent more quality time with the car this evening but ran out of time and had to finish up using a flashlight. The sinking brake pedal was caused by the driver's side rear caliper bleed screw leaking fluid even though it was tight. The seat is damaged I wrapped some anti-seize tape and it no longer leaks.

The distributer cap button seems fine. I tested the coil and found no shorts and the resistance seems ok at 8k for the secondary circuit and 0k for the primary. The condenser was junk and would not hold a charge. I replaced it with one that holds a charge. I picked up a new set of spark plugs. The engine smells better when running, but is cutting out when revved.

I changed the transmission fluid. It smelled like gear oil when I drained it. There was a few mm thick coat of metal shavings on the plug. The transmission makes more noise than the engine while idling and sitting inside. It soulds like a noisy roller bearing. How much noise is normal? My last spider was the same way.

[So Cal Mark]

have you opened the carb yet to see how dirty it is inside?

[scarlson]

I had the carb apart last week to clean it out. It had a little bit of stuff in the bottom of the bowl. I used compressed air to blow out the jets. I checked the float level and found it at 8mm from the gasket to the float. The proper setting is 6-7mm. I didn't make adjustments in case it was set that way on purpose. I'm going to pull it apart and set it to 7 and see if that helps.

[scarlson]

I used a vacation day so I could stay home and relax. I spent most of the day going over every part of the ignition and carburator, again.

The points and condenser are junk. I threw out two of the three sets I had. It is running with the set in it now, but I'll wait on test driving until I get some new ones. I ordered some since nobody in town carries replacements

The carb had a small chunk of gasket plugging the secondary idle passage and the idle stop soleniod was not seating correctly with the carb body making the car run rich.

Maybe I can get the car licensed next week

[So Cal Mark]

one aspect is almost always overlooked when bringing a car back to life; the reason it was parked in the first place. Rarely is a perfectly running car stuffed in a garage and ignored. There was always a reason. So besides having to overcome 25 years of deterioration, ya gotta figure out the original problem. You can't imagine how often I've heard the line "it was running great when it was parked", and I've yet to believe it. Something was always wrong that the owner couldn't figure out.

[deftone]

the '69 I just bought has been sitting in a back yard since '84, so I guess I have all this to look forward to! And Ive never worked on a carb'd car before!

Keep up the good work, Im sure it will be running sweet eventually!!

[scarlson]

I can officially say my Spider runs The ignition points I ordered were in the mailbox waiting for me when I got home. A big thank you to Ramzi of Auto Ricambi for the quick shipping. You made my weekend

I ran straight to the garage to put the parts on. I had a little difficulty with the condensor since the connector wasn't exactly like the original. It wouldn't fit through the hole in the bottom of the distributer like it should. I ended up cutting off the connecter and crimping on a new one after putting the wire through.

Anyways, the engine fired right up after the swap and sounded soo much smoother. I let it warm up a bit till the idle went down. I first drove around the block. I didn't want to get to far since I didn't want to take a long walk home. The engine ran smoothly and didn't try to die when I took off from the stop signs this time I stopped at home and checked for leaks, grabbed some tools just in case, then went for a little longer trip.

I drove out past the waterfront, about eight miles. The Spider is as much fun to drive as I remember With the stock carb, the power starts to cut out at 5k rpm. I'll fix that over the winter by fitting either the Holley 5200 or Weber 40 DFAV. The brakes seem a bit anemic, but that could just be the light coat of rust. The steering wheel is not straight when going straight. She seems to wander a bit on the straights. I'll have to get an alignment done.

I got a lot of looks from the people I passed by. Even a couple people yelling "nice car"

Today was a good day

Here's what the she looks like under the hood so far. I'll keep working on it.

[digitech]

Looks good, you've got plenty to work with. Find the original or make a new fitting for that hole on the exhaust manifold and then connect up the hose from there to the air cleaner; you'll greatly improve the cool morning startup/driveability.

[rlux4]

Way to go!
It's fantastic taking a ride after sticking to it and fixing what ails her.
Ron