A Love Story
 

When Porter Cable met Fiat


30 year old paint..

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/e...ons2/002-2.jpg

That is such a pretty car, care to post more pics?

I had a BRG 124 Spyder, I think a 1970, if I remember right. I loved it and had an absolute hoot with it. It handled unbelievably on the big wide gravel roads around Wichita Falls, TX. I ended up selling it to buy my first 911.
Yours looks better than mine ever did, but that was before the days when looks were as important as performance!!

Tough to get a good shot of her in the garage, Monday is supposed to me nice, here's one more till then. Oh and Kurt thanks for the props, it's actually still my 83 yr old dad's, he has always taken good care of it but the work I put in this winter really shows, there is zero glass in it too..

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/e...ons2/001-3.jpg

Uno Mas for you motorheads

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/e...ons2/003-2.jpg

Man does that bring back memories!! Mine tended to burn number 4 exhaust valves.
I think I replaced 3 of them in the three years I had mine. It was a pain to adjust valves with the spacer plates, too. Not as bad as Cosworth BDAs, but harder than 911's, and that is saying something!!

Haha yeah bucket & shims, luckily my father was a wizard with that ****************, once you had them dialed in they stayed adjusted a long time. Frankly, for 1971, DOHC, 5 speed, all wheel disc, rarity in that period.


I didn't know till I was an adult that my dad was asked to move to Indy and build race engines for one of the teams but he had a family and business so he had to bail. I can't wait till he sees it, at 61000 miles, it's remarkably fresh, should be a hoot this summer. Those are brand new Kumho's with brand new KYB TT gas shocks.

Yep... Inverted Bucket Tappets - Automotive Hell!

Years ago I did make an Excel program which allowed you to mic the existing shims and move them around so that a minimum of shims needed to be ordered.

I believe I did that for my old Euro Mkt. 124 - below.

Cheers!

You guys think these are bad..??

Look at what I'm doing a valve adjustment on tomorrow - Twin Head, DOHC, 4 valves/cyl., inverted bucket tappet Jaguar V-12 !

They'll have to put me in the Looney Bin after that one!

Cheers!

Good luck lil B, I'm sure you'll handle it, you da man...

PS Nice Spider, really like the wheels, I drove the car to my dad today in about 40 degree temps with two wool hats on. Wow is all I can say what a difference modern tires make, it was a blast to drive, feels like you're really going fast...

It's like Christmas, I still have the gift of driving the modded Boxster for the first time and turning the Porter Cable loose on the paint, can't wait for that..

Wheels are just Panasports Agree they did look great!

Cheers!

I'll tell you what I wish I had B, is the wheels made by this company that had a small dish center which was black and said "FIAT" in chrome. They were awesome, I think they were used on the old "double bubble" aluminum Abarths, that might be where I saw them.

http://www.histowheels.com/Cromodora/

Yeah, those Panasports are copies of the original Minilite wheels. They are VERY popular Club Ford wheels, still. Many, many early Formula Fords had Minilites. They were magnesium, but cast with the old British salt bath method that trapped salt inside the casting, so they literally ate themselves from the inside out.
Still one of the best looking "period" wheels out there.
My 124 was a darker "British Racing Green."

Cromodora magnesium wheels were not at all rare. In fact, they were factory options on most Ferraris, Dinos, Alpines and the BMW 2002 in addition to Fiats. They're around, but you don't want them because Magnesium loses it's strength over the years and most of the ones you find are gonna fail.

But, if you check with these guys, they have cromodora alluminium replicas that are very good quality and nearly as light as the original magnesium ones roinmotorsport available in most sizes.

Cheers!

The Fiat twin cam shims weren't that bad to check & replace, especially if you had the valve compressor tool. You just slipped the tool under the cam, levered back and removed the shim!
Now, the 4 cylinder Alfa Romeo engines with bucket shims were more difficult, you had to remove the camshafts to gain access, as the shims fitted over the valve stem and could not be removed unless the valve bucket / follower was removed. I wish I had a doller for each shim I replaced over the years - I've owned 5 x GTV's, 1 x Berlina and 1 x Sud.
Even my Lancia Beta Coupe had the Fiat 2 litre engine which went quite well once wound up, though I still prefer the 1800 Fiat and 1750 Alfa engines to the other capacities.

Had that tool and an assortment of shims like I've never seen again anywhere else. My dad is having troubles now, I'm not sure if he'll ever drive his car alone again, I'm going to go with him and let him drive though. I found a book at his house, a Bertone body-style book signed by the then President of Fiat Roosevelt Motors.

My dad fabricated some tools for working on Fiats, some designs were duplicated by the company, high praise but no cash, haha...