keninman
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Posts posted by keninman
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This certainly did turn into a lively topic. I might spend more on this than it will ever be worth. I view it as a toy as well as a piece of history. One big issue is that it has a lot of Fiat content but not necessarily everything from one model as I have already discovered.
I can replace the sheet metal in the floors but there is no way I can do it to original. I can weld up the exhaust but when that goes I will have to fabricate something else using whatever is available.
I see that I have garnered some great ideas for groups that may know something I need to learn. As far as an investment vehicle, all of those are far beyond my means. Dad always said I had a Champagne appetite and a beer pocketbook but I usually come up with something that works. I appreciate everyone's responses and hope that more come in.
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8 minutes ago, George Smolinski said:
I Googled Siata & found the above link. Check Facebook for a group also.
Thanks but they are a couple thousand miles from me.
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Okidoke, by the age standards here this isn't that old. I purchased this on a whim after I viewed it on Facebook Market. It is a Siata Spring, the title says it is a 1970 but the vin seems to point to a 1969. Siata, 'Società Italiana Auto Trasformazioni Accessori' was in business from 1926 to 1970 (Wikipedia, n.d.). From what I gather it is built using mostly a Fiat 850 Spider and Siata making the body and chassis, which are about the same thing. I managed so far to have the engine purring like a kitten, except from the holes in the exhaust. I striped the passenger side front spindle nut and damaged the outer wheel bearing because I didn't ever consider a left hand thread. I was able to locate the bearing NOS but the M14 - 1.5 nut has been a fiasco. Speaking of fiascos just try to find shocks for this thing. Someone has restored it previously and changed the paint from yellow to red. The fell short of stopping the rust and now it has several spots bubbling up under the paint. The floor pans are nearly non existent and I am going to have to not only replace them but beef the whole center up or scoot my butt along the pavement. At least they are flat and not pressed into a bowl.
I put the car up in the import forum and did get a couple of responses but man I could use some help. If anyone here has a line on other Siata Spring owners or mechanics who can offer support and advise I would be much appreciative to find them. Thankee all for looking and any help you can offer.
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On 8/17/2018 at 7:45 PM, r1lark said:
I've heard of people using old coat hangers to torch weld, but figured that was sort of an 'old wives tale'. But, I'm sure at least a couple of folks will comment that they used to use coat hangers 'back in the day'.
I wonder if coat hanger use to be made of softer material? I have heard of torch welding with them but have never witnessed it. Modern metal hangers are darn hard to cut so the alloy must be stiffer. I imagine the older ones were softer steel.
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Thank you all for the replies. Vick AS looks like it is going to be a great resource. I don't have time to work on it until Wednesday but I did put water in it this morning and it is leaking where the pump mounts to the engine. The man I got it from said it was leaking from the weep hole. I reckon I am going to have to get it running again and do my own troubleshooting.
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I found this on Facebook Marketplace and thought it was neat so we went and bought it this evening. I know very little about it. The previous owner has removed the interior, the water pump is leaking bad and it is going to need at least 2 tires. Someone has performed some rust repair using sheet metal, rivets and repainted it red. Their repairs are now bubbling up so I will have to weld in new metal and then turn it back yellow.
I have learned that it is based upon a Fiat 850 and I cannot afford to buy a new waterpump so I hope to repair it. Does it use packing or a seal? I guess I am about to find out. Any information that anyone can provide will be appreciated.
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It is a GL 6 cyl. I am suspicious of leaking. Last year it got about 10mpg.
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While sharing my post about nothing to share (and complaining about gas mileage) I realized that my pic was still of the Stude covered up for winter. I looked for another photo and found this. The man in the passenger seat is / was my best friend of many years. Though he joined the US Air Force a couple of weeks before I was born in August of 1965 we had much in common and were best friends for many years despite our age difference. He passed away in January of this year in my home of lung cancer. He never had much money and was physically disabled, he was always quick to offer to help and worked as a security guard because it was something he could do. I hope that everyone, at some time or another finds a friend like this and can become one themselves.
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I check the board about everyday but I have nothing to ask or share so I decided to share something. We took the 29/30 Dictator into town yesterday. We went to Home Depot and then grocery shopping at Walmart. I filled the tank at Murphy's, we drove home and no where else, about 10.5 US mile trip at a top speed of about 35mph US. We returned to Home Depot and Walmart today and I topped off the tank at Murphy's, again which cost nearly $9 with gas running $2.799 (yes that extra .009 is correct). That is really bad gas mileage. While probably not important I just thought I would share something.
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Ironically, I have lived in Indiana my entire life, I now live less than 35 miles from the speedway. I have never been to a race there and the only event I ever attended at IMS was a Rolling Stones concert on Independence day in 2015. I am not much of a race fan but I love these old pictures.
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These are mechanical with rods. I believe it is only one wheel but I don't know which one.
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Starlightcoupe, I am not finding a schedule, I am just East of Indy so it is a short trip for us. Do you have a link for 2018 info?
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My 29-30 GL Dictator, this winter developed an odd condition where sometimes when you stop it seems one of the brakes stays engaged for a second after you remove pressure from the pedal. I first thought it was related to the parking brake as it happened leaving a parking space at Wal-Mart during a cold snap. Sometimes it is fine and other times it seems to hang on. I may make many stops with it fine and then every stop it hangs. I haven't tried hard to troubleshoot it yet but wanted to ask for suggestions.
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My owner's manual says (.025), I give up I couldn't spell it.
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I would be interested in it as a decoration, I don't think you said how much you wanted though.
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Watch several videos on hand cranking first. It is great way to break an arm or damage a fender. I prefer push starting but yours is probably awful heavy.
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I looked at my starter and it is a Delco-Remey 726-F. What worries me about this post is that I know my bendix often sticks in the ring gear, I just quickly reach down and pull up the floor pedal to disengage. Is there a chance Mr. Clark that you could have driven with the starter stuck in the ring gear? Though I think this would have been very noisy. The starter would act as a generator, backfeeding the electrical system and itself would eventually sustain severe mechanical damage since these models were not designed to act a generators.
For troubleshooting determine if any other electrical devices work, i.e. - headlamps, horn, dash lamps? As for the starter smoking, a motor is a dead short when it is not turning, the expanding and collapsing magnetic field is what provides the electrical resistance. This is what is called, locked rotor amps and they can be very very high. As SC38DLS said, points, loss of power to the coil, a short in the coil to points somewhere would be much more likely suspects for the engine dying. There is an overcurrent relay on mine mounted right beside the fuel gauge. It buzzes like crazy if I try to draw too much current. I think all of the power coming into the car goes there from the starter connection. It would be a good place to start.
One last thing, the car should be a positive ground vehicle the exact opposite of a modern car, don't mess this one up. The starter doesn't care, it will run backwards, nor do the lights or coil, however I doubt your generator would survive a reverse connection long since I believe it will try to run as a motor.
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50 minutes ago, kclark said:
Someone told me to jump the starter. How does one do that?
Post some good pictures of your starter please. Include any mechanical or electrical connections. Mine is completely mechanical, as you step on the starter pedal in the cabin it pushes in the starter lever to engage the bendix (they call it a pinion) with the ring gear on the flywheel and finally pushes down on the starter switch to energize its motor.
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You didn't happen to put in a battery switch did you?
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Two things struck me about this thread. First of all, until perusing this discussion, I did not appreciate the artistic value of modified / customized automobiles. Well except those modified for special purposes like movies or to fulfill a utilitarian need. The other is how well the persons on this forum write. This may or may not imply something about the membership of this particular forum but I would rather think that it does. "Any ol' who", I think the Internet needs more civil, though sometimes not too civil, discourse like this. I also think there should be room for those whose tastes run to customization as well as those whom prefer to keep everything as originally produced.
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Looking at this pic of Kclark's picture of his 19
28 Dictator Six, it looks like it came with 6.50-19 tires. My 29-30 GL Dictator had this size for the spare.
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I know of two that are still standing in Indianapolis, The Stutz factory which is now a business center. Also one building of the Duesenberg Motors Company that now houses IndyGo's bus garage.
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Only a guess but since they are just an accelerator pump I doubt it will matter which you use because they only shoot in gas when you press the throttle quickly.
Odd little Italian car
in General Discussion
Posted · Edited by keninman (see edit history)
I gave $1750 for the car. So far I have bought it 4 new tires which I have changed myself, the tubes look good, two tires looked really good but I know they are probably 10 to 15 years old. I have purchased enough brake line to replace all. The master cyl and wheel cyl have already been replaced. After much ado I believe I have two correct belts for the engine. All panels are with the car, the seats are torn but I plan to use cheap Ebay water proof seat covers. The top has a couple of holes but I don't intend to have it out on rainy days. I bought it a waterproof car cover so it does not have to stay in the garage. I wasted money on shocks that are completely wrong but have since found a Youtube video on how to modify cheap Monroe shocks to work. I damaged the spindle nut and apparently 14x1.5 LH nuts are in short supply. I bought a die to true the spindle threads back up and a tap to make my own damn nut.
The two biggest challenges are going to be to find the correct Fiat parts and the rust. Way too much rust to not beef up many areas. This little car should go 75 to 80 miles an hour and right now I would not dare get it over 35. My first goal is to get it a floor, some undercarriage supports and rolling down the road before the snow flies. However I have been working every weekend and taking vacation days to help my son get a metal roof on his house and garage. Between the rain followed by 90 degree temps we are not going as fast as I had hoped but we are getting there.
This little car will roll again and like Rusty suggested, it is just for fun though I would have to trailer it to a beach
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BTW the rear fender isn't damaged, I just stuck the rear panel and bumpers on for the pic so they aren't bolted to anything. I didn't notice the once had angled down.