Recent Posts

Hi there, hope you're all well.  Does anybody have a part number (or any pertinent info) for the rear transverse link bearing rod ends? I'm taking off the rear suspension to refresh and wanted to short circuit the hunt for them.

I guess after nearly 50 years they are allowed to fail!

Peter

Hello
I dont have direct experience of Zagato/spider but I have fitted inserts to a coupe.  Its quite straightforward, you dismantle the strut, throw away the old pushrod and valve and replace with the insert.  Mine came with new securing [nuts] but I think some use the old retainers.  Put a little oil in the strut before inserting the insert to help heat dissipation.

These days there are oil and gas versions.  Marks shop lists replacement rear struts for the spider so that might be an easier option if a little more costly.

An 81 car will have sealed units as I think you have worked out. As these are pretty much no longer available the usual solution is to buy a conversion kit. The top of the strut is cut off and a new collar welded in place to accept an insert. Quite a skilled task.

Having said that, it looks like Betaboyz parts currently have a few rear sealed units in stock but circa £400, so not cheap.

Hope this helps.

The oil pressure gauge on YAJ suddenly dropped to zero many years ago on a long drive back from Suffolk. As the red light didn't come on I risked continuing the journey. It was the same thing, and a second hand sensor brought it back to life.....

Hello from Southern California. Fairly new here and working on an '81 that I pulled out of a backyard in April. It sat in a garage most of its life and was last registered in 1997.

Anyway, after pulling the tank and having it acid dipped, etc, replacing fuel lines plus all 4 injectors refurbished, plus a bunch of other odds and ends, I FINALLY got to drive it around our parking lot over the weekend, and there are NO shocks, just bounces around like a donkey cart on the springs.

Anyway, I've been looking through the many shock/strut related posts, and I understand that they're hard to find... That there are inserts and some things I can do to possibly convert my current setup? I'm just wondering if someone can break it down for me. I'd like to buy inserts and try to make them work, but I figure the '81 won't take them? I had a look at Mark's store, but not quite sure what avenue I need to take.

Any direction greatly appreciated.

- Al

Hi

On the subject of the timing belt I read a section in GC’s book which says you should be able to twist the belt to 45 degrees between the two cam pulleys, which my belt does appear to do, so will leave well alone until I come to change it, probably next year.

I have been to a few local meets recently including my local club Sunday drive/lunch yesterday. I had not noticed it at first, but after half an hour I saw the oil pressure indicator was reading very low and through the day proceeded to get lower and lower, however the red light did not come on, so I was hoping for a sensor failure…

Changed it today and sure enough new sensor gives a good reading so happy camper.

Peter

After returning from my 300+ mile jaunt to Betameeta the running was still off, with quite a bit of hunting at slow speeds. Another go on the idle mixture screw has properly sorted things now though, with pretty smooth running even through the warm up stage.

I adjusted the screw all the way in then wound it out half a turn at a time. About two turns out I hit a real sweet spot and was then able to drop the idle speed down by a good 400 rpm. The weird thing is that I had done all this a few weeks before and that sweet spot just didn't appear, so Betameeta must have been something of an Italian tune up.

The motorway drive to Auto Italia at Carlton Towers last weekend was through lashing rain with all the electrics on, which the Coupe took in its stride, so that was reassuring too.

Thanks for all the positive comments from those who have seen the car.

Hello everyone and welcome Richard!

I have an 84 injected HPE just like yours. I did the fuel system not all that long ago with Nigel ( who kindly helped out and who is also on this thread )
so if this is the problem I felt compelled to help.

Firstly the Fuel Pump and Filter are in a very hard to reach place so well done finding them!

There's a mesh filter inside the tank to collect the gunk from inside your tank before it makes its way to the pump, the problem is that our cars are 40+ years old, this filter is a non-serviceable part so chances are it's no longer effective and that means crud could be circulating in your tank and making its way directly to your fuel pump and fouling the blades ...so what's often recommended ( and what we did after assessing that the state of the tank was fine ) was we fashioned a tool and pierced a hole in this mesh to assist in allowing the free-flow of fuel from the tank. You'll need to replace this 'step' though and I was recommended a Baldwin inline mesh filter ( part number : FF30145 ) positioned just after the tank and before the pump ...this has thus far performed very well.

So then the fuel goes as follows :


Tank   -   Baldwin/Mesh Filter   -   Bosch/Fuel Pump   -  Bosch/Fuel Filter  -  Engine.


It's been running like a sewing machine ( if you will excuse the expression ) ever since, it might be something else but do feel free to drop me a line if you need further explanation of the above.

Let us know how you get on and or if you need any more help.


All the best and good luck. Andrew.
           

Please don't take my comment as meaning the filter is in the wrong place! That one is a filter designed to stop the tiny particles that can get through the pump from clogging the injectors. Is there another one before the pump or is it just the wire mesh trap on the pick up pipe that's part of the tanked mounted sender unit what stops crud getting to the pump? Judging by the state of the one on my car it may not be doing it's job any more. If you find that the pump makes a noise when connected to a power supply and doesn't pump fuel I'd suggest the pump needs replacement but that the cause of the failure might be a blockage caused at the pick up necessitating a new in tank sender unit?
Guy