Some Beta and older 124 wiper motors will work. X-1/9,128 and 131 units will not. (1)
If the windshield wipers flop chances are that the spot weld fixing the idler is broken. Remove linkage assy. And fix with a sheet metal screw or a tack weld. (1)
To save the wiper motor, take the park switch assy apart and drill a 1/16" drain hole in the plastic case. The park switch will rust from entrapped water and break. Betas use the same switch assembly and it is usually good as it is on top of the motor when installed. (1)
Porsche 924 wiper arms with the 1" dog leg fit and will give a little more swing to the drivers wiper arm. (1)
Install an 18" wiper blade on the drivers side for more coverage. It makes a difference. (1)
Some 124 and 131 headlight, wiper and turn indicator switch assemblies will work as will ignition switches. Try carb. Cars around 1975 to 1980. F.I. Car switches might work. (1)
>The wiper works fine but when I turn it off it remains exactly where it was a second before. It doesn't go back to its usual resting position. And now the question: before opening the whole device, which is quite recessed and not easy to work on, I'd like to know if this problem is easy to solve or do I need a new electric motor ?<<
>>From everything I've heard in the past, your motor needs replaced. I'm hoping someone smarter than I can explain WHY though.
Actually, if you get the motor out and on the bench you've done the hard part. On the drive gear there is a metal plate with a raised lip that runs almost the full circumference. When you hit the wiper switch and the wipers move out of the parked position this lip touches the contact on the end of the wire and causes the circuit to bypass the switch so that the wipers will continue to run until they get back to the parked position again at which point what they do depends on what position the switch is in. The contact gets worn/ dirty and that's when the wipers fail to run to park, they quit when you turn the switch off.
You can open the gearcase, clean the plate and contact and your wipers will work just like new again.
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Head lights dim? install headlight relays in the battery box; easy and a real help. (1)
Brava side marker light lenses work. Housing gaskets do not look right because of different body contours. (1)
Electrical problems by Tony Lloyd -- During my spell as Monte-Carlo advisor many of the questions continually asked refer to electrical problems. The actual faults are quite varied, although many of them seemed to stem from the same source- the block connectors behind the fuse box.
Many people, when told to check the connectors, report back that some or all of the metal tags are corroded, often resulting in the plastic block connector melting with heat caused by the resistance in the joint. Replacing the connectors / wiring often cures many intermittent gremlins associated with the cars.
Its often worth replacing the ceramic fuses if you are experiencing problems as these have been known to give problems. Look for slight corrosion on the fuse ends, particularly on the alloy type. The copper based fuses seem to last much longer than the alloy ones.
Headlamps by Tony Lloyd -- The standard headlamps are appalling, but easily improved with several modifications. These include:-
Fitting a relay into the system on the main and dip circuits. Some cars already have a relay on the main beam circuit, in which case its only necessary to fit on the dip circuit. Once this has been done you can fit higher wattage bulbs to replace the standard 55 / 60 These are obtainable in several combination such as
75 / 80 55 / 90 90 / 100 100 / 130
(Do not fit the bulbs without the relay modification as the main / dip switch is not robust enough to handle the increased current demand from the bulbs.)
Replacing the light units with the ones supplied by the Monte Hospital which in themselves give much improved output, coupled with the previous two modifications they rival most modern cars.
Fitting a twin light conversion, if you don’t mind the car looking non original.
Horn by Tony Lloyd -- A fault I have come across quite a few times is when the horn fails to operate due to the steering column becoming insulated from the rest of the car. The column is used as the horn earth. I don’t know why this happens but the easy solution is to secure a piece of 1/6 welding wire under one of the bolts that secures the outer steering column and position it so that it gently rests on the inner column, making the connection between the two. Clean the paint off the inner column first to ensure a good electrical connection.
Halogen lights From: huib@viva-lancia.com Huib Geurink , Breda, Netherlands -- I have been following the discussion on the H4 halogen lights. I have replaced the two front lights on my 1963 Lancia Flaminia coupe with standard Hella units with H4 bulbs. Also on my 1963 Flavia Berlina I have replaced the four head lights with Hella units ) with H4 bulbs. They perform well. My Fulvia coupe has now 4 Hella units with H1 bulbs (same as for BMW series 3. 55 W for the low beam and 100 W for the high beam. They perform equally well.
Be smart with the wiring. If you install relays close to the lights and wire those directly to the alternator, the voltage accross the filaments may go up to 14 Volts. It will increase the light output enormously, but it will also decrease the life time by a factor of about sixteen.
With halogen bulbs life time decease by a factor of 2 for every 5% increase of voltage. Vice versa life time doubles for every 5% decrease in voltage. I choose the length and thicknes of the wiring such, that the voltage accross the bulbs is between 11.5 and 12 at cruising rpm's.
Bulb/lighting tip From: byas.u.nambisan@intel.com Nambisan, Byas U -- While browsing through PEP boys this weekend I discovered that there are higher power bulbs avail for use in the instrument panel and sidemarkers on the Fiat Spiders. The standard bulb is #194 (12V 3W) (old # 158). The new bulb that fits is #2825 (maybe it is 2528 - I don't have it handy right now) and is 12V 5W. The ones I bought were made by Sylvania and marked "European". I've tried one on in the tachometer and was very pleased with the result.
Back to topTo recalibrate the oil and fuel sending units, use a radio shack 10k potentiometer from the sending unit wire to ground. Adjust for zero psi oil pressure with the ignition on and the engine not running. Remove and measure the pot and install a 1 watt fixed resistor of the measured value-approx 2k ohm-in the same position. Fuel units require that you know the tank level and full seems to be the best place to start. If both gages read low check the ground connection; it's double nutted at the rear right AC. assy. mount. (1)
Easy installation of an oil temp sending unit is in the pan drain plug. Use one of the magnetic ones that have a male hex, remove the magnet and drill and tap for 1/8" pipe. Most gages have sending units that fit 1/8" pipe. (1)
Oil pressure low and dropping too much when warm? the diaphram on the sending unit cracks and allows oil to get behind it. Get several from a junk yard as all FIATs except 850's use the same sender. Some do not have a wire pig tail. (1)
65 Amp. Bosch alternators work with no wiring changes except removal of the old regulator and taping up the associated wiring. Wire per brava schematic and check pulley diameters. (1)
Easy access to the turn indicator flasher if you do not have speakers installed is to unscrew the hood release lever assy. And now you can peel the carpet back. (1)
"Electronic" turn signal flash units work well and overcome the "old italian electrics" syndrome, es-13c is a pin for an electronic replacement. (1)
Horn slow to sound? kragen has a bolt on replacement that has a sealed compressor. (1)
Randomly blow the fuse #2 during the winter? check voltage drop across the wiper switch and replace if there is more than a 1/2 volt drop with wipers running in slow. (1)
Use ceramic or glass fuses as the plastic ones seem to warp with age which lowers the holder tension. WD-40 and rotate fuses in their socket once a year to remove corrosion. (1)
When installing a voltmeter, use a small relay and a wire from the battery or the drop thru the ignition switch will give a lower reading. Install a fuse, close to the battery, inline with the wire. Use a seperate ground. (1)
Comment on electrical problems; most troubles are with bad grounds. Check the ground first especially if two or more things seem to be going south. A sudden change in the normal gage readings is typical of a bad inst. Cluster ground. One of the main grounds is in the engine bay and tied to the plastic tail light housing, bad show. Attach to the metal body structure with a sheet metal screw. (1)
Ray McNairy Says "Do not reengineer (kludge) the wiring. Fix it as it isn't hard to understand" (1)
Electrics. Scorpions came with Magneti Marelli 40-45 amp alternators with separate voltage regulators. By updating to the Bosch 55 amp alternator favored by later Fiats, you'll get more juice so additional electrical gizmos like fog/axillary lights and deafening stereo systems can all run on a rainy night along with your wipers without your headlights going dim. These alternators have built in voltage regulators that eliminate the old voltage regulator and it's wiring. Seemed like five miles of wire in the Scorpion. Dave Shindle found that there were many electrical do-dads he could do without and by only leaving the essentials, he greatly simplified the electrical system. One recommendation is to ditch the fuel pump relays. They are wired to the oil pressure sensor and won't allow the car to start without proper oil pressure. It is a nifty safety feature for your engine, but they commonly go bad and won't allow your car to start period. Dave wired his fuel pump directly, keep an eagle eye on the oil pressure and he no longer worries about being stranded or spending hours trying to determine why the car won't start. Document any changes on a copy of the original wiring diagram. (2)
Msd "cd" ignition systems work really well. You must use all their tack tricks. (1)
Bosch WR5DP plugs are fine for higher than stock compression engines. Stock compression should use the recommended WR6/7DPs. I recommend using solid core wires. (1)
Rocker type switches can be salvaged by removing the guts from another FIAT unit of the same type. Be careful as the spring will fly out. (1)
Beta Scorpion Electric Mods by Bernie Benz
1. Added IGN. ON and HI and LO BEAM relays to unload their respective switches. The Fiat/Lancia relay sockets snap onto the existing relay bank, so inter-connections are (relatively) short and simple.
2. The headlight flash switch now raises and lowers the headlights, as I could find no occasion to flash the ground 5' in front of the car.
3. After adding an oil cooler behind the left (cool) side of the radiator (and a companion thermostatic control valve and remote oil filter, the latter which pokes down through the bottom sheet metal cover for easy access), I built fan shrouds for each fan, each one covering its full radiator half, such that the full rad. surface is subject to fan induced air flow. I then split the fan control circuits with a control relay for each fan and added a second rad. thermal switch. The left fan is controlled by the lower temp. rad. switch and a cooler oil output temp. switch. The right fan is controlled by the other rad. switch, at several degrees hotter switch point, and the AC condenser output temp. switch. Thus, the fans come on sequentially as demand dictates. Bothy fans draw power from BAT rather than IGN ON so they will run until the system is cool after engine shutdown. (What Californians won't do to keep cool! Also, getting prepared for the future turbo project). I added three new yellow indicator lights in the 3 unused spots in the instrument cluster, for RAD FAN, COND FAN, and FOG LITE.
4. My (amber halogen) fog lights are mounted in place of the front turn signal lights, so each has its own relay and a diode matrix allows them to function either as turn signals or together from a fog light switch.
5. One of the most useful trouble shooting ideas was to convert the fast idle push button from the smog system to an engine compartment START switch.
6. Many HVAC mods- the stock system is a disaster! I changed the push-button electrical interlock cam strip such that MAX AC or DEF force HI FAN, AC or HEAT force LO FAN, and OFF forces NO FAN. (These push-button switches are readily repairable.) Higher fan speeds may still be selected over and above these forced fan conditions using the fan speed switch. Many other mechanical, vacuum, and electrical AC changes have made this an efficient and reliable system.
7. I can't remember much of the other little stuff, but if you're having a problem, ask, I may have tackled it.
Sincerely, Bernie Benz,931 LaMesa Drive, Portola Valley, CA 94028