International Lancia Forums

Just looking for a bit of help with my Lancia Fulvia 1300 GTE. It had been standing for many years and the engine was seized.
I have just rebuilt the engine with new pistons etc. I have plenty of experience with Alfa Romeo engines but this is my first Lancia. I followed very carefully all the recommendations with regard to torqeuing down the head etc etc etc and used a factory workshop manual during the rebuild. BUT I cannot get it running. I know the valve timing is correct because the little marks on the camshafts line up with the marks on the rocker mountings when the crankshaft is at TDC no 1 cylinder (0 mark). I know that it is sparking on all 4 plugs. Battery is new and distributor and rotor arm could do with being replaced but I have cleaned them up and there are definitely sparks on all 4 plugs. I have cleaned up and dressed the points. I set the timing with a light bulb and I know that the spark for no 1 cylinder is occurring at 8 degrees before TDC because I connected a strobe to no 1 cylinder and it illuminates the 8 mark when the engine is being cranked.
I stripped and cleaned the carbs before reassembly. I know that the fuel pump is working properly becuase it is filling up the float chambers and the fuel filter bowl. I can see plenty of fuel being squirted out of the accelerator pump when my assistant pumps the throttle.
It makes banging (almost backfiring noises) when you crank the engine over with the throttle pedal closed. If you pump the throttle or try the choke it stops banging and backfiring and nothing happens. To me this suggests that it is too rich. It has the Solex carbs and I stripped and cleaned the jets in the main body and the accelerator pump mechanism. I blew air through them. The car had been standing for some 15 years...are there some O rings in the carbs that need replaced that might lead to the above problem...any suggestions gratefully appreciated. My Alfas always burst into life immediately after an engine rebuild!!

this thread might help you.
cam-timing

I think you may have the distributor timed 180 deg out. When the cam and crank marks line up, the rotor arm should be pointing to the #4 wire on the distributor cap.

Peter

Hi Peter,
Absolutely spot on!! Unfortunately I came to this conclusion myself whilst double and quadruple checking the valve timing. I found that the valve timing was nearly exactly right but spent several hours fiddling about with dowels just to make sure. How many of you have dropped them into the sump I wonder?
Whilst I was doing this I noticed that the points bulb on no 4 cylinder was lighting up at the wrong part of the sequence. I turned it round 180 degrees, put it all back together and it burst into life at the first turn of the key (first time in 15 years or so). Sounds brilliant...Shame I only just read your e mail because it would have saved me a lot of time.
Can anyone tell me how I can find out the exact date of manufacture and who it was sold to etc etc?
Thanks for your help anyway - I'm really pleased it was not the valve timing!.

The cylinder head has a date stamp on the exhaust side, near the front corner, mine 05 06 73 on my 1.3 coupe, I tried to get to get the date mine was made from Fiat UK a few years ago, but the records had been lost in Italy (any dating info on Fulvias (and any other Lancias of that era) is extremely scarce, if not non-existent, both here and in Italy (where all the info that went into the Fiat Historic Archive got damaged beyond use in a flood many years ago.) Let me know if you have any luck. Neil

Re dates you should join the Lancia Motor Club (assuming you have a UK car or maybe not) as they helped date my Zagato for getting tax free status. I also wrote to Fait UK but cant rember who. This was about 3-4 years ago.

Tim

Tim, joining the club is a good idea there a few experts who have the chassis number details who should be able to help.

(now we have a new government in the UK, perhaps they will reverse the decision of the previous administration to freeze the rolling 25 year tax free status of vehicles, currently set at 31/12/1972??) -D

It should be possible to get the first registration date from the DVLA, beyond that it's a bit tricky. The dates on the casting give an idea - mine are dated July & August 1969, and the car was first registered on 31st Jan 1970. If it's a car know to the club then an appeal on the LMC website and contacting the membership secretary might throw up a bit more info.