April 24-25, 2019 – Headlight Defrosters and New Decals

Spent some time aligning the front fenders and getting the wiring on the right fender routed correctly. I got the gaps between the fenders and the doors to factory specifications and the wiring on both fenders looks just like the factory photos. I also verified that the Italian market front side turn indicators on the […]

April 22, 2019 – Reassembly Work

With the drive train all sorted out, I moved on with reassembly of the car. First I installed my new factory spec battery hold down bracket: Next I wired up the fog lights – The fog lights are operated by the left-most of the 3 buttons on the dash (the picture below was taken when […]

April 20, 2019 – Running on 6 cylinders!!!

So – based on my diagnosis yesterday, cylinder number 3 isn’t getting fuel. Today, I pulled the fuel injector from cylinder number 3 (no small feat without removing all the intake plenums as you need hands that are a cross between a monkey and an octopus- which I apparently have!). Once I had the injector […]

April 19, 2019 – The SM Gets Out Of The Garage

With the injection system sensors and wiring straightened out, I swapped out the spark plugs in preparation to restart the car. I then restarted the car and got the car running. It felt way better than it has to date, but still a little lumpy as if it was still running a little bit rich […]

April 16, 2019 – Fuel Injection System Diagnosed!

Spent the afternoon continuing to figure out why the fuel injection system is running WAY too rich, I cleaned the connections at the base of the distributor that are used to send the computer info on injection timing and engine speed. Still running rich to the point of choking off the engine and fouling the […]

April 14, 2019 – Injection System Diagnosis Continues

I installed new spark plugs, hit the key and the SM started immediately and idled great without even touching the gas pedal! More importantly, the engine responds to the throttle pedal perfectly now- so my Throttle Position Sensor cleaning worked! But, it is still running rich (black smoke in the exhaust), so on to the […]

April 11-12 – Fuel Injection Diagnostics (getting there!)

With the new ignition coils in place and a fresh set of spark plugs, I turned the key and the engine fired up! But…it would not idle – I had to keep my foot on the pedal or it would die if I let the engine speed go below about 1200 RPM. It also ran […]

April 9, 2019 – Fuel Pump Power – another electrical mystery!

One thing that I had been deferring for months was to diagnose why the fuel pump hasn’t been getting power. My engine and fuel testing to date has involved jumping the fuel pump directly to a battery. Well, I decided to start at the front of the car where the fuel pump relay is located […]

April 7, 2019 – Fuel Pressure Regulator & Headlight Lens Brackets

A box of parts came from David Hume yesterday – including: 2 used brackets that go above the left and right headlight lenses 2 used but tested ignition coils 1 used fuel pressure regulator When I first started working on the SM, it was missing the brackets that go above the left and right headlight […]

April 4, 2019 – HVAC Blower Housing Installation and Power Antenna Testing

Last year I disassembled and cleaned up the HVAC blower – details can be seen here – well, it is finally time to reinstall it! After a dusting off I put it back on the car along with new Ligarex bands to hold the air return tube below it. Looks great! The black screen […]