Well, this past Friday the car failed smog spectacularly...

I started in on the FI tune up guide I posted last week this Saturday hoping that it might take care of the cold idle and emissions problems. I had purchased a new fuel and air filter while shopping in the morning and since I have zero experience working on cars I thought I would start with something easier and replace the filters.

First thing, the air filter. I went to pull out the old one and discovered that the air filter housing was cracked and missing a clamp....

From the looks of it a significant portion of the air had been bypassing the filter. I managed to rig up a temporary clip and seal the crack with some silicon. The shape of it is still a little messed up, but I feel like for the moment 95%+ of the air is coming in through the filter like it is supposed to. I'll probably need to replace it soonish, but it doesn't seem like a top priority at the moment.

After I changed the air filter it was on to fuel. I figured I would follow "Step 5 Fuel Pump and Fuel Pressure Regulator" in the guide I'm trying to use (http://www.hiperformancestore.com/Ljetronic.htm), since that's where it has you change the fuel filter. It took me a minute to find, but I did manage to swap the fuel filter painlessly. After that I used the compression gauge to test Fuel Pressure, 35psi on the dot. Testing the fuel pump led me to messing with the air flow meter (AFM). Long story short I discovered that the AFM appears to have been dropped at some point, see in the picture how the seat for the intake hose has been bent...

Also discovered that the clockwork part of the AFM wasn't working right, the bar that was suppose to flip the fuel pump switch had never been turning it off, so the fuel pump had been running even with the key in the halfway position. This is how it was yesterday after I first fixed it...

I fussed with it again today, so it's ever so slightly different. I'm not sure exactly how it's supposed to be =(. Anyways, after fixing it the cold idle problem disappeared! First problem solved.
 
I also bondoed the bend in the AFM...

 Not sure if it really matters, but hey probably won't hurt.

I cleaned the aux air valve (AAV), but a little testing before hand seemed to indicate that it was functioning okay anyways....

  

I spent most of today cleaning the intake hoses and checking for leaks (all seemed okay). I also received my silicon hoses, so I swapped a couple of the easy ones. Also checked the coolant temperature sensor (OK) and adjusted the idle. The idle screw seems very loose, I'm hoping it doesn't wiggle itself around too much.

This evening after putting everything back together I started it back up and noticed this...

 Taste test made me think maybe it had some coolant in it. Coolant coming out of the exhaust sounds like really bad news (cracked block or head gasket??). However, I've never seen this before (I would have noticed, I'm always checking), the oil looks clean (not cloudy), the anti-freeze looks clean (no oil that I can see), and it appears to have stopped dripping even after a couple hours cooling off then firing it up again. I'm hoping that this was just some fluke related to my moving stuff around, but I'll keep my eye on it.

I'm also hoping whatever I did to the AFM helped with the emissions... it did seem to help with the idle (maybe it was flooding the engine somehow??)

  

On Saturday April 13th 2013 I purchased a 1982 fuel injected Fiat Spider 2000 w/ approximately 150k miles. It is in (mostly) working order and made the trip from San Diego to Los Angeles along the 5 without a hiccup. I'm hoping to spend time maintaining and fixing it in order to learn a bit about cars. Unfortunately at the moment I live in an apartment building in Los Angeles, and while the building does have a parking garage that I use, I'm not sure what the policy is for working on my car there. If I can't work there then I'll have to explore some empty parking lots around town. I'm currently compiling a list of things that appear to be wrong with the car as well as a list of repairs/fixes to make. Hopefully this weekend I'll have a chance to pull the car apart a bit, take a bunch of pictures and flush out this list a bit.

Problems
1.) Car does not idle well when cold. (Will die unless I give it a little gas for a minute or two)
2.) Pulls to the left when braking hard.
3.) I can hear a strange clicking when braking sometimes... seems to be coming from the front right brake?? Possibly related to the left pull when braking.
4.) Engine smells a little hot... subtle hint of antifreeze/burning oil or something. I don't notice it unless I sit at a stoplight for awhile and let it build up. The temp gauge parks itself at 190, but I'm not sure how much I trust it as it appears to plummet offscale low whenever I punch the accelerator (seems really strange to me, could really use some advice on this one.) As a rough check I squirted a little water on the engine after driving for a bit, one side (the intake side I think) didn't sizzle and boil off the water immediately. The other side (exhaust I think) did, it was clearly above 212 degrees... I'm not sure if this is normal.
5.) No tunes
6.) No time
7.) Parking brake doesn't work very well, even fully cranked it won't hold the car except on the most gentle grades.
8.) The speedometer "works" but gives ludicrous speeds... seems to multiply actual speed by a factor of about 1.25 or so.
I'll edit this list as I find more problems....

Solutions
1.) After reading the guide here http://www.hiperformancestore.com/Ljetronic.htm I think there is a decent chance my cold idle problems are related to a dirty aux air valve (AAV).
2.) I'm suspicious of the front right brake caliper, if not that then I'm not sure.
3.) See 2.)
4.) ????? Any help here is appreciated
5.) This should be an easy fix, but I'm saving my money for more pressing concerns.
6.) See 5.)
7.) ????? Any help here is appreciated
8.) ????? Any help here is appreciated

Plans
1.) Clean the engine bay, it's filthy
2.) Get car up on jack stands and get a better idea of the extent of the rust, especially in problem areas.
3.) Clean the AAV
4.) Follow this guide http://www.hiperformancestore.com/Ljetronic.htm from start to finish to tune up the FI system. I have already ordered silicon replacement hoses.
5.) Look at maintenance records from previous owner, try and determine the last timing belt replacement. Replace if necessary.