New Spider for the Mad Machine

I tried posting this in the General "BS" Section... but the moderator has not done a thing about it.. so I am going to put it here so all can see....

After several years of working off and on, I have finally come to the conclusion that my 75 Fiat spider is a goner. Living for ten years (and most of my life) a city block from from the surf, sand, and salt of the Atlantic Ocean had taken a terrible toll on the fragile and rust prone Soviet steel. The more rust I cut away, the more I found until I was deep into structural metal, a place I am uncomfortible with as my welding skills are questionable at times.

So I present to you, my "New" 1977 Fiat spider:




I know she does not look promising right now.. but I assure you that except for the last summer, she had spent the last 15 years in a barn. The previous owner went into the Service and left her behind, after all these years his father finally got tired of it taking up valuable barn space and sent it to a wrecking yard.

Luck of lucks.. the owner of the wrecking yard died right after her aquired the fiat (I hope this is not an omen) and since then his son has been selling off all the cars. All he knew was that this spider was too nice to break, so he put it on eBay as a $300 "parts car"

After looking her over in person, save for a nasty respray and a badly mouse eaten interior.. she is perfect. There is only a small quarter sized rust bubble in the passenger front fender and your usual surface rust underneath.. and most fiat's had that from the factory.

I do not know if she runs.. the current owner never tried.. but that does not bother me. If I wanted to though, I could drop my old 1800 engine in, my old interior, and take care of a few important things like brakes and drive her today.. she is that clean and straight.

In a couple of weeks when I pick her up, I will post some new pics.. I gotta finish getting rid of the carcass of my 75 first. Sucks to only have a 1 car garage.  

Nice man! Yeah, i know how rust is, both of my G body Monte Carlos were plauged with it. Its really fusterating. Congratulations, though, it looks good. Keep us updated on your progress!  

She looks like she has a straight body.  If I ever have a chance to pick up a cheap Spider one day (years from now) I might do that.  They look like crazy little convertibles.  

What a rockin' deal. Sorry to hear about your 75, but I guess there comes a time huh? Know just what you mean. Yes, more pics.
And soon to come. Pics of my pistons and the damage a timing belt failure can to to a 4G63.
Booooo!!!  

heh... at least your timing belts last more than 25,000 miles. The Fiat 124 Sport (Coupe and Spider) were the first production cars to be fitted with a rubber timing belt as a standard item. Unfortunately, as the technology was VERY new when designed, the belts do not last. I usually change mine every spring.. wether it needs it or not.

Personally though, with my new 77, I just cannot wait to get her home! I had to delay it a couple of weeks, borrowing my Uncle's Ford Truck to tow a UHaul trailer because I would rather not give Uhaul $300 USD of my hard earned cash to rent a truck and trailer.  

Yeouch. 25K? Hope the change isn;t too hard.  

it can be.. depending on the engine. The 1800 and smaller engines only need the cover and the cooling line from the head removed. The later 2 litre cars have a lower spash sheild that is part of the cover that makes it so you have to remove the crank pulley as well.

Either way, you need to bleed the cooling system, which is a PITA as the engine sits higher than the radiator.