Greetings from Northern California

[ATruckerDaddy]

Hi guys,

Glad to be back in the seat of a classic Fiat! So, i'm here to give you guys some history about my Fiat ownership, tell you what I'm working on and start looking for advice and resources for my "Project Killer Tomato".

My name is Eric, I'm a truck driver who lives in a small town (Sonora) in the California Sierras, about an hour north of Yosemite and three hours east of San Francisco. I recently came across my "first love" (well, one like her), a 73 124 Spider. Same year as my very first car - unfortunately, my dad spent more time working on that car and not showing me much about driving stick, so I wrecked it six days after getting my driver's license. Now, 34 years later, I'm trying to get back what I lost. (Don't feel too bad for me though, I replaced the 73 with a 79 with automatic transmission - then an 81, an 84 Pininfarina, and a couple of 84 X1/9's).

So I bought this 73 showing only 68k on the odometer (who knows if it's rolled over or not), he just redid the top end on the 1592 engine 1,000 miles ago, new brakes and radiator, new upgraded Weber carb (32/36 DFEV) and upgraded to 15" Rota RB wheels with Kumho unidirectional tires. Also found a cheap Snugtop hardtop to keep it better protected. Not a bad place to start, especially here where anything 75 and older is smog exempt. The only rust-through is a small hole under the driver's seat rail - one of the benefits of being in the dry California climate. Still has the original "blue plates" too.

Now I've also found a great parts car, it's an 81. Biggest surprise - an original Pininfarina hardtop (yes it has the serial number tag) - which of course I will have to hide in a bunker and only bring out on occasion LOL! (I tell people I paid for the hardtop and got the car for free). This one only shows 63k miles on the clock, and the prior owner had done a ton of work to it, including replacing the entire suspension system and brakes. I'm planning to take out the entire driveline, rebuild the 2 liter engine, stripped off all the fuel injection junk and put on dual Webers, swap out the cams and pistons, rebuild the transmission and swap the rear end over to the 73. Also planning to redo the entire wiring system, then restore the interior and exterior.

So now you know what I'm up to - hope to make some new friends here, especially in the area. Any tips and pointers would be appreciated. Thanks!

P.S. How do you post pics on here?!?

[nelsonj]

Welcome, I'm down in SoCal so if you every get motivated to do a long drive, look me up when you're down here.

Posting pictures is a bit of a pain, you need to put the pic on an image hosting site (like Imgur.com), then basically copy and past the information from that hosting site into your posts. There are some tutorials on this board if you search for them.

Sounds like some neat finds - I'd love to see that hardtop. Personally, I'd like to have FI engine because that's basically the only way to get a post 75 to pass smog (at least in SoCal).

Welcome.

[tcrooks]

Hi Trucker,
Congrat.s on your 81 Spider parts car. Just my opinion, the Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection system on the ‘81 is a better fuel system than ANY carburetion. The same system is on the Porsche 928. Once you learn the simple procedures to adjust/trouble-shoot you will find it reliable, bullet-proof and will out perform carburetion in all RPM ranges. I bought a stand-alone tech manual that covers the L-Jetronic system “Bosch Fuel Injection & Engine Management” by Charles O. Probat, SAE that fully explained how to understand, service and modify these fuel systems. BTW. - I love taking my motorcycle over the Sonora Pass.

Tom