Revert to stock FI air intake?

Maintenance advice to keep your Spider in shape.
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burlyb
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2011 1:51 pm
Your car is a: 1982 Fiat Spider 124 2000 FI

Revert to stock FI air intake?

Post by burlyb »

The PO of my '82 (fuel injected) removed the original intake filter assembly put a cone air filter. We all know that this just sucks in hot air, but how bad was/is the original set up? I'm thinking of reverting to stock (and finding a used assembly).

Thanks for any insights.

Bryan
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joelittel
Patron 2018
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Posts: 1013
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 6:53 pm
Your car is a: 1980 Spider 2000 FI
Location: Evanston, IL

Re: Revert to stock FI air intake?

Post by joelittel »

Before upgrading my system I don’t ever recall thinking the stock intake system lacked in any way.

I’ve never seen before/after dyno numbers so I could not say for certain but I do not think the stock intake system is bad at all.

If you search the forum you will be hard pressed to find threads where the stock intake’s lack of performance is the hot topic. This leads me to believe it is a decent setup.
18Fiatsandcounting
Posts: 3798
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Re: Revert to stock FI air intake?

Post by 18Fiatsandcounting »

Bryan, I can only speak for earlier model years, but aftermarket (free flow) air filters didn't seem to improve performance that much for me, but they did make the engine sound more "throaty" and the chrome housing looked nicer. The main advantage of the (smaller) free flow filters was simply easier access to areas around the engine.

-Bryan
burlyb
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun Sep 11, 2011 1:51 pm
Your car is a: 1982 Fiat Spider 124 2000 FI

Re: Revert to stock FI air intake?

Post by burlyb »

Thank you both. In all my years on here, I've never seen a discussion critiquing the FI intake system either. It's certainly convenient to have the cone filter, but the fact that it's right next to the exhaust manifold is pretty undesirable. I rarely drive the car on very hot days or in heavy traffic, so maybe I'm looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist.
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joelittel
Patron 2018
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Posts: 1013
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2011 6:53 pm
Your car is a: 1980 Spider 2000 FI
Location: Evanston, IL

Re: Revert to stock FI air intake?

Post by joelittel »

I have a decent intake tube that I will not be putting back on the car. As far as I know it is in good shape and not showing any signs of cracking.

If you or anyone else is interested let me know (email or PM work best for me).
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