I just purchased my first Fiat. It's a 1979 Fiat Spider which had been parked for the last 11 years. During that time it was driven about 300 miles and the day I purchase it had 73300 miles on it. I have since put new gaskets on the engine, except the head gasket. New belt, changed all the fluids and currently rebuilding the brake calipers and new pads. I've put on new tires, they were date coded about 20 years ago. Everything else is in really good shape. It could use a new paint job or at least a good restoration. Are there other things I should be looking at and or checking? So far it seems to run really well, I'm still working on my first tank of fuel. Looking forward to my first road trip, oh I live in Portland Or here in the USA.
Dave
New Member
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Dave
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 3:30 pm
- Your car is a: 1979 Fiat Spider 2000 Pininfarina
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davidbruce
- Patron 2020
- Posts: 239
- Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2016 2:01 am
- Your car is a: 1980 Spider 2000
Re: New Member
Well you have the brake system open so I would replace all 6 rubber brake hoses. And check that the compensator isn't frozen after sitting so long. Master cylinder is suspect after sitting that long. I would also replace all the rubber fuel hoses including the large fuel fill. Coolant hoses if they are hard. Living in Portland you want to make sure the heater valve is not frozen or leaking. Engine, transmission and suspension mounts if they are soft or cracked. And get a wiring diagram, find and clean every ground. This should go a long way towards a more reliable ride.
Dave Kelly
Campbell River B.C.
1973 Sport(sold)
1980 Spider 2000(project, aren't they all)
Campbell River B.C.
1973 Sport(sold)
1980 Spider 2000(project, aren't they all)
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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: New Member
Welcome! You mentioned a "new belt", so was that the timing belt? If not, that is one item that should be replaced before you get much further.
I'm sure you'll come across items, but one thing to check would be all the electrical ground connections around the lights front and rear. They are notorious for getting flaky over the years and causing all sorts of intermittent electrical gremlins.
Vacuum leaks in the hoses around the carburetor (I'm assuming yours has a carb) are also pretty common. Check all the hoses for cracking or fraying. Also, keep an eye on the temperature gauge. The cooling system is fairly robust once everything is working as it should, but it doesn't have a large margin of error and so if anything gets slightly out of whack, you can have overheating issues.
-Bryan
I'm sure you'll come across items, but one thing to check would be all the electrical ground connections around the lights front and rear. They are notorious for getting flaky over the years and causing all sorts of intermittent electrical gremlins.
Vacuum leaks in the hoses around the carburetor (I'm assuming yours has a carb) are also pretty common. Check all the hoses for cracking or fraying. Also, keep an eye on the temperature gauge. The cooling system is fairly robust once everything is working as it should, but it doesn't have a large margin of error and so if anything gets slightly out of whack, you can have overheating issues.
-Bryan