Hello from 1978 Spider

[jferrara]

Hi Everyone,

After about 5 years of searching and a life time of stories I finally bought a 1978 Fiat Spider. I've had it 5 days so far and love everything about it!! Engine is in great running condition, needs tune up and brush off from what I can tell so far. Exterior is the original factory red, faded all around but not bad considering the winters we have in the Northeast. Car has been garage kept every winter and never run in the snow or salt. A few rust spots on the edge of the hood but certainly repairable. Interior is in great shape, all original parts and only one small slit in the drivers seat.

Driving the car home was smooth and tight, however the second time I had it out the car stalled on me as I was down shifting going into stop signs/lights. I really think that this is more of my driving (having not driven stick in a while) and not the car but if anyone can shed some light on items that I should look into just in case that would be great.

[pope]

Glad you like your Spider, I think you should drive it for a while first so you can get a feel for the car and get an understanding of what really might be a problem and what could be operator error. New owners are always a little nervous. Leaking gas and oil are a different matter though.

[mbouse]

congratulations. my wife loves her 1978 Spider.

post some pictures as soon as you can.

[rlux4]

Hey J, congratulations on your new Spider and welcome to the forum.
Ron

[jferrara]

Thanks for the responses everyone! I will post some pictures as soon as I can hopefully. Does anyone know of a good Fiat mechanic in or around the Boston area? I need to have the car inspected and would also like someone to take a quick look for problems that I may have missed. Thanks again.

[jferrara]

Opened my trunk last night to clean it out for the first time but now I can't get it to close. Previously the lock would spin when the key was in and turning; I tightened that down from inside the trunk but now I can't get it to latch close. Any suggestions???

Also, when I bought the car the sun visors had already been removed and replacement ones purchased, any idea how to install the new ones??? It seems as though the new ones slide on to the pin already up on the window frame and then a screw is tightened down. Just want some feed back before i attempt it and/or ruin the new ones.

Thanks for the help.

[rlux4]

Do you have the brackets for the visors? They are black plastic with two screw holes to mount the inboard side of the visors on either side of the mirror. The outboard side does just slide onto the pin that is on the soft top latch base.
As far as why your trunk isn't closing, I'm assuming you mean latching. Can you move the latch mechanism by hand? It may be that the rod from your lock (what the key operates) has popped off the latch.
Ron