My new Spider!!

johnssi · Post by **johnssi** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:35 am

Hi Guys, After a great vacation, but chafing at the bit to get home cause I just brought the spider home form south Florida, I've finally had a chance to look things over and am glad to say the car was better than I had anticipated and better than Europa described it to me (Thanks again Europa!). So here I am finally posting some pictures of the new baby! Enjoy and let me know what you guys think. Also a couple of quick questions: 1) Is it a big deal to change the timing belt myself? 2) What is the transmission whine I hear at the top of 2nd and 3rd gear? 3) How can I clean the engine bay? Thanks for the help.

John

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 1:17 pm

i'll trade you for a spider that does not need the t-belt changed! how much easier could that be?

lookin' GOOD.

until you get the time to read up on the procedure, and get the necessary tools you may not have in your collection... my advice would be to have some competent mechanic change the belt the first time. Get some experience and confidence in your wrenching skills before you tackle that one.

30,000 miles or five years will come soon enough.

Gunsmith · Post by **Gunsmith** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:17 pm

Nice car! I can't believe we let that one get away! At least it only went to GA. When you get old you will bring back to FL when you retire anyway.

rlux4 · Post by **rlux4** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:55 am

Very pretty, John. Cleaning the engine bay has been discussed, and it seems most people like something like Simple Green and elbow grease to do the job. Assuming your car is FI, it wouldn't be a problem to pressure wash it. Just cover the dist. and maybe the AFM if the top cap has ever been removed. I can't think of anything else in there that would be hurt by the spray.
I had expert help when I changed out my timing belt, and Mike's right, an expert would be the way to go first time. After you've seen it done, it's really not complicated, but it is different than the usual wrenching most of us are used to.
Thanks for the pics.
Ron

johnssi · Post by **johnssi** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 11:00 am

Thanks for the good words Ron. Question... what is the AFM? I had thought of Simple Green, but then thought of one of the engine cleaners like Gunk. But don't know if that would be the way to go. One of the previous owners had the car done with Ziebart undercoating and while in and of itself, it's a good thing, the gunk is everywhere! Oversprayed a bit in the engine bay, but not terrible. In any event I never thought about pressure washing, just some kind of commercially available cleaner and the hose. Any thoughts?

rlux4 · Post by **rlux4** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 8:14 pm

I was assuming you had a fuel injected car John. The AFM is the air flow meter. It's an important component of the system. It has a cap on top that is sealed but by now most of them have been lifted, so the seal wouldn't be good enough for getting direct heavy spray. What year is your car?
Ron

ga.spyder · Post by **ga.spyder** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:01 pm

John,you are right...the pix didnt do justice to the car! The Simple green works ok,but may not be aggresive enough for undercoating.I did mine with a couple cans of gunk and a brush.I am a little afraid to use high pressure under the hood.So...when you comin' up this way for some mountain cruising? I have a friend in Murphy who has a car that is almost complete and might be able to get a couple Atl boys up for a ride. Congrats on the new toy,that may be the nicest thing to ever come out of Davie,Fla

Craig

johnssi · Post by **johnssi** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 8:11 am

Thanks Ron and Craig! Ron, the car is a1981 and it is Fuel Injected. Thanks for the explanation on the AFM, but where is it located. As you can tell I'm new to all this. I talked to a friend who used to have a 124 and still has all the factory service manuals and is willing to let me borrow them and make a full copy so I'm planning on doing that this weekend, so that should help me out a lot I guess. Craig, I will be heading up to Blue Ridge in August sometime and will let you know when, but I know the car (and me, being nervous) won't be ready for as long a drive as it is, about 6 1/2 hrs.

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 8:17 am

make your friend a generous offer for those manuals. you are gonna want them, and he really has no use for them.

mdrburchette · Post by **mdrburchette** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 7:59 am

Wow, beautiful car! The AFM is going to be a box that is in the air intake system, close to the air filter. Mine are carbed cars so I have no pics.

rlux4 · Post by **rlux4** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 8:07 am

It's the black box in the front, passenger side of the engine bay. It's got the air hose coming off the back of it that goes over your engine to the intake plenum. The air filter is under the lid of it. Sorry it took so long to answer.

Thanks for helping, Denise.
Ron

ga.spyder · Post by **ga.spyder** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:43 am

Hey John...I got it.Tow that beauty up here to enjoy.Then,just leave it with me and I'll babysit

I wont drive it...really...No,I swear

That is a pretty good haul up here from Savannah.Contact me when you are here and we'll get together.
Craig

azygoustoyou · Post by **azygoustoyou** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 9:50 am

Looks really nice!

If you choose to use a degreaser to clean the engine bay, be careful on the strength of it. I once used some degreaser on one of my engines and it must have been too strong. When I rinsed the stuff off, some of the engine coloring came off too. It made me sick. My car only had 11000 miles on it. I just wanted to clean her off. Boy did I.

Just make sure you dilute it to the right mixture.

My new Spider!!

My new Spider!!

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