New member and new (old) spider!

rdrtech · Post by **rdrtech** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:25 pm

Hello to all fellow spider fans,

I am new to this site, been lurking for a while, and thought I would intruduce myself. My name is Carl and I am the proud new owner of a 1980 Fiat Spider. I live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

I had been looking for a Fiat Spider for the last four months. It is the only small convertible that I can fit in and still see through the windshield. I had also driven one before when I was in Germany and really fell in love with the car back then.

This one came from Edmonton, Alberta. It has 180,000 km, mostly highway as the gentleman that sold it to me took it to Newfoundland, BC, California and Florida many times in the last 13 years. It was repainted the original color about 7 years ago and there are many stone chips on the front. The only rust is a small 2 inch patch inside the left rear wheel well. This has just been taken care of.

The motor, transmission, drive train and electrical are in great condition. Timing belt was replaced two years ago and the tranny was rebuilt three years ago. The exhaust was replaced two years ago with a totally stainless steel system. Sounds great.

Cosmetically it is in fair condition. The driver's seat frame has to be rewelded, and the upholstery needs some mending. The windshield will be replaced as there is a large chip at the bottom left. The carpets are in fine shape and the door panels look pretty good. The badge on the hood and trunk are very faded and there is a bit of wear on the steering wheel.

All this is very fixable. I will replace brake pads and all fluids this year. Next year I will probably fix all the cosmetic damage and then the year after perhaps repaint it.

I have uploaded the pictures to Photobucket. Check out my spider album at http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k266/ ... %20Spider/ The pictures show more detail of the car, including most of what I have spoken about.

So far I am totally satisfied and really enjoying the car. We had cruise weekend last week and I received many compliments on the car, even in the condition it is in.

I am looking forward to meeting everone online and joining the many interesting discussions.

fiater · Post by **fiater** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 8:41 pm

Congratulations and welcome to the site. Your car looks very nice to me. If your timing belt's two years old, it may be time for a change. Some Fiat owners change their timing belts every 25,000mi. The good news is; compared to modern cars, it's a fairly easy job.

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 10:19 pm

Very nice looking vehicle. I will bet you will have miles of smiles ahead of you.

Looks like you might have an issue with that driver's seat more or less on the immediate concern level. Like, get 'er done now.

The timing belt should be replaced roughly every 30,000 miles (sorry U.S. citizen with little metric coversion experience other than nuts and bolts). What i mean to say is timing belt age is a dual factor...time and miles.

I've had my carb'd '80 for about 12 years now. love every minute.

you will too.

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 11:25 pm

welcome, and congrats on the Spider.
I hate to disagree with the previous posts, but only the early Spiders with interference motors required t-belt changes every 25-30,000 miles. The later cars would easily go 45,000 miles as long as the front seals aren't leaking oil onto the belt.

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 8:38 am

With all due respect........

Mind you, I have never suffered a timing belt failure, so I do not know first hand the catostrophic damage that can be caused by this failure. I have read about the disasters, and prefer not to tempt failure.

My factory owner's manual for my 1980 carb'd Spider says in red ink Every 30 000 miles

Never being sure of the manufacturer, or inferred quality, of my service parts from our vendor base, I would prefer not to risk this particular piece of maintenance to 50% greater than the factory specificaions....not for a measly $20 belt.

Maybe if our vendors would stop repackaging our new parts so we can tell who made the parts....we might be able to infer a quality level before parts are installed.

rdrtech · Post by **rdrtech** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 11:06 am

Thanks for the welcome and the compliments. The seat will be welded this weekend and I will have to think about the timing belt. The timing belt only has 22,000 KM (approx 14000 miles) on it. The engine is completely dry and was quite dusty, so I know the previous owner had not cleaned the engine before selling, so I am not worried about any fluids affecting the belt.

I am not planning on driving the Spider all year round. It will go into heated storage near the end of October when the first snow flies and pulled from storage around the end of March. I anticipate driving about 4000 miles per year and am very easy on my vehicles so the timing belt should last a couple of more years.

Thanks again

mbouse · Post by **mbouse** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:29 pm

with that amount of information, i agree with your synopsis of the timing belt.

it is a good testiment to the previous owner that you have that amount of information. usually, the PO cannot be communicated with, or is not trustworthy, or didn't pay attention to any maintenance details.

I'm gonna have close to 9-10,000 miles on my '80 this season alone. 30,000 adds up pretty quickly at that pace. That is where I was coming from about calendar age verses odometer age.

You should be fine for a couple of years yet.