From OH

[2ndwind]

Hi All,
Newbie from OH. Just bought a red/tan 82 Spider.

Steve

[2ndwind]

More info: It is a Chattanooga, TN car (have orig. bill of sale) with 87K orig. mi. on it. No underside rust. NO handed down history on this car. From my general experience with cars and my mechanic who has worked on Fiats for 25+ yrs, here's our take. Was a one-owner car for a very long time, was hit in left front (bondo cracking a little), more recent owner had it financed, lost it to repo, KY dealer bought it, traded it to seller for another car, I bought it in a part of KY where the only other foreign vehicle within 50 miles was my Toyota Tundra.

I can fix near anything but diagnosing is another issue. It was growling when running. Something with the starter solenoid? Replacing starter and having wiring corrected. Gas gauge goes to full when headlights turned on. How cool is that! Some would call it a 5 footer or maybe a 7/10. Got it cheap.

Steve

[rlux4]

Welcome to the forum Steve. You've got a match to the "twins" out here in California. Trey (htchevyii) and I have the same year and color combo. Is the sound a growling, or a grinding? A lot of owners aren't satisfied until their car does growl. Through the exhaust, that is. Does it do it if you push start it so the starter doesn't get engaged?
Keep us posted, and let us see pics of your new car.
Ron

[mbouse]

hi and welcome, Steve.

prolly the most frustrating of all... and common to any newbie ... is sorting out the electricals. for whatever reason, nearly all just purchased antique cars have electrical issues.

90% of those issues are resolved by fixing the grounding points. clean and tighten all grounds.

course, that is AFTER you show us some pictures of your new car!

[htchevyii]

welcome to the forum Steve and congrats on purchasing the finest year and model of Fiat!

[kristoj]

Welcome fellow Ohioan! Can I assume you are from the Southwestern part of the state with the Kentucky dealer connection? I'm up in NE Ohio. You'll find plenty of advice here to get her running well. You should also consider joining FLU.

[racydave]

Hey, and welcome. Fiat ownwer are spread a little thin here in the Mid-West. Hope we can help in some way.

[2ndwind]

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

No pics yet. I had the car here for about 4hrs on the trailer but it wouldn't start again so I couldn't get it off the trailer. I had already arranged to have the timing belt changed as I have no idea when it was last (if ever) done. I haven't done a timing belt in 20 yrs so I'm having it done. Because it wouldn't start, I couldn't even begin to figure out the starter/grinding issue. It is more of a grinding sound. The car does growl nicely at the tailpipe end, though, when running. Thankfully, my trusted body shop guy sent me to a nearby euro auto shop. They had some absolutely beautiful cars in there being worked on; mint Jag XK 140, Two Rolls Royces, a Carerra, Pantera, and mint XKE. There were two exc condition Fiat spiders outside, a late 50's Alpha spider, Several "newer" Alpha spiders, and an unusual fastback Jensen.

Turns out "Bob" has completely rewired these cars when necessary. He also said people get into the wiring without knowing what they are doing and make quite a mess. He told me how to test the starter to see if it was the starting switch, solenoid or starter itself. Because I couldn't get it down from the trailer, I just took it to them to get it, at least initially, sorted out. Bob did the tests on the starter and determined it is the starter itself sticking. He found the intake air hose was loose giving false readings to the O2 sensor so it wouldn't start until he tightened up the hose.

I know these things require care and feeding and am glad I found this forum. Again, I CAN make most repairs (not interested in wiring issues though) if the problem is diagnosed properly. Btw mid westerners I'm in Cincinnati.

Steve

[cincifiat]

Hey Steve,

Welcome, I'm also from Cincinnati, actually Loveland but close enough. I'm also fairly new to the forum. I have a 1980 Fiat Red and tan interior. I also had a few of those electric bugs myself and the Form really has helped.

We need to get together sometime. What part of town are you in? Post some pics when you get chance.

Ray

[2ndwind]

Ray,
You probably drive by my house. I'm next to you in Montgomery, facing Hopewell Rd.

Steve

[2ndwind]

Finally got it back. I'll try to download the pics.

[rlux4]

Let us know when you get fed up with the cloudy clock face, it's pretty easy to make a clear new one for it.
BTW, welcome to the 82 (best year Spider ever made) owners club.
Ron