New Member from Massillon Ohio

[qcetc]

I just bought a spider 1976.... Had one when I was 20 or so. So I thought I would get another, why who knows cool little cars. This one needs some tlc for some. PO thought he was an electrician and used safety pins and a jumper wire to go from one wire to the other, this was a first. Anyway the car has been converted to electronic ignition that does not seem right, can't rev the motor much before it starts to sputter and want to die. The drivers floor had a hole about the size of a football. I welded in new metal and it looks great. The ignition has been cut up, I changed it to an $8.95 deal from autozone and seems to work so far. The interior drivers seat is shot, looking for one and the drivers door panel top is tore up.. Last night I had to weld the sway bar in the rear, (Broken in half...?) not sure how you break a sway bar.... Anyway it's a little project that hopefully will come together soon. I did not pay much and the body is decent. Looking forward to getting her on the road soon.

Thanks for this great forum! It is a wealth of information!
Pics soon, nothing to get excited about!

[adrians]

Welcome to the forum .... sounds like a lot of TLC is required .... good to see another person coming back to Fiat's after 20 years ... just like me and Ron.

Upload pictures a.s.a.p.

Regards

[rlux4]

Welcome to the fourm, qcetc. Safety pins on the wiring, huh? Maybe the PO was just babying the car.
Ron

[pooldoctorstl]

Congrats on the new toy! You will find this forum a great help in your restoration and if you can do the mechanical stuff yourself, there isn't a thing on these cars that the guys here have not dealt with and will give you guidance. And don't be so sure about not getting excited about your pics. You could post a pic of almost anything and it will get the juices flowing. (I consider myself part of that group now)

[mbouse]

many of us have P.O. stories (previous owner)... sounds like you could already write a chapter or two !!

welcome to the site

[qcetc]

Well after cruising around on the internet I found the problem with the ignition. It has an Allison unit, I found a video on youtube about all the paople that install these wrong. Well after about 5 minutes after watching the video I found that that is exactly what was wrong. The PO had the pickup in the wrong position. Adjusted it and wala! Thing runs great now! Goes through all the gears and sounds good. What a relief. The internet is great. When I was 20 and owned my other car, it was allot of trial and error. I have ordered my interior from world interiors or something like that. I see a few on this board have ordered from them. Kinda hard to beat the prices. I went to Joanne fabrics and got black vinyl and some foam backing to change the door panels and rear panels, they are currently red.
Question, how the heck do you get your hands under the intake to hook up those 2 sensors, I think they are for temp gauges.?? 1 of them is right on top the fuel pump, the other is farther back.

Thanks for all the help so far! I'm sure i'll be asking for more.

Rick

[2ndwind]

Hi Rick,
Welcome to the forum. I was in Massillon this summer, cute town. Kozmo's Grille is the definition of great eats, great beer, great atmosphere and great prices. We went there as often as we could.

I cannot help you on the sensor question as I've just gotten started fiddling with my '82 (replaced front suspension, rebuilt drive shaft and getting radiator repaired). But if you don't get an answer here, post the question on the engine forum.

Enjoy!

[qcetc]

Thanks..
I've got a couple manuals on the way I would assume they will have pictures. Just hoping someone might know off hand. Got the fuel gauge working today, wires were backwards on sending unit.

Thanks
Rick

[mbouse]

you would not believe how common of an error that one is. and, you will find lots of things to complain about that the PO (previous owner) goofed up. We've all been down that road a time or two.

[katsi]

Welcome. Once you have the intake off, you will be able to work under the manifold just by feel. Good luck. Sounds like you're off to a better start that I was.