Hello All

[Martin595]

Hello everyone, it's nice to join this forum and find a place where I can get help for this car as well as provide help if I can.

I live in Edinburgh, Scotland. There are not many Spiders around these parts and I think I have made friends with all local Spider owners - 4 in total.

There are next to no specialists in the UK and I have seen the work of supposed UK specialist DTR on a friends car and the standard was terrible so I have no faith in them. So this forum is a vital like for me.

I have been into classic italian cars for a long time and inherited my Spider from my best friend. It's a 77 CS1 ex Californian car imported to the UK in 91. I received it in pieces with many parts missing which I have been buying from around the world for the last few years.

The car was fairly sound in structure but had many dents and a small amount of rust, the worst parts were the floors and back arch lips were the worst and which I replaced.

I have built my Spider for touring and I like my cars to have a good turn of speed so being a big fan of turbocharging I have transplanted a Lancia Integrale spec 2000 8V Turbo engine into my car. I can cover more detail on it later if anyone is interested. Basically running modern injection and mapped to give around 215 bhp.

Thankfully the build is nearing completion but I still have a few questions and parts to track down. I have a web site which I update with the latest developments on my projects. The web site is http://www.fiat-abarth.co.uk which if you click on enter you will find the details on my Spider.

I look forward to chatting with some of you in the future

[wachuko]

Welcome to the forum. And thank you for sharing the link to your project. It is great to be able to see how you have taken the car from its original state to where it is now. It is coming along great! Do keep posting the progress so we, newbies, can get ideas of how to tackel restoring our cars.

[katsi]

NICE! That Fiat has found itself in some good hands. Keep us posted.

[narfire]

Hi there. Glad you found this place, excellent source of info on just about everything including Fiats.
Scotland eh, you'll find some of us love that liquid export you make, as well as a few footy players. The surgeon that just scoped my knees is a ex pat as well,funny sence of humor while rummaging around inside my knee.

Have you checked Guy Crofts website? He's down the hwy the other side of the wall. Engine upgrade... he's one of the goto guys.
A fellow in Van BC was in the process of stuffing a Intagrale engine into a fiat before the customer ran out of loot.(anyone want to buy an engine?) Looks like he was in the process of cutting the hood(bonnet) to make room, you have the same issue? (Clemente 4-play autosport web site)
Have fun, great international crowd here.
Chris

[wachuko]

Wow! http://www.guy-croft.com/index.php

Another site bookmarked...

Hi there. Glad you found this place, excellent source of info on just about everything including Fiats.
Scotland eh, you'll find some of us love that liquid export you make, as well as a few footy players. The surgeon that just scoped my knees is a ex pat as well,funny sence of humor while rummaging around inside my knee.

Have you checked Guy Crofts website? He's down the hwy the other side of the wall. Engine upgrade... he's one of the goto guys.
A fellow in Van BC was in the process of stuffing a Intagrale engine into a fiat before the customer ran out of loot.(anyone want to buy an engine?) Looks like he was in the process of cutting the hood(bonnet) to make room, you have the same issue? (Clemente 4-play autosport web site)
Have fun, great international crowd here.
Chris

[Europa]

Welcome! Loved reading the 124 restoration details. Very interesting engine choice. Are you planning to use the stock Spider drivetrain?

[mbouse]

very nice, thanks for sharing.

[Martin595]

Thank you for all your messages, to answer a few questions

You cannot chop the bulkhead to fit the original dizzy, I tried. I'm running a converted spider dizzy which gives the phase sensor required for this engine the signal. I'm running off the 1608 cams which are not exactly ideal for a turbo car but I'll see how I like it on the road and if need be I can have another set of cams made. The main thing is I get it finished and on the road.

I'm using an Integrale clutch and flywheel and I'm confident the gearbox will hold up. I'm not sure about the axle but I'll sort something out if it goes.

I've spoken to Guy Croft a few times, he won't touch turbos now and is not really into my kind of thing. He likes N/A which is his thing. I also like N/A but this was not an option for this car.

I will need to get some new pictures and post them. I've been doing a lot of work to finish the car and am hoping to get it more or less done within the next couple of weeks so you can expect some daft questions!

Thanks again

[kilrwail]

Welcome and thanks for joining us. You're doing great work there. I loved Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland when I was there a couple of years ago. You have some awesome driving roads to enjoy!

[rlux4]

Hello Martin, welcome to the forum. Thank you for sharing the site. I'll be looking for more.
Ron

[Martin595]

Hi Ron

Well I'm about to do a tidy up and update of the site this week. I'm going to post more detail about the engine as well as a few videos now the engine is running.

This really is a great forum and I feel I'll find the help and parts required to finish off my project.