Around 1984 or so a man (Later to be my father in law) found a 1970 Fiat Spider 124 Convertible rusted under a tree in a neighbors yard. He made the guy an offer which was accepted and the story began. Over the next couple years the man and his 14 year old daughter went over every inch of the car. The car had the original engine and mostly all original parts. After a couple years of body work, engine repairs, and TLC the car was in great shape and the daughter drooled at the idea of the Fiat being hers when she was 16. Well that didn't happen. She instead got the old Ford pickup with the steel pipe bumpers haha!
Well I eventually married the girl in 1997 after our paths crossed in 1995. In 2002 her parents surprised her and drove the car down from north Georgia to our house in Florida and gave it to her. So it became ours. We had a blast in the car for quite some time, then kids came, priorities changed, I sold my VW's, but we always kept the Fiat. I'm a pretty well mechanically inclined guy having been a diesel and outboard mechanic during my days in the Coast Guard, but carburators have always been my nemeisis. Perhaps it's all the little parts and meticulous adjustments. Well in the past year the car was not used as often as we'd have liked and of course the fuel bug reared it's ugly head.
I've since replaced all the fuel lines, the fuel pump, and cleaned the carb as best as possible without completely disassembling. Car has been back up and running well except for at idle. It would barely idle and you had to feather the gas to get going without it stalling. Being that I despise carburetors, I consulted the father in law who told me where to start looking. I eventually found a simple problem, a bad diaphram on the Weber 26/34 DHSA-1 causing a vacuum leak. With the help of this forum, I was able to identify the part and the carburetor itself and the repair kit is now on the way via UPS.
So while I may not be a regular contribotur here, I'll be sure to check in periodically and especially when I need help!
Her's a couple pictures of the car:
I still have the tattoo at least. 
