Just purchased my '75 spider!

[PeterD]

I just bought my '75 124 Spider yesterday, and I am very glad to have found this forum! I am greatfull for all of the information I have found thus far, and I can't wait to share my experiences with my car as well. Thanks again!

-Peter -Bakersfield, CA

[sonosml]

Welcome Paul. Good luck with your adventure. I too drive a 75 spider. used to drive and still have a 74, which I like the bumper setup better, but the 75 is a far better car, based on condition.

IA-Mike

[rlux4]

Hello Peter. Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on your new car. Is this your first Spider?
I'm just over the hill from you, in Lancaster. (Yes, before the jokes start, I am "over the hill" in more ways than one.)
Ron

[SLOSpider]

Welcome and May your shock towers have more metal than my 1975 Spider has...

Did someone say Cactus?

[2ndwind]

SLO, is that another good looking red spider in 2-wheel form?

[SLOSpider]

I thought everyone knew that my SPIDER was a TRANSFORMER

In fact, just this last week it turned from a good running Spider to a Rusted out piece of jacked up driveway art......

[PeterD]

I actually used to live in Lancaster, as a matter of fact! This is my first Fiat (I also have an '01 Focus, and a BMW 540 6speed in my stable). I've already fixed a vacum leak, and still need to figure out how to adjust my air/fuel ratio on my carb. ...So what's this about the shock towers??? 0.o Thanks again for all of your support! -Peter

[PeterD]

I actually used to live in Lancaster, as a matter of fact! This is my first Fiat (I also have an '01 Focus, and a BMW 540 6speed in my stable). I've already fixed a vacum leak, and still need to figure out how to adjust my air/fuel ratio on my carb. ...So what's this about the shock towers??? 0.o Thanks again for all of your support! -Peter

[SLOSpider]

Lets just say its a good idea to remove any undercoating of the shock towers before buying a Fiat...

[PeterD]

[quote="SLOSpider"]Lets just say its a good idea to remove any undercoating of the shock towers before buying a Fiat...

WOAH! >0.0< Is that from corosion, or did they bust through due to age and stress? I need to go look that up in some other posts.
So what would be your best advice to a mechanicly-savy newbie? (In regards to the car, and the site [I've never been a member of a forum before lol])

[SLOSpider]

I was a bit ignorant to the well known fact that the Spiders are known to have this kind of rust out in the shock towers although all the Spiders I have owned in the past (4 of them) never had this issue. It was all very well hidden by Fiats extra thick undercoating. Lesson learned for me.

I cant really tell yet untill I cut them out where the moister is getting in between the sandwiched panels. At first I thought it was the holes in the hood area but the inside of the shock towers always seem ok. Somewhere, and maybe someone else knows, water is getting into the outer shock tower panels from above and rusting them from the middle inside and out. If I had the skills I would replace all the outer panels with thicker solid metal with a good dosing of rustproofing!

[carl55]

If I remember the story correctly. They were undercoated after they arrived stateside, after being shipped on the open deck of a ship. The ones that rusted the worst are the ones recovered from the shipwreck.

Carl