New Member From the Midwest

[Bodie]

Just bought a 71 Fiat Spider 850. It needs quite a bit of work of course . Unfortuneatly, I am a complete newb so I suspect I will be begging for advice and help quite regularly. I am hoping to get it into driving shape this summer. I'm planning on starting work in about a week once I am done with school. Oh yeah, I am a college student and am hoping to make this the daily driver. brave, foolish and naive all at the same time. ah well, the experience will be worth it.

Bodie

[NebraskaSpider]

Welcome to the forum. Where about in the midwest are you? Im in Nebraska if your close.
Have fun with the car and get some pics up. We all love pics!

[mdrburchette]

Welcome to the forum, Bodie. We wish you the best of luck with your new ride and will help in any way we can. Most of us own the 124 Spider, but there are probably many similar issues between the two.

[kmead]

Welcome! An 850 is a very enjoyable car with a different character from the 124. They are intrinsically simpler cars but have their own idiosyncrasies, chief among them being rust. The Spider has wonderful engine access and a very simple but robust push rod engine. I love my 850 Sport Coupe and look forward to buying a Spider someday.

Among the most important parts of the car are the engine pans that go under the water pump and the one around the exhaust system on the other side. They are critical to proper cooling as the 850 pulls air from under the car, if the pans are missing it will pull the hot air around in a circle through the radiator.

The alternators are rather weak but the electrical systems are very simple with few complex parts. You will want to replace the flasher relay with an electronic one as the old style ones flash very slowly and are rather dim. As always cleaning grounds is an important part of making sure the electrical systems work well.

The front end bushings in the a arms likely need attention as will the kingpins and their bearings. The kingpins will at the least need to be relubed (grease gun to the zirk fittings at the top of the kingpins). The tie rods should be checked but have always seemed to last a long time. The steering box is easily adjusted and is very accessible.

The brake system is also easy to maintain, look carefully at the rubber hoses which likely need to be replaced. The rest of the system is simple and easy to service.

Don't let anyone sit on the rear deck behind the seats as it will bend and is a pain to fix.

Good luck and don't be a stranger.