Yearning for a ride in my Spider

[Rascal]

New member here, old-time Fiat Spider owner.

My current one is a 76 Spider 124 cv that's been sitting in my garage for 14 years.
It was running fine then, but the brake anti-lock valve for the rear discs was frozen.
It's been languishing in the garage for 14 years now. The body is in perfect, rust-free condition.
I'm the 2nd owner and it's lived in a garage all it's (her) life. The upholstery, interior and top are in great condition.
The receipt from the dealer and the owners manual are still in the glove box.

A friend saw the car and offered me $500 for it. I've been considering it, but I just recently retired and
have got this crazy notion I want to take my beautiful little red Italian sports car for a Sunday drive on the one day of the year
that it's sunny here in rain city.

I have no idea what it's really worth or if there's anyone in Seattle who works on these.
I did rebuild the engine of my first 124 myself a verrry long time ago, when my philosophy was, "Life's too short to NOT have a convertible".

[Foster48x]

Hi Rascal welcome to the forum. If the brake compensator's the only thing that's not working it's definitely worth more than $500. But I'm sure if it's been sitting for that long there's probably a few other items that need to be serviced. I would keep it and see if you can get it running again. There's plenty of helpful people here that will get you back on the road.

Rick

[Zippy]

Rascal,

Welcome to the forum. I am not far from you in Federal Way. If you decide you want to sell it let me know and I will come take a look at it. Have you been starting the engine periodically during the last 14 years. If not there are some procedures you should follow before trying to start it that could possibly protect the engine from damage.

Here is a post about what to do to get it going again.
http://fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic.php ... ars#p76346

There are lots of other posts here about getting it going again. Just type in what you want to know in the search box.

[Rascal]

Thanks for suggestions. Unfortunately, I haven't tried starting the engine for about 10 years.
I'll try those first steps and see if it turns over.

[Zippy]

If you need help let me know. I can bring up my compression tester and timing light and see what we can do.

If you know the part that is bad on the brakes you might want to get one ordered.

Al

[narfire]

Hi there and welcome. If the body is in good shape,then you are likely able to sort most of the mechanicals yourself and before long,hopefully before the November rains, you'll be up and running in a well sorted convertable.
If you don't have one ,get a manual or two,and metric tools and your good to go... sort of.
This place is a great place for questions,answers and parts sources, among other things.
Have any pics?

[Rascal]

I'll have to make a closer inspection. Maybe I can get a pic. It's very tight in the garage.
I'm not even exactly sure how I'll get it out My dear wife piled pales of compost in front of the garage.
I hope the tires will hold enough air to roll it out.

I have tools and a manual (if I can find it). On my last attempt to get it roadworthy, I replaced the battery, got the engine started up, rebuilt the master cylinder and the brake calipers. I couldn't bleed the rears, it seemed the brake compensator was stuck. I didn't have enough work space (6" from my face) and couldn't get it loose. Maybe if it was up on a lift.

[Rascal]

The engine turns freely using a wrench on the cam pulley, with obvious compression.
Brakes seem firm. Got the tires pumped up, holding air, so I can roll it out of the garage.
Here's some pictures...

[SLOSpider]

Might want to re consider your friends if they are low balling you at $500.00. It could easily fetch 3 times that amount without much trouble.

[Zippy]

Might want to re consider your friends if they are low balling you at $500.00. It could easily fetch 3 times that amount without much trouble.

I wouldn't be so hard on the friends. If someone showed me a 1976 Spider that hadn't been run in 14 years, and it had brake problems, I would start at $500 too. Especially with the air cleaner missing and no belt on the smog pump. Who knows what's happened to the cars internals. If someone wants to take the time to at least get it running and make sure the brakes work I would be willing to go $1000 to $1500 without a thorough inspection. I might go higher if I could take the car for a test drive and poke around looking for rust and such. Although just looking at the pictures I would say it is probably worth a lot more than $500, especially if it runs and there is no rust.

It looks like you have a great candidate for a restoration, even if it's just to get it running again and drive it. Make sure you check your guibo and those 14 plus year old tires for rot.

Al

[SLOSpider]

When you get the car out I call dips on the hidden motorcycle

[Rascal]

When you get the car out I call dips on the hidden motorcycle

That's my 1969 Honda 450, my next restoration project

I do have the air cleaner and the belt cover

[Rascal]

After a thorough inspection, everything looked good. In a moment of irrational optimism, I pulled the battery (which was full, with no plates exposed) and put it on a trickle charger over night. It seemed to hold a charge I put it back in the car and with the fuel line and distributor disconnected, it turned the engine over vigorously, even to the point that the oil pressure light went off. Airhorns tooted with exuberance.

Against my better judgment, I hooked everything back up, gave the carb a good shot of starting fluid and she started up!!
The bit of lube I put in the cylinders burned off and she settled into a smooth idle.

Now I really do believe in miracles!
Tomorrow I may go for a slow ride around the block. WooHoo

edit: after studying the manual, I'm wondering if I did something really stupid 14 years ago, like trying to bleed the rear brakes with the axle up in the air, which would have activated the rear brake compensator.

To be continued in another forum...

[Zippy]

Looks like tomorrow is going to be great Fiat weather in the Puget Sound area. I'll be taking mine out for a spin for sure. I had a little pinging last week when I took her out so I adjusted the timing today. Didn't have time to road test her yet.

[Rascal]

It was a beautiful day, Zippy, I hope you got a ride in. The 14 y.o. battery is still holding a charge, started it 3 days in a row. I went for very short test ride today, very cool. Here's a couple pics...




Ride is a little bumpy due to sitting on flats. It's truly amazing how well it runs, considering. Still a lot of little stuff to do...