New pictures!!

[travish86]

Hello from Colorado. My name is Travis Hardy. I live in Colorado Springs with my wife and her 14 month old son Kaiden whom I am in the process of adopting. I have three other children from my privious marriage Declan, Aidan and Erin. I love my kids more than anything but the second place to my kids and wife are cars. I am a Camaro freak in heart I have had two one was sold due to financial crisis and one was stolen weeks away from restoration completion. I have been searching the web for a project and something fun until one day I get a Camaro again. Well I found a 1974 124 Spider soft top. It is in fair shape 146,000 mile the drivers side front fender is dented a little undercarriage rust and a transmission that has first gear burnt out for a whoping $500.00. I am already in love with it, it is nothing I have ever considered myself owning but I have looked through the web and seen what is possible for this little car and I am excited. First off I am looking for some help. I need to know if there are rebuild kits availiable for this transmission and if so does anyone have the specs for the tranny if I can rebuild it. Please also I need to know the acutal name for the 5-Speed Trany to find another if that is what it comes down to. A little more about me is I am on my seventh year in the National Guard and 6 of those years have been spent on active duty supporting the War Effort. I Was in the Marine Corps first but I had to Hardship out in my first year due to family issues. I love cars I love the project and challenge they present and I hope to hear from many of you soon.

[Foster48x]

Welcome to the site Travis! You've come to the right place for answers... Just wait a minute and Denise will be here soon to help you out with that 74'

Rick

[travish86]

Thanks for the welcome and the heads up.

[mdrburchette]

Nice meeting you Travis. You've come to the right place for help with your 74. BTW, you may not realize it, but your 74 is special because it still has the chrome bumpers everyone loves and it came with the 1800 engine with 34 DMSA carb and open intake, which equates to lots of fun.
when looking for a swap or parts, the tranny is just a Fiat 124 5 spd tranny. Check with the usual vendors, such as IAP, Midwest Bayless, Vick Autosports, Danny's Fun Imports, AutoRicambi and Midwest 124.
As for specs, pm me your email address and I'll send you the stuff from the Fiat manual.

[travish86]

Yeah not sure about the bumper this one might be a lower trim model than the sport. Not sure still learning but the bumper is bigger than most I see on the sports and it has two big plastic prongs sticking out like six inches ahead. I am going to get out and take a bunch of pictures this weekend and get it all ready to show off to be picked apart by the knowledge base here on the forum. I will take any pointer I can because I know nothing about this vehicle. But hey I married and Italian I may as well drive one;). I am super excited to get this going and hearing from you all. Thanks so much so far.

[NJFIAT1981]

Hi TYravis,
Welcome to the site. How about posting some pics of your new project? George

[ROOK1]

Yeah not sure about the bumper this one might be a lower trim model than the sport. Not sure still learning but the bumper is bigger than most I see on the sports and it has two big plastic prongs sticking out like six inches ahead. I am going to get out and take a bunch of pictures this weekend and get it all ready to show off to be picked apart by the knowledge base here on the forum. I will take any pointer I can because I know nothing about this vehicle. But hey I married and Italian I may as well drive one;). I am super excited to get this going and hearing from you all. Thanks so much so far.

Welcome! An even rarer model. You have a CA/MD '74 where this was the first attempt in "safe" bumpers. I can't tell you if that is better for performance, probably the same or maybe more CA smog junk but I think those are pretty cool, I like cars that are one off. I was looking at a CA '74 from Colorado a while back but I didn't have the funds to get it or the guts to ask the wife if I could. Maybe the same car, Maroon and Black?

[travish86]

I am going to swith it out eventually so if I do I will keep you in mind:). But also thanks for the recommendations on places to look for parts. I got ahold of someone at Vick's Motorsports and man what a wealth of knowledge.

[travish86]

Well I paid a down and hold fee, because the guy couldn't meet me during the week and I was supposed to come an pick up the car last night. The guy sold it out from under me to a guy who showed up and took it for a parts car. I suppose that just really speaks to human nature and how weak morally some people are. So the 74 is gone and the guy who bought it wont sell it even for more and he bought it for. I was rather discouraged after putting down money and selling my motorcycle and daily driver to get it and the transmission rebuilt. I turned up the heat though and I wasn't going to back down after having the taste in my mouth. I looked everywhere in a 600 mile radius to find one that ran and could be a rolling restoration project. To my luck there is on in Midland Texas. I am flying down on Sunday to pick it up. This one is a 1976 that had gone through a restoration once before but now has sat long enough that it needs some more stuff done again. I am excited about this one because I told the guy about my situation and that I am not going to plan to come there all the way from Colorado Springs. I convinced him to hold it until Sunday when I get there. So now I am really sinking into the car if I am willing to fly to Texas to get it, at any rate it makes a good story. So on Monday I will post pictures on the site after the 11 hour drive home. Please someone post a tutorial about posting photos if you would please.

[Foster48x]

Here's a link on how to post pics.
http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... ost+photos

Good luck on the Midland deal!

Rick

[travish86]

So I have a question, TIRES he said the tires are good but I never want to count on someone else's word when it comes to stranding me 600 miles from home. the owners manual says 165 SB or HB 13 what does that level out to on the common market?

[azygoustoyou]

Welcome Travis!
You sure went a long way to get your car. I can't wait to see pic's.
You'll find the forum very resourceful. The people here are awesome and very knowledgeable.

[billstyer]

I just had to get some tires myself. 13" tires are getting kind of scarce, but they are still available. That tire supposedly equates to a 165/80-R13. You will have to shop around - many people claim to sell them, but few have them in stock. Call first! Good luck with the car!

[travish86]

Well here it is at last. and here is the story, It runs and drives but obviously needs restoration. I droveit back to Colorado Springs and boy was than an eventful trip. Things went great until about 12:00 a.m. on my way home I was going a roundabout way to go through Rosewll, NM and that went without a hitch but north of Vaughn, NM I was supposed to turn onto US-84W and I missed it and ended up way off course I back tracked and got to the junction outside of Santa Rosa, NM. I decided to take a nap as I was beat. I went to sleep at 1:30 and woke up at 4:30 to hit the road again. To my surprise the car would not start. I tried every starting technique I could think of being by myself. It would not go. At about 6:30 a guy tried helping me but to no avail, his name is Dave Curtis. Well he gave me a ride to a shop. After talking to them we went and towed the car to the shop. I was hoping for a quick fix but of course no can do. We replaced the wires, plugs, cleaned the distributor, checked the voltage regulator, fuel pump, air flow meter and all the basic starting components you could think of. At about noon my car was dead, my phone was dead, and I was about 400 miles from home. Well my wife had contacted our Church to see if anyone could help but they couldn't. So they called the Church in Santa Rosa. I was sitting at the shop trying to figure out how to get home and someone walked in and asked if I was the guy from Colorado. Well he was the pastor of the church in Santa Rosa. He fed me lunch and let me rest at his diner, the Silver Moon Cafe. His brother-in-law Joey Silva of Silver Moon Auto owned another shop so after he got some time at about 4:30 in the after noon we tried one more tactic to get it running, an idea I had but the other shop wouldn't entertain. I hooked the car to the back of his truck and had him pull-start me. It worked, I am not a car mechanic by any means but I have driven enough beaters to know that as a chance. So I went to the junction again to get some fuel and then the radiator started spraying steam. I opened the hood and it was shooting 15 feet into the air. Well I got some stop leak and sme JB weld patched it up put more collant in it and took off like a light. I made it home at 11:30 and now the real fun begins. I do have to say though there is nothing like driving with the top down at night, what a view. Here are some pics.



This was after getting it started in Santa Rosa, I was walking back to the car and noticed the steam from the hole in the radiator then. Now here are sme pics now that I'm home. If you look real close about a third of the way up the hood seam on the drivers side there is a little steam coming from the hood.









As you can see the upper chrome surround above the grille is missing, if anyone has one let me know.



Rust holes in the drivers door.





Does any one know if I can get this one banged out and smoothed or do I have to replace it?





he swapped out the original carburator for a fuel injection system from an 81. I dont like it it will go back to original.





Here the top is up.

Please now you can see the major stuff please help I am in need of interior and all the old carburator parts and you name it I need it.

[travish86]

Does any one know how well 79 Parts would match up to a 1976?