Proud new owner of a 1979 Spider 2000

[ScoopMan]

Howdy folks. I just got back from DMV with temp plates. I pick up my new aquisition on Saturday, a navy blue 1979 Spider 2000.

It leaks oil, the steering is loose, the paint job is poor and the seats are beat. However I did not pay very much for it, it runs well and the rust seems pretty limited. It has a decent top and a new exhaust. I believe a previous owner may have already swapped out the crappy oem intake manifold and yanked out all of the stupid smog junk. The seller says the carb is new, not sure what it is, I guess I will find out soon enough.

I will get into the car and find out more about what I am in for. If it is pretty basic front end part replacement to make it safe and fun to drive and a few bad gaskets that are easy to replace to stop the leaks, I will be happy. Anything major and I am not sure how long I will keep it, I really just wanted some low cost fun.

Plus my girlfriend has a serious hankering for a roadster, and my Subaru Legacy GT wagon just wasn't sexing her up quite enough...

[meangreenspider]

Please post photos when you get the chance.

[NJFIAT1981]

Hi Scoopman,
Welcome to the site. Where are you located? How about some pics? George

[ScoopMan]

Hi Scoopman,
Welcome to the site. Where are you located? How about some pics? George

Hey George, thanks for the friendly welcome! I am here in Fairfield, CT.

I will certainly be taking some pix, but I think my gf will be taking even more. I promise I will post some up. As I said Spidy is not in primo shape by any stretch, so don't expect much. My main priority will be to sort out the scariest (safety related) mechanical issues, assuming I don't find anything major. If I find something truly horrifyingly expensive to fix, I will almost certainly pass her on to another willing victim. Right now I am anticipating replacing various suspension parts and a few (relatively) easy to reach engine gaskets, and will probably pop in a new timing belt for good measure. All this in addition to the usual fresh fluids, filters, brake pads, etc... Hoping I don't find any structural rust I could have missed. I don't have the stomach nor the wallet for a major resto.

[Nancy1340]

Welcome Scoopman.

[ScoopMan]

Thanks Nancy!

Can anyone tell me how to post up images from my hard drive? I feel like such a n00b.

[wikkid]

What I usually do is create a free photobucket account, then uplaod pix to there, and you can insert them by clicking on the Img tab at the top of the message screen, and copy/paste the direct link url in between the brackets in your message. Like this:

[wikkid]

PS it helps all viewers if you re-size the pix to be small enough to view easily.
PPS It is possible to embed clickable photobucket thumbnail views directly, so the posts don't get huge, and you don't have to view the full size photo unless you want to. Like this:



I just copy/pasted the image thumbnail link from photobucket into the post.