Spider lovin'

[124ADDHE]

Hello, I have been on mira for 11 years; It looks like this is a great site too. I have a 1981 Spider with a 1.8l built up motor with tube headers and sidedraught 40 Solex carbs. I will drive this and my 87 VDP V12 until the day i die.

Keith

[meangreenspider]

Sounds like a nice car. Where are you located and can you post photos?

[jfletchx00]

What is the site for mira? Seems like something to check out

[adrians]

http://www.mirafiori.com/forum/

[124ADDHE]

Hello. I live in Salmon Arm, BC, Canada, approximately 1 hour north from Kelowna or 4.5 hours from Vancouver; its a nice area in the mountains with gnarly, twisted roads, just the ideal terrrain for the Spider

Does anyone want to get together Next Spring for a ride in the BC area?

Here are some Pictures, I sprayed my first paint this Spring, its a dupont centauri urethane paint - I learned a lot about painting. this turned out ok but I am not happy with the colour (1st thing i learned was to look at the "colour book" in the natural light outside, not in the light of the supply shop; it looked much darker of a colour in there), I will respray darker this winter, I hope. I also learned #2 lesson: Light in your spray booth is paramount!!! I used the normal lighting of the garage with a LED light on my head for backup and sprayed at 11pm!! Anyone whom has painted will know what a f-up that is, to paint with crappy lighting! Result was about 7 runs that take major time to fix. Painting your car is NP with some experience though, Im painting my 87VDP Midnight blue with silver flake (prob) and just bought the paint to do our 00 HSE this next spring (we need it for the looming snow now!) with the dupont "nason" in the VW colour "Paprika" (colour of the pepper), which my wife picked out - Just a note, if you buy red paint, be ready for a major surcharge, the cost was $280 over say a green or blue colour, due to the pigment - red costs a lot!! Paint totalled $460.

[124ADDHE]

P.S. I am taking the pistons (from 1.6, yielding 10.5-1 with my shaved head) out of this engine (1. and swapping them into a 2.0 block because I know the 2.0 have the nitrided crank and the extra stroke will work nice with my carbs. I also have 3 sets of tube headers with a ansa 4-2-1 hooked up currently and plan on cutting one set apart and building a unit with longer 20" primarys which are closer to equalized (the Ansa OR IAP header has like a 12" primary on #4 and a 18" on #1, what a poorly manufactured unit!!).

[narfire]

Hi Keith. I'm down the street from you in Naramata (kinda). Nice to see another fiat in the area. Car looks great,bet its a hoot to drive. There are a few fiats around here,latest being a younger fellow with a 79 that is getting sorted while he drives it.
I have a small collection of bits and pieces that have somehow migrated to my shop. If you need anything,just ask, I might just have it.
Only a few more weeks before the insurance expires,so I hope to get a few more days in.
Pm and I'll pass on the email address.
Chris
ps was there a brake booster behind that MC?

[kilrwail]

Hey - Welcome to the site! Not only do I know where Salmon Arm is, I've been there! My brother lives next door in Sicamous. He drives a C5 Corvette but he's always liked my Fiat. Take Chris up on his offer - he really needs to clean out his shop! Good luck with your new paint.

[124ADDHE]

Sicamous is a nice place, little Calgary as it is known!!

Chris, thank you for the offer, I extend the same, I am on my 3rd Spider and have 2 parts cars that I need to hurry up and strip

We should maybe get together in the spring for a tour of some nice strip of road, I would like to make a trip down to the sunny south anyhow.

Yes, there was at one time a brake booster there. I am going to get a cold-air intake going, I loose way too much power in the summer sucking all that heat from the engine in.

Keith