Bought a '78 project car a couple months back, to be fair it's more of a rolling shell although even that required removing the calipers.

It needs everything, everything....
To be fair, the glass looks good and most of the sheet metal is solid and straight. There are some perforations between the outer passenger seat mount and door sill.

The interior is a blank canvas (as in it was all gutted and thrown away) and the canvas top disappears into shreds of canvas right where the rear window should be.


Between Allison's and AutoRicambi I've been able to find most of the bits I'm going to need, but there's a few bits I'm scratching my head over. Can someone tell me what the pockets the windows fold down into are called and where to get replacements the previous owner butchered them up pretty good.

Also wondering about this bit of trim


My attack plan is to pull the motor, trans, and steering bits, fit in the new engine & trans to see if I have to do any additional cutting/welding of the interior while I'm patching the floor-pan. Then it's on to fitting a new dash and starting the wiring and plumbing....

Welcome Sparky,
Will be following your restoration with interest.

Those areas circled are all covered and filled by fabric when the top is installed properly.

DieselSpider wrote:Those areas circled are all covered and filled by fabric when the top is installed properly.

Thanks for the tip.

Any idea about the 'rear window pockets' ?

Any idea about the 'rear window pockets' ?

You could post your need for used ones in the "Cars/parts wanted" section of this site and the Mirafiori.com site

So the cold weather is good for something.. We had a nice clear day yesterday so I moved the Fiat outside before work, then went out and literally beat the tar out of it after dinner. Some online videos had suggested covering the tar with crumbled bits of dry ice, but regular old sub-freezing temps work just fine. I found smacking it with the ball-peen hammer was the most effective.



I've been doing some research into wiring harness solutions and have found a number of universal harness vendors which sounds a lot better then building a harness from scratch like I've done in the past. eg. http://www.americanautowire.com/view-pr ... ng-system/ and http://kwikwire.com/14-circuit-wire-harness/ as well as the more expensive painless wiring harnesses...

Does anyone have a wiring diagram for the Fiat column/combo switches? It seems everyone uses the GM turn signal switch as their basis for integrating brake light operation and I'm trying to figure out if they can be made compatible? It seems like the threads with write-ups on custom wiring are mostly full of dead links, so any tips or diagrams would be appreciated.

This link still works: http://www.dcfiats.org/tech/Installing% ... less-C.pdf I'm not sure about American's solution, but Painless uses separate turn and hazard flashers, so there's no difficulty with either integrated brake/turn or stand-alone turn signals like the Spider.

Adapting a universal harness to the Spider is not a trivial job ...



... but the results are significant. Another possibility is to modify a Lada harness. I have one for sale here:
http://www.fiatspider.com/f15/viewtopic ... 11&t=34389

Thanks Bernie! I'd seen mention of your article, but hadn't found an actual link to it.
I've looked at the wiring diagrams and almost everyone (including painless) uses the same setup. I've had to wire up a number of race and street cars from bare metal before. The only thing really foreign is the combining of the brake and turn signals, also I haven't checked the Fiat transmission for reverse and neutral switches...

You're welcome. There's no Neutral interlock on the Spider, but you can re-purpose the emissions switch located on the clutch pedal to perform this action. Good luck with your project, and post progress and photos for others, please.

interesting project you have there. keep up the great work

Found a donor car with a supposedly race-built transmission from someone named Magnesson (no idea on correct spelling). Supposedly loaded with IAT brakes, suspension, carb, electronic ignition, and other bits... It's also a mid-year '78 with the later style rear axle and no driver side hood hinges
Don't feel too bad for it becoming a parts car, the front and other side are not so good.


I could really use a couple photos of the stock mounting location/brackets/orientation for the front seatbelt retractors on the pre and post 78 cars. My good shell came gutted of it's interior and the donor car has been fitted with 4-point harnesses tied to the roll-bar I'm trying to figure out the best place or way to mount some 3-point retractable belts, maybe welding in some reinforced anchors and/or using the roll-bar.

1980 spider

Here's a thread on converting an older two point belt setup to a three point setup.

I did it to my '74 (pictures in the thread).

http://www.fiatspider.com/f15/viewtopic ... &sk=t&sd=a

Your seat belt thread would be a good candidate for a sticky.
I do have those brackets already, so that's good and the location is perfect for use with my harness bar.
I guess the next question is, has anyone come across an aftermarket vendor that offers a modern inertia reel for mounting and orientation like on the fit. My worry is that most reels are meant to be mounted at floor level and deploy vertically so they don't have the dual mounting holes. I could use originals, but the technology inside the inertia reels has changed a lot 30-40 years as has the webbing. Coming from building race cars, those belts need to be replaced every couple years...
Another thread had suggested seatbeltplanet as they have some direct fit kits for the early and late cars however the reels look like they're mounted with a single bolt?

Another thread had suggested seatbeltplanet as they have some direct fit kits for the early and late cars however the reels look like they're mounted with a single bolt?

I believe you a re correct. I purchased a set for my 1981 Spider around 5 years ago. I was assured they met all safety standards but when I got them I was uncomfortable with the single bole. I tried sliding the original metal plate behind the roller so I could use 2 bolts but then the belt would not fully retract. I mounted them using one bolt. Pulling the belts out from their retract position was a real pain. They would come out about 6-10 inches and stop. It would take like a full minute to get the belt out far enough to latch. I ended up taking the new belts off the Seatbeltplanet retractors and installing them on the original retractors. Others seem happy with their product. Seatbeltplanet customer service claimed there was no problem.