Hi everyone, thanks for having me! Just bought a 1977 124 Spider and could not be more stoked on it! The weather is still horrible here in Chicago but I couldn't help taking it out the other day and just started cruising around for a few hours. I have already spent hours on here reading as much as I can, but I promise I'm going to have at least a 100 questions to post as I work through everything! I've fixed up a ton of Ford Broncos and Jeeps in the past, but this is my first Italian (or European for that matter) car and there is definitely a bit of a learning curve, especially for someone who is only an "okay" mechanic at best.
First things first, I have a few electrical kinks I need to sort out, such as the gas gauge (flying all over the place), electric fan (not working), blinkers (sometimes working), and dash lights (completely out) and a few other things I can't remember off the top of my head.
Then I am going to dive into the fun stuff and replace the 32 adfa3 carb with a Weber 32/36 DFEV. Been playing around with the carb and I have a strange bog right when I try to accelerate and I can't seem to figure out how to fix it. The bandaid fix I've discovered is to pump the gas and rev the engine higher into the RPMs whenever I come to a stoplight, and after that it works just fine, so let me know if you have any ideas!
After that, I'd like to upgrade to a Vicks single plane intake manifold, header, center pipe and exhaust. Finally, I'd like to upgrade the brakes and throw on a rear anti-sway bar. I should probably do those before I try to make it faster and louder, but this is my fun car and I want it to be as fun to drive as possible.
Looking forward to posting on here soon and would love to hear any advice you guys have!
Hello from Chicago
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- Posts: 6
- Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2022 11:06 am
- Your car is a: 1977 Spider
- Tcamp
- Patron 2022
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Sat May 29, 2021 12:17 am
- Your car is a: 1973 Fiat Spider
- Location: Kimberley, B.C. Canada
Re: Hello from Chicago
Super cool car. Love the colour and welcome to the site!
Cheers - enjoy your experience!
Todd.
Cheers - enjoy your experience!
Todd.
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- Posts: 123
- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2021 9:33 pm
- Your car is a: 1973 Fiat 124 Spider
- Location: Elmhurst, Illinois
Re: Hello from Chicago
Wow! What a good looking car!
I'm super excited to see the build progress. Let me know if you'd ever like some help or if you'd ever like to go for a drive. I'm located in Elmhurst, and I go to College of DuPage.
I'm super excited to see the build progress. Let me know if you'd ever like some help or if you'd ever like to go for a drive. I'm located in Elmhurst, and I go to College of DuPage.
1973 Fiat 124 Spider
2000 Toyota Tundra Limited
1968 Larson All-American speedboat
2000 Toyota Tundra Limited
1968 Larson All-American speedboat
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- Posts: 3798
- Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
- Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Re: Hello from Chicago
Agreed, great looking car, and welcome!
Post your technical questions in those sections of this forum and they'll likely get answered. Just one general thought, and that is that the car seems to be riding an inch or two high off the wheels, likely because the heavy steel bumpers are gone. So, one modification might be to get different springs to lower the body a bit. Any of the usual Fiat vendors can help you with that.
-Bryan
Post your technical questions in those sections of this forum and they'll likely get answered. Just one general thought, and that is that the car seems to be riding an inch or two high off the wheels, likely because the heavy steel bumpers are gone. So, one modification might be to get different springs to lower the body a bit. Any of the usual Fiat vendors can help you with that.
-Bryan