Father & Son Project - Questions!!!

[dadandson]

Hi, I just found this site and am excited to see such enthusiasm. My 16 year old son and I just purchased a 1980 Spider 2000 with FI. I had a '75 that I restored years ago that I sold when we started a family. My son started to get interested in them and I figured this would be a great project to do with him. The questions I have are as follows:
1. Where can we find a good shop manual for a 1980 Spider - looking for something that will help in a complete rebuild(I had the Haynes before, but it only went as far as 1978).
2. The interior is SHOT. The dash is in good condition, but it is pulled away from the front window a little, any advice on re-fitting the dash? Who has the best interior parts (Carpet kits, Middle and Center Consul, etc).

Lots to do, and we will take pictures along the way. Truly appreciate any and all advice.

[narfire]

Hi there. welcome to the place for fiat nuts.
A couple of things first... a few photos would be nice then where do you hang your hat?
Now all the niceties are done... This is a great place to source parts. There are plenty of members parting out cars, some could be close to you(see above). Craigslist helps as well. Buy a cheap parts car?? The brooklands book covers the 80 fi well, take a look on ebay,several for sale there.
Interior parts,some will chime in on their preferance, but kinda depends on what your willing to spend. New stuff can get up there,but if a wrecked fiat comes along, the interior might be decent.
I like the 80 FI, had alot of fun sorting it out,now as much driving it.
Chris

[mdrburchette]

Welcome! A father and son project will be fun. Some use the vendors like International Auto Parts and Vick's Autosports for interior restoration and some use automotive trim shops or even try their hand at doing it themselves. I don't know what can be done to the dash if it has shrunk from the windshield.

[mbouse]

welcome to the site, Dad. i applaud your team efforts.

lots of good advice already given, and i concur with all of it...
1. getta parts car. what you cannot use, someone else can. your used parts sales will help your budget for new replacement parts purchases
2. besides the vendors Denise has already mentioned (i will get in trouble for mentioning only SOME more).. Midwest-Bayless is about ready to reveal their new site. Auto Ricambi has some good quality stuff. all of the vendors mentioned so far are great to work with.
3. post requests in the classified section here at the forum. lots of us have parts cars even if we are not currently adverstising.
4. remember that vinyl can be painted or covered. dash and consoles are prime candidates for either.
5. door panels are easily built from scratch if you have a pattern to work from. Keep the old units around until you are ready for this project.
6. i use the brooklands manual and the reproduction Fiat shop manual that IAP sells

i am currently researching carpet sources myself. no conclusion yet. check out (in addition to the above) world upholstery

[kuhndg]

Welcome. Wish my son had shown the same enthusiasm. I am in year number three of my restoration, and yes it will be on the road this year! Best advise I can give you is read the old threads on this site. Many of the issues you will encounter along the way most likely are already posted here. Example, the nightmares of changing a starter. A lot of the people here have already experienced some of the nightmares that exist with these cars, and have addressed secrets to simplified solutions.

As for your dash...where are you going to start and stop? If you plan on replacing the carpet, you will have to tear out your interior anyway, start there. I reinstalled mine yesterday, there are two nuts located on each side of the cowell. Two more located on each end of the dash. You should be able to push the dash forward and re-tighten the nuts. Might want to loosen them up a little first.

As for the carpet, I purchase a set on EBay that were absolute garbage. I ended up using them as templates and cut my own. I hope to post pics in the next week.

Good luck!

[kuhndg]

Welcome. Wish my son had shown the same enthusiasm. I am in year number three of my restoration, and yes it will be on the road this year! Best advise I can give you is read the old threads on this site. Many of the issues you will encounter along the way most likely are already posted here. Example, the nightmares of changing a starter. A lot of the people here have already experienced some of the nightmares that exist with these cars, and have addressed secrets to simplified solutions.

As for your dash...where are you going to start and stop? If you plan on replacing the carpet, you will have to tear out your interior anyway, start there. I reinstalled mine yesterday, there are two nuts located on each side of the cowell. Two more located on each end of the dash. You should be able to push the dash forward and re-tighten the nuts. Might want to loosen them up a little first.

As for the carpet, I purchase a set on EBay that were absolute garbage. I ended up using them as templates and cut my own. I hope to post pics in the next week.

Good luck!

[dadandson]

Thanks for the info. I would like to cut my own carpets but need a template. The car is missing most of the interior carpets. Is there anyone who has a template/pattern? If it was in PDF, it could be printed off at Kinko's and be real useful.

As for the depth of the interior restoration, I would like to go all the way! The car runs great, the body is perfect, paint is very good, but the interior is shot! Apparently it had the Aniversary Edition interior (Brown/Tan combo). We plan to make it Black on Black.

Templates for carpeting would be welcome.

Thanks!

[kuhndg]

I will donate mine to the forum. What ever it cost to ship, they are yours. If anyone else needs them, return the favor.
pm with your info.

Bob

[dadandson]

Hi there. welcome to the place for fiat nuts.
A couple of things first... a few photos would be nice then where do you hang your hat?
Now all the niceties are done... This is a great place to source parts. There are plenty of members parting out cars, some could be close to you(see above). Craigslist helps as well. Buy a cheap parts car?? The brooklands book covers the 80 fi well, take a look on ebay,several for sale there.
Interior parts,some will chime in on their preferance, but kinda depends on what your willing to spend. New stuff can get up there,but if a wrecked fiat comes along, the interior might be decent.
I like the 80 FI, had alot of fun sorting it out,now as much driving it.
Chris

Thank Chris, we live in the Seattle area. We will get some pics up soon, I need my son to do that as he is better with tech stuff. We are trying to figure out the budget (son needs to get more hours at work to chip in with his 50 percent), but we would like to either replace the center and middle console, or have them recovered in black. Also we want to re-carpet in Black and recover the seats. Kind of go all out, but still be a "driver".

[rlux4]

Hi dadandson, welcome to a great forum. There is a group of entusiasts in your area, Fiat Enthusiasts Northwest, who I believe are centered around So. Seattle and Renton. They have a gathering each spring in Isaquah at the XXX, you should hook up with them. One of thier members, Darsie, is an expert on interior (and exterior for that matter), so she's one you should definitely look up.
Here's the websight for the club; http://www.fiatnorthwest.org/index.html
Ron

[dadandson]

Well my son just schooled me on how to add photos to the post - I still am lost, but he knows how to get it done. this is our project car. We intend on making the interior black, and keeping the exterior dark green. We are really looking forward to getting the interior started asap! We live in the Seattle, WA area and intend on joining the NW Fiat club.

[stefhahn]

Hi Dad and Son,

Welcome - and what a nice father-son-project! I did love the dad-son-project when I was 16, we did build an electric organ, still fun even I could not drive it (but play, ok).
Re manuals Nathan has put something together, read here: http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7537

ciao,
Stefan

[jfrawley]

Looks like a nice car to start with. Good luck.

Hey, wait a minute.......I better go check the garage to make sure mine is still there!

[mbouse]

Templates for carpeting would be welcome.

Thanks!

i too, am in the tear down phase of a complete restoration. my carpeting will be removed permenantly next month. I will pass it on to anyone for the price of shipping. it is grungy, but great for a template.

[spiderrey]

Allison,s automotive is also a good source for parts and free info. I dont get it, he is never mentioned when people give out lists of vendors. But he is always there when people need advice or parts. And he is the forum moderator.I just dont get this, I see it over and over. Baffeled......