The backstory: My dad has this Fiat. I have loved this lovely lady since as long as I can remember. It has been garaged for about the past 15 years. Over Thanksgiving, I was able to grab some pictures. I'd love to fix it up and, to me, it looks to be in good shape... What do you guys think?
She was a bit covered up at first:
Aaaaand a literal squirrels nest in the back:
She definitely needs a wash and a little love, but overall, seems to be in pretty good shape. I just got back so can't update too much, but more pictures to come (engine and under)!
go for it. it will be a lot of fun putting it back on the road. you can learn lots and have fun while doing it, its fun seeing the results of your work. looks like a solid car to start with, just read up on where to look for rust and be sure the chassis is in good shape.
Automotive Service Technology Instructor (34 year Fiat mechanic)
75 spider , 6 Lancia Scorpions, 2018 Abarth Spider, 500X wifes, 500L 3 82 Zagatos. 82 spider 34k original miles, 83 pininfarina, 8 fiat spider parts cars
son has 78 spider
It looks like it should clean up nicely. I don't know how anyone could let one of these cars sit up unless it was health related.I can't seem to stay out of mine. Good luck !
Hint....drag it out and give it a good wash... you'll love it even more and perhaps inspire you to get cracking on it.
Get a list of things to be done that won't break the bank and tackle them one at a time so not to have 6 different things going on at once. ie. remove and clean the fuel tank, perhaps might have to change out the steel fuel lines. Have the fuel system sorted, then how are the brakes? These two things are real important obviously but you don't have to spend alot of money to get these things sorted. Going to need some metric tools though.
have fun and take pics.
Chris
80 FI spider
72 work in progress
2017 Golf R ( APR Stg. 1)
2018 F350 crew long box
courtenay wrote:And don't, don't, don't drive before you change the timing belt!
Even though this is a non interference engine between the valves and pistons, the # 2 rod can contact the lobe on the end of the aux shaft that drives the fuel pump. Big bang and potential hole in the side of the block or at least the lobe getting broken off and falls into the oil pan . This can happen just with the engine turning over with the starter.
Yeup, I'd put that under the drive train along with u-joints, flex disk, change tranny and rear end oil, Again not too expensive but mostly just your time. Going to end up swapping out the electric pick-up in the dist as well. Wires are likely toast.
80 FI spider
72 work in progress
2017 Golf R ( APR Stg. 1)
2018 F350 crew long box
Where should I be looking for rust? Or rather, how much is too much? I apologize for the lack of quality in these pictures; we didn't have a jack with us, so I just stuck my hand under and randomly shot pictures:
"I don't know how anyone could let one of these cars sit up unless it was health related"
Looking at the 3rd to last picture of that huge dent in the oil pan may be what forced this car to be parked for the last 15 years. Its possible the oil pump is broken. This is the absolute first thing to check.
Last edited by manoa matt on Mon Nov 26, 2012 4:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
manoa matt wrote:"I don't know how anyone could let one of these cars sit up unless it was health related"
Looking at the 3rd to last picture of that huge dent in the oil pan may be what forced this car to be parked for the last 15 years. Its possible the oil pump is broken. This is the absoulte first thing to check.
first thing I saw as well. That alone could be the culprit and could possible have lead to a bigger problem, but lets hope not.
Over the years I've seen several pictures of dented oil pans with broken pumps/pickups. they often looked less beat up than the pan posted above. Even if that's the problem, fear not; these engines are easy to work on!
I noticed that oil pan dent, too! Hopefully, it's mostly in the front, and not crushed from below.
You 'should' be able to remove the top nuts on both motor mounts, and loosen the trans to downpipe bracket. With that done, use a cherry picker to raise the engine up off the motor mounts. This little bit of clearance will be a PITA, but you can now remove the oil pan. It's a 3 dimensional jigsaw puzzle, but if I could do it, you can too!
Once you have the pan off, you'll see that the oil pickup on the oil pump hangs very low, right at the bottom of the oil pan. The pickup hangs from a fairly thin 'finger' that attaches it to the oil pump. This thin 'finger' is fragile, and if the lower oil pickup took a hit, you can have a crack in the finger which will cause crummy oil pressure. Just like a straw in a milkshake that has a split, it'll suck air instead of oil. This potential oil starvation will cause horrific bearing wear, and that causes engine knock.
While you have the pan off to inspect the oil pickup, you can pop off the crank caps & inspect your bearings for wear - this should show whether or not the engine died from oil starvation.
If it looks bad, better to know at the start of the project. You can either rebuild the block, or swap in a used one that's known to be good. I've done it both ways, and my recommendation would be to rebuild it so that you absolutely, positively know it's good-to-go.
If all this looks ok, then replace the bearing caps (keep track of which one goes to which one!), pop in a new oil pan gasket, and put it all back together. You now know the 'heart' of the car is ok - everything else builds upwards from here.
I HAVE A GOOD FEELING THE PUMP PICK-UP IS BROKEN OFF. WHEN I HELPED A FELLOW COUPLE OF YEARS BACK, SAME DENT IN THE PAN. WE WERE LOOKING FOR THE END OF THE AUX SHAFT THAT HAD BROKEN OFF AND FELL INTO THE PAN BUT WHEN I STUCK MY HAND IN THE PAN, THE PUMP PICK-UP WAS ROLLING AROUND IN THERE AS WELL. HE HAD DRIVEN IT FOR SOMETIME LIKE THAT AND WONDERED WHY THE OIL LIGHT WOULD COME ON ON OCCASION WHEN GOING AROUND CORNERS. THE OIL LEVEL WAS GOOD ENOUGH I GUESS THAT FLAT AND STRAIGHT, THE ENGINE GOT ENOUGH OIL.
TIME TO JACK THE ENGINE AND DROP THE PAN AND HAVE A LOOK.
80 FI spider
72 work in progress
2017 Golf R ( APR Stg. 1)
2018 F350 crew long box
That is a great project in the making. It looks to be complete and if not badly rusted, would be an excellent way into a really nice car when done. These cars are very easy to work on and there is little that cannot be fixed on them. I tend to be a bit anal about things (former aircraft mechanic bubbles to the surface sometimes), but I'd probably pull an engine that's been sitting for 15 years and go through it so I would know there are no issues lurking. That oil pan dent may very well be the reason the car was parked and lends more of a reason to pull the engine.
Given the family history of that car, it's worth going the extra mile to get her running again. There is a whole lot of happiness sitting under that dirt just waiting to be brought back to life.
