1979 Spider Restoration

[courtenay]

I don't - but if you email him, I'm sure he will give you some details. You can also do a search on this forum for his rad as several members have installed it.

[Landhawk]

Update 5/6/12:

I had some time to work on the car yesterday and decided to work on the fuel tank/lines.

I had previously cleared out all the junk in the trunk





The removal of the tank went pretty smoothly, had to use a good amount of PB Blaster and remove everything slowly so I didn't break any of the pieces, especially the old school clamp that was holding the filler tube to the tank (same style that was on the radiator hoses and kept snapping off). Probably the biggest issue was that there was about 6 gallons of fuel in the tank that had to be siphoned out. I figured there would be some so I let the siphon work while I did some other things and when I checked it, it almost overflowed a 5 gallon bucket in the garage. Now I need figure out what to do with about 6 gallons of old dirty fuel.





The tanks looks to be in good condition, no major rust and just a little dent on the bottom.





Any suggestions on if I should seal the inside of the tank? If so, what product should I use?

Next I went and pulled out the drivers seat to get a look at the floor pan and fuel lines.



At first glance I didn't think it looked too bad, but the area along the rocker panel where the fuel lines are is in pretty bad shape.





Welding some patches will be in my future...

Need to remove some more of the rubber-like painted on coating to get a good look at the damage. Any suggestions on making that easier?



On a different note, I did contact Mark about his radiator package. I think that is the route I'll be going.

All for now.

[124JOE]

the tar comes off easy when froze.i used a 1inch putty knife to peel it up
use some POR 15 on that rust

you can use fiberglass mesh with the por 15 paint instead of welding
its prety strong when you use three layers

[Landhawk]

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted an update. I haven't had much time to work on the car, but have been able to work on taking small parts off and cleaning them, finished removing all of the interior except the dash, sanded and painted the tank, etc... After looking at the car & engine and evaluating, I decided to pull the engine and rebuild (see this post in the Performance section for more detail: http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... 17&t=17963).

Yesterday I began the process of getting the engine out. Like everything on this car, it takes more time than I thought it would

Engine at the start of the day:



Removed Carb (Couldn't believe how many hoses were connected to the carb and intake, glad those two pieces will not be going back on):



Removed the alternator and fuel vapor canister:



Disconnected the down pipe from the header: (I snapped off one of the threads on the header in this process, found that I need to go slow removing some of the pieces) Guess I'll be replacing that part as well.



Went ahead and hooked up the engine hoist:



Here was my backup mechanic for the day (Bella):



That's about as far as I got yesterday. I also took a cutting wheel and cut off the exhaust behind the down pipe. Will need to replace that whole setup since the cats will not be going back on.

Next step is to disconnect the driveshaft. Any tips on that?, my plan is to remove the bilbo (doughnut) bolts and disconnect there. Also does anyone know if I need to remove the starter or can I just disconnect wires and pull out with engine?

Will continue to take photos and document as I go...

[124JOE]

for the drive shaft
remove the four bolts at the rear
and the berring nuts
then pull out of tranny
leave the donut alone unless it needs a new one

[Landhawk]

Thanks for the tip. This was pretty easy to do.

for the drive shaft
remove the four bolts at the rear
and the berring nuts
then pull out of tranny
leave the donut alone unless it needs a new one

[Landhawk]

Wanted to post another update as of 6/11/12

The engine removal continues, decided to remove the head because I plan on removing the trans. with the block and read that removing the head would give more clearance / room to work.

The cylinder walls look pretty good. Looks like the head gasket was either starting to or had gone bad.



It's ready to come out, just need to have someone come over and assist with the removal process (hopefully later this week).

On a different subject, I've definately got the Fiat bug and my restoration project has taken a different turn. I purchased another 79 Spider last week.



This one is in much better shape and it currently runs, so I can drive it now. It does have a few dents and minor rust spots, but overall is hands down better than the first car. Plus it was already titled and registered in my state (unlike the first one), so the transfer was much smoother and no vehicle inspection was required.








So, the new plan is to restore the new car and use the previous car for parts. I'm going to tear down and rebuild the engine from the first spider and once completed it will be put into the new car, but while that process occurs, I still have a driveable spider!

Here is the current state of the first car. I'm using some of the parts, but I did post a thread in the parts for sale section. All the proceedes will be reinvested to the new car.



Here they are together:

[happybeachgoerm]

Awesome!!! I bought two Fiats together for my first purchase! found a 77 Spider with AC and a 75. both for only 800!!! And enough spare parts to put both together!!! im gonna gut one and make one good car! lol so i will be selling the 77 Spider Body here soon...since it would be worth more...

[caboat]

Wow you were going at light speed compared to my project and I was loving it until you bought another car. Oh well thanks for all the pictures. Also thanks to all the people who responded to your posts they have answered several questions for me without me having to ask.