And The Saga Begins

[KRegester]

As per my intro, I have swapped 2 wheels for 4. http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2592
No real suprises so far. It has rust on most bolts heads but I have "THE TOOL"for that now.
Body Panhard rod mount had a ''field engineered repair' at some point in the past.
Now has a section of contoured angle iron welded into place. (pictures coming)

Car is up on stands until brakes, steering and suspension work is done!
First batch of parts have arrived from IAP, AutoZone and some additional goodies picked up on Craigs List.
Ouch, the IAP order was just shy of $1000 (Jan 'The Wife' didn't give me 'The Look' when I told her how much it was. Hmmm)
The Parts So Far

• Control Arms, upper and lower both sides
  Guibo & Center Support and Bearing
  U Joints
  Tie Rod Ends
  Intake, Exhaust & Oil Pan Gaskets
  Window Scrapers and Seals
  3 Point Seat Belts
  Motor Mounts, Trans Mount
  Timing Belt
  KYB Shocks
  O2 Sensor
  Intake Flex Duct
  Extra Air Cleaner Housing (Mine was rusted badly)
  Brake pads
  Wheel Cyl rebuild kits
  Front Wheel bearings
  (Spare)Throttle and Clutch Cables
  (Spare) Water Temp Sensors
  4 New Rotors
  4 sets of Brake Pads
  Fuel Filler Hose
  Speakers
  
  New Tools
  Coil Spring Compressors
  Pneumatic Chisel
  Die Grinder
  Bolt/Stud Removers

Done so far;

• Passenger side front rotor and pads.
  Exhaust Manifold (what a job, broken studs but sweet new tool out of it!)
  Window Scrapers (now rain won't run into doors)
  Scraped a ton of clear and RED RTV off everything (PO must have had a case of it!)
  CLA (Clean Lube & Adjust) windshield wipers (scraped, sandblasted rust and POR'd them)
  Cleaned out mouse/squirrel nests out of windshield cowl (PO said heater didn't work very good, Duuude,duhhh wonder why.)
  Cleaned out mouse/squirrel nets under parcel shelf/back seat
  Pulled front Bumper and looking at body repair for driver's fender

TO DO LIST;

• Shock towers look ok, will clean and undercoat them.
  Oil pan CLA, Bang out small dents, new gasket
  Motor Mounts
  Make braided ground leads for engine
  Upper and Lower Control Arms
  Shocks
  Seatbelts
  Driveline (Guibo, U Joints, CLA drive shaft,Trans mount)
  Check lube in Trans and Rear End (possible pinion seal leak)

[rlux4]

Hey K. Boy, do I know "the look". Quite the list you got there. Looks like you'll have plenty to keep you busy enough to stay out of trouble. Let us see some pictures of your progress.
As an aside, I took my Goldwing over Angeles Crest (a steep and winding pass out here) last weekend for the last ride, delivering it to the new owner. It's OK though, it was getting pretty neglected in favor of the Spider.
Ron

[KRegester]

Sweet trip on the 'Wing.
I know (knew) that area well. Back in the day (1967) I lived in SoCal (Sanat Ana) and 2 wheels were my life. Teenagers could ride @15-1/2 just no passengers.
1st Bike 2nd Bike

Camera is out on loan to one of the 'out-laws' so no pictures till it comes back.

-=Ken=-

[rlux4]

Those bring back memories. My first bike (at 15) was a Honda Super90.
Ron

[Tappy]

Here's my first "classic" bike , bought it 15 jears ago , fixed it , and took it appart ,after laying 10 jears stored in several boxes spread over my parents house , they gave me a ring what to do with all the pieces , could they trw them away ?

Ofcourse not ! I've picked them up and started to put the bike back togheter , by wonder i was only missing one piece and lucky me , i found a replacement for that on ebay

Redone paintwork , new saddle , new handgrips and some gaskets , now it looks like this :




Oh bye the way Its a Simson suhl , from the former DDR (germany) from 1957 ...

I have a towing hook laying around for my 124 spider and i'm planning to get it mounted so it can support a cycle cariager thats modified to put on the motorcycle to go to meetings

[KRegester]

Those bring back memories. My first bike (at 15) was a Honda Super90.
Ron

Super90 was a really nice design, one of my buddies had one. Sweet bike for piddling around SoCal @ 100+ MPG.
They need to bring back the pressed steel frame liteweight piddlers. The chinese have some stepthrus based on the Cub but better if Honda or Yamaha made them. Price would probably be a killer for Japanese quality these days.

Tappy - that is pretty cool. Never seen one of those before..


Back on topic;
My sunvisors are MIA but I have some 1/4" brown smoked acrylic. Was thinking of cutting some and mounting for visors and wind deflectors. Making them taller would allow deflector use and see thru would be a help in late afternoon..

[mbouse]

hey, welcome to the site (again). glad to hear that you have a spring project and that safety items such as brakes and drive line are top of the priority list. no sense going fast unless you can do so safely.

couple of thoughts for you.

when you get ready to cut that smoke plexiglas, be sure to do so while the top is up....you might be surprised how small those visors gotta be in order to be outa the way while driving in inclement weather. there is little clearance for large visors and anyone taller than 4' 10"

another really good source for used parts is the gang here on your favorite Spider forum. generally, we sell our stuff to our buddies at substantially less than what you'd find on Evil Bay or Craig's. and, depending on what it is....we often giver away.

I am looking forward to the entire spring of seeing your restoration project in picture form. have fun with that!!

[KRegester]

Is that a fairly common repair? (Panhard rod chassis mount bracket repaired with some angle iron welded to the frame/body)
Looks like original mount was mangled/bent...
The angle iron reinforcement is welded to the sheet metal and no evidence of cracking or bending so far.
They did trim it for tire clearance too.
When I get my camera back from the out-laws, I will shoot some pictures.

[So Cal Mark]

that is not a common failure

[KRegester]

that is not a common failure

Drat, I hate being Captain Kirk..

[pope]

Doesnt your phone take pictures?

[So Cal Mark]

I know my camera doesn't make phone calls

[KRegester]

My phone shoots pictures but they are lowres and no flash. Wife got camera back so I am happy now.
Anywho here's a shot of the brace some one field engineered. It appears the orginal was mangled somehow.
Accident perhaps, looks like it must have slid into a curb on the drivers side and pushed hard against the bracket through the panhard rod..
It appears to have worked well I see no signs of tearing where it attached to the body. They relieved it prevent tire interference. I will be cleaning it up some more then reapplying some spray on undercoating.

[KRegester]

Picked up (in the middle of a pouring rain by the way) al local Pull-A-Part from a picked over 79 Spider.
passenger tail light assy with circuit board
front bumper outer pad
plastic shield for fuel tank inlet
Grand total $15.00

[KRegester]

Next batch of parts arrived today.
Rear brake pads, rear axle seals, new caliper bleed screws.

Too many family things going on so progress has been very slow.
Rear shock R&R, and clean up going on.

I have been wire wheel and paint scraper cleaning all the rust and dried up undercoating then I phosphate treat followed by a coat of asphalt based spray undercoating on everything I can get to.