1977 CS1 imported to UK from California

[pgilling]

Crikey, looks like you had a busy weekend eh...
What are you going to do next weekend...rebuild the motor?
Car looks great. Lots of work. is the carpet one piece? I think I like that idea as even though I have replaced mine using the old as a template, the carpet is continually bunching up and looks like shite.
Chris

Hello Chris,

The reason I've posted everything at once is because it took me ages to figure out how to post images!
The pictures are over the past 12 months or so.

I bought a role of car carpet and used the old ones as templates. I also used lots of strong double-sided carpet tape and it seems to work. Although to be honest, I've done very few miles on the new carpet before the car and engine went in to be restored.
Phil

[pgilling]

Good work, pg.
how did your 77 end up with shoulder harnesses? Stock was lap belts only. Are they attached behind rear seat?

Hi Fred, yes that was a bit of an issue. In the end I fitted fixed belts through the rear seat. Not ideal but safer than lap belts. I plan to fit inertia-reel belts in due course.
Phil

[Redline]

Lovely work. And that's an understatement. I may come back to you for some opinions, as Mr. Croft is on my radar for a possible go-to address when it's time to freshen my motor.

[SoFlaFiat]

Outstanding!!!
I have no better words to describe...

[MrJD]

Go tell Lance the Header builder that I said he was the man. What BEAUTIFUL work. Great job on the car!

[pgilling]

Lovely work. And that's an understatement. I may come back to you for some opinions, as Mr. Croft is on my radar for a possible go-to address when it's time to freshen my motor.

Hi Redline,

It's amazing work. I guess he is arguably the best in the business when it comes to Fiat TCs, and with his workshop being so close to where I live I just had to get him to do the work; his workmanship, knowledge and attention to detail is gobsmacking.

Having any engine professionally rebuilt by experts is expensive but tbh, considering the standard of his work and the hours he spends on each stage, I think it is actually exceptionally good value.

My top-tip is not to hang around too long to make a decision as he won't be doing engine builds forever!

[pgilling]

Outstanding!!!
I have no better words to describe...

Hi, that is a real compliment coming from you, I've seen that standard of the work you've done to your 124 and it's fantastic. Of course the engine is Guy's work and much of the engine bay prep was done by a professional as I am more handy with a socket set than a spray gun!
Phil

[pgilling]

Go tell Lance the Header builder that I said he was the man. What BEAUTIFUL work. Great job on the car!

Thanks MrJD I will, I take it from your thumbnail you're a welder? If so that's a great compliment.

Guy Croft recommended Lance to me to build the entire exhaust, and I wasn't able to see the standard of his work before, so you can imagine how pleased I was when I turned up to see the completed work!

[MrJD]

I take it from your thumbnail you're a welder? If so that's a great compliment.

by necessity, not by trade.

mind if I ask what the exhaust cost you? if you'd rather not say, thats fine.

[pgilling]

I take it from your thumbnail you're a welder? If so that's a great compliment.

by necessity, not by trade.

mind if I ask what the exhaust cost you? if you'd rather not say, thats fine.

Hi JD, it cost me £1400 ($2360) which seems a lot on the face of it but when I thought about it, Lance is a true professional and an expert who knows exactly what he's doing, plus I'm absolutely delighted with the work. So in the end, having an expert make a bespoke full system just for my car, and taking 5 days to do it, seems like good value. Also, an off-the-shelf system would have been a compromise and Lance's system perfectly matches the quality of work Guy Croft did to the engine. Lance also quizzed me on what I wanted before he started the work and we also looked at routing options, and he adjusted his build plan accordingly. Also, if you Google OJZ Engineering, and check out his work, I think you'll agree it's actually a good price for such expertise.

I've been looking at all the work you've had to do, I'm really impressed with what you've done considering the amount of seemingly never ending rot you've had to deal with. But like everything, if we'd know how difficult things would be when we started out we probably wouldn't have bothered, and where's the fun in that! If I'd known how much it would have cost me to restore my 124 I wouldn't have bought it. But you know what, I'm now damn glad I did!

[pgilling]

Well I finally got my Spider on the road for a test run after it failed its MoT (safety check) and as I suspected it was due to the brake pedal having too much travel and the handbrake being as much use as a crutch with a wheel on it. This long pedal travel was due to me upgrading to modern Fiat 500 1.4 Abarth vented discs and X-19 rear calipers (adaptor plate from Allison's Automotive). Consequently the standard servo and master cylinder weren't up to the job of shifting the additional volume of brake fluid. So I ended up buying a 'Brake Booster HP' from Spider Point and it has utterly transformed the brakes due to its 22 mm master cylinder (19 mm standard) and beefier servo. The brakes now have a have great progressive feel and real bite, plus the handbrake actually works now! I think the extra pressure whilst adjusting the slack in the handbrake has made all the difference.

So what about the engine? Well, I had an enormous grin on my face after my drive as Guy Croft's engine is simply awesome. It is very civilised and drivable on the first progressive choke (32 mm) and when I put my foot down the difference is pretty startling as the second choke (36 mm) flips open - Wow! It behaves exactly as I briefed Guy that I wanted it; a nice broad spread of torque as I only want this as a ROAD car and not for track use - but with a fair bit more power (obviously!) but not race power. There is of course a big rush of power as the tacho sprints towards the red line, but there is plenty of smooth power available from lower revs - perfect. It is basically fantastic! And the lightening of the flywheel and the incredible pistons designed by Guy make it hungry for revs.

But what about the exhaust? Well it makes a lovely noise. I didn't want a booming drone at motorway speeds or something that would sound like some chav in a Vauxhall Nova, but thankfully Lance knows his stuff and the twin straight-through silencers certainly do the Sport/GT style of the Spider justice. It sounds just right, sporty but not annoying when driving through residential areas at night but certainly sporty when I give it the beans!

So I am a very happy man who has a fantastic engine matched with modern powerful progressive brakes.

I will post a link of a video on YouTube of how it drives and sounds - if I can figure out how to do it.

The next job will be to take it to a rolling road to fine tune to carb as there is a slight flat spot at low revs and this is the only way to effectively sort that. I will also get a full-power run done as I'm hoping for at least around 130-140 bhp - I'll post the results when I get them.

[andreoz]

this is absolutely fantastic !!!:)

[pgilling]

Some recent pictures of the new brake servo (booster) from SpiderPoint and uprated master cylinder which, coupled with the new Fiat 500 Abarth calipers, made a huge difference.

It was a tight fit as the servo is, unsurprisingly, bigger than the original so I had to raise the brake fluid reservoir on its mounts as the hoses beneath were bent over. They are still slightly bent over but not too much.

The brake lines simply needed to be bent around to fit the different hole orientation in the master cylinder.
(the blue cloth is just wedged there for oil-level checks not to soak up brake fluid!)

[pgilling]

After Guy Croft fully prepared a 2L TC for my 1977 124 Spider he did a 'bench run' of the engine and everything, as expected, was sweet.

When I first started to drive the car the oil pressure was initially OK but not great (around 15 PSI indicated at tickover). However, after a week or so the pressure got worse, to the extent that the gauge registered nearly zero at tick over when the engine was hot (thankfully the oil light remained off). I mentioned this to Guy when I called by and he immediately dropped everything and eventually managed to rig up one of his Racetech gauges.

Well, the 'real' reading saw the Racetech gauge rapidly swing round to at least 50-80 psi when the engine was revved.

So, the lesson here is obvious, although the old gauges look nice and in-keeping, they are around 40 years old now and gradually deteriorate - besides, apparently they were never very accurate when new! So, if you have invested a lot of time and money in doing up your engine, or you have a standard engine and it looks like the oil pressure is low, the simple message is - GET QUALITY GAUGES!

So that's what I did, for both the oil pressure and water temperature.

Because the Racetech gauge does not have a low pressure warning light I managed to place a small red LED in the dash and it is far brighter than the old one, plus when it is off it is hardly noticeable - despite me drilling an extra hole.


Oil pressure light out with engine running. Pressure nice and healthy at tickover on a cold engine.

[georgeramos]

This is one of the most exciting restos ive seen on here. You read so much abouy guy croft but to see a documented build is really a treat. Thank you for sharing and yes yes yes on the you tube video!