emissions control deletion and motor build questions

[Gplayer]

Hey guys, first post and all that. I'm a racing mechanic working on historic road race cars, including a lot of Ferrari's recently. I can't afford a Ferrari, so I bought a baby Ferrari! It's an automatic 80 spider 2000 carbed motor. I already yanked off the horrible intake and carb, all the emissions bs, and the horrible exhaust manifold. I recently bought a 77 parts car, yanked the manual stuff out of it, and scrapped it (don't worry, it was way too far gone for restoration). I've been doing a little bit of shopping on various sites, and I've got a little bit of a list going, but I want to know what yall's opinions are on what I should do. Keep in mind my budget isn't huge, and I'd like to drive the car before the end of summer.

Current plans are: manual swap (already have)
Intake and carb swap (single plane and 32/36 empi carb)
Vicks 40/80, 80/40 cams
4-2-1 header with exhaust to match
lightweight flywheel if it's in the budget
uprated clutch if it's in the budget


Feel free to tell me if I'm being stupid. And yes, I did search the forum, wanted to get personalized answers.

edit: forgot to add I want to do basic things like an aluminum rad and overflow bottle and so on.

[baltobernie]

Hello and welcome! These are great little cars. A lot of fun to drive, and inexpensive enough so that modifications don't ruin their value.

Before you start your mods, have you done a compression test? Taken a peek with a borescope or at least a look at the plugs?

Your induction and exhaust items are good choices for a street motor. If you are keeping the automatic transmission, maybe hold off on the hotter cams for now; you can always try them (or just the intake) later on. You'll need bottom and midrange with the TH200. The lightened flywheel won't buy you much with either 'box. Opinions vary, but I'd also say that the stock radiator and clutch are more than adequate for street use with WHP far greater than you will be producing. Get the Japanese or Italian water pump with a cast (not stamped) impeller. A properly-functioning stock Spider cooling system can function in stop-and-go traffic with 90° ambient.

Ensure you have the Marelli Plex ignition system, and that the output and advance are correct. You should see as much as 90 WHP with everything dialed in, along with a decent idle and smooth power throughout the range.

[Gplayer]

Thanks for the input.

I have checked the motor, compression numbers were something like +/- 145 across the board.

I need to do a timing belt on it anyway, the one on it currently is no longer sano, it's obviously old and cracked. To me that presents half an opportunity to swap cams, since I'll have the covers off and belt off.

The autotragic is going for sure, it's slipping and while I'm aware of how simple a fix it might be, I can't bring myself to fix an automatic when I have a manual trans with everything I need to go with it in my garage.

With your suggestions though, I think I'll skip upgrading the rad and rest of the cooling system for now, it sounds like a refresh would do it just fine.

On a side note, do automatic transmissions and related parts have any sort of resale value?

[baltobernie]

I would say "no" to the box itself, as it is a common GM unit. But I'd hang on to the bellhousing, pedal box, etc. From time to time there are posts on this forum for those seeking to swap to automatics.

[Gplayer]

Okay, that’s probably for the best with the limited space I have (apartment complex garage gets kind of tight with all my tools and spares for various cars)