Hi from Long Island

[LI72SPIDER]

Hello!

I just bought a 1972 Spider and I'm looking forward to do a full restoration, the vehicle was siting outside for many years and will need a lot of work. the car has 47,488 miles and I know it came from CT, I never owned a fiat and so far I'm very impress with this car, so far it has been very fun to work with it. I tested the engine and it started right away (after adapting a separate gas line from a can with new clean gas) it ran very smooth, so far no oil stains/leaks . It appears that originally the car was blue (as per the color that it was under the carpets). The car has a lot of rust in the floors, I already stripped the seats/carpets and my goal is to remove the engine and transmission to start working in repairing the holes in the floor.

I want to tank the members of this forum for all the posts, I'm sure with your help I will be able to one day enjoy this beauty.
Oscar

1st and 2nd pictures are from when I bought the car
3rd and 4th pictures are at my shop.

[bobplyler]

How is the rust in the shock towers? It appears as though the passenger floor is gone.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Welcome, Oscar. As noted above, rust will be the main concern, but if that's manageable, the rest of the body seems intact and the interior can be fixed up. And the engine runs as you mentioned.

Let us know how it progresses. I've had about a dozen or so of the early year spiders, although it's just a question of how much I can remember.

-Bryan

[LI72SPIDER]

HI,
the shock tower in the front passenger side is the worst (picture 1), the driver side has some rust (picture 2), also the main support for the passenger side floor is gone (picture 3) looks like it was hit and it aggravated the rust process.

The undercarriage from the back seat section all the way to the end of the car does not have any rust at all, I'm still curious as if is normal for this cars to rust so bad in the front but not the back. The floors I can imagine were severe damaged by being outside in the elements for a long time.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I'm still curious as if is normal for this cars to rust so bad in the front but not the back.

Yes, it is. Rusting on the spiders seems to start in 4 distinct places: 1) the front shock towers as you note, 2) the lower area behind the front wheel arch and the front of the door opening, 3) the rear wheel arches, and 4) the interior floor pan.

1, 2 and 3 are caused by water (with roadside contaminants like salt) getting kicked up by the tires into these areas where the water sits and happily corrodes away. 4 is usually caused by leaks in the top so that water sits in the floor pans. 4 can also be caused by a leaking windshield seal which is pretty common for these cars, even right out of the factory.

Rust is a known weakness for Fiats of that era, and it's part of the reason Fiat got a bad rap in the US market. Electrical gremlins were another reason, caused by.... wait for it.... rusting of the ground connections....

-Bryan

[LI72SPIDER]

Bryan;
Thanks for the response, I know I have a long road ahead and it will take time but I really like working on this car and discover all the "gadgets" that it has to offer

[rdv]

Hi Oscar,
welcome to the forum and congratulations to your Fiat project! Hopefully you will find no more nasty surprises!

I just checked the worldwide Spider Register and found no grey BS1 (1600cc) type Spider in grey, which looks like yours.
https://www.fiatspider.de/register?Fahr ... ective=All

Just take your serial no. (chassis no.) and search for your own, if there are older informations for your car available!

If not, we would like to add your car data. Thanks in advance!

Good luck with your project!
Regards Ralf

[LI72SPIDER]

Hi Ralf,
I just registered my car, I entered as brown as per its title, the color is all off but eventually I will update the registry when it gets painted.

[rdv]

Hi Oscar,
thanks I got it! Upload to next month! Good luck with your project!
Cheers

[LI72SPIDER]

Hello all,
As I continue to work in taking apart the car (at a snail's pace) I came across a peculiar "knob" (i can't think another way to describe it) it is located between the exhaust manifold and the engine support, you can see in the picture, any idea what it is? I wasn't able to find anything in my Haynes manual. Thanks!

[blazingspider]

That's the coolant drain plug.

[LI72SPIDER]

Blazingspider, thanks for the info, when I took out the radiator, I only drained the antifreeze from a plug at the bottom of the radiator, I guess now I can empty it from the engine as well.

[LI72SPIDER]

Getting ready to repair the rust on the car, i'm looking to buy the floor and rocker panels online, any good recommendations? how are the ones sold by Wolf Steel ? anyone used them recently? Thanks