Hi from Santa Barbara, CA

[Spider79]

Hi there,

This is Matt, from Santa Barbara.
I have owned a 1979 Spider for a little over 2 years, and I’m looking forward to learn how to maintain it and upgrade it.
This forum looks like the perfect place to get great advice.
I’ll start posting questions soon.
Projects on my list:
- upgrade to the single plane manifold + Weber DFEV from autoricambi
- figure out how to deal with smog after the upgrade
- I recently came across two pairs of front seats + a rear bench. I already replaced the broken back frame of my driver seat. I’ll probably put up a pair of seats + bench for sale once I have time to inspect them thoroughly. I’ll probably keep a spare for me, since those seats are so hard get by…

Cheers,
Matt

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Welcome, and let us know how it progresses with the manifold / carb upgrades. Smog checks could be an issue, but I'm not familiar with the rules in Santa Barbara. Here in the San Francisco area, smog techs want to see the original equipment all hooked up the way it should be, although I doubt they would notice if you changed the carb. Unless there are a lot of disconnected hoses and such.

And yes, broken seat backs on the later spiders are common. At some point in the mid 1970s, Fiat redesigned the seat backs, and as a result, they became more prone to having issues.

-Bryan

[rdv]

Hi Matt,
welcome to the forum! Sounds like 2 projects:
a) get the smog check passed
and b) tune up the car
I would do it in just this order. So b) could be done in driving mode!

Whats the actual state? Any pics to show ("before" pics)?

Just checked the worldwide Spider Register, many 79 Spider (CS2 2000 carb.) for California. So do we already have your car?
https://www.fiatspider.de/register?Fahr ... California

Would be great to get your car data. Thanks in advance!

Cheers Ralf