Vendors and parts

[rgayres]

As the original owner of a Calif 1979 Spider 2000, I thought it is time to redo my front suspension. Does anyone have any opinions about differences in quality of parts from Vicks, Bayless, or IAP? Bayless for example advertises their control arms as original Fiat parts. Vicks does not mention the source. I am not particularly concerned with a $5-$10 price difference unless the quality is the same.

[mbouse]

hello, and welcome to the forum. please be sure to stop by the introduction section and fill us in on who you are, how long you have had your car... and quite possibly some pictures of the Spider.

[red107]

Just for your info BAYLESS no longer exist. They sold their inventory to midwest fiat.

[rgayres]

Red...even though they may have sold their inventory, their web site is active as Midwest Bayless. That is the company I was referring to.
Rich

[So Cal Mark]

if they are original Fiat parts they must be pretty darn old, Fiat hasn't made those parts for decades

[rgayres]

Mark..Am I misreading this ad? The parts appear to be Fiat.

[So Cal Mark]

I would say those are aftermarket arms. When Fiat had them available they were much more expensive

[mbouse]

yes, you are misreading the advertisement. the part is new. it references a Fiat part number, but it does not state that it is a Fiat part.

big difference.

[rgayres]

Back to my original query....who do you absolutely trust for quality parts and who should we avoid?

[mbouse]

i dunn mean to be a smart a##, but it depends on the part.

[rgayres]

Mike
I understand all that. I'm just trying to get some general guidelines here. It's been a long time since I had to replace/repair parts on my car. I guess I need to be more specific:

Who do you recommend for upper and lower control arms for a 79 2000? One of the posters here mentioned some are being manufactured with lighter gauge steel, and I wish to avoid those. Thanks.
Rich

[mdrburchette]

Rich, if you are planning to autocross or race the car, I would stick to the original A-arms and install new bushings. If you are going to just use it for normal driving, you should be okay with the aftermarket A-arms. The aftermarket ones are a bit lighter metal, but I have not heard anyone complain about them. With that being said, I have used bushings from Vicks and IAP with no ill effects. Since Midwest Bayless just started selling 124 parts, I have not had a chance to try them out, but I have been extremely pleased with the service and parts I have gotten from them for my X19s. They are a great bunch of people!
Hope this helps and welcome to the forum.

[rgayres]

Denise
Thank you. The car is only used for normal driving (considering it is a Fiat, is that an oxymoron?) The only question is whether to use the original A-arms and replace the bushings and ball joints or just get the complete assembly, so I am checking sources for both. Opinions vary as to the best/most reasonable choice.
Rich

[2ndwind]

Hi Rich,
I just finished rebuilding my front suspension today! I recommend buying the whole arm. No fuss. No muss. I don't have a press nor did I want to run to a machine shop. In fact, my mechanic who has worked on FIATs for 40 yrs, told me to buy the whole arm, it is well worth the few bucks extra. Same with buying new tie rod sleeves, beats crushing the old ones you have. I found one of my sleeves was bent!

I bought control arms from IAP except L upper which they were out. Bought it, and tie rod stuff from Vick's. No noticeable difference in quality. Everything fit right up. I will put in a plug for the AutoZone style spring compressor (see link below). It worked well once I cut off about 2.5 inches of the shaft (3 seconds with abrasive blade on circular saw). It was hitting the bottom of the shock tower seat. If you keep the tool your deposit pays for it.

http://www.bosstoolsupply.com/index.asp ... odID=11885

[rgayres]

Thanks to everyone for your support. I'll report back once the rebuilding is under way.
Rich