My First Fiat - Parts car

[wachuko]

Hi,

Still looking, but found a parts car and separating the threads from the "Help buying my first Fiat thread".

The intention is not to restore this one... rather to make it run, fix the brakes, and any other mechanical aspects of it so I can get it road worthy while I find a good car. This will become a driveable parts donor car.

I am thinking that I can bring these spare parts to top condition, powdercoat as I go... and just transplant to the new car as needed... let's see how that plan goes.

Ok, first of all, thank you to red107 for being there to help me confirm if it was a good buy or not.

First Fiat in the garage... As it was as expected, lots of rust, interior is complete, engine, tranny, rear end looks clean (no oil mess that I can tell), and all trim pieces that you see missing from the exterior are all inside the trunk, wheels are in perfect condition and only need to be recoated. I have to put it up in the lift to check everything underneath.

Purchased price: 700.00 + trailer rental + diesel = 875.00

I need to make a list of the things it would neet to bring it back to life and if it even makes $$ sense... from a quick inspection it needs:

Two doors, patches on the driver side floor pan, one rear qtr panel, one rear arch, both rocker panels, a hood, list goes on. I will let the photos do more of the talking:

[wachuko]

More photos:

[kmead]

Note to self:

Don't buy a beach car.

Wow, are you sure that car didn't come from Michigan?

A good way to start. There are going to be lots of parts on that car you can use in the future. Good luck.

[Europa]

Wow, are you sure that car didn't come from Michigan?

Karl, Wachuko mentioned that the car was imported to Michigan first and then moved to Florida.

Wachuko, was the car repainted?

[boogiedude]

Oh jeez

Is that a good price for a car in that condition up on the mainland? The car I'm driving now cost me 750 initially, and I just got a parts car with a good set of turbo wheels and thrown con rod for 300.

If that's a fair price, someone can have the empty body from my parts car for free! provided you pay shipping

[wachuko]

Wow, are you sure that car didn't come from Michigan?

Karl, Wachuko mentioned that the car was imported to Michigan first and then moved to Florida.

Wachuko, was the car repainted?

No, gray primer was its original color .

Seriously, not repainted. Looks like it was some kind of ivory color... the gray and red is primer the PO used to cover the work he had started.

[spiderrey]

Well, its might have enough parts to justify the frice, just barely. Its actually worth it if it has a good drive train and thats what u were after. it does have a few hard to get late parts though and wheels.

[wachuko]

Oh jeez

Is that a good price for a car in that condition up on the mainland? The car I'm driving now cost me 750 initially, and I just got a parts car with a good set of turbo wheels and thrown con rod for 300.

If that's a fair price, someone can have the empty body from my parts car for free! provided you pay shipping

Some guys have all the luck... This car will allow me to learn about these car and keep me busy until the right one comes along.

I have no plans to spend a cent on body parts for this one... But I will make it run and stop

[spiderrey]

i guess you have a good way of looking at it. if it helps you learn alot, great. in the end hopefully you will have a solid runner and just need a solid body to transfer your parts to. price @ value is really determined by location. the same car has different values in different locations. i my self picked up my car a 70 one owener all original car for 700 and drove it home. they are more plentiful around here. best of luck with it.

[wachuko]

How were you able to determine it was an import?? Just curious.

The gauges are metric. Oil pressure gauge shows 0-4-8 bar and the temp gauge shows 50-90-130 centigrade. The speedometer is covered with the paper mph sticker, over the original kmph. The plate above the radio should say spidereuropa rather spider azzura. Also, your trunk and hood badges should have the pininfarina "f" rather than the sails of the Azzura. HTH.


.

Excellent! Thank you. It does have the "f" badge in the trunk and hood.



Well, got new set of tires mounted and a few things to prepare it for starting the engine. Can't find much locally so I need to order most of it online.

[kmac33]

Jaime,
Congrats on having the first Fiat in the garage. With that amount of rust, it is definitely a parts car! Sounds like you have a good solid plan to learn all you need to about these great little cars and create a "keeper" in the future though.

[wachuko]

Jaime,
Congrats on having the first Fiat in the garage. With that amount of rust, it is definitely a parts car! Sounds like you have a good solid plan to learn all you need to about these great little cars and create a "keeper" in the future though.

I continue to look for a car that is the best I can find for my budget... this one is just me wanting to get my hands dirty on the internals of a Fiat Spider... and to calm me down. I figure I can get it running and stopping; learn how to work it, etc. Then, when I find a "real" car/keeper, then break this one out and sell all the parts.

Now, this also means that my search for a car is now limited to fuel injected ones so I can use what I have here for spares. If I end up not needing the interior, it is already spoken for; Abey (Europa) got first dibs on it.

***
A little update: removed the coolant hoses. Coolant came out normal, coolant, not water. So I am hoping the water pump and cooling internals are good. Oil came out also in good condition. Filter was a pita to take out since it was rusted badly on the outside.

[wachuko]

Oil and filter changed. Old oil looked normal and in good condition.

Removed radiator and fan. Going to clean and paint them and mount the back with new hoses.

Distributor and cap replaced, sparkplugs replaced. Waiting on a new set of plug wires.

Fuel filter removed (car still had gasoline in it, good in a way since it means the fuel pump was never dry). Fuel pump removed and checked. Working fine. I clean it up on the outside and is ready to mount back with a new fuel filter.

Removed gas tank. Condition is fine, will recoat the outside with epoxy paint and also a coat of undercoating for the portion outside.

Going out to buy 20' of fuel hose and a zillion clamps to mount everything back.

Will also remove the airbox and air flow meter to spray the contacts with dielectric grease, also need to make sure the flap moves freely, paint the airbox and mount it all back with a new air filter.

And just for kicks I grabbed a bottle of vinyl cleaner, some window/glass cleaner and cleaned the windshield and interior...

A few photos:





Photo inside of gas tank:




Trunk area (you can see the fuel pump in the trunk):


Fan, ready to take it apart for cleaning and painting of the metal parts:


That is all for now! Back in a few hours.

[wachuko]

Scrap that... looks like it was repainted at some poin, red... then the PO removed the red paint and took it down to primer to repaint it in its original color (the color you see inside the trunk...), but, as you can see, that new paint never made it to the car... sad...

Wow, are you sure that car didn't come from Michigan?

Karl, Wachuko mentioned that the car was imported to Michigan first and then moved to Florida.

Wachuko, was the car repainted?

No, gray primer was its original color .

Seriously, not repainted. Looks like it was some kind of ivory color... the gray and red is primer the PO used to cover the work he had started.

[rlux4]

That car is the exact oposite of what you'd find around here if left outside in the desert. Here, the body would be great and the top and interior would be toast. Looks good (inside).
Ron