My Second Fiat - The Runner

[wachuko]

No man! That was just water and soap Polish and wax to be done next weekend!! I am lazy, I will fire up the orbital and be done with it quickly.

Jaime

Your not lazy. I am thinking of dropping my car off at your house and letting loose on it for a few days.

The car looks great. Keep up the good work.

Honestly, I just want to drive this car !!

But want to make sure I minimize the likelihood of getting stranded or breaking something due to lack of basic maintenance items ...

[84pininfarinablack]

its lookin good wachuko.. nice work.

[84pininfarinablack]

Hey Wachuko, We should split the cost of another parts car.. $500 range.. If you need another backup engine maybe.
or for old school bumpers.
this guy will take $500 im sure.
http://orlando.craigslist.org/pts/1644820346.html

[boogiedude]

Hey, jaime could you elaborate on what you did to get the bumper shock out? I gave it a go today and as I thought I couldn't get the filler fitting to clear the frame rail running back there(See picture) maybe the later year's gas tank had the filler set up differently



sorry that it's a little rotated, but if you tilt your head to the left everything should become oriented again

[wachuko]

Hey Wachuko, We should split the cost of another parts car.. $500 range.. If you need another backup engine maybe.
or for old school bumpers.
this guy will take $500 im sure.
http://orlando.craigslist.org/pts/1644820346.html

James, the law of self preservation prevents me from buying another parts car at this time... meaning that my wife will kill me if I do so... let me finish the blue car, get the old parts car far far far away from the house, clean up the garage a little to try and hide all the spare parts AND THEN we can talk about another car

[wachuko]

Hey, jaime could you elaborate on what you did to get the bumper shock out? I gave it a go today and as I thought I couldn't get the filler fitting to clear the frame rail running back there(See picture) maybe the later year's gas tank had the filler set up differently



sorry that it's a little rotated, but if you tilt your head to the left everything should become oriented again

Seriously... for the amount of work; loosen the hoses, undo the four 13mm nuts, disconnect the two wires and pull it out of the way... I tried the other method and the neck of the tank is in the way to raise it. The tank needs to be pulled up at an angle to clear getting it out... having taken out the tank in the parts car three times already, doing the same for the runner was much faster....

[kuhndg]

Hey, jaime could you elaborate on what you did to get the bumper shock out? I gave it a go today and as I thought I couldn't get the filler fitting to clear the frame rail running back there(See picture) maybe the later year's gas tank had the filler set up differently



sorry that it's a little rotated, but if you tilt your head to the left everything should become oriented again

Boogiedude,

No disrespect to anyone on the forum with short cuts. But sometime it is just easier to do the job the right way the first time. I have had gas tanks out of both of my cars and found it to be relatively easy using common sense, or by asking questions. (in your case Matt) With all the time we sometimes take trying to find an easier way, the truth is the job could have been completed, and other gremlins taken care of by simply doing things the correct way in a more timely fashion. I have seen the pictures of your top installation. If you are capable of that? I am sure you can conquer the gas tank.

[wachuko]

No disrespect to anyone on the forum with short cuts. But sometime it is just easier to do the job the right way the first time. I have had gas tanks out of both of my cars and found it to be relatively easy using common sense, or by asking questions. (in your case Matt) With all the time we sometimes take trying to find an easier way, the truth is the job could have been completed, and other gremlins taken care of by simply doing things the correct way in a more timely fashion. I have seen the pictures of your top installation. If you are capable of that? I am sure you can conquer the gas tank.

I agree, it is very simple. The cumbersome part is getting the gasoline out... I just placed a plastic container to catch it, used a filter for the funnel to then pour it into the 5 gallon gas tanks (to avoid any debris from going back).

[boogiedude]

I'm all for doin things right the first time instead of cutting corners, but the last time I had the tank out to clean it I swore I would never fight with that filler hose again.

but it looks like there's no getting around that beast

[wachuko]

I'm all for doin things right the first time instead of cutting corners, but the last time I had the tank out to clean it I swore I would never fight with that filler hose again.

but it looks like there's no getting around that beast

Fight? I don't get it. I left the filler hose attached to the filler neck and disconnected it from the tank. If you slide it slowly you can avoid a lot of the mess when the gasoline comes out.

[wachuko]

Dash in the runner is out.



I should be able to make one good instrument panel out of these three... and so much for being the same, these three instrument panels are different...



You can't tell from the photo, but the '83 instruments are more shallow and speedo goes to 130, '81 is a little bit deeper and speedo goes to 80, third one I don't know the year but the numbers and needles sit at the deepest setting and the speedo goes to 140. Only problem with the third one is that the speedo cable connection looks different than from the '81 and '83.

[wachuko]

A few more photos.

Speedometer cable connector on the '83 and '81:



On the one I just got (not sure of the year):



Not all connectors are the same...



Here is what I was trying to convey... how the instruments are different on how deep the numbers and needles are:

'83


'81


unknown (which is the one I like the most but doubt I will be able to use)

[Europa]

Jaime, are all the speedometer connectors the same in the '81 & '83?

[engineerted]

Toss the 80MPH speed, I know for a fact my car can hit 120, (open track day, I would not do this on public roads )

Ted

[wachuko]

Jaime, are all the speedometer connectors the same in the '81 & '83?

No. You have different functions in each one... for example, in the '81 you have the turn signals light in the speedometer, in the '83 that is in the tach.