The little red Fiat.

[CShroom]

Well, we have been on here for a couple of months now and I have threatened to put up an actual restoration/bring back from the dead thread.

So here it is.

The last few years, Tersta has talked about buying a new (to her) old car. Her last was a '67 cougar that she sold a little bit before her son was born. Since then she has had the itch to put another car together, but she just didn't know what.

We began to talk about convertibles and she was good with that, but she wasn't exactly overjoyed at the idea of my personal choice of a Corvair or big ol Galaxy. But then we got to talking about British roadsters. This peaked her interest. So after a while we started prowling ads, and came to the realization that if she was going to get real use out of the car she would need to hold more than two people.

So this is how the Fiat search began. It was a small Euro roadster, that while the back seat was mostly for looks; it could be used in a pinch to pick up a kid from school and those types of things.

So we found this Fiat in the local papers for 600.



The motor had been completely disassembled and was scatter between a bunch of boxes, but otherwise was mostly complete.

Well that was until we got it home and started an inventory. It was missing some very high dollar items that had us concerned. And with the motor pulled apart, we found this little fella in the oil pan.



So we went on the prowl to find out machining costs and crossed our fingers we could find all the pieces we needed.

But Tersta wasted no time. We had some wet weather for a while and the Fiat had turned into a swimming pool. So day to rip out the entire interior commenced. Here is everything in a big pile, we have turned her Itallian roadster into a Kentucky Shed...



In this time, we found a motor for sale in Vegas, that was originally a California car, though an earlier year. But the price was right, it had the smog stuff still on it as well as the starter and alternator and it ran. So plans were made to drive up there to get it.

So after a round-trip run to Vegas ( with a bit of casino time, of course) we came home with this...



Time to get to work..

That's it for now, I need to upload more pictures and get them sorted before I can add more.

[wachuko]

Oh man, I am so glad I am not the only crazy nut out there doing this...

Have fun! and keep the photos with progress coming

[velozi]

Good luck.

[CShroom]

Funny how it goes.

This motor was going to get a quick scrub, a reseal of a few essential gaskets and then go right into the engine bay.

Didn't happen though...

So we got moving on the motor. Piece by piece it came apart. The car had sat for a long time and some parts definitely showed it. But the final prognosis was very good.



A bit scummy, but then again you should my old Y-block...

So parts started coming off. Damn thing is like a stripper, for every piece that came off of it, we had to spend more money.

Tersta picked up her new favorite tool, a Dremel. She has been using it to get into the nooks and crannies stripping paint and cleaning rust. She really has been at it nearly every day. Sometimes well into the evening.



So a lot of scrubbing and degreasing got us to this point.



Still have lots to go.

And the motor gets spraybomb treatment.



Things are slowly coming together. There is a lot, but now we are adding to the motor and no longer taking away. We are awaiting an order from Rock Auto for some misc. pieces we need, but the head should be going back on in the next week or so. And with that we really can get moving. Tune up, carb cleaning, etc. Then hopefully we can get it running on a stand to dial it in. I really have no desire to put it in, find a problem and then pull it back out again.

Here it is as of this morning.



Plus we are looking at stripping the engine bay and going over that with a fresh coat of black.

[maytag]

uhhhh......
is that a CBX in the background of your gal with the dremel?

nevermind... answered my own question.

I really had you on a pedestal for a moment!

[SLOSpider]

A man with a good looking helper! Im jealous! Mine just pokes her head out once and awhile like a turttle.... I know what you mean going through my Spider I just got. Any thing I touch needs a complete redo. Good job on doing it right the first time is my motto.

[CShroom]

Maytag.

Nope that's a '78 GL1000. While Tersta was doing stuff on the fiat I had it on the patio working on a homebrew manifold. Now it has a center Fiat 32ADFA carb. Got new jets coming from AZ that will hopefully lean it up enough to really run the snot outta it. Gotta love those Fiat parts. So versatile.

SLOSpider.

Tersta is pretty handy in her own right. I have wrenched a lot more than she has, but she is a quick study. All I have to do is show her what I have done and why, and she if off and running. Sometimes even improving on what I told her. And the best part is she is getting a kick out of it too.

[Tersta]

A man with a good looking helper! Im jealous! Mine just pokes her head out once and awhile like a turttle.... I know what you mean going through my Spider I just got. Any thing I touch needs a complete redo. Good job on doing it right the first time is my motto.

Yeah Sherman is a great little helper, even writes up the posts about all the work I do on the car.

Tersta

[Foster48x]

uhhhh......
is that a CBX in the background of your gal with the dremel?

A few mods and that CBX would make a sweet cafe racer!

[CShroom]

A few mods and that CBX would make a sweet cafe racer!

I wish it was an old CBX. But alas, it is a bit more common than that. This one is going to stay mostly stock. I have a box full of CB750 chopper for my "I need to cut up stuff" fix.

Today is junkyard day for me ( I have to prowl out some Ford parts for an engine swap) but Fiat useable pieces are going to be on the list.

[CShroom]

And we're back!

We ( we means Tersta) have been busy with the Fiat, but so much was little detail items that it wasn't really deemed worthy of adding to this.

So as everyone can tell, the decision was get a running motor then worry about the rest. I know some people love to go cosmetic first, but we felt that if there was no go, what was the point of doing the show?

So we left off with a bare block and some polishing work being done. Still had some seals to replace, but nothing major.

Last seals that needed a replacement were the stem seals. And they needed it. When we got everything apart the seals just disintegrated. Then I started putting the head together...



Have I mentioned that once in a while I am a ham-fisted SOB? I am. In the process of removing the intakes, I bent them. So we had to get new intake valves. And those valves had to get cut to get a proper valve adjustment.... No tools for that work. So me and Tersta got to meet Mark a couple weeks ago. And we dropped off the head and he got it back to use looking better than we could imagine.

However, while we were waiting on the funds to pay for that, Tersta got working on other things.

See she was filling a box of finished parts.



And she even went so far as to detail the smog pump.



Once she ran out of engine things to do, we got a cracking on the top.



Now the steering wheel had an old leather wrap on it, so we pulled that off ( and by pulling off I mean snap of sections of it.) and found that the wheel is in remarkable shape. Probably going to just refinish it to match whatever wood color she goes with.



So once we got the top material off, it was decided that the hardware was looking pretty grungy. So off it all went.



Plus the center bow was bent, and it needed to be straightened.

Well now that it was off, Tersta figured that she wasn't putting a new top on rusty hardware. So out came the sandpaper, dremel, angle grinder, shovels, rakes, and implements of destruction. And it got a red oxide bath.



And just to prove that it is truly Tersta doing most of this work...



So now the top is painted and waiting to go back on. No reason to put an interior in, until we get the top together. And interior is probably going to be the last part of all this anyway.

No we get up to this weekend. Mark had gotten in touch with us last Saturday, but we couldn't get out until the 8th. I drove out on my way to L.A. to visit family and picked up the head. Gabbed with Mark a while and got to see an 850 project he has over there. Got me to thinking about getting a little 850 for myself. But first things first. we have a Spider, a Truck, and two motorcycles needing attention. And we are fast running out of places to keep it all.

Here is the head now that it has had a week hanging out with Mark.



All refreshed and ready to get to work. Allison's Automotive, the premiere day spa for overworked Spiders.

Now I was told Saturday that Mother's Day was Fiat day. And Tersta meant it too. First thing A.M. (after the customary Mother's Day breakfast was finished) the tools came out. And we got to see the best part of all the labor. Parts going back on!







Do you think George Lucas got the idea of the scene for the Death Star looking down a Fiat head?



And here is where she was by dinner time.





Still got plenty to do, but if things go well, we are hoping to get it fired very soon.

[Foster48x]

All that hard work is starting to pay off. Looks great!

Rick

[carl55]

Looking Good!!

Carl

[So Cal Mark]

thanks for the update, it looks great. I like the black cam covers too

[Tersta]

Thanks Mark, you should have seen Shermans face when I told him that I wanted to do the cam covers black.

Tersta