Got my new Guy Croft book in the mail today.

[mdrburchette]

It's twice as thick as the original with a table of contents, index and engine start up info section. There are also hundreds of colorful pictures and graphs. At first glance, beautifully executed documentation that any ability level can appreciate. Thank you, Guy, for taking the time to put together another work of art.

[beachboy]

Thats unbelievable, look what I got in the mail today! Must be Karma.
I am very Jealous and hope you love the book. Guy does a great job explaining things.

[mdrburchette]

Are you serious? That's cool! I didn't know there was a Spider book for Dummies.

[kmac33]

Denise,
I'm jealous . I have been thinking about ordering the book, but have held off so far because I know what that will lead to......pulling out my nicely rebuilt new motor, and spending lots more $ that I don't have to copy one of the work's of art Guy has built.
Also love the Spider for Dummies book - especially the Spitfire jab .

[spiderrey]

Thats gotta be a cool photoshop. My book was on the porch when I got home today, # 58.

[mdrburchette]

Mine's #57. We must have sent our requests in at the same time.

[spiderrey]

Damn it! I cant beat you at anything, I QUIT! lol

[ventura ace]

You both have me beat: #90

Looks impressive. I will have to retire a little earlier each evening to read a chapter and try to absorb some knowledge.

Alvon

[spiderrey]

Maybe ur looking at it upside down and its really 06, hmm

[DUCeditor]

I know this is make me sound dumb, dumb, dumb, but I gotta ask... Can a spider really be made competitive?

I ask because I get my speed fixes via Ducati motorcycles, these days mostly on the street, but up until just a couple of years ago also on the track (Louden). And while I've LOVED my Spider for all the 22 years I've owned her I've always thought of her as basically a pleasant top-down touring car, not a rearin' to race speedster.

Hope this doesn't make me an infidel. I'm listenin' and ready to learn. (and also ready to duck any brickbats that come my way!)

-don

[mdrburchette]

If you keep things in prospective, you'll learn how great these little cars really are compared to other cars of their day. Mr. Ampredi designed an engine that Carlo Abarth found to have great potential. If you care to, you can find many articles on the internet that show Fiat winning several rallies. You may want to keep in mind that these rallies were won with a reworked production Fiat twin cam engine. That in itself, shows the great potential these cars had and still do for performance gains. Take my little ole 1608 engine in my 72 Spider. While keeping it completely streetable, we were able to gain close to 40% more hp with the guidance of experts like Guy Croft and while still using many stock items. I know many who race Fiat 124 Spiders that have gotten over 150 hp out of theirs. The design of the body itself is a work of art. I have weighed mine and found it almost perfectly balanced from front to back and side to side. How many production cars, even today, can boast this? You probably won't beat a tuned Honda out of the grid, but you sure as heck whoop an MGB.

[DUCeditor]

I know there is no comparison with an old tractor motor like an MG and that the motor was WAY advanced for its time. Much, btw, like air-cooled, desmodue (2 valve) Ducatis. And there is a certain joy in making do with that relative simplicity.

But as much as I like (and I REALLY like) 2v ducs, I do not fully understand guys spending oodles of money to tune it to the point of near destruction when for far less $$$ they can buy a liquid-cooled desmoquatro (4valve) model that is designed from the bottom up to make that much power and thus deal with all that heat.

More than that the balance of the Spider is the way that its suspension finds the perfect mean between performance and real-road drivability. They say, by comparison, that if an experienced Morgan driver drives over a dime he can tell if its heads or tails up.

Today you have space-age construction for lightness, multi-valve motors with variable cam timing, etc.

I like my Spider as it was designed and for what it was designed. More performance? Yes. To the degree that it becomes what Mr. Lampredi invisioned, not what Uncle Sam's suited minions insist on. But no a 2010 wannabe.

But that's just me. As we're often reminded, differences are what make hor.... no, make that "car racing."



-don

[mdrburchette]

I guess your question of whether a Spider can be competitive brings up the question: competitive for what? I must have misunderstood your question.

[DUCeditor]

Definitely competitive among cars of their type and era. More than competitive at winning this man's heart.



-don

[spiderrey]

From what Ive sen, there r a few guys that race them and they seem to do well in thier class. As far as modding them if done properly it can pay off very well even if only street driven. My car is heavily modded and it is a totally different car then what it started as. it was sometimes to boring to drive, now it just makes me smile. Its not the fastest car on the road, never will be. its great for what it is , now.