Brought her home last night!

[wikkid]

And gave her a bath this morning. She feels better already.
Against most of the sage advice of solid members of this forum, I am now the owner of "that car" that I asked folks about when I first joined. Here she is in the driveway (looking better than she did with flat tires out in the weeds).

[Nancy1340]

Congratulations on getting your new baby home.

[thechadzone]

That's a good looking car. I like the Azzura for it's rack & pinion steering, and I've read that it's original build quality was a bit better than previous Spiders. I don't know if this is your first Fiat or not, but either way here's some opinion & free advice:

the Fiat 124 & its engine required considerable revision for import into the US that limited its performance. It's head has smaller ports, its emissions system limited its power, its fuel injection system is less than ideal, and I've read that the US spec cam profiles aren't as sporty as those in Europe.

Have low initial expectations for your car's engine performance, but keep in mind that upgrades are available and online help is everlasting. Still, my girlfriend's '07 Toyota Corolla base model will embarrass my reasonably upgraded Spider on the street.

A cylinder head from the 1.8 car will bump up its compression enough to notice a change, a dual carburetor manifold from Pierce Manifolds is $240. Two decent Weber IDF carbs for that manifold can be reconfigured for twin cam application for about $400 if you're thrifty & willing to tinker. The carbs will give you about 20% more power if they're tuned well. A factory carburetor manifold from the 1.8 motor and a single dual barrel Weber 32x36 carburetor can be bought by a thrifty person for about $200. That set-up will make the car sound better, and have a little better throttle response than the FI system. Performance figures for the FI system vs. the single carb option are debatable, and each has their bias toward one or the other.

I've seen no numbers on the head upgrade, but it was a satisfying weekend's work for me that made my car more fun. I've got a Fiat Regatta head coming from Eastern Europe that I hope to put on while the motor is out over the winter. It's got larger intake & exhaust valves that are a nice upgrade over the US spec valve sizes. Friends in Europe are handy!

With the carb & head modifications to my 2.0 motor I was able to match the overall performance of my carbureted 2.0 Alfa Spider. They're fun to race, switch drivers and race again. The sound of both cars side by side, each with dual carbs & Monza Twin Tip exhausts is pretty cool.

If you still don't have the ignition switch wired up, I'm sure someone here has a wiring diagram that'd help. If such things blow your mind (they blow mine at times), I have a complete wiring loom with the ignition switch still attached that I can take a pic of & send you.

Post lots of pics of your car, use a lot of rust inhibiting products, and keep it dry. Congratulations on a cool version of the Spider, and thanks for saving it from its previous owner.

[ga.spyder]

Dang,Chris...Congratulations.So,how does it look?Have you had a chance to delve into it yet?You always know if its the right one for you.Good for you for sticking to your guns,and going with your first instinct.Pictures,pictures,pictures!
ps...I believe only the 85.5 had rack and pinion steering,not the 83.All the components from the CS2 cars should swap in except the interior.

[ultramarine]

congratulations

i ll get mine in two weeks
spider europa pininfarina 2000 1983
la rochelle France

[wikkid]

Update:
Progress is slow, not because of the car, but because of my schedule and other commitments. When I found the car, it looked to be out in the weeds, but in fact, it was on gravel, and the weeds had grown up all around the car. So moisture from below was not as much of a problem as it could have been.
I vacuumed out tons of ants under the old carpeting, and cleaned it up a bit.
The fuel pump was definitely dead, no taps or reversing polarity would show any sign of life. So new pump is sitting at the post office, awaiting my return. Also will get new filters before and after, and fresh gas.
New battery.
New old ignition switch and key from John Erskine (thanks John!).
Marvel mystery oil into the plug holes; plugs looked in excellent, healthy brown condition, and with the new battery (but w/o fuel pump) the engine cranks strong.
I have all new fuses to replace the old, brittle ones. The electrics don't seem to be a total disaster - I'll see more once the new fuses are in and I have it running. I also am going to have the alternator checked out.
I found a few old, dried up wasp nests, some mouse poop (but no mouse-chewed wires so far, which I consider to be a minor miracle).
I'll update more soon.
-Chris

[TulsaSpider]

Awesome! Congrats! That doesn't seem to be a bad start! Maybe it'll fire right up! Best to change out all the rubber under the hood including the timing belt before going further.

[wikkid]

I agree about the timing belt, and I also went through and made an informal list of rubber seals, hoses, bushings, joints, gaskets - all the soft stuff. The parts are not a lot of money, but there's certainly labor in it to last me a while! I am hoping, though, just for the morale boost and also for diagnostics, that it will fire up with the new fuel pump.

Can the gasket for the gas sender unit atop the tank be re-used, or does it need to be replaced when I take the sender off to poke around in the tank?

[ga.spyder]

Chris,I reused mine,but it had been garaged it whole life.That would be an easy one to make,with a little gasket material.