A Tale of Two Fiats

[Zulu]

WYSpider: I don't know. There is something cast into the back of the rim, but as far as I can tell, it is just a string of numbers.

[Zulu]

Pulled the engine from Fiat 2 this evening. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. With a little more preparation it will be ready to go into Fiat 3. We are planning on taking the engine/transmission to our hangar tomorrow to give it a thorough cleaning. Photos soon.

We also pulled the shock and spring from the left front of Fiat 2. We are going to replace the lower control arm with a junker unit we have so that we can roll the car around. Again, photos soon.

[Zulu]

I finally have those pictures of the pulled engine. It was much easier than anticipated to pull it. The key is to go slow and be meticulous with your disconnections. We only remembered the transmission ground strap after starting to pull everything out. Oops! To get out and under the car, we found it was much easier to disconnect the shifter from the transmission.

The pulled engine:


Empty engine bay:


I also located a set of stock steel wheels and hubcaps, trading away my X 1/9 alloys:


The tires on them are all unique from each other. They are cracked badly and need to be replaced. I am going to go for 185/70s so that I get taller tires to fill the wheel wells better. The wheels will also get painted a creme color to contrast the blue car. And I am looking for a set of the early style hub caps (non-nuclear-waste). I might add beauty rings at some point.



One last shot of the garage as it stands right now (what's that Honda doing in the driveway??):

[mik]

I added beauty rings to my '69 and was pleased how they added to an otherwise plain look. I got mine at Hubcap Mikes.

[Zulu]

I think I have located a pair of used beauty rings for cheap locally. I will pick those up and see how they look.


I showed my car at the Viva Alfa show for the Mid Florida Alfa Romeo Owners Club today. Met lots of great and welcoming people. Met lots of people with parts I need for my cars. I suppose now would be appropriate to lay out the end-goal for my car: I want to take my car back to the body style that Pininfarina intended when the car was designed. I want a no-bump hood, badge in the grill, early side marker lights, blade bumpers, etc. Today has brought me into contact with folks who have early turn signals, early hubcaps, and back blade bumpers for me. I should be picking all of those up in the next couple of weeks.

I will have pictures from the event posted both in this thread and in the 'Fiat Spider Events' section.

[Zulu]

With out stash of parts I had a late 77 speedometer with a shallow dish and newer faceplate and a deep dish speedo with an old-style faceplate. I wanted the best of both worlds: old face with shallow dish. While I had the glass off of them for cleaning, I decided to perform the swap. The needle pulls straight off (best to use a fork so you don't break the needle) and then two screws and the face lifts off. I painted the faded needle back to white and reassembled. Picture below. I can't wait to put it in my car.



Edit: I also redid a Spider 2000 tachometer to have an old face and light. Reset the odometer too.

[Zulu]

Attended an Alfa Show over the weekend. Not only my car's first show but my first show as well.

Me polishing it after parking.


My car waiting to be judged (dead last!)


Me and two other Spiders.


RJ's yellow Spider.


Red '72.

[jimmycakes401]

Fun thread. I don't know how I missed it before. Man. Look at all those cars. It's very hard for me to find any Fiats at shows near by. I've been to a LOT of shows in the area. I need to hit the Lars Anderson museum the next time they do old italina car shows.

[Zulu]

I need the advice of all you experts...


Does this look OK?




I'm looking for some matte black duct tape. But I don't want to spend too much.

[Kent124]

I think those are what they call "run flat" tires.

[124JOE]

is that your spare?
its totaly junk

[Zulu]

is that your spare?
its totaly junk

No, but afterwards I discovered my spare had a hole.

[Zulu]

While my dad is away on business, I have decided to tackle a couple of projects for him. First up was the wiper mechanism.

I had three cowls + mechanism to work with so the first step was to disassemble all three. Disassembly of the wiper mechanism is incredibly straightforward. Four bolts/nuts hold it to the cowl, as well as the rubber wiper gaskets on the outside. The motor comes out with three bolts and one nut on the shaft. I picked the best mechanism out of the bunch, but it was still pretty nasty looking.



I ended up replacing this motor with a known-good unit.


First, I lubed every joint in the mechanism to make sure it would function properly, and then I gave it a thorough scrubbing with steel wool and Simple Green; it was looking much better.



Since my dad told me I couldn't make my car better than his, I had to go all out and paint the darn thing. I also painted the "Magnetti Marelli" motor shield and part of the motor itself.


I left the "Fiat 131 Brava" that was painted on the motor. Thought it looked kinda cool.


Reassembled:


That cowl looks awful now...


Better than new, I think.

[Glasair180]

Wow! That looks great! I am going to have to go on business trips more often

[Zulu]

Another small project:

I cleaned the container with coffee grinds, a tip I think was found here, though I'm not sure from who. Just mix with some water and shake around the inside. Cleans off all the grime from the inside of the canister. I then removed it from the metal bracket which I sanded and painted black. Reassemble and voila. Another beautiful piece for my engine bay.