Less is more Part 1 - Rear Bumper Removal

I get the irony of buying new tyres for safety, and then removing the bumpers. And I have found myself agreeing with both sides as the safety of bumpers-versus-bumperless debate has played out on these pages. But hot-damn, these cars look better without them!

Rear bumper removal was relatively painless (great advice on the forum about getting the petrol tank out of the way), then got rid of the number plate lights and replaced them with the little black LED button lights which also attach the license plate. Had to cut new holes inside the trunk to access the back of them. I really want to modify the tail lights to something like V6Spider has, will tackle that at bodywork time, along with blanking off the old holes.

Also would like to fit the tail pipe a bit closer to the body cut-out

Less is More Part 2 - Front Bumper Removal

Working out what to do with the front turn signals was the biggest hurdle - many hours spent on the forum looking at what other members had done. In the end, I decided on bullet motorbike turn signals mounted in front of the grille - because both the lights and the grille are black, and the shadow created by the hood overhang, they are pretty discreet.

I changed out the headlights, as I figured the Californian ones point the wrong way on hi-beam for us driving on the left side of the road, so I got ones with integrated park lights. I powered the new turn signals off the side signal lights (which will be taken out and blanked at bodywork time).

Took the chin spoiler off at compliance time to get a bit of surface rust fixed - not sure about putting it back on, but not sure I like seeing the sump hanging out the bottom of the engine bay either.

Exhaust.

Time now to get some performance upgrades underway, starting with the exhaust. Removed the air pump and associated plumbing, and got Vicks' performance headers and exhaust delivered. Freight from the States to little ol' NZ is freaking expensive! When the package arrived it looked like it had been shipped in a bear cage. The box was shredded, and the headers had taken a hit which twisted the flange out of alignment.



After the cost of getting them here, I didn't want to send them all the way back to the US. I had to wedge the two header pipes apart to get them to mate with the downpipe, but that at least mostly straightened the header flange, and once they were bolted to the engine they pulled up fine. Phew! After that initial setback, the whole install was relatively quick and easy.

Took the car for a drive, the exhaust makes it sound like it's going way faster, and there is a nice new shiny bit in the engine bay, and poking out the back. But now there is a water leak coming somewhere from the carb auto choke piping. Oh well, a new carb was next on the list anyway.

New Carburetor

The original carb on my car was a bit of a dog. The auto choke wasn't working, there was a flat spot during acceleration that meant you either had to stomp on the accelerator or back off (when it would occasionally cut out), and all the petrol drained back out of it if the car sat for a few days. And then the choke water pipe sprung a leak.

As luck would have it, we have a local Weber specialist (Murray) whose workshop is only about 5 minutes drive away. Better still, he and a couple of mates used to go on Fiat Spider buying trips to the States in the 1980's, bring them back to NZ, convert them to right hand drive, and sell them to enthusiasts. Who better to do my carb upgrade?

I had already bought a used single plane 1800 inlet manifold, and after a bit of a consult with Murray, we decided a 32/36 water choke was the best fit for me. Not a genuine Weber but a copy made under license to Weber, so quite a bit cheaper, and Murray had been to the factory to check them out so he had confidence in their quality. Being a water choke, it uses the same accelerator linkage set-up which kept things simple, and apparently the water choke responds more readily to the engine temperature than the electric choke (who knew?).

The whole exercise was quite expensive but worth it. The subtleties of engine tuning are lost on me, and I think their solution of incorporating the dipstick support into what I presume is the engine lifting eye is really elegant (although I notice earlier engines don't seem to have the same eye, so is it that important?).

Oil Leaks

No sooner were the carb and exhaust sorted, I noticed oil pooling around the No.1 spark plug. Looks like the oil filler cap, and possibly the cam cover gasket, are leaking- badly. There is also a slight oil leak from the head gasket but not urgent. Got a bit side-tracked while replacing the rubbery bits; ended up with this.



The cam covers and oil filler cap were previously painted in some low-grade silver paint which was flaking off, so I stripped them and applied some Duplicolour Metalcast and clear coat for a bit of bling. Plastic belt cover can not stay yellow, though.

Ball joints and control arm bushes

It was time to take the car for its annual Warrant of Fitness (WOF) check, which it failed. Not surprising, as the control arm bushings were pretty obviously cracked and worn, and the ball joint covers were torn open. I'd already purchased new ball joints, centre link and tie rods in anticipation of this day, so let's get into it.

I'd heard/read that pickle forks are a pretty crude tool for separating ball joints so I splashed out on this. Totally worth it.



Could not find an internal spring compressor anywhere, though. Managed to get the springs out without compressing them by putting the car up quite high on jack stands so the lower control arm could be lowered all the way down using a trolley jack, allowing the spring to almost fully expand. After putting a safety rope through the spring and the control arm to stop the spring pinging around the garage, I could lever the bottom of springs out of the control arm without a lot of effort or peril. Getting them back in was another story.

Tidied up the control arms with a wire wheel, rust converter and paint; got my friendly mechanic to press new bushings and fix a factory weld that had come apart, then ready to reassemble.

To get the springs back in, and taking inspiration from other forum members who had already done this, I fashioned a bench mounted spring compressor out of 2 sash clamps, blocks of timber, and some nylon rope. This is not a recommended method for the impatient or the faint-hearted. Again I threaded a safety rope through the spring and the bench in case the spring broke loose it would not go far. It took several attempts - it is amazing how much compression is needed to get the springs 'short' enough that they would fit back in - again using a jack to bring the lower control arm up to the right position. Phew!

Tie rods were pretty straight forward, although even though I took accurate measurements off the old ones before disassembly, the car pulled to the left with the new ones. No matter, wheel alignment was always going to be required, and once that was done - highway road test!

What an improvement. Happy, happy!

Great Progress Kiwispider! looking good!

Very nice work on your Spider 2000, kiwispider!
Your ball joint buster is the very best of tools for this job! They come in large and small. I've been using them for years,...
Too much pounding force is applied to the joint with a pickle fork,...unless the joint will break loose easily, and they NEVER do.
I was lucky enough to have spring compressors for that job, but I still lash springs compressed with rope,...or wire them if I have limited room in the wheelwell. Just like split-rims, you don't want to know what happens if they break loose!
I'm working on the same carb/intake conversion on my 2000cc,...I understand there's quite an improvement in response over the dumpy stock setup,...ENJOY!
Happy Motoring! Todd.

The pickle forks almost guarantee that any service you do with them will tear the boots on the tie rod ends and ball joints making so even if they did not need replacing you will likely need to shortly since even if you can replace the boots there is always some dirt that got into the joints doing constant damage. The spreader tool does much less damage and is the way to go.

Auto to Manual conversion.

Okay. Now for the upgrade I've been really looking forward to. I've never liked the auto transmission in my Spider. Not long after I bought the car I also bought a second hand 5 speed gearbox, clutch and other associated parts, ready for this conversion. My previous experience was limited to changing the clutch in an old Ford Cortina when I was 18 - I can still remember the weight of the gearbox resting on my chest while transmission fluid drained all over me. So I knew enough to know that doing it in my garage would be heavy, dirty and cramped. Luckily, my friendly mechanic let me use his workshop and we worked on it together.

Things I learned:-
- a vehicle hoist and a gearbox hoist are really helpful
- the 5 speed box is lighter than the auto
- the flex plate in the auto is smaller in diameter than the flywheel in the 5 speed, which means the starter motor is in a slightly different position, which means the spacer dust plate thingy is a slightly different shape
- the bolts attaching the manual box to the engine are longer, but are slightly easier to access (but only slightly!)

I knew we needed to modify the drive shaft, and Drummond had kindly shared the dimensions of his when it was out of the car. I had previously discounted the idea of ever finding a second hand drive shaft as there were so few Spiders in NZ, but my mechanic persuaded me it could be worth a quick phone call or two. How right he was! It turns out that a few years ago a Fiat/Alfa service centre on the other side of town had been doing some work on a Spider, and during the road test it got T-boned by another car: write-off. There was a complete, balanced drive shaft, and the proper spacer plate, ready to go. Really good luck for me; incredibly bad luck for the owner of the bashed up Spider.

I had a second hand flywheel that was from an earlier Fiat so it had 10mm bolt holes, but the same PCD, so I had a local engineering shop drill them out to 12mm. The second hand gearbox mount came with a cross arm which didn't fit, but the 5 speed mount fitted the auto cross arm. I don't know what the pedal box was from, but that didn't fit either, and in the end I only needed the pedals. I had been told that, over time, the clutch pedal can distort where the cable hooks on, so I welded in a triangular stiffener. (Definitely need practice - did more grinding than welding!)


Second hand pedal box of unknown origin.

While all the transmission was out of the car we replaced the diff pinion seal and the rear engine seal, because we could. Reassembly was relatively easy thanks to the hoists, We had to jamb a rubber block between the engine and the cross member to tilt the engine to the right angle so as the gear stick would fit through the transmission tunnel opening. Again I had been sold a second hand tunnel cover plate, and again it didn't fit, so I cut one out of sheet aluminium.

We bypassed the cut-off switch that was on the auto shifter, but I'm thinking I might wire it back in with a toggle switch positioned somewhere discreet as an anti-theft measure.

Kiwispider wrote:Less is more Part 1 - Rear Bumper Removal

I get the irony of buying new tyres for safety, and then removing the bumpers. And I have found myself agreeing with both sides as the safety of bumpers-versus-bumperless debate has played out on these pages. But hot-damn, these cars look better without them!

Personally I think that from the side they look too much like a buck toothed beaver without them in the front.

I have mine off for body work but I really hate the unbalanced look with the hood overhanging the grill that badly so they are going back. To me it only looks good from certain angles when you remove the front bumper.

Yeah, I take your point Diesel, bumper-less is not a perfect look. I guess I meant that I prefer bumper-less to the 'Mad Max post-apocalyptic chic' of the tubular bumpers. I was surprised how much tucking them in closer to the body like some owners have done improves the look.

Head Gasket and Timing Belt replacement.

While we were at the workshop swapping the gearbox, we also tackled the leaking head gasket. From the outside there looked to be quite a bit of oil leaking, but no water, nor oil in the water. Removing the head revealed only a small breach in the gasket, and the pistons and valves were all in good order, so we scraped the gasket residue off the block and head, and installed the new gasket. That was the good news.

Removing the fan to tackle the timing belt, it was obvious the radiator had taken a beating from the fan at some stage, and had been 'repaired' with some sort of epoxy or something. To re-core the old radiator was going to cost an eye-watering NZ$830 - so a brand new radiator was ordered from the US (including freight, tax and exchange rate; about NZ$600).

New timing belt was fitted, hoses refitted, radiator refilled, pressure test cooling system to 15 psi; pool of water on the floor. Where the heck is that coming from?? Turns out the pressure test was enough to rupture the metal heater pipe that runs from the water pump, which had all but rusted through at the bend. A quick grind to remove the rust, and a small welded patch, and we're (temporarily) back in business.

Now for the first drive with a 5 speed gearbox. First thing I noticed is how close the pedals are together, even for my small feet. Immediately it was obvious how well the power got to the road compared to the 'slippage' of the auto. The exhaust note now sounded like a proper sports car, with a really cool cackle and burble as you backed off approaching intersections. The second hand clutch was perfectly smooth, but needed to be gentle selecting first gear if the car was still moving. And without the chrome gear lever or knob installed yet, changing gear took a bit of getting used to.

Had a small problem with the water choke feed pipe getting blocked with some debris from scraping the gunk off the head, which kept the choke on and the engine revving too high, but it was easy enough to blow that out.

Could not be happier with the gearbox swap. If you have a functioning left foot, I can't see why you would choose the auto.

Auto versus 5 speed

With a few miles on the clock, and mechanical upgrades largely complete, it's been interesting to notice the changes in performance.

Upgrades:-
15" rims with 205 x 55/R15 tires (4.4% larger circumference)
New 32/36 carb
New headers and 2.25" performance exhaust
Auto gearbox replaced with 5 speed gearbox
Weight loss diet

Performance:-
1. Acceleration is improved. Even with the diff from the auto (ratio 3.58:1 compared to 3.9:1 in the manual), and the larger tire circumference - both of which should impair acceleration - these are more than offset by the upgraded carb and exhaust, weight removal and removing the power losses associated with the auto box. The car certainly holds its own off the line.
2. RPM's are lower. Increased tire circumference, plus improved final drive ratio (1.0 auto, 0.88(?) manual) means that highway speeds are now achieved at around 500 less RPM. (approx 12% improvement).
3. Petrol consumption improved - disclaimer:- can be hard to achieve if you like the sound of a performance exhaust under spirited acceleration.

Unfortunately my speedo cable, which was just hanging in there in the back of the speedo - and used to waver so it's accuracy was under question - broke completely when I took the dash out to swap out the pedals. So MPH comparisons have not been done. But the car drives so much better, so I'd recommend these upgrades to anyone.

Spider Storyboard.

As summer starts drawing to a close, and top-down driving weather becomes less certain, thoughts turn to when the car comes off the road to focus on bodywork and interior restoration. Time to get creative on choosing colours and finishes.

Spiders are a car for summer, and summer for many Kiwis is about the beach. I think the furthest you can be from the sea in NZ is 70 miles? (not fact checked). We also have indigenous flora and fauna that is a unique background to everyday life. I've called this topic South Pacific Spider Restomod because I want to take an already tasty piece of automotive design, and add a distinctly Kiwi vibe to it.

One of our most notable native birds is the Tui. At first glance, in real life, they look black, but they have a green radiance to their feathers which is quite awesome. I've used this to influence the paint colour. I also want to use the orange colour above the beak as a highlight colour in the upholstery.



We have some great native trees, but our most iconic tree would have to be the pohutukawa, a prolific coastal tree which, at the beginning of summer, bursts out with red needle-like flowers. Supposedly the earlier they flower, the longer the summer. Unfortunately, their timber is not easy to work, but I am hoping to be able to fashion a new dash from it anyway.



Being a coastal country, seafood has always been an integral part of Kiwi life. Back when I was growing up (about the time our cars were being made), when people still smoked, it was really common to see paua (Maori name for abalone) shells used as ashtrays. So obviously the ashtray in the spider has to have a paua inlay.



And here is the finished ashtray. Kitsch or what??



Don't worry, the red console and seats will be replaced with a 'sand' coloured vinyl, which should round out the Kiwi beach theme nicely.