1983 Pininfarina, the revival has begun.

[leftfield6]

Well, today I started digging into my newly acquired 1983 Spider. I knew I was getting a "fixer-upper" but as always there are good and bad surprises.

Worst find so far is what I took to be a little minor sheet metal repair may be a little more involved. Looks like the rear bumper is slightly (maybe 1 1/2 inches) tweaked off to the passenger side. Seems like she was hit in the rear between the license plate and the right tail light. Rear valance between the lights shows some waviness, and the inside of the trunk shows some repaired (not too well either) sheet metal. Rear right quarter may be slightly tweaked as well, some irregularities around the trunk lip that I'll get some pics of. I'll try to post some pics of the body in general, and get your advice.

Trunk lid has a regrettable homemade looking luggage rack that will have to come off, leaving 14, yes, I said 14 holes to repair. Also the car has the absolute crappiest paint job I've ever seen. I hope it was a DIY-er, I'd hate to think anyone paid for a job like this.

Interior is ratty, but i certainly knew that before buying. Black leather seats way beyond repair, and the backs of both seats are busted with the gangster lean. Found a set of Miata seats locally for $100 including sliders, so I'll likely go that route. Right now, I've taken the seats out, and removed all of the carpet and removed all of whatever that tar/fabric/insulation stuff is underneath. Letting it dry out really well. It was black seats/dash/door panels, but with tan carpet. I may take a shot at dyeing the carpet black, it's too stained to ever be tan again.

Mechanicals, so far the only oddity I've discovered is a jury rigged cooling fan wiring system. Rather than rely on the sensor in the radiator to tell the fan when to come on, this Spider has an overly elaborate system which doesn't utilize the factory wiring at all, it has it's own little temperature probe mounted externally on the radiator. Why didn't they just fix whatever was wrong with the original system? Now I have to figure out how to remove the added on stuff before I can even begin to troubleshoot the real problem.

I do have some oil leaks, no biggie there. Seller said timing belt and seals had been done recently, but no receipts, so I have no way of knowing that for sure, so I'll do that before long.

Good points are (a) 4 "turbo" wheels in good shape, (b) only one small "50 cent piece" sized rust spot found, and (c) top and boot cover in decent shape. Another good point is that my nephew owns a highly regarded auto body and paint shop, and will do a great job for me at "cost".

So, I'll post up some pics later. I'll just kind of keep this thread going with updates

[leftfield6]

So, here are some pics. Sorry for all the close up shots, the car is in my garage, so I can't get a long range camera angle.

It's a 1983 Pininfarina, black with black leather. Runs okay, but cosmetically needs a lot of work.

Front angle



Truly horrible luggage rack.



Interior with seats and carpet ripped out.



Another angle of the interior



View from passenger front



Okay, lets see if i can show some of the rear quarter damage. Inside the recessed area around the trunk, there are a few spots where the sheet metal bent, almost like a crumple zone, the blue arrows point to it here.



This angle shows it, no arrows here.



Closer to the back, one more "dimple"



All of these little beads or dimples has the effect of the rear of the quarter being slightly lower than it should be.

Here is a much more obvious sign of past damage, pull down the carpet inside the trunk, and the panel behind is mangled pretty badly.



Another dent is on edriver side front fender. Damage here also impacts the front lip of the driver's door.



Soft top looks okay, one torn area where the top folds down. Window is clear.



Front edge of soft top is badly installed.



Here is the rather odd temperature/fan control device. This is mounted on the side of the engine compartment.



The above is connected to this little probe tied to the surface of the radiator.



Here are the original carpet mats. I'm going to dye these black. They are stained so badly, I don't think they could ever be tan again.



The seats were originally leather, but they are cracked, seams are torn, and the back is bent and cracked on the driver's seat, so out they go. Here is the driver's seat.



Here is the passenger seat.



That's it for now. Any comments or advice are welcome.!!

[kmead]

The seat frames can be repaired. Good existing seat frames are hard to come by. Hold on to them.

[TulsaSpider]

Hey I have/had the same luggage rack. Mine is still chrome though. Like you I ditched it. good luck! From a fellow black Spider!

[Site Owner]

Leftfield -
That was my 1983 Pininfarina in the header of this web site. She was a good one.
Good luck with yours!

Evan

[courtenay]

Don't discount the value of that radiator thermostat/fan controller. It's the same kind of gizmo Mark is using for his new aluminum rad set up.

[Twister]

I am about to put some new carpet in my Azzurra. It's the wrong color (saddle) but it's still a loop instead of the cut pile. Eventually I'll find the correct carpet. What I wanted to ask was, was your rear carpet one piece or two? The kit I received has a single piece of carpet that goes from the floor (around the hump) and up over the tray to the rear panel. Whereas the worn out aftermarket carpet that was in the car had a separate piece of carpet for the luggage tray.

[leftfield6]

I am about to put some new carpet in my Azzurra. It's the wrong color (saddle) but it's still a loop instead of the cut pile. Eventually I'll find the correct carpet. What I wanted to ask was, was your rear carpet one piece or two? The kit I received has a single piece of carpet that goes from the floor (around the hump) and up over the tray to the rear panel. Whereas the worn out aftermarket carpet that was in the car had a separate piece of carpet for the luggage tray.

The really nasty luggage shelf original carpet in my Spider was one piece. From where the rear wall is, all the way to the front edge, and then down to the floorboard, with the center tunnel cutout. I'll also mention that whatever adhesive Pininfarina used to glue that rear carpet section to the plastic shelf should be used in the attachment of space shuttle tiles. This stuff does NOT come loose easily!!

Where did you find a "loop" kit for the Azzura? I hope they offer that in black!

[Rlingren]

How much does a fixerupper like that cost? Been thinking about buying one

[leftfield6]

How much does a fixerupper like that cost? Been thinking about buying one

Hmm, I might be tempted to rate this one as one notch or even two notches above a fixer-upper in two ways. One, it's a Pininfarina, and I've always wanted one with the center stack in the dash, and a few of the other upgrades. Secondly, this is an almost zero rust car. I've already ground out the two rust bubbles I have found, and neither extended more than in inch in any direction before I got solid, non-pitted metal.

To, be fair, though, I used the term fixer-upper, so I guess that's what it is. I paid about $2K. A little bodywork, new paint, and a refresh of fluids/filters/gaskets is hopefully all I need mechanicals wise.

[wengr]

Nice car. I've got the same thing, 83 in triple black. You don't see it everyday.

[Twister]

Nice deal... mine cost me a bit more, but it was a friend I wanted to help out. About the same for rust a small spot in the fender near the battery tray. My car had some cheaper black carpet kit installed at some point in the past. It was also repainted red... ugghh. Anyhow, I stripped the interior out over the weekend and I just finished reinforcing the luggage tray by adding a layer of fiberglass to it. The tray has several cracks and was quite wavy. I screwed it to a piece of particle board using some short lengths of doweling to hold it flat while I "glassed" it. The doweling kept the screws up out of the way so I could remove the tray from the board after the fiberglass cured. About 20 minutes with the Dremel and it looks almost as good as new from the top side. I still have some hot glue left to remove (how the PO installed the carpet). Tomorrow my Damplifier Pro and Heat Wave Pro will arrive. I hope to have the rest of my prep work done by the weekend so I can get the carpet in on Sunday.

[HofDesigns]

I'll soon be digging into my 83 fixer- upper. bought it today and the interior is every bit as wasted. the body is flawless and original paint (possible respray on the hood). The engine fires but dies out. fuel pump/pressure issues.

First question :What badges came on these? mine are missing, but the seller gave me some replcement "f" badges. I've also seen the sailboat ones on others.

[leftfield6]

Hey all, I haven't had much time to work on the Pinin since my last post. I've been traveling on business every week, and so weekends are spent on the honey-do list.

What I have done is finished stripping out the interior. Good news is no surprises! No rust, just very dirty!! The tar like insulating pieces are mostly in good enough shape to keep, with the one exception being the one on the floorboard on the drivers footwell. I don't think I'm seen that item from one of the suppliers, so I may just go with a layer of sound insulation mat, and maybe some jute on top of that.

I also just today placed an order for a new top. Even though my current top wasn't horrible, I had two reasons for ordering a new one. (1) The Stayfast canvas top at last years pricing of $235 is just too good a deal to pass up, and (2) the current top is badly installed. Whoever installed the current top did not properly center it on the front bow, so the passenger side catches on the top of the window when opening and closing the door, while the driver's side has a visible gap between the bottom of the top and the top of the side window. Also, it is badly fitted on the front driver's side corner, as seen here.



I've also purchased a set of Miata seats, done a little restoration on them, and added new headrest speakers to them. Eventually, these speakers will be paired with a set of 6.5 inch speakers mounted into the rear deck.

I'm debating on whether to rollbar or not rollbar. I installed one in my previous 79 Spider, and it really tightened up the feel of the car, but not sure about the aesthetics. Still considering that one.

[leftfield6]

I'll soon be digging into my 83 fixer- upper. bought it today and the interior is every bit as wasted. the body is flawless and original paint (possible respray on the hood). The engine fires but dies out. fuel pump/pressure issues.

First question :What badges came on these? mine are missing, but the seller gave me some replcement "f" badges. I've also seen the sailboat ones on others.

Hof, I think the 83 came with the Pininfarina "f" as seen in my avatar. The 84s and later came with the Azzura sailboat design.