So now that I have a car I can acutally drive everyday, I can start a thread documenting the progress.

First thing is to replace the shocks and springs as the car is not sitting square and two of the shocks are dead. I have ordered Yellow Koni's and Csaba's progressive rate springs. See this thread for more info

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... 14&t=23090

I have to install side mirrors as the car did not have any mounted -it came with a set of the bullet wing mirrors - chrome is a bit pitted but I am going to try and reuse them.

Next will be a new electric fuel pump - the PO put a cheap one on the car and it is incredibly noisey!!! Anyone know of a quiet inline electric fuel pump?

Lastly, I am looking for a set of wheels to match a set I have - see this thread:

http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... 19&t=23012

I am glad to pay a finders fee. I have been looking for over a year with zero luck.....

Here is my starting point:



Wish me luck!!

kbee00

Whats the story with that fuel rail in your pics?

I think you mean the intake - that is from a Croma- bought it from Europe. I had plans to use it on an FI swap but haven't gotten to it yet.

I ordered parts from Vicks, Csaba, and Import Parts (Koni's for under $90)

The directions to adjust the Konis that came in the box are terrible!! I found this link:

http://www.koni-na.com/comp.cfm

Much better. I believe the initial setting is full soft? Anyone care to comment on this? And where they have their Koni's adjusted?

I also got my Ricambi parts - Csaba you are the best!! I wish you carried everything I need - I wouldn't go anywhere else...

So, my adventure with Vicks....

I ordered the control arms - the type made to pull the dampers out the bottom - for ease of adjustment. Pluse a few other odds and ends that only they sell.

I ordered last friday - saw on Monday "shipped" on my online order. Great - 3 days to Wisconsin - set up time on a lift (had to reserve and pay) for Saturday. Yesterday the parts were not here - so I email Vicks to see if they are running late. I am emailed back that they had a busy week and the parts would ship today (Thursday) - regular ground. I would get them next week T or Wed. Well - I am confused. I call them - and am told "shipped" doesn't mean shipped WHAT?!!......Only when I get an email from FedEx are they shipped. I had asked in my Thursday email to please send them for Saturday delivery and I would pick up part of the extra cost. While on the phone with them - I am told "OK, we'll ship them for Sat -won't make any money on this order, only 4 of us, busy week"......WHAT! Tryingto be the good customer (??) I apologize for what is obviously my mistake....actually thinking shipped means shipped.....( I was told while on the phone with them, NEVER schedule shop time until the parts are in my hand....) Ok......

I had a "not good" experience with them before but gave them a second chance -AND a lot of my money. But I think I will look elsewhere next time. And there is no doubt I will need LOTS more stuff for this car and the other one I am building (one day in the distant future.....) Really sad about this. I want to support all Fiat vendors. Use it or lose it. I know. But am I expecting too much here? Tell me if I am. Csaba and the other import place were so much better to deal with....

Anyway - if the Vicks parts arrive tomorrow - I will have lots of pics of my new suspension going in. Some guys are wondering how Csaba's blue progressive springs work on early cars - we will find out soon!

Thanks for reading - sorry to ramble on....

kbee00

FWIW: All I will say is that your experience with them is all too common. I now buy exclusively from Ramsi and Csaba unless the part is unavailable.

I have my Koni yellows adjusted in the middle. With stock springs, ( 1 coil removed) the ride is pretty good.

I set Konis to either full soft or a quarter turn away from full soft.
Thanks,

Thanks - so full soft is how they arrive from the factory? Which way do I turn them to adjust soft to hard?

Removed the drivers front suspension this morning. Will be putting on new yellow Koni's - set full soft - Csaba's blue progressive springs, Vicks trick A-Arms (dont' have to remove shock to adjust), new tie rod ends, and switch to metal braided brake lines. Only thing I forgot was the sway bar bushings - but can be done as a separate project.

Pics for you:

Front suspension on the floor.


See the difference in spring height. Stock (grade "B" according to my manual) are 14.125" and Csaba's are 12".


Am replacing the rears too - once completed I will post the results.

Thanks to Vicks for getting my parts here today. They split the overnight shipping fee with me - part of me thinks they should pay it all, but part of me understands their business. In the end, the extra dollars are trivial compared to all the money going into this car. Lesson learned.

kbee00

kbee00 wrote:Thanks - so full soft is how they arrive from the factory? Which way do I turn them to adjust soft to hard?

Turn it and then move them up-down and it will be very obvious On full hard you'll hardly be able to move it.

Thanks Csaba - that's what I did and you are right -it was very obvious. I got the front end done - but didn't have time for the rears. Drove it today and it feels different already. The back situation is much more pronounced - so it will need changing soon. Running different dampers and springs is not good anyway -but i wanted to get out and put some miles on it so I can go back in and tighten, check, etc. when I do the rears.

Pics of the completed front:




You will notice the studs that connect the roll bar are shiny - the studs supplied on the Vicks arm broke free - and since they were rivet style studs there was no way to tighten them up - so i replaced with bolts. Also, the bolt on bottom brackets that hold the damper are setup such that you can't remove/install the damper bolt with the bracket bolted in place - they interfere. So I am not seeing the benefit in having the bracket removable - can someone explain this to me? It was supposed to be a design feature that allowed damper adjustment without removing from car.....don't see it.

Like most new endeavors -the first side took me 8 hours and the second side 2 hours.... But I am happy with the new parts and once the rears are done will let you know how it all works out.

Next are wheels.....

Once winter arrives - the interior will change color, as will the top, new wood for the dash, some new paint, and my trick 2L engine.....will be a busy winter. And I can't wait!

Thanks for following along.

kbee00

I finally finsihed installing the new suspension pieces. This is what was done:

Front - Koni yellows - 1/4 turn from full soft (I assume full soft is full clockwise), Csaba's blue springs, Vick's trick A-arms with ball joints, outer tie rod ends and fully cleaned/greased wheel bearings.

Rear - Koni yellows - 1/4 from full soft, Csaba's blue springs, fully cleaned/greased wheel bearings.

New ride height - 23.75" front



24.75" rear



So the front dropped 1-1/2" and the rear didn't move. I have about 30 miles on the new suspension.

I figure with 205/50/15's the wheel wells should be full - so this setup looks like the ticket for me.

The ride is considerably better. No more wallowing about. However, I do need a front end alignment - when cornering at any speed I get tire squeal. When I replaced the lower A-Arms -no spacer/shims fell out or were present from what I could tell. Did the '72 have different types of shims than the '79's ?

Also, the old bounce test - perfect on the front. But on the rear, the rebound is so slow I can't even get it to bounce! On the road, the rear seems much more harsh but I don' t have a good baseline so maybe that's the way it is? Can someone using Koni's please chime in ?

Thanks for following along!

kbee00

> But on the rear, the rebound is so slow I can't even get it to bounce!

Almost sound like the rear Konis are set to a lot harder setting than the fronts.

That' s what I thought. So I must be doing something wrong.

Holding the damper vertically, with the top mounting stud pointing up - and after removing the bump stopper and white plastic shim, I compressed the damper all the way. I then attempted to rotate the upper half clockwise. It wouldn't move - but would move counterclockwise. So I assumed they were set at full soft when I received them, therefore I rotated them CCW 1/4 turn. Exactly like the fronts.

Is this correct? I hate the thought of pulling all the dampers back out....

HELP!

Thanks,

kbee00

Sorry, I don't remember which way is soft. I simply test them by pulling them out at each end of the adjustment, and that makes it pretty clear. I would assume they are just like the fronts.