My wife and I had a 78 spider about 8 years ago, that really only needed a paint job to make it drive able. She loved going for a ride in the country with it. So I found a cheap opportunity to pick this up for $400.00, and I did. I can do all of the paintwork and powder coating, but I'm not the best welder. The worst part is that there is nothing left of the floor, so I ordered panels from Wolfe steel. But I cant seem to find any dimensions as to where things go according to the rebuilding of the tunnel and rear compartment. Anyone having those dimensions would greatly be appreciated. I hope this is salvageable but I don't know. Please any help for this newbie on running gas and brake lines would be helpful also. Thanks for your input, Greg.
I have pictures but I don't know how to post them.

BEFORE buying a cheap (or not-so-cheap) Spider, and BEFORE ordering any restoration items, a thorough inspection of the car should be done by someone with a knowledge of the car. If the floors on a car are completely shot, for example, there is a high probability that there is serious rust elsewhere as well.

While any car can be salvageable, $400 Spiders are best donor >> scrap candidates. There are of course exceptions for familial or otherwise emotionally-attached cars. Cancel your sheet metal order.

Agreed.

Welcome aboard!

Post some pictures! They help a great deal when trying to help diagnose problems, inquiries, etc that you may have.

Here is a thread on how to post pictures directly to the forum:

http://www.fiatspider.com/f15/viewtopic ... 13&t=32169

And here is another picture-posting thread:

http://www.fiatspider.com/f15/viewtopic ... 12&t=23084

This short instruction covers how to resize pictures so that they don’t get cut off at the right side:

http://www.fiatspider.com/f15/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=30441

And here is a link to a map of Spider owner’s locations. Many forum members have listed their locations.

https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=191825


Pete

Here are a few pictures. Keep in mind I am only looking to make a weekend driver out of it and give myself a project to keep me busy during retirement.

Aside from the outside sills it looks like that car is missing all the unibody frame components from the firewall to the rear seat. That home center angle iron really isn't going to pass muster for much more that something to slowly drive about from the garage to your driveway and back so you are going to need to replace all the missing unibody components and not just get some repair panels. Somebody really hacked that one up.

You really need most every floor pan/frame/seat mount part available that goes in that area and a good number of parts that are not available so they will need to be made up by a good sheet metal shop along with someone who has very good welding skills.
http://www.autoricambi.us/cgi/commerce. ... egory=BE01

http://www.vickauto.com/newstore/index. ... ath=5_6_30

It can be fixed if you are a good tin knocker and already have a wire feed welder, welding torches, sheet metal brake, etc (sheet metal/body shop) set up but is more of a organ doner to fix up your good car.

Does anybody have a good clear picture of the unibody floor without the carpet. It might help if I can see what it started like. I know the strength will have to come from the tunnel area, which will have to be fabricated. Thanks for all your input.

You easily need about $1,500 worth of parts to even begin restoring the unibody in that area and could end up going much higher if you do not have the welding skills and equipment to do it yourself.

Take a look at the links provided to see what the beginning costs are for all the front and rear seat floor pans, seat mounting rails, all the cross braces for that area and that is just the beginning costs. Now think about what a competent welder will charge to undo what was done wrong and start putting it right. You need a top notch job done there to make the car roadworthy regardless of whether its just a weekend drive or not.

Truth be told that car is technically salvage and should not have a clear title on it and would need to be re-certified as road worthy. It really needs to be checked by a certified and licensed frame shop before spending a dime on it.

I will probably be less costly to keep that one for parts and spend that $1,500 on a better one that just needs a new top, brake work, etc.

Thanks for the information, I am considering that . In the meantime I have all the parts coming already, so it's trying to find another car. Live and learn. Thanks again for your honesty, without sarcasm.

How much do you already have invested in the parts that are on the way?

Rather than re-post the pics from the other threads just review the recent restoration threads as they have plenty of pictures of how things look above and below the floor pans.

Spider 18

Have you checked the front strut towers yet. Good chance they are rusted out. Unless you are an expert welder, or have a very deep check book, its pretty much fatal.

Free Fiats are the most expensive ones.

Where are you located? If you are patient you can find a relatively clean Spider in the $2 to $3K range. Its all about the rust. There's nothing mechanical or cosmetic that can't be dealt with if the body's sound.

The search function here is very helpful. Also here are a couple of articles about buying and owning a Spider:

http://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hsx/20 ... 22442.html

http://www.mirafiori.com/faq/content/buyspid.html

Good Luck.

At this point I've got about $600.00 invested into floor pans and supports. But now I have a line on a rust free complete floor, rockers to rockers, front to back, including the whole tunnel. I think I'm going to go that route also, and then get rid of what I don't use after that. I know it is going to be a lot of welding, but a lot less fabricating. The shock towers and everything else underneath looks good. It's funny but the car had been rustproofed.

Part of the fun to me is working on the cars. It doesn't always make financial sense. But if that is what it was about, then we would all be driving Honda Civics. Enjoy you project and good luck.

i belive you can do it fit the tunnel first then over lay the floor pans

Agreed, it's pretty tough to just flip them and make money on them. The journey of finding the parts, and doing the work is most of the fun. You're right, otherwise we wouldn't buy projects.