How many Miles On Your Spider?

[TX82FIAT]

Folks, for many of us these cars transcend hobby into passion. Long term ownership often requires a level of knowledge and maintenance in short supply commercially. I have long held the belief the Lampreti Twin Cam is a durable engine capable of long life and high miles if properly maintained. Yet, when I look at posts, I rarely see a spider with over 100K miles. I've seen X 1/9's with over 200K and even one with 335K miles. I've seen a diesel spider over 200K miles. If you have a Spider with over 100K miles on it chime with how many miles, year of car and how many years you have owned it? Share some insight on number of times you have replaced/repaired the head, repaired/rebuilt/replaced the transmission. Lower engine work. Have you changed timing belt every 20,000 miles or are you on a five year plan. Share your long term and high mileage vehicle ownership story. How many miles?

[18Fiatsandcounting]

OK, I'll go first. My two current cars:

1969 124 spider with about 170,000 miles on it. Purchased new by my dad and then transferred to me when I went off to college. I have done a lot of work on it, but mainly because I like tinkering with mechanical things, and so much of this work was "optional". Engine has been rebuilt twice (new rings and bearings and seals and such), once because it needed it and once because I put a used 2L engine in it.

1971 124 spider with unknown mileage, but over 100K. I bought this car used in 1988 or so for $175, and while all the parts were there, the body and interior were really rough. As far as I know, the engine and transmission are original. I have restored the interior, but body work awaits for another day.

Both cars are mechanically sound, and I do routine maintenance on them but that's about all these days. Coolant and oil changes, tuneups, etc. Too many other things in life that require my attention.

-Bryan

[TX82FIAT]

18Fiatsandcounting, I like the story of 170K in the 69 purchased new by your Dad. That's what I'm talking about. I can't imagine a car over 100K miles without a story behind it.

[RRoller123]

Have about 82,000 on my Spider, had about 76,000 when I bought it 10 years ago. Toy use, lol.

My '79 X1/9 I bought brand new, drove it ~124,000 miles, and 2 trips from Boston to California and back. Most reliable car I ever owned, not kidding.

Pete

[18Fiatsandcounting]

My '79 X1/9 I bought brand new, drove it ~124,000 miles, and 2 trips from Boston to California and back. Most reliable car I ever owned, not kidding.

Quite amazing, Pete, but I have found that Fiats (and most cars) do just fine when on the open road for long miles. My '69 Spider has also crossed the US several times, without a problem. Any problems were almost always related to either a hack repair job that I had done, or when the car sat for long periods without being driven. Fiats don't like to be ignored...

-Bryan

[18Fiatsandcounting]

18Fiatsandcounting, I like the story of 170K in the 69 purchased new by your Dad. That's what I'm talking about. I can't imagine a car over 100K miles without a story behind it.

Yep, enough stories to write a book. Everything from Molotov cocktails and fire-bug fire inspectors to my "Dukes of Hazzard" getting airborne attempts, to surviving Death Valley in July at temperatures close to 130 oF, to Yosemite Valley in the Winter where it was cold enough to shatter the plastic rear window when I put the top down. Happy to share if anyone's interested.

-Bryan

[SteinOnkel]

Folks, for many of us these cars transcend hobby into passion. Long term ownership often requires a level of knowledge and maintenance in short supply commercially. I have long held the belief the Lampreti Twin Cam is a durable engine capable of long life and high miles if properly maintained. Yet, when I look at posts, I rarely see a spider with over 100K miles. I've seen X 1/9's with over 200K and even one with 335K miles. I've seen a diesel spider over 200K miles. If you have a Spider with over 100K miles on it chime with how many miles, year of car and how many years you have owned it? Share some insight on number of times you have replaced/repaired the head, repaired/rebuilt/replaced the transmission. Lower engine work. Have you changed timing belt every 20,000 miles or are you on a five year plan. Share your long term and high mileage vehicle ownership story. How many miles?

My 5-digit speedo reads just under 70k, but I strongly suspect it is at least 170k.

As to the previous maintenance, I haven't a clue. I was told the car was serviced by the "local Fiat guru" (read: some yahoo who didn't bother to torque safety related fasteners). The car was originally owned by the owner of Auto Italia in San Rafael.

I've had it for two years and when I got it, it was really rough. Like unsafe to drive rough. Rather than mull over some dubious maintenance history, I took inventory and began fixing what needed fixing. The engine had good compression, but ran poorly so the first order of business was new carb, new ignition system, timing belt, water pump etc etc. The suspension and brakes were shot, so everything was replaced. I think the only thing I left untouched was the alternator.

Just finished respraying it and have the car 90% reassembled. Drove it 155 miles last weekend, didn't skip a beat.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Just finished respraying it and have the car 90% reassembled. Drove it 155 miles last weekend, didn't skip a beat.

Steiny, I'm still anxious to see your new paint job. Looking for a good time to meet up. Seems like it's been cold and windy of late.

-Bryan

[RRoller123]

My '79 X1/9 I bought brand new, drove it ~124,000 miles, and 2 trips from Boston to California and back. Most reliable car I ever owned, not kidding.

Quite amazing, Pete, but I have found that Fiats (and most cars) do just fine when on the open road for long miles. My '69 Spider has also crossed the US several times, without a problem. Any problems were almost always related to either a hack repair job that I had done, or when the car sat for long periods without being driven. Fiats don't like to be ignored...

-Bryan

You are absolutely right! They need to be used. I just got my bike out last weekend after 2 years, now I need to pay some attention to that. I am also finding this quite clearly with my 2003 XK8, it has 7 computers (actually that is pretty low number these days) and after about 3 or 4 days without use, it needs the battery charger put on it. God I love that car. 0-90 is about 9 seconds or so.

[bobplyler]

I'm guessing mines about 260000 miles. It's been over twice and showing about 8000 miles.

After I had it a year, it had over 40000 miles (my future wife lived about 425 miles away, and many trips). I was sitting around the apartment one Sunday, and thought, gee that's too many miles for one year. Taking the speedometer out and snipping the lead seal, I put it back in with only 14000 miles on it.

Later, the speedometer cable was broken for 1 1/2 years.

The head was removed at about 110000 miles to repair oil leaks. Also got new rings.

The clutch was replaced at 190000 miles.

I'm on my 3rd rear end.

Replaced transmission at about 160000, because the starter had gone out, and I kept starting it by pushing out of the garage and backing down the driveway. I got a hole in the transmission case.

[blazingspider]

I have 205,000 miles on my 77 spider. I purchased it in 1982 when it had 43,000 miles on it then. My car caught on fire once as a result of the dreaded bad distributor seals weeping oil onto the exhaust manifold. Early on, I had the head rebuilt. Many miles later I blew the engine up and went through a full rebuild. There isn't one system on my car that I haven't touched and most of them more than once over the years. I still get just as big of a thrill driving her as I did when I first bought her.

[spider2081]

We purchased our 1981 Spider 2000 in 2003 with 133,000 miles on it. We didn't go far from our home for the first few years but then realized the 50 mile trouble free evening drives were adding up to thousands of miles a year. So we started to venture further from home with the car. The longest drive was to New Brunswick Canada then around Nova Scotia and back through Maine about a 3000 mile trip. We have driven the car to FreakOuts in LI, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Philadelphia to name a few.
Today we went for our firs top down drive and I noticed the odometer was at 197,420 miles. Most of the miles have been put on the car since we had it painted in 2012.
Our next long drive will be to Lancaster PA in June. Hope to see you there.

[courtenay]

‘80 Spider, 68000kms (Canada, eh). This car has been driven in the rain once in the 8 years that I have owned it (got caught in an unexpected shower) and the word from previous owners is that rides in the rain we’re just as rare. There’s lots of rain up here in the Pacific Northwest!

[SanJoseSteve]

My 1972 has 83K on it. When I bought it 21 years ago it still had all of its original Michelin tires and 42,000 miles. They were like rocks. Just covered 550 miles in it with the wife last weekend. 825 miles one weekend last October. -Steve

[DieselSpider]

Since I do not have a working odometer in the car I'd have to say judging by the condition of the diesel engine which is supposed to be a million mile diesel that the engine has somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 miles on it.

Despite the hard life this one has had, once a few relays were added, its been an extremely reliable car and served me well as a daily driver. Easier to maintain than reading the label on a carton of ice cream. ;>

Its now my beach car and pulls the small flatbed trailer for trips to the lumber yard and moving furniture plus hauls my little picnic boat around on its trailer too. Roll bar is great for carrying long items without having to hook up the trailer.