Happy to learn from the pros

[FiatforCupcake]

Hello everyone! I picked up a rough 1978 Spider a couple weeks ago as my wife's birthday present. She likes to hang out in the garage with me and I promised her a convertible Anyway, I've had muscle cars and British roadsters but this is my first experience with a Fiat and I'm looking forward to participating on this forum. Thanks for all the information you've already provided me without knowing it.

[Danno]

Always happy to hear from a new owner and even happier when they post pics of their "new" car!!!

Welcome!

[TulsaSpider]

Welcome sounds like you have a great spouse you guys will really love the Fiat!
Post pics!

[FiatforCupcake]

I'll post a few this evening. Should have a big box of parts from Classic Ricambi waiting for me when I get home

[FiatforCupcake]

Alright, it took a bit longer than anticipated but, here she is:




These pics are after an entire weekend of cleaning her up. This car was registered non-op in 2003 and was last fully registered in 2000. It didn't run when I got it and a new water pump was included with the purchase so I assumed that the previous owner had an overheating problem and gave up on it. The first weekend we had it I completely removed the interior and my wife cleaned every little piece while I dove into the engine bay. The compression tested great on all four cylinders and there was no coolant/oil cross contamination so there was no terrible overheating-head-gasket-blowing-PITA to deal with. I replaced the water pump, flushed the cooling system, tested the thermostat and learned that it was stuck closed so cut it out of the housing and reinstalled the empty housing for testing purposes. I then pulled the fuel pump and carb, finding all sorts of gunk in both. All of the jets in the carb were plugged and most of the O-rings were torn/leaking. Cleaned and rebuilt the carb(first time I had ever seen a water choke), cleaned the fuel pump, reinstalled all and then pulled the fuel tank. Needless to say, it was half full of 11 year old gas, rust, and sludge. cleaning the tank took the rest of that Saturday, half of Sunday, and a LOT of acetone. I reinstalled the tank that Sunday night and filled it up with premium, sprayed a shot of ether in the barrel, crossed my fingers, and asked my wife to turn the key. After three attempts with the ether the fuel system refilled and she ran under her own power- purring like an angry bobcat kitten...until she started to overheat All in all, my first weekend with a Fiat was quite enjoyable.

[azruss]

nice to hear that motor purr/roar. These cars are a trick to get filled with coolant. requires elevating the nose to get the top of the radiator above the head. also requires lots of hose massaging. I run the motor with the radiator cap off and fill as the level drops. system needs to be free of air.

[kmac33]

Welcome to the world of Fiat ownership! Be warned though - these are addictive cars.

[124JOE]

purring like an angry bobcat kitten...until she started to overheat
All in all, my first weekend with a Fiat was quiteenjoyable


overheating may be an air bubble traped in the heater hose

[FiatforCupcake]

Thanks for the advice on the cooling system. I felt my post was already too long winded so I didn't continue with the next weekend's story I've been trolling this site since I bought the car so had a few ideas from of all of you about what to look for. It turned out that the car had just been neglected and ghetto rigged for so many years that nothing was working. The bearings in the cooling fan were starting to seize, the temp sensors were acting irradically, the fan temp switch wasn't working, and the stock radiator weighed about 10 pounds more than it was supposed to due to the amount of sludge and deposits built up inside it. I replaced the temp sensors and the gauge stabilized, then we ended up going to Pick-Your-Part in Sun Valley and found an '89 Volvo 740 with a brand new radiator. It appeared that the radiatior had been replaced just before the car was rear ended and totalled out. I grabbed the radiator, hoses, and overflow bottle from that car, paid my $60 and went home to install it. That combined with a monster 14", 2800cfm cooling fan ($43) has solved all of the problems. Now we're moving on to stereo and body work/paint