Greetings from (unseasonably grey) Austin, TX!

[txSteve]

Hi everyone.

Just brought home my 1984 Pinnanfarina last evening. Was totally tempting fate in driving it all the way from Nacogdoches, TX (where I bought it) back to Austin which is about a 230 miles away. Lol. It all went great though. Great engine and tranny in this car!

This is the second Spider I have owned, having bought one about 22 years ago. Always wanted to get another one as I have such fond memories of driving that first one around the winding, hilly roads of Pennsylvania. And now I do

She needs some electrical work and some work on the suspension/steering but I was amazed at how little rust there was. Eventually the interior will need some TLC.

I have already been reading through many of the great discussions on these forums and look forward to being part of the community here.



Sorry for the sizing, could not figure out how to fit it. Here is a link to the album of all the "day 1" shots. http://s1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc4 ... 20Day%201/

[txSteve]

Anyone happen to know of a reputable place in the austin area for fiat service? I want to work on the car myself but am not really comfortable (yet!) with the idea of taking on some of the more advanced stuff. Would definitely like to have someone knowledgeable with whom I could consult.

[124JOE]

i can say we have the knowlage for these cars
so witch problems are you having?
like most of us ive rebuilt most of my car.so how can we help you?

[vandor]

Hi Steve,

Nice to see another Texas member!
There is an amazing Fiat club in Houston, and there are members in Austin and San Antonio aswell.
We have an email list where we keep up on events and tech stuff. We had our Fall Drive 2 weeks ago in the Hill Country and it was great fun, we even drove on the racetrack at San Marcos. There were 7 Spiders, a 124 Coupe and an X1/9.
PM if you want me to send you the info on how to join the email list.

It's been a few years, but I heard good things about a shop called Colvin Automotive (I think) in Austin. Seemed like they worked on a lot of 'weird' cars.

[txSteve]

Joe,

My just ordered shop manual is on its way so hopefully that will help my confidence.

Well ambitiously I would really love to strip the thing and redo the body from bare metal. I have no concerns about my ability to break the thing down; putting it back together is another story

Short term it really just needs to have some suspension work done I think. I was told by the seller that one of the control arms should be replaced. There is loud squeaking in the front end when I turn to the right. Not sure if thats the control arm issue. But the suspension in general seems pretty sloppy, especially the front end. In the rear, the shocks at least seem decent because there is not much bounce. As far as the front end suspension, how do I go about diagnosing what all actually needs to get done? Just the control arm(s)? Do all the control arms? Plus springs/shocks?

Well, and some electrical work. It is a spider after all But nothing beyond the ordinary here.

[txSteve]

vandor,

Thanks for the information. I am sure the Hill Country drive was awesome. Will definitely check into Colvin Automotive and just sent you a PM.

[124JOE]

get under it and inspect
tierod ends all 4 of them and the centerlink for play and bad rubber
ball joints for bad rubber,if you remove the tires you can wiggle the top control arms forward and back,they will tighten up
with the nuts
the lower ones generaly need bushings,the after market conrol arms comes with them and ball joints installed "INTERNATIOAL AUTO PARTS"IS were i got mine
after fixing those parts if its still wandering it may need the steeringbox adjusting

ps i did the alinement myself just had to keep the steering wheel straight
hope this helps

[vandor]

...
ball joints for bad rubber,

And for play. Try to wiggle the tire back and forth with the car jacked up.
I usually jack it up under the control arm for this, so the suspension is at least somewhat compressed and the balljoints are closer to the same position as when the car is on the ground.
When the suspension is at full droop the extreme angle of the balljoint may mask any play, until it is really bad.

[dmwhiteoak]

Hello and welcome. Glad to see another from the south on the forum. There is alot of knowledge on this forum and nothing you need done that someone here hasn't already mastered .

[txSteve]

Got the car jacked up. The passenger side front tire had lots of wiggle/play. I think I found the source of that problem. I apologize, I don't know the names and my shop manual has not arrived yet. If I understand correctly, the tie rods connect to the center link. These pictures would be from that connection point on the passenger side. At that point there is a connection also to the frame. Where it connects to the frame, that rubber is essentially gone.





The rubber is looking bad at a few other spots all along this linkage. Is it recommended to replace all of these at one shot? Is it a big undertaking to do them all? What is the name of these rubber pieces so that I can look them up for parts? Like I said, still waiting for my shop manual to arrive. So in the meantime, just working from http://www.mirafiori.com/124susp/

P.S. Csaba, sooo need to hit you up about your A/C solution later

[txSteve]

Ahh, looks like you cannot replace just the rubber.

So looking at parts list from IAP it seems like the part that is attached to the frame is called the Steering Idler Arm. That is the part where everything is loose. I can totally wiggle the connection at that point. I assume its purpose is to hold the linkage steady? Should that whole unit get replaced too?

[124JOE]

yes but theres 2 diferent styles
the idler arm goes on the idler shaft
one shaft has a taper
the other style has splines
you should phone in your order and tell them the year
so they can send the correct one

[txSteve]

Joe,

Yeah mine is the non-tapered type. So then can I simply replace the idler and attach it to the existing arm?

[vandor]

I assume its purpose is to hold the linkage steady? Should that whole unit get replaced too?

We sell just the bushings for the idler arm, if you want to save about ~$100

[txSteve]

Csaba,

I did not see them on your store site. All I saw was the full assembly:
http://stores.auto-ricambi.net/-strse-1 ... Detail.bok

Could you point me to the right place?

Or, is there a benefit to installing the bearing style?