Just Bought 1979 Spider 124

[brandonjayy]

My name is Brandon Jay. I'm 17. Tucson, AZ.
I bought a 1979 Fiat Spider 124 on Sunday, December 19, 2011.
It's my Third car, i had a 2001 Ford Mustang, crashed it, too much power for a first car. i then bought a 1990 Honda Accord Coupe, it had a bad tranny, so i sold it. Now i have this beautiful car. I've always been a fan of the 1965 Shelby Cobra, and dang this car looks exactly like it!

I found this car on Craigslist, i bought it from a Fiat Nut, he was a cool guy. it really was a pleasure doing business with the guy. He referred me to this site and to some internationalparts.com or something like that. Anyways, i paid him $900 and drove the car home. It was well worth it, there are a lot of tiny details that need attention. There's quite a few rust holes in the floor, the dash is cracked and torn, the center console is in similar condition, and the top leaks. There's a dent is the driver side fender, he got hit pretty good, but it's nothing serious, it can be fixed.

I have quite a few questions though, i have no idea what's going on with this car. i LOVE classics, and the car grew on me.
-Is there anything specific i have to look for in the engine compartment that could be wrong?
-Where does the Wiper Fluid go?
-Best place to buy a new DASH, CONSOLE, FLOOR PANS?
-Can the clock be restored? it's Yellow..
-Can anyone please tell me how the fuses go, from left to right.. Post a picture of your Fuse Panel so i can match it?
-Best place to buy parts in general?

I have a guy who is restoring a 1965 Mustang for me, so i don't have money to restore the car right now, but in the near future, i'm going to have someone help me restore this car, i plan on keeping it for a very long time. In the meantime, it's my daily driver..

I'm 17, I really like my Music. Is there some place i can go to get a good system for it? There's no radio in it at the moment.
I'm talking like AudioExpress or something?

I'll post pictures later, let me know if you have answers please? or if you just have some advice I'd really appreciate it..

Oh and the Turn Signals stopped working! they worked on the way home yesterday! Fuse Maybe? and Which Fuse?!

[124JOE]

hello and welcome
http://www.internationalauto parts.com has parts
these cars are known for bad grounds front inner fenders
thats what your turn signals need
i will install a alpine in mine soon
http://www.atrigue.com for tech and http://www.guycroft.com

[azruss]

ah, another Fiat freak in Arizona....and a mere child, too. There are some basic safety essentials you need to look at. look in the front fenderwells at the shock towers. If the car is not local and the rusted floorboards tell you it isnt, then you can see serious cancer on the shock towers. also look at the square frame that runs horizontal along the top of the shock towers. these will stress crack at the towers and need to be welded. look at the condition of your rubber brake lines. these dont like the arizona heat and could be ready to be changed out. For electrical, Brad Artique has fabulous schematics for all years on his website. One of the great things about these cars is the availably of parts and vendors. International Auto Parts, Vicks, Auto Ricombi, Millers Mule, Allison Automotive, your local BAP outlet....the list goes on. This is a great forum site as well as Mirafiori.com. Thru these forums you can find others in Tuscon and further north that know a lot about these cars. The first car i ever bought was a Fiat and i have owned a fiat ever since. (thats been about 6 months plus change ) seriously, i drove a spider as a daily driver for 20+ years and did all the work on it myself. I feel like a real amateur around this crowd.

[vandor]

Hi Brandon,

>Is there anything specific i have to look for in the engine compartment that could be wrong?

Russ covered the rust and brake issues pretty well. You also need to check the rubber coupling (doughnut, guibo) behind the transmission, as they crack/break with age. If it lets go then the flopping driveshaft can do a lot of damage, possibly even injure someone.

>Where does the Wiper Fluid go?

There should be a bag like this in the right front of the engine compartment:

http://www.autoricambi.us/cgi/commerce. ... ey=WI3-449

>Best place to buy a new DASH, CONSOLE, FLOOR PANS?

Well, I'm a bit biased, but check out my signature...
Actually most interior parts are rather expensive, so you may consider installing caps on them, as the cost is ~30% of new dash/consoles. All the Fiat parts vendors carry the caps.

>Can the clock be restored? it's Yellow..

Most vendors sell the clock glass.

>Can anyone please tell me how the fuses go, from left to right.. Post a picture of your Fuse Panel so i can match it?

Check out the Fiat wiring diagrams on http://www.artigue.com

>Best place to buy parts in general?

See above )))

>Oh and the Turn Signals stopped working! they worked on the way home yesterday! Fuse Maybe? and Which Fuse?!

Actually the fuses on these cars are bad about corroding. It may be a good idea to replace them all with new fuses, and while you are at it clean the connections with a wire brush. If a fuse seems loose you can bend it's holder tab so that it puts more pressure on the fuse.

[brandonjayy]

I replaced all the fuses expecting the horn to work, but it just fried the fuse!
I press the horn and just hear a click coming from the glove box?
the horn fuse smokes when i hold the horn button, any idea's?

Thanks for all the websites, i think i have idea's of where to find things!
If you have more advice, keep it coming :]

[brandonjayy]

just some pictures of the outside of the car











The guy i bought it from, (Tony1980124) got hit outside a sonic backing out of a parking spot, but oh well, just adds more fun to the restoration process, right?

[124JOE]

thats too bad for tony
do you know if he still has a fiat
or was this his only one?

[4uall]

not always a big fan of the colour blue however, this blue is great. i also like the stripes. Cannot wait to see the restoral process Best of luck and welcome

[brandonjayy]

Yeah, Tony still has a 1980 Fuel Injected Spyder, it's like this one, only red.

It's going to take a while before i can restore it, need to find a job :l

I'll post pictures of the Cancer holes and other flaws later.