first of all, thank you all so much for the amazing amount of knowledge i have pulled from in the last four months or so of owning my 1980. you guys are great, and i have rarely run across any real attitude or mean-spirited-ness in the forums. i love how everybody seems to be very respectful of each other.
this is my first fiat spider, and it is kind of like getting something i missed out on in my adolescence. when i was a junior in high school, there was a fiat spider (must have been about a 79/80) perpetually for sale in a restaurant parking lot in my hometown. i assumed it belonged to the restaurant owner. anyhow, i could never scratch together the money for it in high school, and my dad talked me out of buying an italian car. it was a small town, so in retrospect i am probably fortunate i didn't buy a lump of fiat to store in the back yard under a tarp.
anyhow, thirty years later, this one fell into a friend's lap. he and his shop had done mechanical work for the previous owner for several years, and when she finally succumbed to the cancer she had been fighting, she willed it to my friend. i happened to ask his advice one day, when i was considering buying another friend's wrecked spider, when he offered me a great deal on this one. and the clincher is that this one is white, just like my unrequited love from so long ago.
so far, i have replaced the heater core (known issue when i bought it, and turned out to be one of the most unpleasant things i have ever done with a car), generally tuned it up, changed to hella h4s, replaced the oil seal in the distributor, and most recently switched out the alternator with one of mark's 95 amp models. PATIENTLY WAITING for the new electronic ignitions.
i have ridden and raced motorcycles, and owned among other cars, a 78 bmw 5281 and 79 911sc. i generally get along with jetronic injection, and have had a very easy time getting my spider running well after sitting for at least nine months.
again, thank you all for everything i have learned so far, and i hope some of my observations can eventually help someone else here.
