1978 Spider Project

[gearhead63]

Brought this home in May- trailered it about 90 miles from home. Was an Arkansas car with almost no rust. Would run for about 30 seconds and die. Turned out to be a fuel tank that leaked and had tons of rust.
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Interior is trashed but have most of the pieces from the parts car I bought recently.
Exterior looks great in photos!
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Got a new battery, replaced the fuel tank and put on a set of Cromodoras that I picked up locally for $200. Finally moved it home from storage -found the left front caliper is locking up and have some seized wheel studs.
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[Ptoneill]

Great looking body, it looks like the interior had mold, you may want to pull the carpet to look for signs of rust. Good luck with the car it looks good!

[MrJD]

78 with later doors, interesting.

Find you a good upholstry shop and it will make your life worth while. If I could go back I'd let my guy wrap my dash and everything else. Do your state laws have any issues with swapping carbs?

[gearhead63]

It's not mold but rather some strange lighting effect. Got a great set of tan seats and a reupholstered console that will be putting in. The dash pad is terrible, though. Never seen a dash this bad. Been trying to find instructions on how to replace. Don't think a cap will work on this one.

[Ptoneill]

If you are just wanting to replace the OEM dash with a similar dash it is very easy. The dash is held on by 4 nuts, I would remove the steering wheel, remove gauge cluster.....simple plugs and connectors. Take pictures as you go and simply reverse to put back in.

[MrJD]

I'd take it to an upholstry shop and have them re-cover it. Those guys when good are magicians.

[gearhead63]

Thanks! I may have the worse dash ever. Seeing how bad it was, I pulled the one out of my 82 parts car. It only has a few cracks. Once I get the brakes/suspension sorted out, will take on replacing the dash and cleaning up the wiring.
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[gearhead63]

Focussing on getting it to go and stop correctly. Replaced seized fuel pump, clogged fuel lines and it runs pretty well. Rebuilt both front calipers but found the left still was sticking. Traced to clogged brake line. Will be replacing the hose and metal line for left front in the next week. Finished parting out the 82-not much left. Got a nice set of CD134s and almost new tires from the 82- trying to decide if I want to keep the 4 spokes or go with the CD134s.
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[gearhead63]

Finally had a little time to work on the spider. Installing all new control arms, bushings, ball joints, shocks & sway bar bushings.
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Cut 1 & 1/2" of the coils. Sits maybe a little lower than stock now.
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Now need to clean up some wiring...
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