84 Spider, Chi-FLU member, new to this site

[smfinley]

Hi everyone, another new member on Fiat Spider.com I am currently a member of the Chicagoland FLU chapter and have an '84 Spider, with about 125k miles that has been in my family since new. Currently living in the Chicagoland area and have been a FLU member on and off over the years. Since joining ChiFLU I have started driving my Spider more and now working to get it into mechanical shape to be a confident daily driver my wife would not be nervous taking for a long drive by herself. I know it is a high bar I am setting, so I have a few gremlins I am trying to chase away.

Looks like a lot of good people are here and can't wait to get advise and share experiences with everyone.

[racydave]

Hi Scott!

[rlux4]

Welcome aboard Scott.
Getting your car up to snuff for long trips is a great goal.
Good luck chasing down the gremlins.
Ron

[So Cal Mark]

welcome to the forum! What gremlins are you chasing?

[SpiderHead]

Welcome Scott!

-Ryan

[smfinley]

As for the gremlins. First off my rear pinion gear broke at the end of last season, lost 2 teeth. So first off I am installing a new to me complete rear axle out of a parts car, this winter. Then I have had periodic issues with not wanting to start. I think it is a voltage and current flow issue at the starter solenoid, but haven't dug into it. So I am thinking of installing a relay to power the solenoid to take load off the ignition switch, also looking at doing a headlight relay install for the same reason. While I am at it I might add a new 12V direct wired power source under the dash to bypass the numerous connectors involved (Brown wire surgery I believe) to get power to the ignition switch. Also have taillights that are sometimes dim and turn signals that don't always want to blink. Those seem like likely grounding/connection issues, but again haven't taken the time yet to work on.

Then every once in a while when cold I will start driving down the street and it will have no power when I step on the gas, just seems to bog if I remember correctly. This one I am not sure where to start, it only happened probably 2-3 times last year in 3000 miles of driving. Seems like once it warms up a little it is fine. And it didn't happen on particularly cold days, so not purely a temperature related issue.

Any initial recommendations would be apprecitated, I am sure I will be looking for advise as I start to work on the issues. Overall my car is in good shape, just want to sort out a few issues.

[ga.spyder]

Welcome to the site,Scott.

[mbouse]

scott? welcome.

somebody check the back door, CHI-FLU folks are scrambling in..

[smfinley]

Hi Mike,

I may be sneaking in the back door. But I will admit I was part of this forum back in about 2003 but it had some login access issues and I stopped looking at it. Glad to be back though.

Bought anymore Fiats recently Mike?
Scott

[mbouse]

not this week. Why, got one in mind? i'd be interested in anything except maybe a gak-hak-koff... '82, and actually know a potential buyer for a Spider in the $4-5k range right now.

[smfinley]

I don't have any in mind. Just the last time I saw you, you were in Chicago for that reason.

[kristoj]

Welcome (back) to the site