Autoricambi sells the old style clips as well as a plastic piece for the center section. I used the plastic piece with a clip at each end. Worked great.

Just a quick update.

Put everything back on the motor to see if it would run. Did not hook up any water yet as the piping from the heater core is rotted. Started the engine with about 10 sec of cranking at a low speed. Thought battery was almost dead. Fired up and ran good. Only ran a bout 15 sec and turned off. Going to have to recheck my grounds.

Very happy!! Trying to decide if I should by pass heater for now.

Gene

Did some sanding on the drivers door. Still looks like original paint. Did find some bondo in the middle of the door. Did not take it all out just made it smooth. The way the paint is cracked and chipped I will need to remove all paint and start from scratch. Maybe I'll try some of that aircraft paint remover. But anyway I need to grind it off.

Decided to go with the Hot Rodz Semi Gloss paint from TCP. http://www.tcpglobal.com/Customshop/ite ... um+Reducer I then will not have to do the door jams and a total paint job. After I buy the paint and accessories, it is over $500! I guess not that bad as I was offered 2K to do the same work from a local guy. Bad news is I will have to clean out my garage to pain!

Was looking at the front valance again. Boy, is that thing ever messed up. I believe that it is welded on?? Does anyone know? Would be easier to take off and straighten up. As with the front fenders. Is there an easy way to remove these items??

Back to work tomorrow, so I will have some time to do some more research.

Gene

Spiders are "unibody" so, no, there's nothing easy about taking off the fenders or front valance. A couple of forum members have done it. Lots of patience and measure-measure-measure! Auto Ricambi sells a replacement valance if you don't feel like spending the time and energy to rescue the one on the car. You'll still need to cut the old valance off but it should be significantly easier than trying to cut and refit one of the fenders. Front valances are often the victim of pulling in too close to parking curbs.

I have to say that you've brought that car A LONG WAY from when you picked it up last year! Great job

OK!
So I decided to bypass the heater core and try to drive the car a little to see how it drives. After connecting up the hoses and putting some water into the system, I tried to start the engine. SO after nothing happening I spend the better part of 15 minutes trying to start the car and getting nothing. I decide to reconnect the battery cable,

So after a lot of cranking, it started. Ran very rough, but I guess the computer was learning the system, if it does that sort of thing. Late model cars do that anyway. So with a lot of smoke, freaking me out till I remembered that I painted the exhaust manifold.

Then I noticed that there was some oil and water?? leaking slowly from on top of the new water pump near the head gasket. But before I could look further I noticed the temp was in the red. I checked the radiator and it was cold. The top radiator hose was hard as a rock and the bottom was soft?? I had replaced the thermostat with a new one, but I guess I installed it incorrectly?? So I will have to wait for it to cool down to work on it. Is there an easy to tell how to install it correctly?

Anyway, I got to back it down the driveway and drive it back up the driveway!! Brakes are a little soft, but I haven't had time to bleed them correctly after replacing the master cylinder and reservoir.

Well, that my story and I'm sticking to it!

Gene

>I had replaced the thermostat with a new one, but I guess I installed it incorrectly??

T-stat: the port you cannot blow through goes to the lower rad hose.

However, it's pretty hard to bleed out the air of the system on the Spider 2000, so it's common for the t-stat to not open after installation. You really need a bleed 'T' in the upper heater hose, that way you can fill the system from the highest point.

Finally! got the thing working. The thermostat was in wrong and I split the bypass hose at the back of the engine.

Got to drive the car down the road a 1/4 mile and back. Thought I had the front end aligned pretty good, but it still needs some work and the brakes need to final bleed or the booster is junk.

Thanks for all the input on helping me fixing the issues.

Next major project is getting the electrical system back in order.

Here are a couple of pictures of the car as it sits today.

Glad you got to drive it, even if it's not perfect it gives you an idea of what it'll be like!

there is a ground wire which mounts to the tail light, 2 black wires, make sure they are hooked up, or the car will not run, it is the fuel pump ground. the reason i mention it is that you have a tail light removed.
i suggest you move that ground to an alternate location, as the tail light mounting bolt usually works loose, and it is in a area of high corrosion

Dear Beek,

There was no ground on that tail light when I removed it. So someone must have moved it if it was that way stock. Car runs good so far. And the fuel pump is running good (I should hope so, its new!!). But, I will check out any other wiring that seems loose in the pile of wires on that side.

Thanks for the info.

Gene

Hello All:

Its been a while, work and family stuff keeping me very busy.

Been driving the Fiat around the neighborhood. It runs pretty good. But with the muffler off and the exhaust pipe stopping below the passenger floor, its very loud. If I start it every couple of days it starts easily. But if I wait to start it after a couple of weeks it has a very hard time to start. Seems like it is flooding?? Anyone have any ideas??

Did an alignment by eye, seems to be driving straight and tire wear is good. Also, cleaned the dirt out of the rear tail lights and got all bulbs to work. Just need to get the side markers to work and cleaned up.

Here are a couple of pictures as it sits now. Just used some TR3 wax/restorer on the paint. It is now a good 30 foot car! Still need to remove the rear bumper struts. Haven't felt like removing the tank.

This will help it to look better as I remove the paint one fender at a time this summer.

I did remove one coil on the coil springs, thought the car would sit lower. Maybe another one? Will probably wait until I get some 15 inch rims and tires.

Gene

If it is flooding on startup then you may have a thermo time switch that is stuck closed, so the cold start injector always sprays. It is supposed to no spray if the coolant temp is over ~60F.

Cutting 2 oils off the front spring would make it so low that the upper a-arm would touch the bump stop. This would transmit a lot of force into the unit body and start cracking it. Guess how do I know...

I notice the battery tray in the trunk. When did fiat start doing this? My 69 has the battery tray in the engine compartment....unless mine was modified that way?

deftone,

I am not familiar with all the years on battery location. But, at least from 1980 on they were in the trunk.

Maybe someone else can chime in that knows. I think some time in the mid 70s they changed??

Sorry for the late response, I have not been able to get to this site very often due to work.

Gene