79 fiat spider 2000 cs2

[Soul13Rebel]

That's the car I traded a Harley sportster for. Ill be searching the forums for info pretaing to the. upkeep of this little roadster.

[dmwhiteoak]

Hello and welcome

[Ky2000]

Welcome to the world of Fiat Spiders. Got any pics?

[4uall]

welcome to the best place on earth for info

[ga.spyder]

I managed to keep both.I got the Spider snuggled up against the Harley Street-Glide for the winter,in the garage.

[Soul13Rebel]

Sorry for not checking this sooner and replying I didn't think anyone would respond. Thank you for the warm welcomes, I'm jelous you were able to keep both the Harley and the Spider, it's one hell of a combo. I'll post some pictures as soon as I look into just how to do that. I've been busy scanning the threads and soaking up as much knoweldge as I can since I signed up months ago and have come across some of the best and reliable info into these cars as there is. I feel lucky to have one as there is so much you can do to them and I'm anxious to get to the same state of mind as when I drive my 62 Buick Special. Peaceful, knowing full well the condition of the car. With being up north and without a garage it's been kinda difficult really getting out there to find out what I got or need to get. Having said that this is what I think is going on:

1. The engine is spurting oil into the Carb/fuel filter, it may have blown the head gasket by the #4 piston because smoke has started to escape from there, if the odometer is right it's probably rolled over once and is at about 164,000 miles. I am heavily considering putting a different engine in it as it will not be kept stock (shaved door handles, possible lambo doors, tinted windows, bumperless, etc) and decided to aquire it to be my "custom" car since the buick I'm doing all my babying with. I feel that putting a new engine would be best because of its current problems and the transmission is popping out of 4th, and think that a different engine with matching transmission will give me the piece of mind I'm hoping for plus the extra power and custom-like look and less headache than trying to fix the original engine, I don't mind that it won't be original and do understand that the current set up is basically perfect if it were to be fixed or sent out to a place like Midwest124.com. My current problem is I don't know anything and haven't found much on engine conversions for these sweet cars. I feel lucky that in my current situation I am close to a place like foreignengines.com so getting a different foreign motor(most likely asian) shouldn't be a problem. I would need an engine name or car name of the engine I would be able to use. Ideally something a bit faster that would have that asian reliability to it that wouldn't give it so much power that I would need to change out evything underneath so that it handles it.
I definitely don't mind doing the research so if you know where I can learn some more or know of a great set-up, please please please let me know. And really if you could be specific it would be going above and beyond.

The body seems to be in great shape with no rust that I can find but the drivers door is sagging and it's do to a crack on the door where the hinge attatches, not too bad but if it's getting fixed I might as well change it up some. That's the reasoning for a possible lambo door conversion.

The electrical is a litteral mess and a half so my question is WTF? lol. I feel like I need to get a new wiring harness. The stereo is gutted and there are a ton of wires that I assume went to accessories like lights and ac and possibly emissions stuff? And it's confusing as hell because there are white wires with black stripes and black wires with white stripes and other cliche corniness. I imagine this is part of the electrical but when I start it up if it's not properly warmed up(curve ball) and I take off it seems to cut out for a bit as I start to drive down the street. It feels like a short happens. Not needing anything but a stereo and a reliable starting car in this department so any advice would be great.

The interior is fine for the most part, all the pieces are more or less there but in great condition nonetheless. Thinking about better speakers but really the interior is not my main concern, the engine and tranny are.

The top is new and believe it or not I put it on in the dead of winter, yeah, that inexperienced and crazy, with so much rain up here I really couldn't risk tons of water getting in there.

Probably needs new brakes, looking at some from Mark's site as well as those on Midwests. It has new lug bolts that I ordered from International auto.

That's about it I guess. The engine and tranny are my biggest concern/headache right now, I want to get that info squared away so I can put a pla into action. Any comments, provided it's not about how I offended you by wanting to put in a different probably asian motor into this undoubtedly beautiful Italian car, will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

soul

[CajunMike]

It's your car. Haven't seen many conversions. I think you will find the time and money needed to shoehorn a non fiat engine will be a lot more than maximizing the stock engine with not much performance increase unless you cram a v6 in there. Someone recently was looking into using a Honda s2000 engine but again, how much do you want to spend on a 30 year old car. Just buy the Honda. You are talking about engine/drivetrain/electronics, etc. Which is why you don't see many conversions. It's just not worth the time and money when for half the money you can convert to fi, change the cams and the engine guts and get up to 130+ hp. More than enough for spirited driving.

Good luck with it.