mid life crisis

[davidhodowany]

Hi from Toronto.
My first car was a 1978 fiat spider. I was 22 years old. I loved that car. I bought it for $ 3,800.00 and three years later I sold it for $ 6,500.00. Even though the car had many problems- new transmission, new rear end, new head gasket, shaved the head, etc. All the work was a labour of love. With these modifications my fiat was able lay "rubber" in third gear. Top speed was 180 kph ( over 100 mph ).
Now that I'm 47 I decided to revisit years gone by and bought a 81 spider.
Since my 78 was a 1800 and my 81 is a 2000, I naturally thought that the 81 would out perform my 78. WRONG.
I don't want to rebuild the engine, maybe I will shave the head.
I am looking for interesting suggestions on how to increase the performance.
Any thoughts on this subject?

[RRoller123]

Welcome aboard! There are many here who have excellent knowledge of these great little engines and how to squeeze the begeezus out of them! (But I am not one of them) welcome anyway!

[narfire]

Welcome Dave.
The desire for more performance is a direct corrolation to the amount of loot you want to spend.
I'll pm with what I have done and another here "surfingfreeman" I believe has spent a chunk on his FI engine as well.
$5000.00 or more and you'll have a great, reliable,good in traffic so-to speak, engine with considerable more zip than stock.
Watching the game this afternoon?
Chris

[jgalvin2000]

Welcome, is yours a 5 speed or auto? What do you think about the car, did you just buy it and look at it yourself or you had a mechanic check it before you buy it? Looking at buying an 81 2000 spider this week anything I should look for? Thanks jeff

[wikkid]

Hi and welcome. It sounds as if there are many variables involved that might be skewing things for you. To start with, weren't the '78-80 carb'ed cars the most restricted, due to environmental reg's? So your initial Spider would be among the worst performers (stock) of any of the carb'ed 1800 models.

Then, what is the state of tune of your current FI car, and of its drivetrain? There could very well be a lot of room for improvement just by giving your "new" car a thorough going-through, even before further performance mod's.

[vandor]

[quote="wikkid"... weren't the '78-80 carb'ed cars the most restricted,[/quote]

No, you are thinking 1979-80.

[vandor]

Hi David,

Welcome! As you know, the saying goes "the substitute for cubic inches are rectangular dollars"

If you want more power first you have to make sure everything is working correctly with the current engine, and then make a decision is whether you want rebuild the engine, or want only bolt-on modifications. With the FI engine you can add a free flow air filter, mild cams, and a header, maybe a 2" exhaust.
Replacing the cylinder head with one from a 1800 will give a slight compression increase, but probably not worth doing unless you were going to remove the head anyways. If you rebuild the engine this is a moot point, as you'd want to go with high compression pistons for even more of a compression increase - but you don't want to go over 10:1.

If you drive the car for a while you will likely have a better idea of what you want. Maybe even drive a modified Spider to see what it does. I believe there is a large FLU (http://www.flu.org) club in Toronto.

[davidhodowany]

Thanks everybody for your input. I'll look into your suggestions. I guess, for me ,it's the question. Do I want to make this car a hobby or obsession. The car is away for the winter so I guess I'll wait til spring to decide.
CHEERS

[4uall]

It may start out as a hobby however, it will quickly turn into an obsession. Ask me how I know Best of luck

[Zippy]

Weldome, and since the car is away for the winter, now is the perfect time to scour this site for information on the mods you can make to get more performance from your engine. Half the fun is in the research(dreaming phase), getting the parts you will need(Christmas presents) and saving money for the guy at the machine shop(your new best friend).