Dear Restorers,

I am young and have never restored a car, but I have been wanting to for a long time now. I really like the fiat and have been eyeing one here in AZ that is not very expensive. It runs and doesn't have any substantial rust problems. It needs a lot of cosmetic work done on it. I would take the engine a part and clean it and have it repainted. But my only question is how long will this take? Would it take 200 hours more or less? I don't want to start a project and see that I can't complete it because of too little time. I know this is not any easy question to answer because of all the factors, but any help is greatly appreciated!

Thank you,

-Dexter

Welcome to the forum Dexter.
There is no better place to get your questions about Fiat Spiders answered than here.
It is hard to put a number on how long it would take to do a restoration. I have done a three year restoration on an old Opel while my friends did theirs in a few month, guess who's car was nicer at the end.
You can always do a rolling restoration.
The Fiat 124 is a good pick, it is affordable, parts are easy to get and it is fairly easy to work on except for a few things that everybody seems to struggle with.

Don't let anyone mislead you! No matter what you do there will ALWAYS be just one more thing you can do to make the car just a little bit better! :

Thank you so much for the help. How refressing it is to here this, since almost everybody I ask about the fiat always has a very negative answer and they are the ones that don't know the car!

Just to make sure it is possible to restore a fiat in 200 hours that is not in horrible shape, but needs severe touch up, right?
-Dexter

200 hours is a good chunk of time ... five 8 hour days a week for 5 weeks ... a lot can be accomplished.... but having never done any restoration work before you could chew up most of it learning .... but you are in the right spot... lots of help ... a rolling restoration is always a good idea ... pick your projects and complete one by one.... it is easy to tear everything apart ... but then you are left with having to do all of it to get back to a running vehicle ... make a list ... throw up some pics ... ask lots of questions and be smart enough to listen to those that have been there done that ... we want your car to be as good as you do too

dbr wrote:Dear Restorers,
It runs and doesn't have any substantial rust problems. It needs a lot of cosmetic work done on it. I would take the engine a part and clean it and have it repainted.

-Dexter

Since it is running, you are ahead of most Is the car running smoothly? First do a compression check. If the engine is tight (generally, compression should not vary by more than 10%), Then I would tune it (plugs, wires cap, timing, timing belt, carb/FI adjustments) and move on to the next pressing problem.

If you could post a few pictures of the interior, exterior and engine compartment, that would go a long way in helping us to determine what you are up against.

I have owned my 79 for nearly 14 years and have done nearly nothing g to keep it running. Oil changes, brakes, a timing belt. If it, s running OK just drive it for a while until you get a feel for what you want to do with it. You will get a better idea of what will increase your driving fun with a few miles under your belt. You can do as much as you want with the car, but the minimum amount of work is dictated by condition.

Here are some photos. I wish I had more though, since these aren't that good. I went to see it a couple of days ago and the inside was a mess. The seats were beyond repair, I think. There wasn't any substantial rust on the car though.

Sorry I am having problems posting pictures.

I will have them up soon, hopefully.

-Dexter

It would probably be easier if I just post the website it is on. The pictures are there.

http://phoenix.craigslist.rg/cph/cto/424825526.html

check the floor boards, looks very restorable, the fender damage probably will require a change of fender, but not too bad. good purchase

Dbr:

Did you decide to get this car? Sounds like a project, but these are fun little cars.

As for the time it takes to do something it depends on if you have done it before and you have the right tools. I didn't think that it would take a very long time, but you can at least double the hours needed to complete the project.

Making a plan is the most important thing to make the project flow. BUT I must warn you right now. Doing this project will become addictive!! As other people have stated, you start one thing and it escalates into others very easily.

I have a project started right now and I have over 300 hours in it already, and I haven't even driven it yet. But getting close.

I still have fun doing things I have never done, such as paint and bodywork.

Gene

No I haven't yet bought the car. I saw it for sale about two weeks ago and have been researching since, trying to gather as much information as I can about the car and what the restoration will ask of me both money, time and work. I am hoping to make up my mind soon or else the car will sell, that is not to me!

Any suggestions on whether I should get it or not are gladly appreciated!

I don't want to start the project and never finish it, due to time money or incapability. I am looking for a car I can learn on, though.

My advice (that and $1.25 will get you coffee in my cafeteria):

Like you I had never worked on cars before starting a restoration. It will take as much time and money as you want to put into it. I'm two and a half years (and a lot of money!) in and should be done in a couple of months. However I can only work on the car a few hours a week. I bought two cars so I could drive one while I worked on the other!

Unless you can do that I would buy a car that you can drive now and have fun with it. Then I would work on it a little bit at a time. That way you can see progress and still drive it and have fun. If you've never done it before then (in my opinion) the body work and paint will be the hardest and most expensive part. Make sure you buy one with no rust - otherwise you will either have to learn to weld or spend a ton on body work. Check out some of the restoration threads where people are dealing with rust - some amazing work, but nothing I could ever do.

I also wouldn't rush into buying one. There are lots of Spiders out there and buying one because it's available will lead you to make a mistake (ask me how I know). Buy the best one you can afford, and when making trade-offs trade mechanical problems for no rust every time.

If you're doing this to learn then it's a good idea. However, don't think you are going to get a nice car cheaper by doing the restoration yourself. Buying a fully restored car is much, much, much, cheaper than restoring one yourself. I could have bought two fully restored, immaculate cars for what I've spent restoring mine. That said, I've learned a lot and have the pride that the restoration is mine (assuming I ever get it finished).

These are great cars to learn on. They are pretty simple and you can have a lot of fun with the fruits of your labor. This forum is another reason they are good to learn on. You can get help and answers that will get you out of almost any problem.

Good luck!