So, I purchased my Spider in April 2013. I decided to drive it the summer of 2013 to get used to it’s features and see what should I fix. As you probably know, here in Finland we drive cabriolets only in summer because it is cold and snow in winter… In winter we have lot of time to spend in garages fixing Fiats for example
. Before I had purchased this car, I already had a vision of an Abarth style 124 Spider. As a kid I had seen finnish rally driver Markku Alen driving a 124 Abarth and 131 Abarth. I got the idea of purchasing a 124 Spider and transfer it to an 124 Abarth style street car. Genuine Abarth parts are rare and expensive, so a “real” replica was impossible to build, so I decided to find a decent Spider and build an abarth look-a-like but having some “artistic freedom”. So it is not a real Abarth and it is not even trying to be one. Just an abarth style 124, which I like myself. There were couple of Spiders for sale here and I purchased the first one I went to see... It was in pretty good condition: no rust in critical places, engine sounded good, nice to drive. Painting (metallic root beer
) not in good shape, there was some oil leak+ other minor issues. It was already slightly modified: suspension lowered and US smog equipment removed. It had Weber ADF installed and front seats replaced by ‘80s Recaros. So quite perfect project for me:
During last summer I had time to plan what I am going to do with this. 3rd gear started to pop out while driving, so it should be fixed. Some rust was found from fenders. It had little starting problems too and the exhaust was bleeding. Also minor electric problems occurred. I decided to do a rolling restauration. Fix problems one by one during winter and paint it red-black in summer. Then drive it in summer and continue next winter. My plan was also to make it look better. The ugly bumpers should go, sidemarkers and stock mirrors too. New front indicators from somewhere. I also wanted to do something for the dashboard, because the wooden parts were quite worn. I did some shopping too. Abarth bumpers from Germany, couple of Veglia gauges from Greece, Marelli electric ignition from US. It is very nice that Spider parts are quite easy to find. I also managed to get 124 Berlina (=sedan) front indicators, which seemed to fit quite nicely in those holes under the bumpers. The original older version indicators were too expensive for me. I don’t pay 350USD/pce for indicators… Here is some testing of those new parts:
Ok, it was september 2013 and it was time to put the Spider in the garage.
I started to fix couple of electric issues under the dash and I ended up to build a new dash. This was actually just a test version, but somehow I started to like it, so it is still there. I moved switches to better places and got more space for those extra gauges. Those gauges was in original packages from 70’s or 80’s. The choice of Ferrari
. Finally I painted the dash red.
Next thing was the engine. It was actually quite easy to pull out. I tried to read every hints from this forum. Radiator off, cables, wires and hoses removed, exhaust removed from manifold, drive shaft off. Then car nose up, unbolt the mounts and here comes the Turismo Competizione:
Next thing was to separate tranny from the engine and take the tranny to a specialist. I didn’t want to fix the tranny myself. I know a good mechanic who has also fixed my race car tranny. He replaced 3rd gear, some bearing, synchros and forks. Meanwhile I started to clean the engine. I replaced gaskets, hoses, timing belt and painted the block. I didn’t open the whole engine because it appeared to be in good condition. I unbuilt the carburetor, cleaned it and rebuilt it with a new service kit. I also drilled a channel for vacuum output for the dizzy. The starter was cleaned and serviced with new parts. I found nice Abarth cam covers from Italy… Here is some pictures of the engine before and after:
Next I cleaned and painted the engine bay:
Some wiring had to be replaced. This green one is the old cable between starter and alternator. Insulation has melted and cracked:
When I got the engine ready and tranny back, I put them together with a new clutch of course. The engine installation was a bit more difficult than removing it, but finally it went in in one piece. We have very powerful curses here in Finland to use in these situations
Again all cables and hoses back and bad ones replaced with new ones. Also did the brown wire fix for starter. New performance exhaust manifold was installed. It takes quite a lot of space, so I had to make a longer sensor cable for dizzy so the cable won’t burn. Same thing with the heater hoses. Finally everything was in and connected. New oil and water inside the engine and battery connected. Turned the key and it is running!!! I didn’t expect it to start this easy. Ok, some minor leaks and loose connectors was found afterwards, but they were easy to fix.
To be continued…
