OK, as I promised in the newbie section, here I will describe my project. A lot of this job has been done in one year, but there’s still a lot to do. These things will never be ready I guess…

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…

Nice work!!

Hello! Beautiful work. Glad to see things are not so difficult in your restoration.

I like your headers a lot. They look very period correct. Could you please let me know where you purchased them and if there was any problem in fitting them in the engine bay?

Thank you and good luck!

Gabriel

Thanks! The headers I purchased from Mopo-Sport from Finland: http://www.moposport.fi/en/pakosarja-fi ... ARYG2M09gk

It's manufactured by RR-Exhaust in Finland. Quite easy to fit, but it does need some space from engine bay. I had to modify the heater hoses a bit. Also the coolant reservoir has to be moved somewhere from original location. I have some old Volvo reservoir installed near the radiator. I will probably make a heat shield from aluminum plate to protect dizzy and cables from heat. My car is also very low, so I still have to cut off an inch or so to get more space under the car. I managed to scratch the pipe already in some curbs. That is probably no problem in cars with normal ride height.

Auto näyttää hyvältä Eejii
Se on punainen, kuten moottoritilaan?

nice job, i have noticed you have also installed the argenta sump on your car. I have done the same, it prevents the sump getting smashed from speed bumps and the like once the car is lowered.

spiderdan wrote:Auto näyttää hyvältä Eejii
Se on punainen, kuten moottoritilaan?

Kiitoksia! Kyllä on punainen. Konepelti ja takaluukku mustia. Kuvia tulee pian lisää. Oletko Suomesta?

divace73 wrote:nice job, i have noticed you have also installed the argenta sump on your car. I have done the same, it prevents the sump getting smashed from speed bumps and the like once the car is lowered.

Yes, the sump was installed by the previous owner. So it is from Argenta? I didn't know it. I was actually trying to find out what sump it is, in order to find a spare. My sump does leak a bit. I am also considering to make a skid plate to protect the sump.

Eejii wrote:Oletko Suomesta?

Ei, olen Kanadan ranskalainen
Käytän google kääntää ottamaan vastaan ​​uusia jäseniä
Se sekoaa amerikkalaiset

spiderdan wrote:Se sekoaa amerikkalaiset

très bien!!!

divace73 wrote:nice job, i have noticed you have also installed the argenta sump on your car. I have done the same, it prevents the sump getting smashed from speed bumps and the like once the car is lowered.

Yes, the sump was installed by the previous owner. So it is from Argenta? I didn't know it. I was actually trying to find out what sump it is, in order to find a spare. My sump does leak a bit. I am also considering to make a skid plate to protect the sump.[/quote]

If you are going to track the car it may be wise to baffle the sump while the engine is out. Cornering on one side (I can't remember which side now..) will cause the oil light to come on.

So let's go again.

At this point it was May 2014 and the summer was approaching. I had to make a decision whether to paint the car now, or drive it as it is and paint it after the summer. I have a friend who has a painting facilities, equipment and skills to do the job. A Lancia enthusiast, by the way. He promised to do the painting and weld those extra holes. So I started stripping the car for painting and sanding it. The car was re-painted earlier. It would have been better to strip it to bare metal, but I didn’t want to do it now. I knew it will not be 100% perfect this way, but I hope it would be good enough. Luckily the body was quite good. No big dents anywhere.

When this was done It was time to take the car to the painter. It took more time to fix the schedules with the painter than I expected, but it was too late to change plans. Some pictures about the progress:

Stripped and pre-sanded:


Welding (also new front panel from older version installed):




Fitting the indicators:


sanding:




primered:




painting red:





painting black:






Painting is ready:



To be continued...

nice!

And now we are getting closer to the current situation.

Assembling:





Getting ready:










The painting is pretty good. Not flawless, but as I told, I was prepared for that. Maybe in some points I should have been more accurate in sanding.

After assembly I took it to annual inspection to get it registered again. Everything went fine. So now it is ready for driving. Unfortunately the summer is almost over now and the painting and preparations took so much time that I haven’t been able to drive too much. It is raining now almost every day here and the Spider has to lie in the garage…

Next winter I will fix some small issues in interior, replace shocks, check the bushes and joints. And check the brakes too. Exhaust pipe will also need some modification. Car is so low that I have to get the pipe closer to chassis to avoid it hitting anywhere. If you looked the pictures carefully, you probably noticed that I also have a gr4 bonnet for this. I'll try to fit it someday.

One thing is decided: Next summer I make sure I am able to drive it from May to September.

very nice job.

If you looked the pictures carefully, you probably noticed that I also have a gr4 bonnet for this. I'll try to fit it someday.

Car looks great, nice job and you didn't waste anytime getting it done.

I don't know what a GR4 bonnet is, but I saw the picture and I'm guessing its the one with the 2 big mounted headlights. Yup, that's what your car needs, more lights up front, like a real one.

Finish up those projects over the winter and you'll be ready to roar next spring.