Recommended reading?

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Slartibartfaster
Patron 2018
Patron 2018
Posts: 76
Joined: Wed Aug 23, 2017 5:49 pm
Your car is a: 1979 Spider

Recommended reading?

Postby Slartibartfaster » Sat Aug 26, 2017 2:56 pm

Hi all, boy am I glad I found this forum! I've decided to limit my sports car daydreaming to FIAT Spiders and have started shopping for real! I'm in southern Ohio so I don't expect to find what I'm looking for locally. My primary goals are to find a Spider with little or no rust (not interested in bodywork, rusty frame rails scare the hell out of me, and I can't weld) and that is mechanically sound that I can tinker on it with my boys, and improve performance over time with basic mechanic skills. The Spider sounds like the perfect candidate for my goals and limited budget.

If anyone can point me to some basic recommended reading from the forum I would really appreciate it. I always have trouble finding (and then re-finding) good 'what you should know' type articles...and I don't know what I don't know.

I would also welcome recommendations on what to look for and avoid and trade-offs like "near perfect one-owner bone stock '79" vs a slightly shabby '84 with no mx history.

Could also use a quick reality check on the budget...for example, If I buy that nearly perfect '79, I'd want to do some bolt-on type performance enhancements over the winter... maybe a better carb and exhaust manifold...what's a good ballpark guess for expenses if I'm turning my own wrenches? Agh..so many questions!
'79 Spider
'15 Tesla Model S85D
'14 Santa Fe
'17 Civic

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azruss
Posts: 3659
Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 12:24 pm
Your car is a: 80 Fiat 2000 FI

Re: Recommended reading?

Postby azruss » Sat Aug 26, 2017 3:37 pm

good luck finding a rust free spider. They can be found in SoCal or find a car that someone has already gone to the trouble to fix the rust. The 70-74 are my favorite because of their simplicity with a 71 with a 1600cc at the top of the list. They are also the hardest to find. After that, I would recommend an FI car (80 and newer). Better performance out of the box than their carburated cousins. Another great forum is mirafiori.com. They have a library with all sorts of stuff including a buyers guide, as I recall. Both these sites have used parts sections. Good place to check out prices. You can also go to Auto Ricambi and Allison Automotive websites to get an idea of cost of buying new replacement parts. Both groups are active in both forums.


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