My '78 resto-mod

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Sparky
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Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124
Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: My '78 resto-mod

Postby Sparky » Tue Feb 07, 2017 11:10 pm

Handful of updates...
Regarding seatbelts, found a custom seatbelt maker (Seatbelt Solutions) that's interested in making some actual direct-replacement seat-belt assemblies. If you want to hit them up yourself, email Carlos <Carlos@seatbeltsolutions.com>.

I've got a pair of those classic-style bucket seats (BF Nurburgring) on the way from Germany thanks to a post Andyo made.

Got a ton of parts making their way towards my shop. Can't wait to get up some details & pictures of the Lancia Thema intake from joelittel.

Last weekend I got some new (used) drain pockets from John/Spiderparts. Thanks John! One of the old on the left, new on the right.
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Curious if anyone can point me towards a guide on identifying my engine (block and head) by the casting numbers?
I'm assuming this is the serial number on the block, 4343832, and model/part number 132AC1C.
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On the head it's serial number 4277590, and model/part number 132AB 9A S62
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-= 1978 Fiat Spider =-

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RRoller123
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Your car is a: 1980 FI SPIDER 2000
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Re: My '78 resto-mod

Postby RRoller123 » Wed Feb 08, 2017 6:39 am

I think the engine number in cast, resides just above the oil pump, front driver's side.
'80 FI Spider 2000
'74 and '79 X1/9 (past)
'75 BMW R75/6
2011 Chevy Malibu (daily driver)
2010 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab 4WD/STD BED
2002 Edgewater 175CC 80HP 4-Stroke Yamaha
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aj81spider
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Your car is a: 1974 Fiat 124 Spider
Location: Chelmsford, MA

Re: My '78 resto-mod

Postby aj81spider » Wed Feb 08, 2017 9:33 am

Pete is right. The engine ID is stamped on a flat surface just above the oil filter. Here's where to find it:

https://mirafiori.com/id/engcht.gif

and from: https://mirafiori.com/faq/content/headid/headid.html

your head appears to be an 1800 (ok 1756) head from a 74-76 Spider.
A.J.

1974 Fiat 124 Spider
2006 Corvette
1981 Spider 2000 (sold 2013 - never should have sold that car)

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Sparky
Posts: 114
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:53 am
Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124
Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: My '78 resto-mod

Postby Sparky » Wed Feb 08, 2017 10:31 am

Thanks for those links. I'm now digging through all the Mirafiori FAQ's. I've got 3 engines between my two '78's. One I know to run, one is in pieces, but supposedly machined/rebuilt, and the one I posted pictures of which is unknown, but supposedly ran well up until the wiring harness melted ~4 years ago.

Just curious, are the 3 photos in my last post showing up? I'm using my Microsoft Onedrive for sharing pictures.
-= 1978 Fiat Spider =-

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aj81spider
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Re: My '78 resto-mod

Postby aj81spider » Wed Feb 08, 2017 11:04 am

They show up for me.

I found the Mirafiori site to be a font of great info.
A.J.

1974 Fiat 124 Spider
2006 Corvette
1981 Spider 2000 (sold 2013 - never should have sold that car)

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Sparky
Posts: 114
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:53 am
Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124
Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: My '78 resto-mod

Postby Sparky » Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:28 pm

Got a ton of parts coming together, but the car is more apart than ever.

Thought I'd post some info I've dug up on the in-head thermostat. I know the popular opinion is that the in-head doesn't flow enough and instead everyone should use the mess of hoses and external thermostat. I found the in-head thermostat is a standard GM size and there are a ton of better flowing options. I picked up the most popular option amongst GM hot-rodders, a Duralast 160F high-flow (pn:15356). The opening is much larger, but the external dimensions are all the same. Also it has a bleed valve.
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-= 1978 Fiat Spider =-

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Sparky
Posts: 114
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:53 am
Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124
Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: My '78 resto-mod

Postby Sparky » Sun Jan 28, 2018 12:02 am

It's been quite a while since I posted some updates.
I still haven't found new oem-style 3-point seatbelts, but that's been a pretty low priority compared to other challenges & I've got some 4-point harnesses to make due with.

Some fun tidbits:
I found that one of the 1756 engines I have is a bit of an odd duck. The block is marked 132A1 040.6 and is apparently one of the last 1756 blocks and features the same 30mm nose as the later 2L engines. Full details over on Mirafiora.
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I was a little disappointed when I got some new motor mounts that were supposed to be the "low" option to give a little extra hood clearance only to find they were 5mm taller than the old ones I pulled out. An old thread onMirafiora recommended some Volvo 240 mounts. If you want to give this a try, you need two right-hand mounts; I got the Meyle 5140274111 from IMC, should cost between $10-15 each and they're about 47mm tall (. You will need to remove a nub from one side.
Old vs New "low"
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New "low" vs New Volvo/Meyle mounts
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On the rear-end:
I can report that the lada trailing arms fit/work just fine. When I swapped rear axles from the later-style to the early-style, I used a full set of performance arms with an adjustable panhard bar from ladamoscow.com. The panhard bar had to be shortened, but it's a quick job if you have a lathe & welder.
I also got a complete rear diff with a 4.10:1 ratio (couldn't decide between the quick 4.3 and the high-way friendly 3.9) fitted with a Torsen-style LSD.
Springs were from IAP, shocks from VAS, and bearings and seals from AR.
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A heads up, You can probably use the bearing retainers from the Lada axles, but the bearings and seals are not interchangeable. The rear axles are similar, but beyond the diff & linkage mounts, everything is a bit different.

On the front suspension/steering front:
The lada 2101 front hubs and bearings are a great way to freshen up the front end. My hubs were pretty corroded and the threads for the lug bolts were also pretty corroded, so the new hubs mean that the rotors will have a nice flat surface and the are no questions about a wheel coming off. Everything left & right is the same, except the castle-nut, they're left & right hand threaded.
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The Ladas use larger ball-joints so you can use the steering box, but you'll have to swap the pitman arm. I broke a couple pullers trying to remove the pitman arm from a Fiat box. The Fiat boxes use 2 roller bearings in the body of the housing and a 3rd in the cap, while the Lada boxes use a bushing in the bottom and no additional support in the cap (it looks like everyone is selling the Lada style boxes now. I haven't had any luck finding replacement roller-bearings to properly rebuild the original style steering box. Ladapower.com added aproper milled steering arm puller to their catalog for me and while it bent, it was the only one that didn't break after buying a couple of lesser quality (cheaply cast) via Amazon.
Oem Fiat-style cap on left, sold-everywhere Lada-style steering box cap on the right.
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On the tool front, Ladapower has a bunch of gems, but the front bushing removal kit takes the cake. I've got a press, but the tool pulls the bushings without any risk of bending the arms. Also, I got a number of front bushings from different sellers that I really wasn't happy with the fit/quality, but the Tadem ones i got from Ladapower were significantly nicer and a much better fit than the Italian made Akron bushings. The Akron upper bushings were about 1mm smaller diameter and thus were loose/rattling in the control arms. I'm not sure if the metal housing is supposed to expand when tightened up, but that seemed extreme.
Picture (Akron on left, Tadem on right)
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I got lucky on the steering damper front, neither of my idlers were frozen so I cleaned them up and re-sealed on. Up-top, it's just a couple o-rings. I used 3x59 o-rings, but I think a bit narrower o-ring would be better, eg. 2.5x60x65? At the bottom, I knocked out the original seal, scraped away the lip with a deburring tool and fitted a Honda oil seal (part#90754-147-003, 19X30.5X7mm). The shaft is about 20mm, but if you sand down any ridges and polish it, it ends up being a bit less and the seal has plenty of give.
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Leaving out a lot of tedious restoration & refurbishment work that's just part of the usual grind.
-= 1978 Fiat Spider =-

redcars
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Your car is a: 1981 Spider 2000
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Re: My '78 resto-mod

Postby redcars » Sun Jan 28, 2018 7:57 am

Thanks for the honda part number on the seal for the steering idler. I will give that a try as I have 4 idler boxes, but they all leak. I have never been able to get a pitman off of the gearboxes.
1987 Lotus Super 7 clone
1981 Fiat Spider 2000 AT
1982 Fiat Spider 2000 5sd
1970 Fiat Coupe


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