1975 SoCal Spider Project

[argonaut]

Just picked up this 1975 basket case a month ago and started putting it back together. Body is pretty solid, just a bit of rust. The motor looks to be in decent shape so far. Head is in decent condition; the block got a little water in it but cleaned up decently well. I have high hopes to turn it into a runner soon. I also picked up a 2.0L and was thinking of swapping the 1.8L head onto the 2.0L block. I'm wonderinh what challenges I'l run into. Looks like I can transfer the exhaust side alternator brackets pretty easily. I'm wondering if the motor will sit too high to close the hood? I will have to reuse the 1.8L motor mount brackets and motor mounts.




First order of business was to pull those clunky tube bumpers off. I think the vehicle raised an inch once I pulled them off!

[joelittel]

I've never seen a tan hardtop before, only black. Very cool.

There are quite a few threads on doing the 2L swap, I'm sure someone has spelled out any issues with getting it to fit right.

There are also shorter engine mounts available through some vendors, which would help with any clearance issues.

[Ptoneill]

The 2.0 swap should be no problem, keep your 1.8 head, I had a new set of performance cams placed in mine. I moved the alternator to the exhaust side of my 2.0 without issue, Miller Mule makes a heavy duty bracket ( the old ones tended to bend) and a mounting block for the OEM alt or the 95 amp Ford alt. Also stay away from the OEM 79 carb it is inefficient and there are numerous replacement options to be found on the forum.

[argonaut]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I did see the shorter mounts listed somewhere. I guess once I get it in I'll see what kind of clearance I have to the crossmember below and to the hood above.

I am planning to use the adfa 32 carb from the 75. I just got done thoroughly cleaning and rebuilding it. It appeara to have the stock jetting. My understanding is that this carb should work well, at least until I decide to start upgrading conpression and cams.

Right now im am working on cleaning up the head, lapping in the valves, replacing the valve seals and setting proper lash.

[nibbes123]

Ptoneil the Ford alternator , which one is it? part number?

Thanks
Nick

[Ptoneill]

Ptoneil the Ford alternator , which one is it? part number?

Thanks
Nick

I don't have that information, I read that folks were using a Ford alternator but not the specifics...may have been from the Miller Mule part description. I am running an OEM Fiat alt with all LED's.

[argonaut]

The 2.0 swap should be no problem, keep your 1.8 head, I had a new set of performance cams placed in mine. I moved the alternator to the exhaust side of my 2.0 without issue, Miller Mule makes a heavy duty bracket ( the old ones tended to bend) and a mounting block for the OEM alt or the 95 amp Ford alt. Also stay away from the OEM 79 carb it is inefficient and there are numerous replacement options to be found on the forum.

Question: Why would you move the alternator to the exhaust side? I would think that by keeping it on the driver side it would get less heat soak from the exhaust and also have cleaner/shorter wiring.

[argonaut]

So a couple of weeks back I started investigating the engine in the car. Looked up the block ID number (132.A1.031.6) and head ID number (4372291). Based on the Artigue manual I found the block and head are a 77 1.8L, so obviously not the original engine. I'm not bothered about it.

Then I went to pull the head off and found both the intake and exhaust manifolds were loose, the gaskets looked like they never saw a torquing clamp. I pulled the head bolts which did feel tight and then the kicker...



Apparently the genius who was working on this car last, didn't tighten the intake and exhaust manifolds, and then let water run onto the top of the motor where it went down into cylinders 1 and 4 because the valves were open. Actually, after taking a little 600 grit sandpaper to the cyinderwalls they cleaned right up.

Nevertheless I saw a 2.0L on ebay in a local city so went and picked it up. Block ID (132.C3.031) shows 81-85 and the Head ID (4439644) shows 79 Brava?

Tonight I decided to pull the head off of the 2.0L to see what I was working with. And much to my surprise I found what looks like high compression pistons. My understanding is that the stock pistons are flat top, but these have about a 5mm dome. Based on what I see the fiat vendors selling I'm guessing these are in the neighborhood of 9.8:1? The only thing stamped on top of the pistons is "8/10". This might explain why the previous owner said he could never get the motor running correctly with his fuel injection system. It also looks to me like the head gasket was letting combustion gas through between the cylinders.







Now my previous plan was to put the 1.8L head onto the 2.0L block for a little bump in compression. Now that I see it already has domed pistons I'm wondering if the 1.8L head would be too much, pushing me up closer to 10.5:1 compression. What do you guys think? Should I stick with the 2.0L head?

[Ptoneill]

The 2.0 swap should be no problem, keep your 1.8 head, I had a new set of performance cams placed in mine. I moved the alternator to the exhaust side of my 2.0 without issue, Miller Mule makes a heavy duty bracket ( the old ones tended to bend) and a mounting block for the OEM alt or the 95 amp Ford alt. Also stay away from the OEM 79 carb it is inefficient and there are numerous replacement options to be found on the forum.

Question: Why would you move the alternator to the exhaust side? I would think that by keeping it on the driver side it would get less heat soak from the exhaust and also have cleaner/shorter wiring.

I did mine primarily for looks, I have Marks Computronix's ignition which mounts on the front left of the block below the alternator. It is a cool piece of tech that I did not want to hide, by moving the alt to right it "balanced" the look of the engine. As for heat, heat rises so that helps and I had my exhaust ceramic coated, hopefully it is not an issue.

[joelittel]

Argonaut, from what I understand about high compression pistons you'll need a more substantial head gasket. Due to their thickness they reduce the compression ratio a little bit. That being said, if you've got pistons that bring your cr up to about 9.8 and a 1.8L head, which I thought I read can increase cr by .5, the heavy-duty gasket might cancel out the increased compression from the head leaving you closer to the original 9.8.

I've also read that the spider europa had a 9.8 compression ratio and used the same bosch fuel injection as the American cars, so I'm doubting that the previous owners problems stemmed from the piston and fuel injection combination. But that's a guess, those pistons might not be 9.8 at all.

[argonaut]

Well I decided to focus efforts on the 81 Spider. So this guys is going up for sale in the For Sale section and on craigslist.

[So Cal Mark]

the increased compression is not the reason the engine didn't run well. You're correct about the head gasket though, it shows obvious signs of leakage