1981 San Diego Spider Project

[billgoyette]

This is my 1981 Fiat Spider back in the mid 2000's ... from my brother in law.



Been off the road for over 10 years, sitting in my driveway since 2010.


Started the project in January ... engine was stuck ... so out it came.


More to come. Engine rebuild is now complete.


Bill

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Nice, please share some more pictures as the project comes along! I was almost ready to say that it looks like you could just jump in and drive off, until I got to the picture of the engine being removed.

-Bryan

[QuebecFiatSpider]

Hello there, your project is really interesting

Would you please share more pictures of this oïl pan you have installed on that motor?

I found the company from where to buy it in Germany….seems like an interesting item

http://fiat124spiderservice.de/html/motorolwanne.html

[billgoyette]

Yes, the pan is not stock, but some kind of rally pan, less deep (requires a shorter oil pump feed), and wide.
It appears to be a custom fabricated item, not mass produced.
It has an internal baffle to keep the oil from sloshing.
This car was lowered (springs cut) and I think the custom oil pan was added to bring it up from the ground because clearance is tight. The pan basically sits flush at the cross-member level, tucked in there.
Here is a shot in the car ... you can see the pan:

A couple engine shots that show it after cleanup and painting.



The oil pump is new, but the oil pickup was too long to fit this pan, so I used the original pickup on the new oil pump body... the breather tube (not shown) was reused ... it may be the same as stock, not sure:

[DieselSpider]

Hello there, your project is really interesting

Would you please share more pictures of this oïl pan you have installed on that motor?

I found the company from where to buy it in Germany….seems like an interesting item

http://fiat124spiderservice.de/html/motorolwanne.html

I have a similar winged pan in my Diesel 124 Spider and while it does increase ground clearance the pan itself has proven prone to leaks over the years and now requires attention again this time where they mounted the dip stick tube. They put it through the top of the wing on the right hand side and did not put a collar or any other reinforcement in so its now leaking where the tube goes through.

It does not look like a production shop product and more like they merged a wing pan with the original Isuzu 4FB1 engines oil pan. I am not looking forward to releasing the engine mounts to jack up the engine and remove the pan so I can attempt a more reliable and permanent repair. The previous owner had sent it out to a welding shop a number of times however I will be inclined to do it myself since even though it will take me longer to do I will likely be more critical about the whole assembly and not just focus on the immediately apparent issues. I will likely try to make a support bracket bolted to the block to help minimize the likely hood of damage from vibration, inserting the dip stick too forcefully, etc, etc.

I tale a blow gun with a small regulator set to a few psi on it and connect it to the dip stick tube with a short rubber hose to pressurize the block so a spray of soapy water will bubble and show where any leaks are as long as their not from one of the sealed oil galleries but just where a weld, gasket, bearing seal, etc is involved.

[QuebecFiatSpider]

Thanks for the additional pictures

[billgoyette]

As far as I know, the winged pan I have has not been a problem for leaking ... the only interface is the gasket at the base of the block which is the same as stock. The oil pickup and vent tube extend down internally. The dip stick comes in at the block level an does not really affect the pan. If the pan fabrication was poor (there are several levels of welding seams) you could have issues for sure.

Side view of engine shown here with dip stick:

[DieselSpider]

Bill - I would have preferred a block mounted dipstick but alas the 1.8 Liter 4FB1 Turbo Diesel has it pan mounted. The wings are a bit larger on the Diesel too so that it still has a 6 quart capacity. A real high torque engine that pulls like a tractor even when towing my 15 foot sail boat however fuel economy in city driving is around 40 mpg. Once I get the dipstick issue taken care of it will be better for longer drives and such. Right now I hate that if I visit a friend it leave drips of Diesel Rotella on their driveway.