Little bits of progress

[leeputmanjr]

Saturday began with a simple oil change, and 'while I was there', I decided to re-install my oil filter re-lo kit.

First, I discovered an incorrect oil block gasket:



So, I had to cut my own, which now weeps a bit. I think I used gasket material that was too think, and it's wicking. However, I got the kit installed;



This was my predicate on installing the belly-pan and the oil pan guard:



The oil pan guard was a bit of a pickle! BIG THANKS to Max who figured out the best way to modify it to fit my car. I feel a LOT better about driving around with this new motor now that it's protected

Lastly, I got my old-school NOS chin spoiler installed, after removing a 35 year old IAP sticker from it!



This was supposedly an 850 spoiler, that I was told would go on 'with persuasion'. It made me quite nervous, and the old fiberglass made all sorts of ugly crackly noises - but it sure looks good now!

[vandor]

Lee,

It's hard to make it out in the pic, but it looks like you have an old type of oil pan guard, where the front crosspiece is a flat piece of metal, which can flex upward. On later designs this was replaced by a tube. I would recommend reinforcing that part.

[majicwrench]

I'm sure you tried this, but did you try flipping that gasket over?? From the pic it looks like it just needs to be other side out.
Keith

[leeputmanjr]

Yes, the issue is early vs. late style oil block. The 'delivery hole' on the oil block is round - the gasket is oval.

Csaba has a new one on it's way to me

[leeputmanjr]

Here are the detail shots of the roll bar:





From the rear, you can see the driver's headrest is poking well through the plane of the roll-bar, thus my putting the windscreen on the back side. You can see it doesn't quite lay flat on the back side due to the angle of the roll bar supports. I think I can bend it (gently) to match, and then it will look VERY low-profile! However, I think it's exactly this angle which makes it so darn effective! 40 MPH with windows DOWN, and my favorite passenger doesn't even get her hair messed up!

From the front, you can see the seat belt attachment points on either side of each headrest. This didn't work out quite as well as I'd envisioned inside my head, but it's still a far cry better than the plastic seatbelt guides Fiat put on the seats. Also - my car just came with lapbelts, so this is WAAAY better!

Also of note - prior to mounting, I discovered that if I forced the roll back back a bit further than intended (about one inch), and if I put a one inch spacer between the roll bar front feet & the rear seat's crossmember - the roll bar did NOT block my rear view mirror! The top 's rear bow needs some persuasion to slide over it - thus the very thin roll bar padding I did!

[azygoustoyou]

Hi Lee,
I was going to do the bend but realized it wouldn't be as visible looking through it. I wouldn't let the sides bother you. I think it looks good. You could add a thin piece of plastic to the sides if you wanted.