1977 Fiat 124 Restoration

[Erkenbrand]

Hey Everybody - figured I'd use this space to document my restoration project.

After many months of discussion, I decided to pull the trigger on a Fiat. We wanted a summer cruiser, but my fiance doesn't like 'loud' cars . . . so the American muscle cars I've built wouldn't due. We also both wanted a roadster, and it had to have room for our dog. It's just a bonus the 124 is the best looking of the vintage roadsters. Or modern roadsters for that matter.

This Fiat came up at the right price. It needs quite a bit of work, but the core is good.

First - it isn't running. The PO says it was, and then it lost spark. Overall, the motor looks good, and tests out OK. That's going to be a future problem.

The big problems are the body issues. Although it spent years in a garage, the past few have all been outside not moving. So critters moved in and built nests. The vinyl started falling apart, and the top is shot.

The driver door is rotted, but the passenger is perfect. The out rockers need replaced, and a couple of patches are needed on the inners. Surprisingly, the floors are great, shock towers are fine, and, even though the wheel arches have some cancer, the remainder is solid.

Current plans . . .
- Strip it all apart
- Pull the driveline
- Fix the rust
- Rebuild the motor / trans / rear
- Paint it . . . maybe the same color? TBD (can't go red. My fiance does not like red cars.)
- Redo the interior, but keeping the color. She loves it.

Photos on the way. Once they're all done uploading.

[Erkenbrand]

Back when it showed up at home:

[Erkenbrand]

I started sourcing body panels, and came across a great guy outside Buffalo who has quite a collection of parts. Here's the start of parts collection. Much more to come.

[Erkenbrand]

This weekend, I began the tear down. I've decided to start from the back and work my way forward.

Although there aren't any rust holes in the trunk area, it was on the way. Another year outside would have been the end. I can't wait to get everything cleaned up.

Starting here:







And ended the day here (by the way, the 5 gallons of ancient, stale gas really adds to the ambience of the garage):

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Welcome, and thanks for the pictures! Looks like a great project for a restoration, and just the progress you've made so far gives me a "warm fuzzy" feeling that it will go well. Ask any technical questions you want, as many of us here on this forum know these cars inside and out. I think I've owned just about all the model years for the spiders from '69 to '80, with the possible exception of 1970. Not that it makes that much difference, as the only things that really changed were cosmetic stuff like the shape of the outer lights, door handles, bumpers, badges, etc. And emission-related stuff of course.

One thought: The differentials are pretty robust, so unless it's been abused, you might hold off on that until you verify something is amiss. Input seal and the two rear axle seals occasionally need replacing, but that's fairly easy.

One other thought: I'm guessing that you have a mechanical fuel pump, which at this point could be totally dried out and thus pretty roached. That and replacing the timing belt would be on my list of things to look at first.

-Bryan

[Erkenbrand]

Thanks, Bryan.

For the differential - I'm planning on replacing the axle seals. The backing plates are wet from oil, and not brake fluid. I'm pretty sure they're leaking. Other than that I'm not really planning on doing anything to it.

In the trunk was an old fuel pump, and a timing belt set that had been used. I'm guessing those were done at some more recent time. The car has 70k miles on it, but the history was pretty hazy.

My plan is to rebuild the motor to free up some of its performance capabilities, and get ahead of problems. It's been sitting for quite some time. I'm probably going to take it to Midwest 124. Most of my family is in that area, so it would be a good trip once the world is a bit more sane and safe.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I'm probably going to take it to Midwest 124.

I've never met these folks in person, but I have done a lot of parts purchases, and I also donated several Fiat spiders to them back in 2012 in Virginia. It was (still is) a long story, but they came by with a trailer and took a lot of parts that I needed to dispose of fairly quickly.

Anyway, I believe they restored the '78 yellow spider (they sent me pictures) and it now resides in Colorado somewhere. If you have a chance to ask them if they remember this car, I'd be interested in more of the story. It was my mom's car, and she loved it.

-Bryan

[Erkenbrand]

I'm probably going to take it to Midwest 124.

I've never met these folks in person, but I have done a lot of parts purchases, and I also donated several Fiat spiders to them back in 2012 in Virginia. It was (still is) a long story, but they came by with a trailer and took a lot of parts that I needed to dispose of fairly quickly.

Anyway, I believe they restored the '78 yellow spider (they sent me pictures) and it now resides in Colorado somewhere. If you have a chance to ask them if they remember this car, I'd be interested in more of the story. It was my mom's car, and she loved it.

-Bryan

The next time I talk to them, I'll ask. I think I'll be heading there in mid to late January. Weather and pandemic permitting.

[RRoller123]

Logan is extremely talented and knowledgeable.

[Chops]

I look forward to following your resto, these are fun little cars to drive in the summer months. Easy to work on and maintain. Having good bones to start with is important. I'm referring to solid frame and shock towers. Good Luck.

[Erkenbrand]

Made a little more progress this weekend. I was hoping to get a bit more done, but a chunk of the interior is out. I found about a million ants, and found some concerning rust in the seat rails. I'm looking forward to getting all of the floor covering out so I can clearly see the floorboards. I don't see any holes from under the car, but I think it's going to need a little metal work up top.

Still holding with my plan of working my way forward. So this weekend was the seats, convertible top, sill plates, etc.









Check out the find Realistic speakers. Part of me wants to keep them.






And I found this . . . I wonder who decided to tag it up?

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Thanks for the pictures! As for the rust, you might be surprised in that it is surface rust (very common) that will come off with a good wire brushing, and then a coat of your favorite primer/rust preventer. I just did the interior on my '69 for the second time, and it had some spots that looked bad but turned out OK. As long as the seat rail supports don't wobble around or there are holes in the floorboard, you might be OK.

As for ants, they don't just crawl around Fiats because they like Italian cars. They always are there because they have found a source of food, which could be something as innocent as a bag of gummy bears dropped into a recess somewhere, or (gulp) a pile of dead insects or a dead rodent. Perhaps use gloves when poking around in the inner recesses...

As for the tagging, it looks like your interior color is different from the outer body. If so, the car was repainted at some point, and so the body shop might have put a mark inside for some unknown reason. Or the painter was just chillin' with the local street gang.

-Bryan

[Erkenbrand]

And the saga continues.

Although it's been a while since I posted, I have been making progress. Most of the interior is out, the driver door is off, and the windshield is removed.

It's been pretty straightforward . . .







And then came the surprise in the driver floor. It looks like at least 2/3 of the floor needs to be replaced. That was not great.



And as I dig more and more into the car, the questions pile up. For instance, the cover around the shifter is oddly bent up . . . as if the trans has been out and whoever did it didn't bother to make enough room.

Then, there are oddities like:



I'm beginning to debate next steps.

At this point:
- All wheel arches need metal work to varying degrees.
- Trunk pan and inner quarters are on the verge of being done.
- Driver floor pan is done.
- Questionable things going on with the motor, possibly with the trans. It only has 80k miles, so these things make me say, 'Hmmm'.
- It was last on the road 20 years ago, and more and more of it shows.

To make it even more fun, while looking for parts I came across another Fiat in 10 times better shape for very little (relatively) money. That is a great running, driving, 1979 with a good interior, good soft top, and good hard top. It needs small floor patches and a paint job. Other than that the timing belt was replaced within 5k miles, brakes done then, lowering springs installed, and panhard bar upgraded.

The cost of that '79 is less than I'll have in parts in the '77 getting it going.

And I've always wanted to build a car for LeMons. A friend of mine is a autocross / rallycross guy, and is willing to build a LeMons team. The '77 could be perfect for that.

Things that make you say, "Hmmm".

So, Happy New Year!!

[18Fiatsandcounting]

"Hmmmm" back at ya...! Yes, that is a creative way to bypass the external thermostat, and I'm guessing the driver's side of that top T-connection goes to the top radiator inlet and the bottom of the radiator goes to the inlet of the water pump? That would take a really long time for the engine to reach normal operating temp. Unless the there is a flat disc thermostat where that T-connection bolts to the head. PO's are known to do this as the external thermostat can be finicky, so you might check to see if that's been done. If you do, be very gentle with the 4 bolts that connect the water outlet to the head as they often break off.

Appreciate the pictures, and keep us updated.

-Bryan

[Erkenbrand]

Yeah, the PO definitely played with the cooling system. I'll dig into it more, later and see exactly what all was done.

I also wonder what's going on when I keep finding loose bolts and screws. On the core support I found a handful that go who-knows-where (buried in leaves and crap so I didn't see them when purchasing), more in the crap in the trunk, and even more inside. I've been collecting them all in a box so I can keep them for posterity.