Another from Ottawa

[Adam]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to thank all for the copious amount of Fiat info available on the forum. My better half and I picked up a 74 spider in the fall of 2008. We had her on the road for less than a month before it came time to put her away for the winter.

The car is stock. Just finished a tune up today including cap, rotor, points, condensers, Bosch blue coil, wires, spark plugs, K&N air filter, oil change, and fuel filter. Put a Sony MP3/CD player in the dash and am having a hell of a time trying to put speakers in her. Made kicks to replace the factory map pockets, installation is tomorrows project. Then took her for a drive to Timmies.

Next week she goes in for the timing belt, carb rebuild, and to find and fix the oil leak.

A few questions:

Crane XR3000? Should I upgrade my ignition… will I get better mileage and performance from it?

How do the rear speakers sound mounted into the rear quarters? Not sure if I want to take that route for aesthetics, or if I should make small enclosures to mount to the rear quarters (similar to old jeeps)?

And if anyone has insight to the rear chrome bumpers… one is loose at what looks like a bumper strut… that would be great?!?!






Thanks,

Adam

[kilrwail]

Adam - Welcome aboard from Manotick. Your car looks great and I don't recall seeing it around town. You should check this out, if you're not aware: http://icco.forzavx.com/

Peter

[rlux4]

Welcome aboard Adam. Verrry nice looking car!
There is a thread about the speakers mounting in the well where the top hinges go. Denise (mdrburchette) posted a picture of the way she did hers. Her main point was to be sure they were low enough so that they didn't get hit by the top hardware. We owners of the later cars have a cut out behind the top of the map pockets and a molded recess for the speakers to go in the footwell, so one option would be to trade your car for an '82.
Kidding.
Ron

[So Cal Mark]

welcome, I'd suggest small enclosures rather than cutting up the side covers.

[narfire]

Hey Adam,nice looking car. Sounds like your getting it all sorted for the spring,but looking at the frozen rain in the background,is spring another few weeks?
This has/is been a great place for everything fiat.
The weather here is baffeling to say the least. Today a blizzard for an hour then sun and 5 deg C then blizzard.... Really tempted to get the car on the road though.

[launieg]

Great looking car Adam. I also enjoyed looking at the club car photos. I sure wish we had a Fiat or Italian car club here! My plan is to put the spider on the road for spring within a couple of weeks. But I think it will still be too cold for top down driving.

[baltobernie]

Hello Adam and welcome,

You've got a very desirable car; the last of the chrome bumpers. If the loose strut is the left (drivers) side, that's a bit of a problem, requiring the removal of the fuel tank to fix. This is a common "leave it for the next owner" repair. A couple of tips for tank removal:

• ∙ use extreme care when working in the vicinity of the white plastic check valve mounted to the front of the tank well. It is very fragile after all these years, and is only available in salvage. Gently cut hoses to/from this valve to avoid breaking the nipples. Mark orientation of valve before removing from car; it can be installed backwards.
  
  ∙ of course, never reuse rubber hoses. Common replacement sizes are 1/4 and 5/16", but you can also purchase original metric sizes
  
  ∙ consider replacing the large diameter rubber filler elbow, if it shows signs of age. Even the new ones are a struggle to wrestle onto the tank
  
  ∙ pull the fuel pickup/sender while you're at it; make sure the primary filter screen on the inlet is intact.

The solid-state ignition replacement solutions are a benefit, but correctly-set new points will yield virtually the same performance and mileage as the Crane; its the "no wear" feature that makes solid-state worthwhile. Put this item on your Wish List.

I'm sure they're out there, but I've not heard any Spider sound systems worth a damn, either top up or down. With the engine up front and the exhause out back, that's the Stereo I want to listen to!

[Adam]

It's actually the passenger rear strut that is loose.

Thanks for the tip on the ignition, I'll add it to the wishlist as the currnet has been overhauled.

I made kick panel speakers that replace the factory map pockets and rear enclosures that mount to the sides of the back seat. Both blend seamlessly, sound good, and keep the wife happy on longer drives

[mbouse]

Adam, welcome and thanks for the pictures in your introductory post. I see you have her decked out in Ottawa camouflaged white...to "celebrate" winter.

IMO-unless you have an aux amplifier, sound from your rear speakers will be washed out by the buffeting wind while you drive with the top down. I use 6 x 9" in speaker boxes sitting on the rear seats, plus 5 1/4" in the front under the dash, and have an amplifier in the trunk. But, there will be as many opinions as there are Spider owners...

Let us know how we can help.