Intro:
Based on the 124 Coupés, the Spiders were built from 1967 through 1985 (production figures vary but a
good estimate would be 200,000 were produced). The later years (1983-1985) were built by Pininfarina
and not Fiat. The early years had 1438 cc twin cam engines. As time progressed the engine grew to 1608,
1756, then finally 1995 cc. Due to smog regulations the most powerful factory-tuned engine was the
1971/72 1608 cc engine at 104 bhp. Next was the 1982/85 1995 cc engine with 102 bhp. The 1982/83 Turbo
had 120 bhp but these are kind of rare. The turbos did not come equipped from the factory but were
done under license with Legend Industries and sold only in the US. Only slight body style changes were
done over the production era.
For quick reference the door handles on pre-1979 were hand grab with thumb-activated push button. 1979
and post Spiders came with aerodynamic pull out latches. Also earlier version had close to the body
chrome bumpers versus the tubular later ones.
Engine-wise newer models had fuel injection starting mid 1980 so some 1980 have carburators and later ones
fuel injection. There are many sources for parts, new and used. Several mail order suppliers deal only in Italian
cars. Getting parts is not a problem. Most items are reasonably priced but some items such as steering
idlers, air flow meters can be expensive. As with any car not currently in production and without
millions produced, going into a parts store may not yield off the shelf parts. On the other hand,
common type parts are still available such as wheel bearings, headlights, etc... are available off the
shelf.
First Contact
If found through an advertisement, you will first have to ascertain whether it is worth looking at.
General questions include basic: Is it running? Inspectable? Overall condition, rust, problems, etc...
Only you can decide if you want to visit the car.
Once you decide to go see the car the following is a guide to what you might find. I always suggest
bring any car to a mechanic to have them put it up on a lift, so you can see whats underneath.Try to
find one that deals with Italian cars or at least foreign cars.
Rust
Spiders are pretty rust prone, especially where salt is used on the roads in winter. Typical
exterior areas are around the wheel arches. If there is no rust here it has probably already been
fixed. Ask how long ago it was fixed, who fixed it, etc... Anything fixed within a year may have been
done just to sell the car and could start looking bad again unless it was fixed properly. Nothing
special about fixing these rust areas. Trunk and hood lids also rust, towards the latch area on trunks
and towards the hinge area on hoods. Trunk lids can be expensive, hoods can usually be found used for
€ 100.- to € 200.-. A lot of hoods may have been creased in the front when the hood was opened and
extended too far either by wind or owner removing the parts that keep the hood from flipping all the
way over when opened. Trunk lids seem to be harder to find and more expensive than engine hoods.
Harder to spot rust areas are the floors, uniframe and shock towers. The entire floor is susceptible to
rust. As this is a unibody, any structure rust can be serious. If it is only isolated perforations in
the floor it is generally considered not structural, patching will fix but you must be aware that other
rust may be lurking throughout the floor area. The bottom "back seat" pops right out. Just push back
and up. Now you will be able to see if that part of floor is rusted. If car has manual transmission,
check firewall near clutch pedal. This area may fatique and start to distort causing hard clutch
engagement.
Shock towers - Inspect these carefully. They can rust and start to deform. Check inside the front wheel
wells behind the springs and also inside the engine bay where the shock top mounts to the body. Look
for any bowing of metal or through hole rust perforations. If the rust is severe you are looking at
major restoration (read €€€ or $$$). Look for another car.
Side Rails - these are the rails that run along the outside of the car front to back. Usually
covered by sheet metal panels. Lie on ground and look up all along these rails as they give most of
the support and keep the car from folding in half. Fixable but require cutting and welding.
Undercariage anchoring points - Look carefully at where the suspension points attach to the unibody.
They should be solid connections. If they are pulling out, could mean serious restoration needed. The
front crossmember can also be a serious problem in these cars. The crossmember is the metal beam that
passes under the oil pan and ties the left and right side of the front together. It anchors the lower
control arms for the front wheels and also has the motor mounts attached to it. The cross member is
held on each side by two bolts pointing down from the unibody frame and by one bolt going from the
engine bay to the wheel well about midpoint of the coil spring. The bolts pointing down tend to loosen
or even pull out of the unibody frame. If you place a floor jack under the crossmember and jack the
car up, you can then see if you can wiggle these bolts. If they wiggle chances are you can't tighten
them as the bolt and nut will spin together as you try. The other bolt that passes through the engine
bay to spring can have the eyelet snap and the bolt not supporting the crossmember anymore. Jack car
up at proper jack points, see if crossmember separates from frame. Should stay snug up against frame.
Fixes to these problems range from removing the engine and fixing the unibody frame, welding the
crossmember to the frame (not recommended as any damage incurred later to the front end will not be
really fixable), or removing old bolts and replacing with longer bolts that go from the top of the
unibody frame rail through the crossmember and out the bottom so that you can tighten them up as
necessary. A loose crossmember will cause unpredictable handling when braking. The car may pull left
or right depending on how the wheels are pointed.
Doors that don't close right may indicate the frame is relaxing due to structural weakness. Could also
mean hinges are cracked. Check hinge area for stress cracks, rust.
Mechanicals
Wheel bearings - Shake each tire to see if there's any play or clunking sounds. Wheels should not be
loose or have any play. Could indicate wheels bearings or ball joints need replacement.
Engine - Tend to leak oil. Oil pans will all have dents due to the low protruding pan. If not crushed
too bad, should not affect anything other than causing oil pan gasket to leak. If severely dented could
have a broken oil sump, will be evident by rattling noise form the pan area. Other places oil will tend
to leak are the head gaskets, distributor where it goes into the block, and where the cam housing
meets the head. These leaks are not difficult to fix for the average backyard mechanic but take time
to remove necessary parts. All in all the Spider is a pretty simple car to work on. Drive belt should
be inspected if possible. Should be replaced if age unknown and changed every 30k miles onward. If you
do buy the car and do replace the drive belt, remove the tin shield backing of the drive belt and put
in box for later to discard. This way you can inspect the drive belt without having to remove the
whole front of the engine. If belt breaks, valve will be bent or block cracked. Cars with the 2000cc
engine will not bend valves but the aux. cam that has a lobe for the old mechanical fuel pump will hit
and cause the block to crack. Some people remove this lobe and now have a "freewheeling engine" that
won't be damaged if the drive belt snaps. If you do an engine compression test, reading should all be
close to one another, if one cylinder noticeably lower could be headgasket, valves, rings - maybe
time for rebuild.
Look for hoses that don't go anywhere or are plugged. Could mean smog equipment has been removed.
Getting tougher to find these items and with increased smog testing might cause emission failures.
Some states do a visual inspection for these components - no smog equipment - no passing.
Check dipstick for water coolant and check coolant for oil.
Engine Cooling - Take a nice long test drive. Temp gauge should not go past straight up at 190 C. In
stop and go traffic needle may go slightly past 190 C but fan should kick in and hold temp down. Air
trapped in cooling system isn't uncommon causing engine to get warmer than it should. Best way to get
air out is to install flushing tee at highest point in system.
Transmission - 5 speed tends to have problems with popping out of gear or losing 4th gear altogether.
Having someone rebuild the 5 speed can be expensive. The automatics have the same guts as the GM T-180
tranny. I believe it is the same one used in the Chevette. Not much to say about the automatic, either
it seems to work smooth or it doesn't. At least finding a shop to work on it shouldn't be a problem.
Run through all the manual gears, shouldn't have to grind any to engage. Don't rest hand on shifter,
accelerate sharply then remove foot from gas to see if tranny pops out of gear. For manual gear box
make sure Non-EP oil was used. Using EP oil will result in all the problems listed above.
Drivetrain - While driving listen for whining and feel for vibrations. Whining could indicate rear end
or tranny problems. Accelerate hard from standing start, shouldn't hear any clunking noises. If you
do hear noises could be driveshaft, transmission and motor mounts. If any buzzing, banging, vibration,
or skipping tires - probably rear-end is about to go. Rear ends tend to die rather rapidly from first
signs of distress. Pre-1978 rear-ends seem to be more robust than post '78 rear ends. Can be
interchanged.
Brakes - Fiat 124 Spiders always had disc brakes on all four wheels. Usually work OK but should be
bled every six months for best results. Bleeder screws tend to snap off. Caliper re-build kits are
available at less than € 10.-. When test driving, brake hard, shouldn't pull to one side but probably
will due to sticking caliper. Grinding noise may indicate wheel bearings bad or rotors needing
turning. If car has sat for awhile, rotors are probably rusty. Replacing brake pads on these cars is
a no brainer. biggest problem are air in system and contaminated fluid. Emergency Brake - pull
emergency brake lever up, put car in gear and try to drive gently forward. Should be some resistance,
if not emergency brake cable could be bad or need adjustment.
Wheels - Standard wheels aren't too exciting and aftermarket wheels are available but you must make
sure the hole spacings are 98 mm and not 100 mm. So if the car has custom wheels this is a plus,
unless of course you like the originals. Check for spare under floor in trunk. Finding a proper rim
may involve many trips to various junkyards. Most junkyards will not have any Fiats. If your local
junkyard does have some Fiats, chances are there is a Fiat enthusiast in the area and these are the
remains of their parts cars. Some people feel that these cars are discarded unwarrantedly and should
be restored, not junked.
Check tire wear patterns. Uneven wear indicates alignment problems.
Suspension - Front control arm bushings should be checked. They tend to crack and fall apart causing
strange handling. Bushings themselves cost about € 5,- each but without a press they're tough to put in.
Replacing whole control arms isn't to bad as long as you have a coil spring compressor. Check all
bushings as they will affect handling. Check to see that the part going through the bushing is evenly
spaced all around. If the part that goes through the bushing is resting up against another metal piece,
bushing needs to be replaced.
Steering - Stiff steering could indicate the need for a new steering idler. Kind of expensive and may
be hard to find. Stiff steering could also be low air in tires. Excessive steering wheel play may be
able to be adjusted out.
Electricals
Italian cars archille heel tends to be the electrical system, usually poor grounds. Most strange
and intermittent problems can be traced back to corroded connections and poor grounds. A good cleaning
and electrical paste clears up alot of problems.
Headlights - every Spider has dim headlights. Even if halogens are put in they will not be as bright as
you think they should. Dimness is attributed to voltage drop in wiring. Can be corrected by using
light switch through relay to power lights directly from 12 volts. The Spider is one of the few cars
that you will probably stop to check that the high beams are working because as soon as you turned
them on, it got even darker outside.
Dual Point Distributors (used from 73 to 78) - Generally thought of as a pain but can be made to work
properly. Can be swapped out. Fuel Injected Spiders do not have any points, one less thing to adjust.
Clock - All Spiders will have clouded clock face unless the plastic lens has been replaced by glass.
Good chance clock will not work.
Gas Gauge - Sensor in tank tends to wear out making mid-range in gas gauge off. There is a low gas
sensor light that lights when tank has 1 to 2 gallons left.
Battery - In trunk for weight distribution. If sealed battery not used, venting gases will cause
corrosion around battery. There is a vent tube but usually clogged allowing corrosive gas build up.
Alternator Charge light - may glow slightly (only noticeable at night). Generally attributed to a
poor ground somewhere. Usually not a concern unless it glows bright red.
Interior
Dashboard and center console may have cracks. replacements are available as are covers. New
replacements are expensive.
Down by your feet are kick panels with map pockets. Map pockets may have been broken and removed.
Seats may have a slight tilt torwards the center of the car. Grasp seat firmly and give alittle shake.
Mounting bolts may just be loose or anchor points may be rusted.
Heater controls between the front seats. Doesn't matter what position you put them in, you'll always
have warm air toasting your feet.
General
Check that all switches, lights, knobs, etc... work. Windshield washer is activated by gently
pulling wiper arm towards you. Probably won't work. Wiper motor can be expensive, make sure it works.
Headlights will not turn on with key out of ignition (car must be running).
Replacement tops run from € 150,- for vinyl to € 500,- for fabric. Putting a new top on isn't too hard. If
the car doesn't come with a boot cover, get one. They cover the convertible top when down and dress
the car up nicely.
Other Things
Check for jack and lug wrench. Not a big deal but an expense and hassle to replace.
Modified Cars - Not uncommon to find Spiders that have parts installed from earlier/later Spiders.
Just be aware of all the owners modifications and make notes for future reference. Don't assume
because the car is a 1981 it's rear-end isn't from a 1978. Or the intake manifold in your 1979 is
really from a 1978 for slight performance upgrade.
Anyone who likes to work on their own cars will not have a hard time with these cars. They are fairly
easy to work on and straightforward. If you just plan on filling the gas tank and doing no tinkering,
these cars are not for you (unless of course you pay someone to do your tinkering)
It is extremely easy to put much more money into these cars than you can get if you try and sell it.
Generally, you can find a nice example that has had most of the problems fixed for € 2500,- to € 4000,-
If you must buy a project car try and find one with a solid uniframe. A € 200,- car may seem
exciting at first , but the amount of time and Euro's or Dollars spent will take alot of the fun out of these cars,
especially when you realize you just spent € 5000,- on a car now worth € 3000,-. Of course once you
drive and own a Spider you will also realize they are way under valued. Maybe as more and more end
up at the crusher, the re-sale value will be more in-line with their actual worth.
Recommendations:
Any unrusted Spider is a plus. Pre-1973 because of the original type looks and less
or no emission equipment to drain power, or post early 1980's (fuel injection) because of the F.I.
and decent power. Models between 1973 and 1980 can be tweaked using various stock parts off other years
to overcome sluggish performance. Of course any Abarth modified Spider should be snapped up. Abarth
modified stock Spiders into high performance racers.
Spiders & Speakers
