fiat spider

Called to order the steering box and it's 2-3 months back-ordered. Wow, so I'm gonna try to rebuild mine, or at least tweak it till I can get it road worthy. Saturday and Sunday will be spent taking it out, messing with it and putting it back in, hopefully getting a drive in before the weekend's out. Then maybe fiddle with clutch and work on brakes, inspect bushings. And all the other shit. Timing belt/etc. Got the mechanic's manual. The jobs don't seem that hard. It's a good book.

So the 71 is gone. Fucker wouldn't even call me back. I hate rude people. So I started looking at a few others. 77 Spitfire, 66 TR4, 64 TR4, and a 57 MGA. Look like nice cars but I already own the Fiat. Jeez, I am ordering the fucking steering box tomorrow morning. Hope I can get it here this weekend. That's all I need. I just want it to be road worthy. Wonder if Karl will come over and help me do the work. Then I can get it cleaned and start working on the brakes and suspension. Then the interior. I must have problems. Heh.

Found another Fiat on Sunday...$1999 for a 71 that is mechanically restored. I'm saved! This is the car I have been looking for! Yaay! Called the guy, scheduled an appointment for Sunday. Called back tonight to schedule an appointment for Wednesday and he said a guy is coming to buy it tomorrow. GOD FUCKING DAMMIT! Why!? So I went down the the garage to check mine out. See what I will actually have to do to get the fucking thing running well. First, it needs to be de-gunked. Nasty shit. The steering gear-box is gross. I need to mess with the clutch cable as well. Both don't look to be to difficult. The de-greasing will be a pain, no idea how to do that.

My garage opener opened the biker dude's garage again. Then I couldn't shut it. So I talked to the security guard and he gave me their apartment number. Went up and told them that they should get it changed, they were thankful. Cool.

Still debating an early RX-7. At least I could drive that shit like I stole it all the time. That would rock. Heh. Not so much with an E30 but they would still be fun, and look a bit more modern than the early RX-7. Arne has me thinking I should get a 914. Time to hit up auto-trader again. Heh.

So this week has been long. My right leg is hurting me, my back it hurting me, my left leg isn't getting any movement back. Motorcycle accidents suck ass. I highly recommend against it.

This weekend, Tracy had to work, so I spent a lot of time doing my own thing. Friday we went to dinner. Saturday, she had class and I went to the BMWCCA and filmed Neil in his E30 at the track. Then went to work and spent some time on the 2002 gobig video. It's pretty rad, has some zombie music, rad snow-boarding moves and shots of the phatty mclarge. Sunday I did research on cars...trying to decide on ownership of an E30 or 240z as a replacement for the fiat. Decided to attempt to fix the fiat first. Then see if I like it. At least get a steering gear-box installed. If it still sucks, then I'll sell it and look around.

Woke up at 6 and took the Honda to the dealer to get a valve adjustment and a new idle control valve. Sat in the lobby for 40 minutes for the driver to pick me up, and another 20 while he drove very slowly to work. At least I got to take a nap between 8:30 and 9:15 on the poof chair in my co-workers office. But I'm still really tired. Then they call and let me know they ordered the wrong part and I have to bring it in tomorrow too. Fuckin lame. Jeez. At least it'll run better once it's all done.

Still thinking an E30 or 240z would be a better tinkering car. I'll do more research, put the fiat up for sale, see if I get any bites.

While Tracy studied for her exam, I went out and started the Fiat, drove it around for a while in the parking lot across from the apartment. I am kind of bummed at all the things that this car needs to have done to it. Steering, suspension, brakes, ignition, electrical, dash replacement, paint, new wheels/tires, coolant hoses and probably a tranny rebuild. Makes me want something else, something in a little bit better condition. So I spent a portion of the day looking at 240z's and other cars that fit the bill. Went out to eat steak that night. Good stuff. Good weekend. I like the lazy ones.