fiat spider

So, I figured it out. The "A" and "S" mean nothing, it's the *holes* that are the timing marks. And, either the distributor is 180 degrees off, or the labels on the distributor cap are backwards. I finally sat down and read the entire 'ignition' secion of both my manuals. It gave indications to where the cam lobes should be when everything is lined up perfectly...and it's 180 off from the distributor timing. So what difference would that make? I've obviously been running it this way for a while, *or* the previous mechanic knew this and put a 180 degree turn on both the cams before installation (which I couldn't have seen because of the shield).

After some more reading, I find out that this is *normal* on a fiat. The 3rd cylinder fires first. Neat. Well, whatever. At least the timing belt isn't on wrong.

Well now. Many good things have happened lately. I finally ordered a bunch of parts ($250 worth) and they arrived this Thursday. Yay. More on those later.

But the big thing is, Friday, my Ebay e-mail auction alerts paid off big time. I saw this auction for a nearly brand new set of 15" Panasports AND tires that fit the Fiat bolt pattern (4x98mm). And the price was right. And the seller was local. And they looked HOT. I got in touch with the seller immediately and closed the deal over the phone. His name is Mark, and he's another Fiat freak like myself. He has a early 70's OTAS Grand Prix, a car that was designed by Francis Lombardi and has the Fiat 850 chassis, Abarth Grand Prix body and an Abarth 1000cc motor. He also has a cherry, early 80's Fiat 124 Spider and a super cherry (although I didn't get to see it) 70's Fiat 850 Spider. I got to take a ride in the OTAS and the 124 Spider. I was *super* suprized at how much power that OTAS had for such a small engine. I'd surmize a guess that it could rival Arne's 2L 69 Porsche in speed, and that thing's fast. 1700 lb, race motor, you can kind of see why.

Taking a ride in the 124 Spider was very nice. It was definatly well sorted and ran VERY smooth. It had a set of hot cams, EFI and a 2L motor (stock for the year). It handled very well, had good power and was fun, a preview of what's to come for me. I can't wait to get my Spider on the road.

So, we chatted for a few hours about Fiats and I loaded the wheels and headed home. He also donated a *brand new* clock to my project (after reading how I screwed mine up and spent all that time on it) and a shift boot for a 124, something I need anyhow. How rad is that. It's nice to have finally met someone that shares my interest. And I can trade parts with.

The wheels look amazing. I did a quick test fit to make sure they work and everything. Initally, I thought I had problems because the things didn't seem to have enough clearance...then I lowered the car back to the ground and they fit fine. Plenty of room. And they're not any bigger around than the stock, just a lot wider. More traction. Yay.

So, this week I bust ass to get the parts on my car. We'll see if I can make it before the 24th. At this point, I'm not hopeful, seeing that I still haven't worked out the custom throttle linkage.

I haven't heard from Geoff Hill yet, but I'm sure we'll be getting together for the first meeting of the SD Fiat/Lancia/Small Italian Car/Whatever Club.

One last interesting thing...apparently IAP shipped me two different bolts when they shipped me the 40mm bolts last year. Hrmm. They fit fine, but they're two different head sizes. Would be a PITA to remember that or figure it out every time I need to remove the wheels. I'm sure they'll rectify.

So, I finally sat down and made the call to IAP to order more parts. Look what I have on the way:

1 FIAT 71-78 TIMING BELT
1 FIAT ALT BELT
1 FIAT DOHC 71> T-BELT BEARING
1 FIAT LANCIA EXTERNAL THERMOSTAT
1 FIAT COOLING SYSTEM TECH BUL
1 GASK FIAT DOHC WATER TEE
1 71-72 124 1608CC WATERPUMP
1 FIAT RADIATOR FAN SWITCH EARLY
1 FIAT SPI & X-1/9 HEATER VALVE
1 TECH BUL FIAT HEATR VALVE
2 FIAT HEATER VALVE GASKET
1 SCREW
1 BRACKET
1 LOCK WASHER
2 AR SPI HEATER HOSE SHORT 67-71
1 124 INTK GSKT ALL EX 79'
1 RAD OVRFLOW TANK 68-82 124 SPDR
1 FIAT SPI 68-84 OVERFLOW CAP
1 WEBER T-SHIRT WHITE LARGE

This is pretty much the entire cooling system minus the radiator, which I already have. I hope it gets here quickly. I want to work on it next weekend. Notice that I also ordered a shirt. :)