General Hi everyone, new 1981 Fiat 124 Spider Turbo owner!

[VinnyL]

After 25+ years of this car sitting in my uncles garage, I decided to take it on as a project to restore. It needs a load of work, but I'm up for the challenge.

Step one is going through the fuel system, changing out all the fluids and hopefully will attempt to start in in the next few weeks.

So far I've ordered a new fuel tank and fuel sending unit, looking to replace a lot of rubber hoses, man this car has a ton of hoses! I will be looking to this group for expert help!

Here is a pic

 

[huramentzefix]

Wow a spider turbo!
congratulations!

what transmission does it have?

 

[VinnyL]

Wow a spider turbo!
congratulations!

what transmission does it have?

5 speed manual, that's all I know at this point. I finished the fuel system, now working on installing an entire new electrical ignition system, hope to attempt to start it in a few weeks!!

 

[huramentzefix]

Very nice turbo car!
Do you have the original ignition system or are you going aftermarket ECU?

 

[VinnyL]

Very nice turbo car!
Do you have the original ignition system or are you going aftermarket ECU?

I have been fortunate enough to source all new NOS original FIAT parts. I have replaced the ECU fuel relay, I'm going to try to start it with the original ECU, hopefully I won't have to replace that for it's extremely costly part! If I need to, it will be with a NOS OEM unit.

 

[rdv]

Hi, great to see this Turbo beeing alive! If the car is still a real Turbo (not de-Turboed) you got one of 308 still existing Fiat Spider 2000 Turbo (of ~700 built ones).
The worldwide Spider Register counts 3 other Turbo Spider in Ontario (CDN), see here:
https://www.fiatspider.de/register?...on_selective=CDN&Bundesland_selective=Ontario
Would be great to get your car data (VIN or last 6-digits) here or pm. Thanks in advance und good luck with your project!
Ralf

 

[huramentzefix]

I hope it starts up. The fuel relay is outside of the ECU correct?
If your ECU is bad it can be repaired. These old ones are easy to work on, there are specialists for those.
Are you pretty good with electric stuff?
Lots of people are just blindly swapping cheap and not so cheap parts when something doesn't work.
I recommend investing into an oscilloscope instead of throwing parts at it.
I have a Pico 2205.
but even this cheap oscilloscope would do.
you can test relays, fuel pumps, injectors, alternators, ...

 

[VinnyL]

I hope it starts up. The fuel relay is outside of the ECU correct?
If your ECU is bad it can be repaired. These old ones are easy to work on, there are specialists for those.
Are you pretty good with electric stuff?
Lots of people are just blindly swapping cheap and not so cheap parts when something doesn't work.
I recommend investing into an oscilloscope instead of throwing parts at it.
I have a Pico 2205.
but even this cheap oscilloscope would do.
you can test relays, fuel pumps, injectors, alternators, ...

Correct, the Fuel Relay is located under the dash. I have been replacing everything with Fiat original parts, it's an expensive option, however I want the car to be reliable and I don't want to waste time troubleshooting every part. I will look into that tool, I've restored several classic Mustangs, however, this is my first European classic. Hope to attempt a first start in the next few weeks!