This is the '81 Fiat 2000 Spider we drove home for $100. It's undergoing reconstructive surgery right now, and waiting for paint. It was going to be my wife's race car next season, but we have decided to refrain from racing for a bit.

I located a parts car, that has ended up donating body panels and some other parts to the effort. The story of getting that car is here. That was an adventure that I won't forget! A Mirafiori member now has that parts car.

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So far, besides the body panels shown in the reconstruction pictures, many more new parts were installed. A complete new front crossmember and A-arms were sourced from Bruce's Parts Bin, as well as all new ball joints, bushings, tie rod ends, tie rods, and KYB shocks. Bruce also supplied the four new brake rotors, all new pads, new brake hoses, and new clutch (the parts car came with a new pressure plate and throwout bearing in boxes, and I found another new clutch disk in the collection after getting the one from Bruce's).

In doing the clutch repair, I needed to remove the exhaust to move the engine, and the bolts on the exhaust manifold snapped. After unsuccessfully trying to remove the offending remains of the broken studs from the old manifold, a new manifold was procured from Bruce's and installed. Of course, that kept an afternoon's job from getting done in an afternoon... *sigh* There was some issues with a hack job some service department had done on the wiring from the key to the first connection, and it went bad on me one day. (the car had come with a couple grand worth of recent electrical repair receipts... apparently someone saw this guy coming, and took him for a lot of money and did a half assed job of repairing the key, the starter, and the alternator) . Luckily, along with the parts car had come a couple good wiring harnesses for the right year, so I was easily able to simply replace all the bad bits. Closer and closer to being a completely new car... ;). The engine and trans, however, have been absolutely excellent, and needed nothing but new plugs and a standard tune-up. The cam drive belt on it looks new, but I have one to install later...

Here is how it looks today, as a daily driver. (click on pics for larger version)

The final color chosen is Ford Sonic Blue Pearlcoat. Hopefully by 4/18/04, it'll be finished being painted.

Next up will be making it faster. Turbocharging is looking good...

4-19-04

It's now painted! (click on pics for larger version) Now, after cutting and buffing, I can install the top, new carpet, and the Miata Seats, and start driving it again!

Can't wait to get it out in the sunshine for some real color shots. These pictures don't do the color justice, as it's a bit brighter than the pics without flash show, and darker/deeper than the pic with flash shows...

4-24-04

Outside shots. (click on pics for larger version)