My new project: 68 850 Spider

Austin

Daily Driver
Sold the 73 with dodgy VIN to a guy in the UK (he said the VIN wouldn't be a problem for him) and followed up on the 68 I saw on Craigslist.

Turns out to be an early 68 and a one owner car! The original owner, Florence, is 87 and in declining health. She wants to see the car back on the road. It was hit while in her garage so there's some bodywork needed, and she lives at Ocean Beach so surface rust, but terribly complete. Her husband collected parts for years so I'll be posting quite a few of them.

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Nice find! :)

Is the alternator an indicator of a 903cc engine having been retrofitted into this car?

Haven't gotten that far, but entirely possible. The owner's husband bought original parts from his brother, a foreign auto parts store owner, and replaced many things along the way. There appears to be a spare motor (along with one for an Isetta!) in the bowels of the garage.
 
Encinitas here, checking in to say that's a cool project! Where are you in SD? Will be looking forward to updates.
Eric Van Nice
 
Should be a great project and a much better starting point than your old '73, even just by virtue of being an earlier car.
 
Encinitas here, checking in to say that's a cool project! Where are you in SD? Will be looking forward to updates.
Eric Van Nice
Temecula now, though have lived all over SD county in the past 20 years: Ocean Beach, Descanso, Escondido, North Park - even downtown, a block from Balboa Park, long before it was fashionable.
 
Indeed, a very nice find. Congrats. Looking forward to more about this car as you progress.
 
I am almost ready to move the Spider from San Diego to my home in Temecula (about an hour away) so have been working to clear garage space and sort through all the spare parts the owner's late husband collected that I'm being pressured to take (most of it is junk, I suspect).
Noticed that the oil seems very thin and that the fuel filters (yes, plastic ones in the engine bay) are bone dry even after several seconds of cranking.
I know that when the mechanical fuel pumps used in air-cooled VWs fail, they tend to leak gas into the crankcase. Are the Fiat pumps the same?
They look very similar in construction but most of the rebuild kits have disappeared for ACVW. Same story for Fiat pumps?
 
Many people replace them with an Electic. There recently was a posting on this.

Thanks, but the electric fuel pump in the last Spider I had looked terrible with big cuts in the sheet metal to route hoses and seemed to overwhelm the carb. Since this car has never been altered, I'd prefer to stick with the stock pump.
 
I run the the stock pump in my 68. It did fail once but no gas in crankcase, it just stopped pumping.
Be sure and replace the brass fuel pipe that comes out of the carburetor. You want to pull that pressed in pipe out and replace with a threaded one. Many 850s have gone up in flames because of that fitting falling out.
 
I also run a stock mechanical pump in my 850. They are quite reliable but it may need to prime a bit. Mine needs me to prime the engine after a long period and when the engine is turning normal idle revs it will draw properly.

You might also consider trying to pressurize the tank to force some fuel down the line.

Personally I would take every part they have, you don’t know yet what you need and you don’t know what is there. You can always resell good parts on ebay or toss the dross into the dumpster. 850 parts do not grow on trees anymore.
 
Digging through the mounds of paperwork, I was pleased to find the owner's manual, though it appears to be for the first generation Spider where the front turn signals are in the bodywork (cover says "fifth edition").

Was there an edition for the 67-early 68 or did they just use the same photos as first series?

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Revisioning was a bit less careful back then. Fewer lawyers and less liability. They did change the pics for the 68 and 69s with the higher headlights.

Yours has the early low integral headlights, the US market cars got lenses attached to the bumper versus mounted to the body.

Merkel Weiss has a European market bodied Spider with the body mounted signals.
 
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