Borris,
I am in SO Cal and I also have a 78 124 Spider. I will be posting pics later but it is in damn fine condition. I recently had a fan belt fail (crappy Carquest belt) it overheated and it caused one of the valve "buckets" to stick. I could not get it to free up. I added a quart of tranny oil to see if that would do the trick. I did not reve the engine but I took it for a short drive. When I got back.......bang.
Pulling the spark plug I used a boroscope and much to my dismay, there was major damage (hole in the piston, broken valve) necessitating an engine removal. I got new pistons, rings, bearings and had the head repaird, new intake and exhaust valve in #3 and a complete valve job.
The engine is back together and running almost perfect. Here in California, Fiat designated the Weber 32 ADF carburetor for the stringent smog laws along with the EGR and air pump system. Now, there is only a general rebuild kit for the Weber and throttle shaft seals are available from a specialty parts supplier. No throttle shaft or hard parts. The motor runs nice but it is not as smooth at idle as in the past. WELL, the carb is only 44 years old. And there are not that many miles on the whole car. 106K. The car passed smog with flying colors. Not bad for a car that had been sitting for over a year and a half.
I have sourced the state and there are no other 32 ADFs available (as of yet) Just used ones and who knows if they are any good. It is not running bad enought for me to pulld the carb and rebuild it. But I will get the shaft seals to add to my rebuild kit when the time comes.
Good luck with your 78 and if it was not from California, you are way ahead of the game. That was called a "Federal" car, not a "California" car. The sad note here in Cal. is that I cannot escape the smog law. The last car that is smog exempt is the 1973.
Post some pictures of your 78. I would like to see what it looks like. Let us know how the body is and how it runs. Does it need a lot of attention? Hopefully, just driving and maintenance.
