Fiat X1/9 1982 restoration/race build

radics1

True Classic
Hi,

i would like to share my little project with you: X1/9 1.5 carbed,will be 1.6 turbo,prepared for street/drag.

I let the photos tell you the story:




























































































































 
A great deal of "lattonatura." The rust is really cancer x1 / 9, especially those produced by the Fiat brand. The latest Bertone have galvanized and painting made ​​with cataphoresis and are therefore more resistant.
Nice the engine block painted red.
Very compliments for your restoration!:cool::)
 
Nice job can't wait to see pics of it finished! By the way what type of engine is that fiat? i'm asking because i saw the vw pan? anyways, great!!! job.:)
 
Wow!

All that welding you did on your car was / is nearly identical to the Mac-X project I'm working on.
I almost had to do a double-take of this photo...

dscf5202w.jpg


As compared with the photo I took of Mac-X, looks quite similar:

macxfrontldamage.jpg


Still working on mine. All the welding is done. Pretty-much in the same places you've shown on yours
so I can appreciate all your hard work.

Big thumbs up on your project! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
Impressive

There is a lot a dedication here. And along with that hundreds of hours to complete.

A fellow on this board told me the following. The difference between a vision and a hallucination is the number of people that can see what you are seeing. Most would scrap this car or at least I would.

You have brought your vision to reality for all of us to see. The impressive part is the basic tools used to fabricate the repair panels. That takes thought, planning and a very strong will.

What transmission is being used in the Car?

TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.

TonyK.
 
My thoughts exactly

Great work to bring this car back.
But it seems like you know metalwork pretty well.

So it will be a Punto GT motor in the car?
Coupled to a VW transmission?
Please tell us more about that.
Why are you doing that and how well does it fit?
 
Hi all,

i'm really happy you like my project. I brought the car on 2nd of September 2012,from that time all my spare time is spent on the welding,metal work.

I need to say,i have never done anything like this. I had to build a really simple sheetmetal bending tool,to be able to bend the edges.

The engine is the stock 1.5 carbed X engine it came originally out from the factory with the car. When i purchased the vehicle,it had 88.000km on the clock and was sitting outside for the last 3 years without starting.
We trailered it home,checked the neccesary things like oil,belts,etc,after some trials it finally started. :)

Well,the gearbox really looks like the weak point for a turbo build,so i decided to use a much stronger VW one. The gearbox will be a hybrid of a MK3 VW Golf TDI and MK2 G60 (because of the gearing).Using an adapter plate of 15-16mm,the original driveshafts could be used,they just fit fine on the VW gearbox,both have 100mm CV joints.:king:
Cable shifting is a PITA to adapt,mechanics should be turned 180 deg in the shifter and also on the gearbox side. Virtually the G60 would be ok,but it has failed on the 3rd gear in a 16V turbo build,so i will use only the diff of it.

Engine is honed,milled,new forged pistons along with forged rods were installed,the head has now a big 39,5mm intake valve. Porting job just follows.Its a stroker to 1581ccm with a Fiat Tipo crank (stroke 67.4mm)
 
Well Mr. Radic, you sure are...

one hell of a metal man!

I've not see one other here fabricate their own nosepiece... and by the looks of it, you have more welds than sheetmetal in this car!

Congratulations and keep up the good work! Thanks for sharing as well!
 
Thank you Tony!

I'm sure most people would scrap that car,but its so rare,i simply could not leave it standing next to the owners house and wait until its gone by rusting.

First it looked not so bad,but under the paint,lots of crap metal work were found.I knew it will be hard,but didnt realise,its in so bad condition.

Well,i know Fiats for rusting very well,my first car was an Mk1 Uno turbo from 1989,it had also corrosion,floor pans had to be replaced,along with front and rear strut towers. And at that time it was only 15 years old,not 31 like the X.

Today i finished the head porting job,put it together with the valves and started the engine assembly. After some cleaning of the parts,i hope to get it together tomorrow.
 
Radics1,

You have done a wonderful job on your restoration and have breathed new life into an old X 1/9. It is always gratifying to see an X saved and resurrected like you have done, and you are to be congratulated for it.

I did notice one minor "problem" with the instrument panel.:) With the engine off, the tachometer is reading 0 rpm. I think it was standard for all X 1/9's to indicate 500 rpm with the engine off. This should be a minor calibration adjustment for someone with your abilities to raise it to 500 rpm.:mallet:

Thanks for sharing and keep posting photos.

Mike
 
I've followed this thread as I too am so very impressed with the workmanship of this restoration but I read this perticular information and had to go check my own '84X and my tach sits at '0' when the engine is off and I've always thought that was how it was supposed to be?

I did notice one minor "problem" with the instrument panel.:) With the engine off, the tachometer is reading 0 rpm. I think it was standard for all X 1/9's to indicate 500 rpm with the engine off.

'PeteX1/9
 
Hi,

i think there were different isntrument clusters wich start from 0 and from 500. However,i will check it if the engine is running. It will be an easy job to compare with the Megasquirt readings.Also when the engine was running,at idle speed,it showed something around 850-900,wich is realistic.

Its funny,if it is reading 500 rpm less,then with stock engine,it is able to rev to 9000 rpm :eyepop:

The rev counter showed 8500 at a test drive.
 
Great Resto!

As many have said, thank you for bringing an X back from the rusty abyss.

I look forward to seeing the rest of the restoration as I am sure i will learn something new about X-1/9's.
 
PeteX,

I was saying that tongue-in-cheek about the tachometer. Most of the for sale ads on Ebay or other places have a photo of the instrument cluster to show the mileage, and it seems most are reading 500 rpm. Mine is the same way. Look at the link below and you'll see what I was joking about.

http://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?posts/165196/

Ed, sorry I used your post as an example, but it was the only one I could find quickly.

Mike
 
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I dunno what this 500 rpm crap is...

Mine was that way as well and... whilst looking for a tach for my T-bucket roadster... I found many that were sitting on 500 rpm as well... and still others that rested at ZERO.

Its all relative though... kinda like a shift light. All ya really wanna know is when to STOP or SHIFT!

The T-bucket will be getting BOTH with a 4 speed automatic as well. HA! It is indeed able to be held in gear but its kinda fun to watch the needle swing, light comes on and then it shifts... hopefully!
 
Heroic effort !

You said you never have done his work before, I am impressed. Maybe that is why you tackled it so well. I assume there are NO good shells available where you live. Here in California we would just pick up a good rust free body for next to nothing.
I am curious to see the brake system once you finish it up. I see the new bracket in the trunk.
Thanks for the photos.
Bob
 
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