Fiat X1/9 1982 restoration/race build

Nobody's gonna call you a liar, Mr. Radic... Congrats...

No need to copy and post the time slip... as we useta collect them off the ground to brag to our friends! HA!

You are really getting this car to scream!
 
Thanks Tony,

but i want to avoid "pics or it didn't happen" posts. :)

Unfortunately they missed our numbers on that run,my opponent ran 16.7 but on the bottom of the timeslip,the personal best for his number is low 11.

I had to tell the guys to correct my number,but did not get a new timeslip. In a few days the times will be available on the hungarian dragracing site. (www.dragracing.hu)

Now can we call my car as the fastest sohc X1/9 on Earth? I know one with 11.68 in the Czech republic,but now i beat his time.
 
The fastest huh... Well, I wouldn't bother going there...

as there will always be someone that will actually have one that goes faster, or that they SAY is faster. Just post your time and let it speak for itself.

By the way... somewhere in my collection of photos I have a picture of a poster that was on an easel next to the car it was touting. On it it said...

WORLD'S FASTEST FLATHEAD POWERED ANGLIA!
(With four doors, 4 speed, Power Windows, in Nebraska on an 1/8 mile track, in 1967... etc. etc. etc.)

HA! All these "disclaimers" was a great tongue-in-cheek kinda joke... that really put down most of the others which made some of the same claims, only they were serious!

Secondly, I was once at a boat show where one of the most common questions asked was "How fast will it go?" Competition is, and was fierce whether it was power or sail... and you could go to one booth after another and compare very similar boats. One dealer had a great response that I'll never forget. He said, pointing to a competitor across the way... "My boat will go 3 mph faster than whatever he told you over there..."

Seen on the mudflaps on back of a Concrete Truck... "Concrete Highways are BEST!

Seen on the mudflaps on the back of an Asphalt Truck... "Asphalt Highways are BETTER!

HAHAHA... I'd say I love a good joke, but again, I just don't wanna set myself up to be part of one. Keep up the good work and just be safe as you pursue your quest!
 
You are right,

its useless to tell that it is the fastest SOHC,because there may other cars wich are not on the web or not known by us.

Althrough,i am happy with the result,the X with its weight distribution is awesome also in going straight.
 
Yep... and thanks for your efforts. It puts a whole...

new dimension to look at with this car!

I don't think anyone would considered drag racing the car with a relatively stock FIAT SOHC... turbo or not. Plenty have replaced the mill with something much more modern, bigger and stronger... and like my brothers that race Fords say...

"Anyone can make a Chevy go fast! It takes some real effort and many dollars to make a Ford fast! (HA!)
 
Hi,

so far i was racing on a stock Punto GT manifold with tiny 42mm butterfly on my 1.6 sohc X1/9 turbo. The car did quite well,best ET was 11.5 and best speed around 193 on 1/4 mile.

I decided to fabricate a new intake with bigger plenum,throttle body,kind of velocity stacks inside to increase airflow.

The boost pressure was 1.8-1.9 bar from the 1.5 bar i had before,so i think the bigger throttle body did a good job. I turned the boost back to see the differences. I noted just after the start,that the intake vacuum is not so good,was around 45kpa instead of 30-35 kpa. Then I started to do some rounds on the street and keep logging. The EGO correction was pulling 15% less fuel in low rev low load area. At wot,there was only around 2-3% difference. The car felt bad in low revs,lack of torque,turbo spooled somewhat later,and even on boost,it didnt pull so well than before. On the weekend we had a race,where we saw,my butt-dyno numbers were more or less correct. Less trap speed,turbo lag between 1-2 gears when flat shift not used.

I removed the manifold and started comparing,what could be wrong. One thing is,that it is tapering at the stacks but has similar diameter all the way down.It has some turns,but it is smoothed out in the corners inside. Biggest possible problem could be the reduced length. Stock GT mani runners are around 200mm and this is only 160mm. I have searched a lot over the web,some says this kind of difference can bring the peak torque up by 1000 rpm.

Anyone has some experience on this topic?




 
Hi guys,

well,the race season is over,luckily the little X could keep his position and win the Hungarian National Drag championship and 2 another championships as well.

For the next year,it would be great,if i could gain some power and traction and do a 10s run finally.

I have to modify the custom intake and do some test to see which modification does what.

I got a Gtech pro,did some measurements,it tells me the car has 216 whp,which is where i predicted. This should mean 260 to 270 HP at the crank.The run was done in 2nd gear,so the aero drag at 120kmh could lower the numbers.

Also i had the opportunity to buy a VW trans with a torsen LSD,I hope the traction will be improved and the 1WD drag car will turn to real RWD :hammer:
 
The car was measured,it weighted 880 kg with 5L fuel,so i estimate the race weight around 965 kg incl. myself. :huh2:
 
Unfortunately I did not make a pic when fully fitted on the engine,as it came off very shortly after a race event. I need to think over during the winter,how the runners could be longer,as it could be the main reason for poor low-end performance.
 
Far be it for me to suggest to you...

anything concerning the performance of this engine... as I don't think I could hold a flashlight in comparison to the knowledge and skill that you appear to possess...

But maybe you could stand back a bit more and look at some other alternatives as well.

Someone here has said several times... "ADD LIGHTNESS!"

I see that you and the car weigh about 2127 pounds (965kg to you) and that seems a bit heavy IMHO. I don't know what rules you need to adhere to but I've seen a lot of these "race" cars come in a few hundred pounds less. All that helps on the other side of the equation!

Secondly... and I didn't say this and its probably not applicable to you, but may help some others... is that our 5X SCCA Champ Steve Hoelscher stated his car was so much faster and handled sooooo much better after HE lost 40 pounds!!! (18kg)

Just sayin'... Keep up the fantastic work!
 
Hi,

yes,it is heavy,i dont know where this weight is coming,maybe the 1mm sheetmetal I added during the build everywhere,where originally much thinner sheets were used.

Unfortunately the rules doesn't allow weight reduction,i have to make some kind of bumpers,because the original big 1500 bumbers are not mounted (are 25kg front and back). I plan to make some kind of copy of the 1300 unit,as they are either hard to find or expensive,and need modification of holder bar anyway imho.

I weight only 62kg,so I wouldn't like to reduce myself more :)

On the car,i cant think of anything which could be demounted or swapped for smaller one.Maybe I could buy a smaller battery to reduce by 5kg,but i think the front is too light anyway.

Rules accept 1 panel to be swapped to fiberglass,so front or rear fenders,doors are not an option. Frunk hood could be swapped,but again,too much weight in the back,less on the front.
I have aluminium fuel tank and water radiator,much lighter than original part.

Trunk hood is not that heavy to worth the work.

We had here another X with 1.6 TC turbo engine,weighted only 720kg,it was 800 incl. the driver,he did 10.8s runs with slicks,he raced in pro class.Fiberglass front fenders,frunk hood,engine and trunk hood. All windows from plexyglass except the windshield.He added a roll cage,thats all.One race seat,no interior at all,just a tacho.
 
I see... It would appear then to go any faster...

you would probably have to move to some other class.

Plexi windows, drilled body panels, 'glass replacement panels, chopped off windshield, loss of backlight, power adders like blowers, turbos or nitrous... all would probably place you in a class elsewhere.

Well... then there is just some super tuning, tires and all that little stuff you mentioned like batteries and reservoir tanks and the like that can be massaged to ultimately make you the fastest in your class. One thing you could do NOW is to remove the alternator and just run on a small battery!

Hmmmmm, what else is there? Let's see now... 62 kg is 137 pounds or so... Have you thought about removing any unnecessary parts like 4 outta 5 fingers, your pancreas, appendix, ears, hair, toes, 6 or 7 feet of your intestines... and then if ya had an automatic...

OR... you maybe you have a kid or girlfriend at 100 - 110 pounds drive... or you could rent one...

I see lots of avenues you haven't explored yet... After all, WINNING is everything! HA!
 
I have to drive to each race 135km there and 135km back,so removing the alternator is not an option. In my class,everything should be on the car like headlights,seatbelts,etc,which are neccesary to drive on the street.

I see two ways: increase traction (thats why i brought the LSD) and increase engine power.Next year some modifications in the rules will allow to use drag slicks with DOT number,currently only street legal tires are accepted.
 
Update: On the race yesterday I could beat my personal best time,so the new record is 11.35*193.4 km/h

The torsen diff did his job,also the big throttle body helped a bit. So the 10s is a bit closer now. :grin:
 
Congratulations... 120.1 mph in the 1/4 mile!!!

You are using a 1/4 mile track right?

That's really cookin' for a 1.6 liter.

As for the alternator issue... first of all... I have run home over 110 miles with a 200 watt stereo blasting on my battery alone. 83 miles could be done and there are several options like a spare battery etc.

It also only takes me minutes to remove mine through the rear access cover... but you would need to have an idler pulley to run the water pump... or, install an electric water pump inline to handle the short runs, and reinstall the belt and alternator to drive it to and fro.

If you think it might be pressing the rules, then if you installed the inline pump, all you would have to do to go racing is LOOSEN the belt to disengage the pump and alternator... and keep your mouth shut.

HTH... Continue having fun!
 
1/4 mile,right. Rollout is 12" as usual.

Removing the alternator is not allowed,but i may have a switch on the alternator,to remove power from the coils. Max power of the alternator is around 650W,so i could gain in best case less than 1 hp. I think as the battery is new,the power coming from the alternator during the run is less than 200W (headlights off).

Electric water pump would gain more,but it is difficult to do it.
Also,due to lack of free space,i have an air filter direct on the turbo,sucking in hot air from the manifold.I need to find a solution and fit a filter box under the hood,feeding it from the left side vent.

The weather was cold,so traction will be even better next time,so 1.5s 60 feet is reachable.
 
Update,new record is 11.245*195.68,
60 feet was 1.67. Unfortunately i could not get that good traction what i had on last event (1.59).

Still working on to reach 10.99*200:grin:
 
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