My '78 X1/9 project thread

Well, since I am now the proud owner of a mostly complete 1300 4spd X1/9, I want to start a thread to keep tabs on my progress from purchase to whatever the end of this ownership road looks like (seldom are they ever "completed").

For Starters, I found the car on CL... and here are the pics I saw that got my interest:





I then contacted the seller, a nice gentleman who sent me a score of additional pics, and that then sealed the deal... I had to have this car.







The car was located in the Phoenix area so it was a 6 hour drive to go see the car. After I saw it, IMO it was worth every dollar of the asking price, but the owner did compensate me for what it was going to cost to get the little doorstop home, so I handed over the cash and then made plans on what to do about getting this car back home, 330 miles away.

It's a beau-T

Nice find.
Looks to be in very nice shape! :thumbsup:

Looks VERY NICE

I remember seeing that car on craigslist and thinking it seemed especially clean and well cared-for.
Hope it is as good in-person as it looks in photos.

Thanks for sharing, keep us updated on your progress, and ask if you need any help*

fix it again today...

So after the short honeymoon of what a wonderful creampuff I just bought for a song wore off, it was down to making the car road worthy.

For starters, it needs to be push started. The starter is inop. In addition, the car runs hot thanks to no activation of the radiator cooling fans.

There is a sizable oil leak under the car after I take it on a push start test drive, and it appears to be coming from the oil filter area. The oil is brand new, so my guess is some oil change guy did not get the filter on correctly.

Also, the VERY old almost bald tires need replacement and the battery needs a recharge (I think).

So getting this car road worthy enough to cross the mojave desert on it's own motive power is a bit of a crap shoot right now. But, first things first. My daughter lives in Tempe, and I can attempt to drive it to her, then work on the car there until I am happy with it's ability to make the trip. Good plan, right? Gulp.

Well, once again I bump started the car, shook the former owners hand, and motored to the gas station where I added gas for the 30 mile maiden voyage, in Phoenix's sweltering 110 degree heat.

I added about 7 gallons of 89 octane (not sure if she will leak fuel with a full tank) and made the surface street drive with my support crew (daughters friend) nearby.

On the trip, since the rad fans did not engage, every red light was a trial by fire. I watched the gauge creep up just before the red zone, then once I was moving, watched it drop down to the 190-200 range. I drove like I had no brakes, and did everything possible to make every light.

I arrived at my daughters apt complex intact, so it's first trip was a success

purchase with a story

half the adventure is buying the car and the other adventure is getting them home. I have had the most memorable times in my life getting cars home.

I can't picture driving an X 1/9 in Tempe. It was about 111 degrees there yesterday when we were driving through. Looks real nice. Hopefully you can sort out those drivability problems and have a fun car to drive during the winter. Congratulations on the purchase.

A beautiful car...

With all the troubles you mention, I think its best if you tow it home. Here's some ideas about towing...

http://www.network54.com/Forum/12159/message/1201677853/TOWING+AN+X1-9

Secondly, you need to wire around the thermoswitch and see if you can get the fans to work. A simple single throw single pole switch will do and a length of wire. Ground one lead and then affix the other to one or the other leads to get the relay to operate. I think we discussed all this earlier... but yur gonna blow a head gasket if you continue to run at these high temps.

On... and some other observations... that's gotta be a repaint but what a nice looking job. The rest of the car is ALMOST completely stock and in my HUMBLE opinion, should remain so. Not something I would do... but this car kinda deserves it.

Lastly... I see the smog pump "fell off" and in CA you generally gotta have it to pass smog on '76 and later cars. If the pump is gone, there are probably other smog parts missing as well... but we can address that issue at a later date. Probably best to register it as NON-OP until then.

HTH...

How long is the car going to remain in Tempe?

I'm relatively local, so let me know if you need any help....I'm no expert but I did bring one of these back from the dead, smog equip and all.

I have a spare 1500 motor...I expect the smog equip is different but if not I might still have spare bits (used) if you need them. Where they are in my garage is anybody's guess right now, but with the right motivation (usually of the beer kind) I might be persuaded to look. Likewise I might have a spare starter, though we should probably make sure yours is really dead first.

phx rises!

black tooth... tow it 330 miles? naw, thats just not an adventure.

I want a bonding experience with the car. One of my fondest vaction memories revolves around buying a 1940 chevy pickup from a farmers field in twin falls, idaho and reviving it enough to drive it all the way back to so cal. 3 flats, a few hitchikers, and numerous gallons of water from the antique milk jugs we carried along got my mate and I home.

And that truck was in 10x worse shape than this little fiat. I will get the tires, the oil leak, the inop cooling fan, and the starter issues addressed before I leave for home.

CandB... I'll send you a PM. I am planning a trip there next week. I did not confirm if ther egr is there, but the cat and stock exhaust is, but the a.i.r. pump and gulp valve / hoses / brackets are not. One of the fellow forum members is looking for his box of smog crud too, so hopefully I'll be "legal" once I get it home and take it for a title change.

As for the starter, I already ordered one, along with an oil sender, oil, air, and fuel filter, points/condensor/cap/rotor/wires and spark plugs, all from RockAuto. And for $91 shipped!

Gotta love old car part closeout prices...

I found the box

Hey zonk,

Good news. I walked out to the garage after work and on the first set of shelves was a large box labeled "1300 parts, air cleaner, gulp valve, air pump, etc". Took a quick look inside and the pump is in there with the hoses still attached. If I dig in deeper, the belt may be in there as well.

I must have put all that 1300 stuff away and labeled the box on a day I wasn't busy. It is one of only two boxes that are labeled.

I will PM you with some questions tomorrow. Look thru your engine bay and see if anything else is missing.

jim - thats huge! many thanks! PM me and lets work out the details.
I will be out working on the car again next week, so I'll confirm the egr and the like then. AFAIK everything else is pretty complete.

I did notice a blocked off 1/4" diameter coolant fitting coming off the water pump coolant tube near the flywheel end of the block. Originally a water cooled choke hose perhaps? Or a carb pre-heater?
Not sure at this point.

Anyways, heres some pics I took after the maiden voyage from North Phoenix to Tempe...
I'd love to make these wheels on it work, I tried them out but as of now I have front tire to strut rubbing and wheel well turn clearance issues. Tires on it are 185/55-15's, wheels are 15x6 with a 25mm offset.

Water activated choke

The 78's definitely have a water activated choke that has ~1/4" hoses. If yours is blocked off it could be a non-stock carb or a deactivated choke.

Looking at the one engine bay picture, it seems like the air pump bracket is not on the block. I do have that part still on the block here, but I can't find the freakin' 6" long hinge bolt. It's got to be here somewhere, I will keep looking tomorrow. I found a loose belt in another box, which may or may not be the right air pump belt, but I will send it along anyway.

The water pump has a double pulley with one smaller puller near the pump body and a larger pulley outside on the end of the shaft. Check to see if your wp still has both pulleys.

the water pump pulley is a single pulley, and is a press on pulley like the earlier models.

doesn't the smog pump run off a second set of splines on the camshaft gear?

JimD said:

The 78's definitely have a water activated choke that has ~1/4" hoses. If yours is blocked off it could be a non-stock carb or a deactivated choke.

Click to expand...

choke seems to have hoses connected... so i still am not sure what that extra fitting is supposed to go to.

I will have to go look again.

The engine is stripped down and on a stand in a corner with the cam wheel side against a wall, so I was not getting a real good look. I will see if I can remount the pump or find a picture of it installed.

Maybe the heater is disconnected

There are two taps, one for the carb and one for the heater. If the carb is hooked up it could be the heater circuit is capped. Or.... on later cars the heater tap was not on the pump, but was on the long pipe to the thermostat at the transmission end of the block. Maybe they switched to using a newer pipe and moved the heater hose???

JimD said:

There are two taps, one for the carb and one for the heater. If the carb is hooked up it could be the heater circuit is capped. Or.... on later cars the heater tap was not on the pump, but was on the long pipe to the thermostat at the transmission end of the block. Maybe they switched to using a newer pipe and moved the heater hose???

Click to expand...

That sounds like a winner, considering the car was an AC equipped car, and theres no sign of the funky AC style water pump and compressor any more.

More pics that were taken Monday:

You can tell the car was originally silver...

Zonk... Looks like you and Jimmy D have things...

sorted out. Especially for the smog stuff.

BTW... when installed and properly working, this stuff really doesn't detract too much from the performance when the engine is warm... its just finding all the right stuff and insuring its functional. I ran my car for many years this way but found that the pump caused a bit more fire in the exhaust manifold than the gaskets could take. After installing my third set in 40K miles, I would remove the drive belt from the pump and wire it out of the way, and only install it for smog tuning and testing.

I don't wanna ruin your fun... so have at it driving it home. Just remember to take the few essentials that every X1/9 owner must have in their tool box...

1. Cellphone
2. AAA Premium Membership Card
3. .45 semi-automatic or better...

As for the front tires rubbing a bit... you might consider "clearance-ing" the wheel wells with a custom roller available from HF, Eastwood and others, or using a ball bat. If you go easy and the paint is HOT, you can usually roll the fender lip enough so that it clears.

Other methods include adding or removing spacers... or installing smaller tires. There are tire calculators and other tools with which to do this. Let us know if you need more info.

Lastly though, the wheels and tires look great and I too would find a way to make them work!

Here is what I have regarding the air pump

zonker said:

the water pump pulley is a single pulley, and is a press on pulley like the earlier models.

doesn't the smog pump run off a second set of splines on the camshaft gear?

Click to expand...

OK. I believe I found all the parts. I never intended to use this set up again, so I never cleaned them or the engine. I also managed to beat up the threads on the air pump hing bolt somewhere along the line, but they look salvageable with the proper tap&die set which I don't have unfortunately.

I got back in the corner with the old 1300 and made a little room to work. I mocked up the air pump and alt brackets, the air pump and alt, and all the belts to show you what it looks like assembled. The air pump v-belt definitely rides a second pulley on the water pump shaft.

All I had was my cell phone, so pictures are not the best. Here you go:

First is a pic from the business end. Look at all the belts and pulleys. Top right is the cam wheel, top left is the air pump, center is the water pump (with a dual pulley), bottom left is the alt and bottom right is the crank.



This is a crappy picture of the overlapping brackets for the alt and air pump. Both brackets are held to the water pump housing by the same two bolts and both brackets are slotted to allow for belt adjustment. The alt bracket goes on first with the air pump bracket on top of it.


And another angle of the same view that shows the two brackets bolted one over the other onto the water pump housing.


Again, sorry for the less than stellar pictures. I would like to say it will all be obvious when you have the parts in front of you, but I don't like to lie. :devil:

Here is what I have that I think you need:

• the air pump
• the air pump hoses
• the air pump adjustment bracket
• the air pump block mount and hinge bolt

Things I have that you might want:

• the air pump v-belt
• the water pump in case you need to salvage the pulleys
• the alt block mount (the offsets vary)

This is going to be a heavy box, would you prefer to try to find this stuff closer to home?

And just so you know the cogged air pump pulley does exist, her eis a picture of one I pulled from a 1975 parts car I had years ago. Note the cogged wheel:


And this is what's inside an air pump. Two vanes and a bunch of spinning stuff. Mark Harris was only interested in the vanes from this pump: