Paul Y
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,951
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May 20, 2021 10:21:41 GMT
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American is really simple, Its just a thicker bit of steel... Nice work as always, might be sacrilege but what about putting a Honda B16 in the back of this? Small, light VTEC YOOOOOOOH! Would seem that you would get the same sort of power without Turbo, then add Turbo and have all the POWERZZZZ. Please continue. P.  |
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May 25, 2021 12:54:28 GMT
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American is really simple, Its just a thicker bit of steel... Nice work as always, might be sacrilege but what about putting a Honda B16 in the back of this? Small, light VTEC YOOOOOOOH! Would seem that you would get the same sort of power without Turbo, then add Turbo and have all the POWERZZZZ. Please continue. P. Interesting. Same as British then (or at least same as BL, haven't really had much to do with British Fords, Rootes or Vauxhalls). I had toyed around with the idea of different engines in these before I got this car. There's a video floating around of a yellow Honda engined X1/9 that looks like an absolute hoot, but my thinking is that the swap is already done on this car and I've invested in stuff like a gearbox, equal length driveshafts and an LSD already. Would probably have to change all of that to get a different engine to fit. Besides, the dump valve makes a funny noise never thought I'd enjoy it that much, but it's honestly quite endearing  |
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duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member
Out of retro ownership
Posts: 1,320
Club RR Member Number: 70
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1987 Fiat X1/9 Turboduncanmartin
@duncanmartin
Club Retro Rides Member 70
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There used to be a couple of Busso V6 engined X1/9s kicking about. At least one was running the Dallara widebody kit. You can probably get more power out of a Honda swap, and it would certainly be lighter, but it wouldn't sound as good! I think the Uno Turbo swap was most common because it's basically the same block, so it was easy (well easier) to slot it in. |
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Sept 20, 2021 13:37:57 GMT
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There used to be a couple of Busso V6 engined X1/9s kicking about. At least one was running the Dallara widebody kit. You can probably get more power out of a Honda swap, and it would certainly be lighter, but it wouldn't sound as good! I think the Uno Turbo swap was most common because it's basically the same block, so it was easy (well easier) to slot it in. Sorry I missed your reply! I've seen a busso engined X1/9 and it looks like an awesome combination but not a small amount of work. You lose basically all your rear boot as well (although I rarely use mine as the front is so large). I rather like the 'what could have been' aspect of the Uno Turbo swap as the UT was released a few years before X1/9 production wound up. You could see a parallel universe where Bertone invested in a Mk2 X1/9 using the same bodyshell but with revamped mechanicals and a 130hp Uno Turbo engine extending the reach of the sports car into the 80s rather than them dying a death in the 70s. Unfortunately, on the topic of dying sports cars...  So on Friday I took the Fiat to our monthly team meeting in Whitstable, as I've been doing ever since we started going back into the office (it's also been regularly doing round trips to Margate every other week or so, a 140 mile round trip). All running strongly, although the gearbox isn't happy. Wading through the truly abysmal Tunbridge Wells rush hour traffic, the temperature started spiking as it tended to do in traffic (the idle flow of the water pump isn't enough to keep it cool, but you can usually manage it by raising the revs). Unfortunately, this time that didn't work at all and it rather quickly got to 130 degrees on the dial!  Pulled over and did a little investigation, and it turns out the jubilee had snapped on the upper thermostat radiator and it lost its coolant.  It's a lesson in deferred maintenance really. I've replaced all the cheapy jubilees on the coolant system with good quality ones apart from these two. I'd been meaning to change them next time I was down at my GF's so had been carrying them around in the footwell, which meant I could fix the car there and then and get back driving (I've also been carrying around a jug of coolant). It got to Whitstable perfectly fine after that and I thought I'd got away with it, but on the return journey it went pop. Cruising along at 70 and there was suddenly a loud sucking noise and then a pop and it was running on 1.5 cylinders. Pulled over onto the hard shoulder and got recovered home. Current thinking is that the head overheated quite thoroughly and the headgasket went pop, probably between cylinders as the coolant didn't evacuate itself. Luckily I've managed to find a chappy who's got a Mk1 engine in bits in his garage so I've got that on the way as this engine was never the healthiest anyway (lots of blowby on cylinder 2). Will get that thrown back together to get the car driving again then take the other one apart for diagnosis, although I'm not sure when all of that will happen what with the Jag and a house move coming up! We'll see how it all pans out... |
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,921 
Club RR Member Number: 40
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1987 Fiat X1/9 Turbojamesd1972
@jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member 40
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Sept 20, 2021 15:31:22 GMT
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Sorry to read about your troubles. Yes the branded jubilees are much better. Not cheap but do the job !
James
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Last Edit: Sept 20, 2021 15:32:45 GMT by jamesd1972
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Sept 20, 2021 16:28:38 GMT
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Yeah I'm slowly developing a list of things that it's not worth buying the cheap versions of. Main ones that come to mind are drill bits, taps, crimp connectors, and now jubilees. To be fair it's a good impetus to fix a lot of the problems that I've just been sitting on because it was my only working car. In exchange for doing a bit of welding on one of my dad's Alfa 156s he's said I can drive that about until I get back on my feet. Quite looking forward to that really as that car was my first cool car at age 19 before I gave it back to him. Here for posterity are the things I should fix before dailying the Fiat again, in case I try to do it before fixing them: - Rear wishbone balljoints as the MoT mentioned they were loose, which is annoying as they're new
- Gearbox oil leak
- Terrible synchros, either caused by aforementioned oil leak or wrecked before I fixed the leaking clutch slave
- Awful gear change as my homemade linkages have worn, need to remake them on a lathe to insert some nylon or bronze bushes so they're concentric and slide properly
- Spongy brakes, either caused by the pad choice or too big caliper bores with the Montecarlo rears, needs the pedal ratio changing
- Rear camber needs adjusting as one wheel is more mad than the other, basically a proper alignment would do it good
- Replacement intermediary shaft bearing for the driveshafts as it's an unknown one and I might as well while the gearbox is out
- Rough running and excessive blow-by on cylinder 2, should be fixed with new engine
- Sorting out a rock solid cooling system. It's always been slightly marginal, although that could have been caused by the crappy jubilee being mostly broken for a long time before finally letting go, but either way that needs fixing
Not all that much really at least compared to my other cars... |
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Last Edit: Sept 24, 2021 12:37:52 GMT by biturbo228
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Oct 14, 2021 11:14:12 GMT
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No real update on this as yet as the poor Fiat has been patiently waiting for me to finish the Jag. I have, however, managed to source another engine which turned up the other day. The problem quite swiftly became 'where to put it'. So I went hunting for some spare angle-iron fence posts, some beefy casters, and one of the many pallets we've got lying around (bunch of hoarders our family). An evening and some help from the other half (first time angle-grinding!) and we had this:   At 21 inches wide (purely accidentally) it was the perfect size to fit through the little hoardery corridor in my garage to where it needed to be.  Some heavy lifting later (good god O-Series blocks are hefty lumps) and it's all safely tucked away inside.  To demonstrate the scale of the issue, in this photo here is 2x O-Series turbo blocks, the new Uno Turbo engine, 2x Rover 2600 I6s, a 4.0l AJ6, a Rover V8 in bits, and most of a 3.0l Busso! Need to start putting some into cars  As for the new engine it looks ok. Moves freely, and for sitting at the back of someone's garage for a couple of decades it's in good nick. There's some rust at the top of the bores where the oil the chappy put on has flowed away, but it's light so it might come off with a hone. It'd be tricky for it to be worse than the current engine which has significant blowby and in all likelihood quite a warped head. |
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Last Edit: Oct 14, 2021 11:16:38 GMT by biturbo228
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I did spot a thread where they said the 1.6 (1581cc) 16v M202/M645 engine will fit straight up to your gearbox, but as ever it might be nonsense. If you are going to make different manifolds anyway, might be worth a thought
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I've certainly seen an X1/9 with the 16v version of the SOHC in it, although whether that was a full engine swap or a head swap onto a 1.5l X1/9 engine I'm not sure. It would certainly make an interesting option!
I've grown fond of the 1.3l U/T engine though as it's a good solid base for tuning, if you can find bits to work with the low displacement. It's a closed deck block rather than the open deck of the bigger engines so is a bit tougher, and the crank and pistons are good in stock form for the low 200s I'm after.
If I can't make one good engine out of the two that I have now I'll definitely start looking at the bigger displacement 16v versions. Would certainly be easier to find a turbo for them!
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Oh I do like catching up on your threads, especially this one right now, to make me feel happier about the amount of stuff I have kicking about in my shed....  |
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Oct 26, 2021 10:46:33 GMT
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Haha glad I could be of service too many plans, not enough time (and too many cheap engines turning up on eBay!) Not included in that pic is the M47 I bought for the timing cover (and ended up not needing), and the 4.0l AJ6 with a blown headgasket that came out of the Jag. Both need to go, but I need to strip them a little before they do. Currently I'm clambering over them/using them as storage benches while working on the Jag Oh, and there's a DW12 engine from a crashed 406 that I fancy the crank from before it goes (you can put them in XU engines to stroke them to 2.2l, which would be a nice option to have for the BX seeing as it's free). Quite looking forward to the pending house move and the chance to build a garage from scratch to use the space a bit better (or, being cynical, to spread the stuff a little thinner ) |
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Last Edit: Oct 26, 2021 10:47:04 GMT by biturbo228
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Oct 26, 2021 13:13:19 GMT
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e39s rot, I did the rear jacking points on mine and they are galvanised in part, foam filled in places, but the extremeties of the sills didn't seem to get treated as well so they rot. They have very thick channel sections, like chassis rails in the floor and the rest is mostly the usual thin gauge.
Mk2 golfs were quite well designed, with some epic underseal, but suffered from dirt traps and they often rot out around the petrol filler flap. Most older german stuff seems ok if it hasn't got a sunroof and the tyre fitters haven't wrecked the underseal around the jacking points and other floor bits
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Last Edit: Oct 26, 2021 13:13:49 GMT by legend
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Interesting. I got the impression older German things (70s-80s) were a little step up from the British fare at the time (which isn't surprising, considering the death-spiral the British car industry was in at the time).
The only German things I've worked on have been E36s (which seem about standard for early 90s stuff, rot around the arches and battery tray) and E46s (which seem about standard for early 90s stuff, despite being built in the early 00s).
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Oct 27, 2021 14:28:46 GMT
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I seem to remember they were put together better in the 70's but they rotted just as well, I remember early mk1 golfs as complete rot boxes when 5 or 6 years old. By the 90's they were(and still are) no better than anything else made in Europe and nowhere near as well made as many J cars.
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