Well here she is, my latest project
She's a 1977 Fiat X1/9 with Dallara fibreglass body. 2nd X1/9 in the family, call me mad...
And yes, the whale tail has now gone



First job, fit the carbs and megajolt. All good so far



Got dug in again today only to find the bodge-tastic previous owner had managed to f*ck up every single electrical circuit, light and fitting

Here's what I found after taking the wonky sidelights out (they had been 'fillered' in)
Nice work PO, real classy...



I had to take the dash out to trace back the atrosious wiring (yes, even worse than Italy's own!) The whole car is a maze of crimps, choc boxs, insulation tape and even just random wire twisted together! If Satan was an electrician, he would drive this.



Now some of you may think one more broken X1/9 doesn't really matter but when I went to pick the car up the PO had a really nice mk3 Davrian in the garage, I hate to think what awful things hes inflicted on that

Didn't get any pictures but something like this


On a more positive note the rust isn't as bad as the other one, despite being 11 years older!

Hope everyone else had a slightly more satisfying day

Iain

My mate had one, I went round to do a "little" welding job on it, took weeks of nights and weekends before it was testable. Then the electrics went south. We watched it dissolve into the ground for two years before he admitted defeat. Reminded me of all my Alfas.

Get bodywork (the viewable bits) sound and take a mould and make new panels.

Take measurements of mechanical fixing points, make tube chassis, attach new panels, chuck in half decent bike engine.

One X1/9 that has nothing italian about it, but looks quite good and goes like SOAS

Well, you wanted a challenge

ATB

Simon

quote:

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bodge-tastic previous owner had managed to f*ck up every single electrical circuit, light and fitting

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I've never cared much for the X1/9's, but I got to say this one looks quite nice... even that ridiculously big spoiler somehow works with the car..

How is the handling / performance of the X1/9? I've never really heard much about racing them or anything, but that could just be my lack of interest of course

Hmm, nevermind, I'm an idiot

Just found this: http://www.sfconline.org.uk/models/icsunonove/icsunonove.asp
I have to admit that wide-body version looks pretty sexy!

Mehh, I'm gonna have some photoshop fun with your car

As long as it doesn't involve pigs thats fine.

There ya go... kept it simple as I didn't wanna rape your car

-Lowered
-Bigger sideskirt
-Got rid of the spoiler
-"lotus-europanesque" engine cover
-Fatter exhaust pipe
Rescued attachment X1-9 photoshop.jpg

Pimpin' I plan to lower the front an inch just to fill the arch, we will see.

Any chance you could photoshop me a new wiring loom?

Pulled more of it out today and discovered more mess, burnt bits, etc. I'm on the hunt for a whole new harness now...

Oh the joys...

Regards,
Iain

Go on Mark, how much do you want to make me a new loom? I've heard you solder up Megasquirt with one hand behind your back so a few wires and some tape should be a doddle....

And I can take all the X1/9 bashing you can throw, its as close to 7 handling as I can get for £500!

Iain
2 X1/9s and a Civic for under a grand

Unfortunately the only buying power I have right now is a half finished packet of chocolate hobnobs...

I could arrange to have my rusty '88 delivered to your doorstep in exchange for wiring, its just crying out to be converted to BEC (bike engined convertible)

The Six Laws of Italian Sports Cars

1) THE LAW OF PLEASING DESIGN WHERE IT REALLY DOESN’T MATTER
“The inside of cam covers or other relatively innocuous areas, shall be laced with buttresses, cross-bracing and all manner of esoteric stiffness-with-lightness design, while something like connecting rods shall self-destruct at redline plus 1 rpm due to a basic lack of strength.” An example of this Law is the stunningly beautiful Lamborghini or Ferrari V12s of the late 1960s. They were famous for wearing out all four camshafts in 10,000 miles or less. The cam’s metal appeared to be recycled coathangers, which coincidentally are still in short supply in Italy.

2) THE LAW OF NON-FUNCTIONAL APPARATUS
“All Italian Sports Cars, regardless of age, shall have at least one system or component which does not work, and cannot be repaired. Such a part shall never be mentioned in the Official Shop Manual, although there may be an out-of-focus picture shown.” It goes without saying that such parts should never under any circumstances be removed, lest the natural balance of the car be upset.

3) THE LAW OF ELECTRICAL CHAOS
“All Italian Sports Cars shall be wired at the Factory by a cross-eyed, colour-blind worker, using whatever supplies are within reach. All wires shall change colour-code at least once between energy source and component. All grounds shall be partially insulated.” This tends to guarantee that the owner of such vehicles will eventually be intimately familiar with its electrical system, since he will need to trace out each wire, then rewrite his Official Schematic, which will differ from all others in at least one area.

4) THE LAW OF PERSONAL ABUSE
“The more an Italian car breaks down, the more endearing it becomes to its increasingly irrational owner.” For example, you purchase an Italian Sports car, for all the money you ever hoped to earn, and receive a ticket for air pollution on the way home from the dealer due to the vast clouds of smoke that follow you. Several return trips to said dealer, accompanied by your rapidly dwindling cash reserves, cures the smoking. But now, the engine sounds like a food processor full of ball-bearings. After replacing every component in the car, including the radio speakers, the noise vanishes and is replaced by an odour reminiscent of a major fire in a goat-hair mattress factory. You still keep trying, God help you.

5) THE LAW OF UNAVAILABLE PARTS
“All parts of an Italian sports car shall be made of a material that is available in inverse proportion to its operating half-life.” Thus, the speedometer hold-down screws are made of grade 8 cold rolled steel, while the valves are of fabricated Unobtanium, made only at midnight by an old man with a pointy hat covered with moons and stars. Such parts will be backordered during the design phase of the car, and will remain so forever. Bribes, pleading and threats will be ignored.

6) THE LAW OF CRYPTIC INSTRUCTIONS
“Any official publications dealing with repair, maintenance or operations of an Italian sports car shall be written such that every fourth word is incomprehensible to the average owner. In the event that a random sentence is understandable, the information contained therein shall be wrong.” This is also known as flat-tyre English, where a sentence flows along nicely, then – Kaboom!


Iain