Project Fiat X1/9

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, JimH said:

Have you any experience with any of these?

Not personally, but several on the club forum have used various bits.

[Richard_FM]

I did wonder how the Matra Bagheera compares, with a similar transverse engine, but coupe body & that odd three abreast seating.

[Fabergé Greggs]

25 minutes ago, Richard_FM said:

I did wonder how the Matra Bagheera compares, with a similar transverse engine, but coupe body & that odd three abreast seating.

I’ve always wanted one! 

[Richard_FM]

1 hour ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

I’ve always wanted one! 

Same here, they were weren’t sold widely over here, though a few were  converted to rhd. 

[Inspiral_Mondays]

36 minutes ago, Richard_FM said:

Same here, they were weren’t sold widely over here, though a few were  converted to rhd. 

I knew someone in Germany who had one back in the day, might have been a Murena though, not sure any more.  I remember it having a lovely interior, but it was very troublesome and turned out to have horrendous rust hidden under the immaculate plastic body panels.

[Richard_FM]

8 minutes ago, Inspiral_Mondays said:

I knew someone in Germany who had one back in the day, might have been a Murena though, not sure any more.  I remember it having a lovely interior, but it was very troublesome and turned out to have horrendous rust hidden under the immaculate plastic body panels.

I’ve heard they rust as badly as a 1970s Simca, same with the none Grp bits of the rancho.  

[somewhatfoolish]

IIRC the Bagheera had precious little paint on the chassis never mind stonechip or wax and they dissolved with gallic alacrity, whereas the Murena had some* protection and lasted a typical 1970s car lifetime without undue*corrosion.

[Fabergé Greggs]

On 1/6/2020 at 9:00 PM, richardmorris said:

No, it’s the Eurosport “sports” one.  Was a bit blowy at 4500 rpm but was on my car for 11 years. It was all that was available at the time.  Its been quite bearable at an indicated 80mph, and gets quieter after this point. Max I’ve had was showing 100, at which point the front was getting noticeably light. Drove across France to Alsace with it eight years ago, a bit buzzy but fun.

New original spec shape is now £174! The huge stainless one on the pic is weirdly a lot more subdued but has a rather nice tone.

I kept the broken one for my friend to weld up in case the stainless one was too loud. In fact I love the new one so was about to Chuck the broken one. It’s not actually rusted, just sheared the braket.

https://www.eurosport-uk.net/shop/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=Exhaust&inc_subcat=0&sort=20a&page=1&zenid=f871a9d75ecab8863b45b0939a77bbf9

If you want it, you can have it. Free to collect.

Is this still available by any chance? 

[richardmorris]

Fell over it this morning when getting the feed for the birds. Just realised that I’ve put the bracket to go the frame mount somewhere....

[Fabergé Greggs]

5 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Fell over it this morning when getting the feed for the birds. Just realised that I’ve put the bracket to go the frame mount somewhere....

ace! May I take you up on your offer once the world behaves itself? 

[richardmorris]

Just now, Fabergé Greggs said:

ace! May I take you up on your offer once the world behaves itself? 

No problem. I hate throwing things away that may be useful. I will try and find the extra bits.

[richardmorris]

Found the bits. Snapped off bracket plus the old gasket and studs/ nuts. Plus a pair of old pads.

 

[Fabergé Greggs]

This rusty old heap has been in cheap barn storage 90 miles away and I don’t think I’ve set eyes on it for about 4 years. With no time or funds to get it going, I was pretty happy with letting it languish until…. I dunno… some miracle happened. 

Well a miracle did happen, my number just came up on a council lock-up. So it looks like I’ll drag it homeward and put it in some more expensive storage until some other miracle happens. 

“Ran when parked” like a good un so I guess I can enjoy getting it started, putting some fresh boots on (every project starts with fresh boots AMIRITE) before driving it around tiny bit and facing up to the reality of how rusty it is. 

This car is beyond sentimental to me, can’t wait to see it again! 

 

 

[Somerset Suffolk]

@Fabergé Greggs hopefully with the X1/9 closer to home, you'll gain inspiration - maybe get it to MOT standard rather than a full resto ?  I had a gold "D" reg (I think!) X 1/9 back in the 90's - wish I could find some pictures of it - bought it in Brighton for about £500 ? and drove it home in the rain to Somerset (it misfired coz the cover was missing on the distributor )   synchro was worn on 3rd if you dropped it down from 4th and was a bastard to hot start - many a time I had to push clear of a petrol pump in a busy petrol station - sold it to a Policeman in Burnham on Sea - I've had a TR7 and MR2  - comparing the 3 of them is like comparing apples, pears and cauliflower - liked all 3 though 🙂 and would love another

looking forward to seeing pictures of the new tyres  ! and miracles do happen ! good luck  !

 

[Fabergé Greggs]

1 hour ago, Somerset Suffolk said:

@Fabergé Greggs hopefully with the X1/9 closer to home, you'll gain inspiration - maybe get it to MOT standard rather than a full resto ?  I had a gold "D" reg (I think!) X 1/9 back in the 90's - wish I could find some pictures of it - bought it in Brighton for about £500 ? and drove it home in the rain to Somerset (it misfired coz the cover was missing on the distributor )   synchro was worn on 3rd if you dropped it down from 4th and was a bastard to hot start - many a time I had to push clear of a petrol pump in a busy petrol station - sold it to a Policeman in Burnham on Sea - I've had a TR7 and MR2  - comparing the 3 of them is like comparing apples, pears and cauliflower - liked all 3 though 🙂 and would love another

looking forward to seeing pictures of the new tyres  ! and miracles do happen ! good luck  !

 

Ah it’s all coming back now! Yeah I think mine is a little crunchy on 3rd gear if you’re in a hurry. I’d forgotten about hot start woes too- mine was solved with a new carb base gasket/ electric fuel pump and hot starting it with the throttle wide open- always good as gold thereafter. 
 

I definitely won’t be going full resto- aiming for MOT exempt standard in the first instance  

[Barry Cade]

15 minutes ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Ah it’s all coming back now! Yeah I think mine is a little crunchy on 3rd gear if you’re in a hurry. I’d forgotten about hot start woes too- mine was solved with a new carb base gasket/ electric fuel pump and hot starting it with the throttle wide open- always good as gold thereafter. 
 

I definitely won’t be going full resto- aiming for MOT exempt standard in the first instance  

If you're having hot start issues, I'd bet the fibre shield underneath the carb has gone missing.. synchros were always a bit weak, usually helped by people using EP gear oil.. never use EP gear oil in an X1/9..

[Fabergé Greggs]

4 minutes ago, Barry Cade said:

If you're having hot start issues, I'd bet the fibre shield underneath the carb has gone missing.. synchros were always a bit weak, usually helped by people using EP gear oil.. never use EP gear oil in an X1/9..

Yeah I think it’s got 20w50 engine oil in the gearbox at present- that seemed to be what everyone was doing back in the day. I seem to remember there was some fancy oil they were all using in the states but I can’t remember what it was now. 

[Barry Cade]

4 minutes ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Yeah I think it’s got 20w50 engine oil in the gearbox at present- that seemed to be what everyone was doing back in the day. I seem to remember there was some fancy oil they were all using in the states but I can’t remember what it was now. 

Redline MTL.

[Somerset Suffolk]

Think the one I had was supposed to have a small cooling fan for the carb ? mine had gone AWOL which probably didn't help - was just a cheap car back then but do remember the weak synchro taking the edge off the driving pleasure - especially dropping it down a gear for a bend or ROB - happy days !

[Barry Cade]

10 minutes ago, Somerset Suffolk said:

Think the one I had was supposed to have a small cooling fan for the carb ? mine had gone AWOL which probably didn't help - was just a cheap car back then but do remember the weak synchro taking the edge off the driving pleasure - especially dropping it down a gear for a bend or ROB - happy days !

There was a fan on the bulkhead with trunking to blow air over the  carb after the engine was switched off. The sensor would often give problems and the fan would run, not switch off then kill the battery! Most I saw didnt work at all. I always removed mine and never had any hot start problems.