I think you will find it *is* the brakes, bearings tend to rumble rather than squeek and at low speed would be practically inaudible while getting much louder as the speed increases.

Chances are the rear brake calipers are in need of some lubrication to make sure they slide cleanly. The problem with single piston calipers of this kind is that if they get stuck in the slider you still get working brakes but they never quite release properly.

Whip the wheels off, clean up the mounting frame and sliding surfaces of the calipers and apply a suitable grease lightly to those same surfaces, then apply the grease lightly to the back of the brake pads.

Thanks Jimbro - I will do that. Might check the disc runout while I am there as well.....

Hi,
What is the red light flashing on the dash in the 2nd video?

low fuel light - a full tank of 98 octane is a weeks pay in NZ.....

I suggest you get the brakes fixed then! That fuel will go a bit further as a result

Exciting times in ladaspeedland - my 40 DCNF's are about to go on;




Looking very awesome right there;




The first hack at the linkage, which was actually pretty spot on - couple of minor tweaks and it will be sweet;




I wasn't sure whether to set them up with the fuel inlets to the front or back, but having them around this way avoids a minor clashing of the fuel inlet with the cam belt cover sheetmetal and gives significantly more room for the throttle linkage - as you can see this is very direct...

If I need to set up the choke then it is more convenient this way too as the linkages face the front.

Can someone tell me the initial setup process for the carbs? I have got the jetting that I think I need + a few sizes up and down - I am more after the air adjustment setup process. I only need enough to be able to drive it into town.....and let someone who knows what they are doing sort it out.

Slowly going back together, I have modified a spare standard manifold I have to have a consistent mount flange thickness and fitted it all up to see if there are any clearance issues;




Seems to fit up nicely

The standard manifold is temporary just too make sure all is well with the setup - I am looking for a nice set of headers if anyone in the antipodes has something....?

Have also sorted the fueling setup - I bought a holley regulator which is probably unsuitable as it has no return line - I thought it did but it just has two outlets..... but I set it up with a gauge to accurately adjust the pressure, only to find that the pump is putting out exactly 3psi..... So I am just going to hook this directly up to the carbs. If I can find a proper regulator I will use the bosch pump I have, although it should really be more than sufficient as it is, and much simpler. I believe the pump is a facet and has an internal pressure bypass.

Next job is the airbox, I should be able to get onto that today

Well done,it is looking good

A bit of airbox action for you'all

Start with some 3" exhaust tubing and split it;




A bit of top and bottom;




***insert time delay footage of much cutting/shutting/welding/grinding/dremmelling/fitting up/swearing/cursing/sleeping/recutting/rewelding/regrinding/hole welding/regrinding etc etc***

And the result;






Probably going to weld a bit of 45 deg pipe onto the end of it and hang the pod filter right off that - was going to mess about with silicone joiners etc, but it would just mean more bracketry to hold the filter.

Also had a fuel pressure integrity test which resulted in about half a cup of raw fuel going down cylinders 1 and 2 - stoked. Have blown it out the spark plugs and am just leaving it all to dry right now before I get too carried away.

It lives!

Started first pop, needs a tune, but it has a really sharp bark when you accelerate and has the awesomest burble on the overrun.

Well done

Few things to go, yeah?

A couple of things - sort out the pod filter and lengthen the air filter mount studs on top of the carbs so I can actually bolt the airbox down - and get it tuned of course, it is running very rich....

Molto bella la tua X, complimenti!

Thank you!

Well she is all up and running now, and I have driven her 5 or 6 times without leaking petrol or melting a piston.

This is what the airbox looks like, although it is now black and the ridiculous pod filter actually seals at the mounting point due to the power of RTV

There should be no significant CFM restriction with this setup.....




Having got her started and basically running (very poorly I might add) I took her to Italtune to get the carbs set up. Brian said they had a fair bit of dicking around to get it running right throughout the range, it has ended up with 130 mains, 200 air, F24 tubes.

So how does it run? not too badly now I have had a good go at it - I wasn't too sure at first though....but mostly it is all at the top end now

Depending on how fast you are going it gets a bit out of kilter if you just plant the throttle, and takes a wee while to clear up and get going again, I will change the accelerator pumps to the slightly less enriching setting that is available by changing the pivot position.

It at least sounds much faster :devil:

Interestingly, it seems to be running quite a lot cooler than it has been - 80 degC (indicated) rather than the previous 90 deg - any reason that this would be?

I have also been messing around with header design.....



Not 100% sure on the clearance to the waterpump, but overall it is not too far off. Primary size is 35.1mm/1.6mm wall section as the ports are 31mm ish. Pipe length is 1020mm.

It has been an effort making sure that the bends are the standard prebent section sizes from the local exhaust manufacturer Autobend...

Can someone tell me whereabouts at the collector the primary is considered to finish?

I have also built a catch can now - mostly out of random bits that I have found in my garage



The bits I found;

Tube - random leftover exhaust tubing. This isn't as thick as it looks, it is just the way it looks after my veeeryy cheap 2" pipe cutter (that has been slightly modded to cut 3" pipe) has been at it..

The endcaps are made from computer case (which also saw use in the dizzy inspection plate mods), the smaller tube is from the fuel pickup from a Lada stationwagon, the larger tube is the dipstick guide from the original X1/9 engine.

I did have to buy some stainless steel wool that is packed down the bottom between the two tubes, but my wife bought that while she was shopping, so effectively free

O and I did buy a wee air filter thingy for $8.75 to stick on the top.

Weldy weldy weldy...





I also found some Festo push in right angle fittings..

Once it was all fitted up, I had to chop a bit off the can to clear the air filter, but other than that it is not too bad a fit.



You can just see the can behind the air filter in this shot...

And one last shot for posterity;

Nice fabrication there Now you just need to look out for a metal coolant expansion tank from a 1300... I know they're highly prized...

I love how it started without a foot on the accelerator. That's not like the standard auto-choke setup Actually the more I see of your X1/9, the more it brings back the memories of a rather tatty blue 1500 that I owned briefly several years back (pictures below) - yours is in much better condition! The previous owner of JW5 really loved the black RTV - it was everywhere, holding in the windscreen, holding together the door/window seals - and being an old man of the sea, the steering wheel had a unique touch. The plywood top deck (on the dash) made me laugh too. The suede-edged seat covers were my idea (I think you'll agree they were surprisingly correct in style) and concealed the horrors of repaired cream vinyl beneath.

Meanwhile at the time I owned an '88 X1/9 that was like new in comparison.

This '81 version was actually quite bad to drive - sloppy rear balljoints, soft shocks... I nursed the syncros pretty well, but the guy I sold it to managed to explode the gearbox within a few weeks. After a $600 gearbox rebuild, he then managed to write the car off in a collision with a trailer turning across the road



Meanwhile I fitted a similar cone filter to my Uno Turbo recently, but because my pipework skills aren't up to yours, I used special adaptors made by Marley. For some reason they were in Bunnings Warehouse near the guttering... By the way, I use K&N aerosol-can oil (Repco), as I'm not convinced the cheap cone filters are oily enough to filter dust properly. Over-oiling the filter is a risk for modern cars (with their hot-wire/hot-film AFMs), but my moving flap AFM should be sweet, and of course you don't have an AFM to worry about at all.

Certainly changes the soul having big carburettors, doesn't it?
I had 40 DCNFs on my 1498cc engine in my 128. I think I was lucky that the jetting (from a Maserati, or an MG Maestro - depending who you talked to) happened to work really well. I didn't have the 'out of kilter' problem that you mentioned, so I suggest persevering a bit longer - check the linkages are in sync at all throttle openings, adjust accelerator pumps as you said, consider smaller main jets (120?)

I think mine was running really lean because my economy (35mpg average) was better than with the standard 32DMTR on the 1290cc.

The lower temperature that you report suggests to me that it may still be running too rich - or retarded ignition?

As for the exhaust design - I'm out of my depth there! - you obviously know what you're doing, but what's wrong with combining 1&4 and 2&3 and running two 'primaries' of about 80cm... I thought that was the ideal setup, not all four separate pipes joining at once?

Sorry I don't get to this thread very often, but great to see you've stuck at it in the meantime!

-Alex

alexGS said:

This '81 version was actually quite bad to drive - sloppy rear balljoints, soft shocks...

Click to expand...

Mine is very nice to drive - for it's age it is incredibly tight, although it is lower and has virtually brand new shocks. There is also no sign of bodging, things have just been fixed, and generally correctly.The paint is tatty, but I rather like that in a car

alexGS said:

Certainly changes the soul having big carburettors, doesn't it?

Click to expand...

It certainly does, and definately for the better - as for the out of kilter issue, I have checked all the linkages etc, and I swapped the acc pump pivot point, but I have now put this back as it actually made it worse!

I am considering setting up an air fuel ratio meter to get a better idea of what is going on - Jaycar do one for $17, although you still need a sensor.

Having said that it might be running too rich I realised that I had never adjusted anything after I put the new engine in, so it could well have been running lean for that time - it did have a slight tendency to run on.

alexGS said:

As for the exhaust design - I'm out of my depth there! - you obviously know what you're doing, but what's wrong with combining 1&4 and 2&3 and running two 'primaries' of about 80cm... I thought that was the ideal setup, not all four separate pipes joining at once?

Click to expand...

Apparently this is good for mid range torque, but the first joints happened to be in a very inconvenient place, and as I am reluctant to hack bodywork to clear things, the 4 into 1 works pretty well from a fitment point of view.

I may have another look at the 4-2-1 setup though, as it would be better for a road car.

Thanks for the positive comments

Really nice work there mate! loving the twin carbs and custom airbox. Have you thought about doing a cold air intake at all?

It could be running cooler because before you did the twin carb setup it might have been running a bit lean which was causing it to run marginally warmer.

I have had a cold air box on my mind, but I am more concerned about the engine bay temperatures - I have been looking for another lid that I can mod for better venting, but no luck yet.

I will have to ask the previous owner about the temp it used to run at, but I am now pretty convinced it was running lean.

Thanks for the comments