Hi all, thought I would join up as this is one of the few sites with an X specific forum, and I can spend a lot of time talking about X's....

Have had mine for about 6 months now, but have only driven it for the first time about a month ago for various reasons - ah I have just discovered that you cannot post urls or images as a newbie, but I have a fairly extensive writeup at turbo124 in the members rides section.

I will be able to drive the car legally next Wednesday when the registration (Tax) comes off hold - I am gagging for that!

Bump for the 'I am a real live person not a spambot' win

And a couple of vids for you.

Idle - 1200 RPM minimum at the moment... a bit lumpy below that ;



Bit of a caning...

Couple o pics







Buildup here;

http://turbo124.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5297

Nice X there Ladaspeed. I also hang around turbo124.com occasionally, though I am currently without a Fiat.

Love the vids, that's the way a Fiat should sound.

Troy.

I have some 40 DCNF's to go on - I am getting a pattern made so I can make some manifolds, it should sound much rortier then.

Plus I will be able to rev it out a bit more once the engine has a few more miles on it :slayer:

All legal and roadworthy :yum: drove it around for the morning until it decided to not start for me - battery is a bit tired after sitting with no charge for a year.

Goes very well even on the standard carb setup - loves the second choke being open though..... gets right up off it's arse

I hope to get mine sounding and looking near as good as yours....very nice X you have

If you look at the paint from closer than 10 feet the situation isn't all that flash, however the car is very straight and relatively rust free - but thanks for the comment

I took it out for a good thrash tonight and I saw that the ignition light is on very faintly all the time, doesn't seem to be affected by engine revs, could be the cause of my battery issues maybe. Will have to investigate that one further.

Second is that it has a bit of a miss when given the jandal - I suspect the bog standard ignition system is not up to what is being asked of it. I am going to check things over again this weekend and reset the timing etc, but I was wondering if the electronic ignition off a Tipo would be a better bet? I don't really want to get into programmable ECU's and that sort of malarky. even a passive ignition system that takes the load off the points would be a better proposition.

If anybody has any ideas on what I could do to improve things, that would be appreciated....

... Tipo ignition is a bit complex as it depends on a flywheel sensor (Digiplex ECU) and gutted, cam-mounted distributor.

Instead I fitted a Regata distributor to my '88 X1/9. I bought the distributor brand new off eBay (from the UK). It arrived with a vacuum advance capsule and in-line cap, but happily the plastic locking/blanking plate (off my X1/9's late-style distributor) fitted. I swapped the balance weights and springs over as well, just in case, and used my right-angle cap. It all looked very 'period style' Considering the Regata was about the same age as the X1/9!

An Uno distributor is similar to the Regata design. The finned amplifier module and pickup wires inside can be unreliable, but probably better than the points setup you have at the moment. Remember to use an electronic-type (D-shape) coil as well.

Maybe try www.fiatparts.co.nz for the parts.

Ignition light on faintly all the time - I eventually solved THAT one by running a 10-gauge amplifier power cable all the way from a large ring terminal (fastened to the alternator) to the big 'brown wires' power connector beside the fusebox. That cured the light problem, charged the battery a lot better, the electric windows went faster, the headlights were brighter, and the wipers were actually fast enough to be useful in the rain

-Alex

Awesome thanks for that - I assume you swapped the advance weights and blanked off the vacuum etc to maintain the same advance for the X engine?

Is the Regata distributer a different design to the Uno? ie more reliable innards? getting hold of either type shouldn't be too much drama - I know a man who collects dead fiats and Lancias and keeps about 200 of them in a convenient paddock...

I have brackets on my engine for both a flywheel and crank pulley sensor, but the cam I have in it has no distributer drive facility.

Thanks..

200 FIATs and Lancias in a paddock - that would be some find!

The Regata distributor was the same as an Uno distributor really, the only difference is that it was brand-new and I got it for 10 pounds complete Yes I wanted to ensure the advance was correct but it was probably the same anyway since it was intended for an 85bhp version of the 1500 engine, just like the X1/9.

There will be a bit of a clearance 'issue' in the X1/9 since, for some inexplicable reason, the Uno/Strada/Regata etc. distributors are longer than the X1/9 one (why they didn't make them all short, I don't know). The clearance problem is solved by re-shaping the bolted-on cover behind the driver's seat - you can reverse the curve fairly easily with a mallet - and also you can use a right-angle cap (i.e. one where the leads come out sideways) to help a bit more.

Cheers,
-Alex

Thanks Alex

I went out too see my man yesterday, unfortunately he has got rid of quite a few cars - only about 80 or so now....

We found an alfa 33 dizzy and the camshaft mounted one from an Uno with the FIRE engine - both more to look at the setups than to use, although I have a coil pack from the Uno as well. The Uno setup has a nice sealed magnetic sensor with a small 4 pole cam magnet thing. At a pinch I reckon I could modify the bits to fit into my X distributor, but only if I cannot get the correct Uno dizzy. The Alfa setup was not really suitable at all.

There were plenty of twin cam electronic setups out there but all use the TDC sensor and ring gear speed sensor - bit more of a mission to fit + no real gaurantee that the advance curve would be right + X1/9 has a different number of teeth on the ring gear....

I have a wanted ad on Trademe (the NZ equivalent of eBay, for the benefit of our overseas listeners) for the Uno setup, I will wait and see if that nets me anything suitable.

So being basically thick when it comes to car electrickery, I have a couple of questions about the ignition setup.....

1. Does the X have a ballast resistor in the wiring loom?
2. If it does will this be a problem if I am using a coil pack?
3. Is a coil pack matched to the timing sensor/setup? ie can I use any old random coil pack with whatever pickup/drive module I am using?
4. Can I use a coil pack as a direct replacement for the standard coil without replacing the points setup?
5. Can I use the standard coil with a solid state ignition setup?
6. Will the coil pack be an improvement over the standard coil?
6. How did I get to be a qualified engineer without knowing any of this?

I thank you all in advance for the deluge of replies....

alexGS said:

... I swapped the balance weights and springs over as well, just in case, and used my right-angle cap.

Click to expand...

I obviously have an earlier type distributer - I looked at swapping the weights over, but there were too many differences to give me any confidence that things would work properly, it looked like it would give something like 60 deg advance....

I am going to use the uno distributer as is - can anyone give me any advice on whether the uno advance will be more or less correct for the Tipo engine?

Should I use the vacuum advance or blank it off?

Thanks
D

Just saw your post from last week - a nice set of questions

I've never considered using a coilpack instead of a normal coil so I can't really comment on the matter but for the rest...

There is not a ballast resistor in the original wiring loom, some cars used them, some didn't - putting one in where it was not part of the circuit or taking one out where it was generally results in fried ignition circuitry so unless the system you are trying to put in came with one I wouldn't bother trying to fit one.

Solid state ignition systems do not use standard coils, you need a high power coil for that. Any old coil is a bit too much of a sweeping generalisation but in essence though it is pretty much correct. Steer clear of capacitor discharge systems and stick with an "electronic ignition" coil and you'll be ok.

The last two questions are the most interesting and I can't begin to comment on the second of them - a coil pack is not necessarily an improvement, just more reliable in theory (or twice as likely to go wrong depending on your philisophical tendencies).

Moving on to your question in the last post - the vacuum advance isn't necessary if you are using the original mechanical advance setup but should be retained otherwise. Without it you won't get the right advance for the engine speed/load.

Thanks Jimbro - personally I was tending towards using the vacuum - if it worked alongside the mechanical advance on an Uno, it would be best to retain it - I would have thought it would give better control under load conditions, the mechanical advance would be purely a function of engine speed up to the mechanical stops, vacuum would take load into account....

I have a coil pack from an Uno as well - I will be swapping the whole lot in once I have modded the inspection plate in the bulkhead to give a bit more clearance.

I have also bought a brand spanking new sensor, as the wires on the existing one had most of the insulation gone...

The X distributor is pretty knackered anyway - trying to adjust the timing with a +/- 10 deg spark scatter is difficult!

thx

A small update;

Have now put an extra big power wire from the alternator to the big brown wire connector at the fusebox - should help the electrickery along a bit...

Have got an Uno pointless distributor and coil pack + brand new sensor for the innards, had to mod the inspection plate to clear the dizzy as it is a bit longer;




Not too shabby considering the welder only cost NZ$400, it is running off a Sodastream gas bottle and the filled in sides are 0.9mm computer case - still with the paint on as I was too lazy to clean it off, burns off as you weld anyway...

Haven't had the car out for a week or so while fiddling with all this stuff - the weather has been absolutely shocking here anyway - I have a hilux for those sort of days...

Finally mounted the new dizzy/coilpack today - rock solid spark at idle and it runs a lot smoother when it is cold + bonus lack of burning car to the weeds from my extra power wire mod.

Have yet to hook up the vacuum advance though - not sure where to hook it up to just now.

Rather pleased with the days outcomes though.

that looks similar to our previous x1/9....

very nice. i love x1/9s. too bad toyota had to go and copy the design with there **** mr2.