Hey all, some friends and I were looking at buying an X1/9 for a race called the 24 Hours of Lemons and I had some questions. I've seen some forums where people talk about engine swaps, and it appears that Honda engines are a very common swap. My main concern with this swap is mating the Honda engine to the Fiat wheel hubs. How is this typically done? I've seen some kits for thousands of dollars that have custom shafts, but this is a non-option for us. Has anyone dealt with a swap like this on an extreme budget, and do you have any advice on this subject? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I have no experience of this myself but I think the drive shafts is one of the most difficult parts of a conversion like the K20 Honda swap. Its unusual in the UK as we still have a few Fiat Uno Turbo/Punto GT engines about. This mates to the existing gearbox so avoids the need to fabricate a solution for the drive shafts.

I have been thinking about installing the Fiat 500 Abarth engine and gearbox into the fiat x1/9 but with regards to drive shafts - I'm not sure if the 'spider bearing' end of the early X1/9 1300 drive shafts is the same size as the 500 Abarth??? I would like to know. This might make an easier swap using the original X1/9 shafts, but the engine would be more expensive.

Would need to get your hands on the various bits and see if a hybrid drive shaft could be made up.

This would need a 4 speed 1300 gearbox unless the drive shaft sockets can be swapped onto a 5 speed box...

I would personally enter a non turbo well sorted X1/9 that is reliable and doesn't brake down, like all the other lemons cars

some research...
http://www.ricambio.co.uk/69-fiat/7...--fiat-doblo-idea-punto-stilo-alfa-romeo-mito
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NOS-FIAT-X19-X1-9-1300-Drive-Shaft-Inboard-Tripod-Spider-Bearing-4247393-/291153261347?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&fits=Model%3AX+1%2F9&hash=item43ca163323

I think this shows the 500 abarth bearings are 7mm larger diameter
Might be cheaper to make some up than entire drive shafts?

There are two options. Get drive shaft custom made or use the Honda inside part and the Fiat outer part.

Most competent engineering works could pull either task off. In the UK there are fewer hotrod builders but Wisbech Engineering are local to me or I have used Recoprop in the past.

Do you have a 1300 or 1500 X1/9?

A 1300 can have the compression dropped by fitting a 1500 head and/or Uno Turbo pistons. Once in place you can either use a turbo manifold from a Punto GT or Uno Turbo and add boost that way or fit an Eaton Supercharger from a BMW MINI with a pulley on the alternator. Either of these can be used as a blow through set up so no complicated injection or management issues just a Renault 5 GTT carb' MG Metro Turbo carb' or even a sealed Weber 40-42DCOE will tak car of the fueling and as it's self balancing you won't have any rich/lean issues on the track.

It will come in at roughly the same output as a Honda B18 conversion, but for half the cost. It may even come within a Lemons budget.

Thanks for all your input. We are still considering a variety of cars for the race, but I will keep all of this advice in hand if we decide to go with the Fiat.