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General Poor mans Stratos...

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General Poor mans Stratos...

The other end of the head to the 'stat. The small pipe that goes to the pump I think.

Well I was planning to fit the new clutch pipe today but...

I had to move the Rabbit hutch and fit a solar powered security light (operation "Bright Eyes") and place a few cans around the garden. The local feline population have been hanging about and local kids (friends of my nephews) who have been introduced to the furry not so little git have aided his escape a few times now. During this process he escaped his run again and was in my neighbors hedge. A couple of jobs on my dads Skoda. Fitted a new intercooler to my brother in laws Land Rover and fixed a fault on my Alfa.

Mahayana?
 
Grrrrrrr! a few hours of dry driveway and I get the car up on a jack ready to fit take the old clutch line out and find the floor is completely crap. Literally held together with underseal and silicone. :bang:

No sign of the clutch line either so it must be under the carpet in the cockpit.

Do I bother stripping the interior out to see how bad the floor is or just strip the engine and other good bits out before seeing if X1/9 spares still has the donor racing shell?
 
Option three face the fact that the most expensive car I have ever bought is the worst car I have ever owned and cut my losses.

I don't have the time, space or budget to do a full restoration (with parts that do not exist so I'll have to do most from scratch). I can ill afford the £600 replacement shell that I don't have space for or time to swap parts over to.

Do I break for parts considering the engine rebuild, new headlights and stuff or sell in one lump?

:cry:
 
Hey man sorry to hear about your discovery! Photos??? So dissapointing that people sell cars and get MOT's when they shouldnt...

Is there money to be made fabricating panels which are unavailablem as you go?

At least you know the cars weak spots better now and you can pick up a corker next time! I think I have been very lucky to get what I got for £1500. I didnt inspect the car enough really. I rekon even the best X1/9 will be hiding some kind of rust shock somewhere... Looking through my cars history it had £3500 spent on body work and a respray in 1994/5 - when it was only 10 years old! Its now needs work on the rear vallence corners which have been bondo'd at some point...

Now i've fixed the head, one of the front shocks has lost its oil and they need replacing... soon i'll have almost a whole new car...

To make yourself feel better you could look at photos of REALLY bad X1/9s online...?

Maybe buy another and keep yours for spares ? :)

Remember how many there are left though ;), well there are actually less Mk1 Punto cabrios :) unless they were all registered as normal puntos, in which case the figures are wrong?
 
Best look at this
5164377387_d36bf5fe7d_o_zpsd9b7df3a.jpg

Looks Better Than a stratos IMO...
 
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I was thinking about the Faran Eliminator but all the X1/9 based kits require a solid floor. If I'm going to do that I may as well go full restoration as ultimately it would be worth more long term.

I'll get the interior out so I can do the clutch line, purely to make it easier to move. Who knows it may not look as bad from inside as underseal can exaggerate things.

Still need a bigger shed though.
 
A good friend of mine recently said...

Jessi Lang said:
If I'm told I only have a ten percent chance I consider that a certainty.
Click to expand...


...I need to know how bad my car is, stop procrastinating and get on with it.

Even if I have to sell my Panda and Alfa to do it.
 
yes all the bits are on Ebay I recognize the colour... I wonder how bad it really is?

Still looks cool - even in that state!

Shows respectable dedication if your willing to sell your other Fiats! See this thread as your motivation!

I guess you have seen the panels available from Eurosport - they have prices and a lot are made to order.
 
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As I'll be at work for Jesus's birthday (despite astronomical and historical evidence that it should be in August) I'll be cleaning valves and ports in the deserted work shop on site. ;)
 
I cant get that link above to work? So thats your spare head, is the one fitted to yours ok? Just the clutch and mot holding it back then?

I've been enjoying driving mine, it broke down twice on a 10 mile journey home from the Christmas party!

Firstly the throttle cable snapped for the second time (first since I fitted a custom cable) which was my fault as it was rubbing against something in the central tunnel. Luckily on a nice one way street with convenient parking spaces available.

Secondly the battery drained completely flat. Battery is now completely dead after charging over night. Bus stop served me well but I then discovered my Green Flag brake down service doesn't cover 16+ year old cars.

I assumed as id been messing around with the throttle cable I had dislodged something somewhere but it turned out to be the battery.

Shame I didn't read the Green Flag small print which was probably more than 4 pages long. It took about 45 minutes for them to even answer my call anyway, so well be going back to IC Breakdown which were much better. I only really have it for long journeys and Iv yet to actually get them out.

Last time I called them when my Punto 1242 had heat seized, it had cooled and restarted before they arrived...
 
The new head was working well when the clutch went. I'm off Tuesday and Wednesday this week so I get the interior out, clutch done and maybe get the old girl on ramps so I have a better view of the carnage. ;)


I have a new goal in mind for the X1/9 that involves New Years resolutions and driving to Paris.
 
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