Cool, nice to see some more progress. Your prob the youngest X1/9 owner! I thought that was me... I found A levels bloody hard, dont care what the stupid Eaton boys say about modern exams being easy - wth do they know!
An X1/9 is one awesome first car. I had a cinq sporting for my first proper car hence the fiats, but I was helping re-build old land rovers long before I could drive... With the original carb the X will easily be fast enough for your first car - and then some! Its hard to find the limits of the handling on the road, even with 30 yr old suspension! It should push 120mph if its in good fettle! private test track runway of course...
Are the punto valves larger? the earlier punto sporting had a very similar engine in 1600 form with fuel injection. I guess you had the broken studs fixed and a valve job? I think the 1500 camshaft was the best of all the factory Lampredi engines.
Interesting - going bumper less. I have done loads of research about it and I'm almost done with mine...I just need to fit fiberglass 1300 bumpers. I found a bit of a lack of info for doing it 'on a budget'
There are two approaches:
1. Fill all the bolt holes, block the bumper tubes and cut off the 'fangs', lots of body work and kind of impossible to refit the original bumpers and return back to original. Remanufactured 1300 front valence £185? 1300 plastic grille £100+. Original 1300 bumpers are quite saught after so expect £200-250 unless your lucky. Fiberglass are cheap but require custom brackets. You prob know all this already sorry!
2. Remove the bumpers leaving the gaskets in place around the bumper holes. use rubber grommets in the bolt holes and leave the fangs in place. Paint the fangs matt black and fit a (custom) flexible wire mesh grill with tiny cable ties. Buy a fibreglass 1300 front valence from Cascu, cut it down and fit in place of a metal front valence (Sikaflex
. This way you can return the car to original if you or a future owner prefers. With values rising this is worth keeping in mind.
I have even fitted home made over riders with no bumpers for the moment - they are land rover bump stops bolted onto the original X bumper brackets. Protects the nose a bit from people who cant park...
Having used mine with no bumpers I can say if someone hits or touches the nose it will get damaged
although its quite strong
You can get fiberglass 1300 bumpers which need brackets making, there is a seller on ebay at the moment doing the bumpers and brackets for 200 which seems good value and the kit includes fake Carello driving lights to cover the fangs and toe eyes which is a clever idea IMO
Make sure you apply lots of rust treatment while your at it. I've used Dinitrol which is amazing and easy to spray into voids in the bodywork.
One other bit of advice from my experience, its a good upgrade to replace the radiator with a scirocco/golf item as they cost 25 quid and by now most of the original rads are probably inefficient and cause overheating. Mine used to allow the temp to rise at motorway speeds. Although it wasn't really overheating it was hot and caused the classic fuel vaporization issues X1/9s suffer from.
You can fit the radiator without cutting any metal (unlike most examples I've seen online). I posted about it on the X1/9 OC forum. Also make sure the vibration bolts & springs are fitted to the exhaust otherwise you'll be constantly resealing the down pipe.
This is what the front of mine looked like 6 months ago, its got proper 1300 sidelights now which were £50 with old slightly cracked lenses. You can buy the lenses new £... Note the temporary lights. couple of people have said it looks a bit mad max. I'm sure the front valence could be fitted better. The number plate is fitted through the original trim holes. The square holes under the lights I'm not really bothered by but you can make up a cover plate to fit here.
