General Work being done on my x1/9

[Aussie79x19]

Hi All,
Decided to take my X to my mate's workshop to get some rust removed. On closer inspection under good lights, we decided it may need more work than first thought, so off came the paint! We discovered two different shades of blue of which the top coat was not real flash.
Texta marks in the photos show some of the areas where either rust or panel lines needed work. It seemed to have been in a crash and repairs done previously were not of a good standard.
So I will post up some more photos as we go. Hopefully will be finished in the next couple of weeks.


Wayne

 

[bludvl_x19]

Looks good

Who is your mate, if you don't mind me asking? I'm scouting out places to take my Exxy to be repainted at some point, not in the immediate future, but it is something on the list of things to do...

 

[Aussie79x19]

Hi Bludvl,
My mate's workshop is in Thomastown. It's called Mopar Motors and though he may not be the cheapest in his quotes, his work is excellent. He had done all the custom work on my previous car a Chrysler PT Cruiser. He has also built a number of Hot Rods from the ground up.
He has a website at www.moparmotors.com.au. The website has his contact details.

 

[Aussie79x19]

Hi All,
More update photos of my X. It was going along well until.... a closer examination of the bonnet. What was initially thought was a crack through the bonnet structure ended up being wonderfully sculptured bog! It looked perfectly like the rest of the underside of the bonnet, it was incredible! We discovered only when we started to grind the crack a bit to weld it, it was then bits of bog started to chip away. It is good we have a sense of humor.
Any here are some more photos.

stay safe!
Wayne

 

[Aussie79x19]

The bonnet photos in the previous post show the underside of the bonnet after the bog was removed. There is a fair degree of rust along the front lip of the bonnet. we tried to source a replacement bonnet, but prices being asked were ridiculous! A wrecker was wanting $1300.00AU, for a Bertone bonnet. Two other bonnets he was asking $350 and $400 for and they were worse than my own!
A few more photos for your interest.
Wayne

 

[[email protected].]

Get your self a fibre glass one loads available i would think with shipping it would be cheaper than the wreckers, In the UK good steel ones go on ebay for less than £50
Dave

 

[Aussie79x19]

Hi Dave,
Thanks for your suggestion. I did try and check on an UK bonnet on eBay, but cost of shipping to Oz is expensive, so have opted to repair my bonnet.


I was being optimistic in the first post when I thought a couple of weeks!

 

[StorminNormin]

I'm not sure if fibreglass bonnets would be legal in Australia.

 

[[email protected].]

why would fibre glass bonnets be ilegal in oz there are plenty of cars that are all fibre glass.
Just a question
Dave

 

[[email protected].]

Hi Dave,
Thanks for your suggestion. I did try and check on an UK bonnet on eBay, but cost of shipping to Oz is expensive, so have opted to repair my bonnet.


I was being optimistic in the first post when I thought a couple of weeks!

Okay mate if you change your mind and see a cheap one on ebay, i will help if i can to get it to you, just ask
Dave

 

[Aussie79x19]

Hi Dave, Thanks for the offer I do appreciate it. My mate has begun work on repairing my original bonnet. Again though, thanks for the offer.
Wayne

 

[StorminNormin]

why would fibre glass bonnets be ilegal in oz there are plenty of cars that are all fibre glass.
Just a question
Dave

I'm not absolutely sure they are illegal. I did hear from a Nissan Sylvia owner who had replaced his bonnet with a fibreglass one that it wasn't legal. And each State would potentially be different. If it is illegal, it would be because of crash results.

We actually have very few fibreglass cars. Lotus and assorted kit cars. All low volume.

 

[popsprocket]

After market fiber glass and carbon fiber bonnets (not sure about panels) are illegal in QLD at least, because you eliminating a lot of strength from the front crumple zone, so instead of absorbing impact all a fiber bonnet will do it fold with little effort. That's pretty bad for the X considering it already doesn't have a front mount engine to contribute to front-on crash safety.

 

[jimbro1000]

That's not quite true - the reason they aren't liked isn't the lack of energy absorbtion - in fact GRP and CF are much better at disipating energy. The problem is that composites can only do it once so in the event that you are hit twice (or more) in an accident the protection is lost after the first impact.

There are some new composites coming out of competition development (I think it is Panoz that own this one) that act more like memory metal and are stronger and lighter than CF but we will be waiting some time for them to be economically viable.

We should see them in regular usage within the next two years for GT and top-end single seaters so about 10 years before anyone else can afford it!

The flip side of this is that the X1/9 doesn't really have a crumple zone. No particular elements of the chassis are designed to crumple/deform so you actually have a very rigid construction. In the event of an accident it is the bumper mounts that try to deform first as the weakest point in the system. In most light accidents they just tear/twist/bend and the rest of the car goes unscathed. The nose cone, thanks to its shape is very rigid so it is the front wings and attached chassis rails that will get bent - especially if the impact is at the wrong angle onto the bumper (ie straight on). In this case the car is more likely to bounce and inflict a huge level of damage on the other half of the impact unless said object is substantially heavier of more solid in which case it gets very, very messy.

The X1/9 pretty much marks the end of the development of increasingly rigid monocoques without provision for accident energy absorbtion. From the late-70s and early-80s the focus was on mitigating the energy of the accident. In short if you hit something in an X1/9 at speed the car might survive but unless you are wearing a full harness and neck protection the odds are that you won't as a result of internal acceleration/deceleration injuries. Oh and the engine mounts are likely to snap - on a 1300 that can mean the whole engine and transmission leaping out of the engine bay, the 1500 is more rigidly fixed thanks to the driveshafts but it can still do the same thing.

 

[shaun]

As you can see the bonnet has very little damage and would not make much difference what it was made of.

 

[popsprocket]

As you can see the bonnet has very little damage and would not make much difference what it was made of.

Assuming all crashes are under those conditions, but I suppose the front hinging makes it prone to that.

Still that picture is interesting, you are more likely to be speared than saved by the bonnet.

 

[jimbro1000]

And where is the bumper? not attached to the car if it even was to start with...

 

[shaun]

Yeh your right there popsprocket

Perhaps is some ways a glass fibre bonnet would be safer

 

[StorminNormin]

I think some of the later US spec X1/9s had a hook arrangement at the windscreen end of the bonnet to stop the bonnet going through the windscreen. Two short posts on the body matched up with corresponding circular holes in the underside of the bonnet. In a front end accident, as the bonnet moved back, the bonnet would catch the post and be held down in position.

 

[Aussie79x19]

I think some of the later US spec X1/9s had a hook arrangement at the windscreen end of the bonnet to stop the bonnet going through the windscreen. Two short posts on the body matched up with corresponding circular holes in the underside of the bonnet. In a front end accident, as the bonnet moved back, the bonnet would catch the post and be held down in position.

Hi Stormin,
That would explain what I saw on a bonnet at a wrecker when I was looking for a possible replacement for my original bonnet. The bonnet I saw did have 'extra' attachments on the underside of the bonnet which did line up with posts.