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X1/9 Restoring an 82 X1/9

Introduction

My Fiat X1/9 project

MANY years ago, I used to own Fiats. My first NEW car was a Fiat 128 sedan. I drove it mercilessly, autocrossed it frequently, and it never had a failure or let me down (including towing a single snowmobile trailer in Alaskan winters!).

I moved to X1/9s, and have had several. A street car, that was yellow, which I ended up running in the Fur Rendezvous Gran Prix, a sanctioned road race run on downtown streets around a carnival in Anchorage Alaska in February. Then a pure race car that was red with various white parts on it, Carrera coil overs, PBS engineering head, exhaust, etc., which was an autocross maniac. After that was a stock metallic green X in Seattle. Perfect car for Seattle traffic.

Now, some 35 years later, I found the desire to bring one back from the grave. I found an 82 (first time I am dealing with fuel injection) that has sat in a pole barn for several years. Maybe 5 years. Parts of it sat in the woods (hence the hail damage and really terrible primer on the hood hiding surface rust bubbles). Someone started to prep it for paint, and did some disassembly, but it was literally a basket case. When I went to pick it up, I ended up with 4 crates of parts and components, as well as a pickup-truck bed of other parts, hoods, engine covers, etc. It was Mediterranean blue, and various shades of primer and rust and etc. There was some surface rust, but no rust-through areas. It had over 100K miles, a clean title, and a key, no battery, and it looks like most of the parts are there.

The car suffers from being exceptionally dirty (a couple wasp nests, LOTS of leaves), and there was some water intrusion in the various cavities. Those issues have been handled.

The goals are as follows:

Clean it up visually: Remove bumpers, mounts, side marker lights, pop up headlights, and weld everything over and smooth.

Get it ‘pretty’: New wheels. New paint, deep purple metallic. Interior changed from blue to black. No rust, all visible surfaces painted and clean to the touch. Interior cleaned up and any missing parts replaced. Projector beam H1 headlights, and LED turn signals up front.

Get it comfortable: New carpet, new seats, 4 point harnesses, etc.

Make sure it functions, even if different than designed: For instance, get rid of all three rusty hood latches and cables, and replace with flush mount pushbutton hood pins, some of which would be lockable.

THEN get the wiring straightened out, and get the 85hp injected motor running, and have a fun weekend driver.

Long term goal, maybe a year out: Switch it over to a Honda K20A2 motor with a Honda 6 speed limited slip transmission (and over 200HP). Midwest-Bayless has a rather expensive kit that makes this possible, with a limited amount of cutting and welding. :slayer:

The car has so far had the following done in the last 4 weeks, working 2 hours on Saturday morning, and 2 hours on Sunday morning before the heat and humidity make my garage uninhabitable, and whenever the heat and humidity allow me to work in the evening after my regular job:

Took the hood down to bare metal, treated for hail damage and one ding, painted with rust restorer primer, and then with a regular primer. Treated the underside of the hood to a nice satin-black paint job.

Sanded the rear decklid, treated with rust restorer primer and then with regular primer. Treated the underside of the lid to a nice satin-black paint job.

Door cards have been removed, cleaned and treated, and painted satin black.

Seats have been removed

Interior old blue carpet has been removed

Interior blue vinyl trim has been removed (blue? Really? Yuck!)

Cromodora Iron Cross wheels and old Kumho tires have been removed. Tires are actually in decent shape, wheels are in decent shape, and I have a spare wheel with road rash.

New tires (Toyo Proxes 195/45-15) have arrived, and new ‘Competizione’ 4x98 15x6.5 wheels should be here next week.

Targa top has been stripped. Latches have been treated for rust and painted to prevent further rusting. The trim and the 35 year old vinyl, foam, and gritty tar-like adhesive have been removed. The top has been painted with Bumper and Trim black paint.

Doors have been removed, and the door latch areas sanded and primed
Headlight buckets and motors have been removed

Radiator has been removed

Gas tank has been removed. Will be removing old gasoline that smells like turpentine, and then refreshing, cleaning the inside, and painting the outside.

Bumpers have been removed

Bumper Shocks have been removed

Whats Next:

Now there will be a couple months of perfecting the body, surface rust removal and treatment, in the front, interior, and rear compartments, as well as treating the rust on the outside of the body, and repairing any dings or small dents that I find.

I will be creating plates to replace the headlight buckets, cleaning up the wiring, and making the front end smoother.

Will cut out the bumper mount square tubing (and tow hooks) that extend out of the body in front and rear. Then I will make some threaded inserts to be able to put in racing tow straps or thread in tow hooks when needed. This will be followed by cover plates welded in and smoothed.

Will create cover plates for the four side marker lights, and weld them in. Will also be weld-filling in the various holes in the body for things that no longer require a mount.

Will be fabricating the mounts for the projector beam H1 headlights, which are just 2.5 inches in diameter, as well as the front marker/turn signal LED lights.

Once all the body work is done, I will turn the car over to a professional for the final coat of deep metallic purple.

Then it will be another couple months of sorting wiring, rebuilding an interior, and getting the engine singing happily.

Barring any major difficulties, should have it back on the road by 1st qtr of 2018.

And, during this process, I will be putting the following up on Ebay:
Front Bumper
Rear Bumper
Bumper Shocks
Seats
Headlight Buckets
Headlight Motors
Cromodora Wheels

I'll be posting some pictures, as soon as I figure out how.
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Project Mutant: I have been working on the axles, to replace the CV boots. One of the 4 boots was split. A split CV joint boot allows water, dust, sand, and all sorts of nasty badness into the CV joint. The result is accelerated wear and a need for early replacement.

I have removed, cleaned and regreased the CV joints on one axle. The new boots are in place, and everything is hunky dory on that axle.

The axle with the split boot? That's another story altogether. I was able to remove and clean the CV joint with the intact boot, with no issues. It is ready to re-install.

The CV joint with the split boot? See the attached picture. That grease is supposed to be smooth and creamy, and all the same sort of black color. What you see is an abrasive paste that contains moisture. It caused the CV joint to somewhat rust to the axle. I have worked for a couple hours just trying to get it off of the axle. No joy. Not sure what my next move is. Might have to take it to a driveline shop where they have the tools to handle a problem child like that one.

I am done for the weekend. Will work on it some more next
 

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Already ordered replacements. I can get an almost new replacement axle and almost new CV joint for around $100. With the grit and unknowns, and the issue with removal, it will probably be better in the long run to replace it.
 
I saw it on the internet, and I am now a believer...

I need to do a floorboard repair (rusted where the drain is in the floor). I needed to get the sound dampening vinyl off the floorboard to allow me to cut out the bad spot, and weld in a new piece. To remove the vinyl that is on the floorboards under the carpet, you can use a scraper and a heat gun, and spend hours working at it, and likely damaging something in the process, OR:

Get a good sized chunk of dry ice. Break it up and spread it all over the vinyl. Let it sit for 2-3 minutes. Now just take a sharp hammer, like a welders hammer, and start striking the vinyl. It will have released its grip, and will shatter into a bunch of small pieces.

Both floorboards would have taken me hours to remove. Using this trick, I was done removing the vinyl in about 10 minutes. Seriously.

:slayer: (y) :cool:
 
Project Mutant: Need one last part for the axle, which should be here Monday. Drivers axle ready to go. Passenger side will only take a few minutes to complete once the last new part arrives.

Installed the new fuel pressure regulator/pressure gauge. Adjusted the fuel pressure to factory specs. At least I know that's good. Put oil in the engine, and made sure it runs again. Still need to get the lower motor mount put back on before I run it again.

Now, I will take the steering column off maybe tomorrow, so I can start working on those pesky master cylinders. They are mounted above the steering column underneath the dashboard. Getting close to actually making progress again.

I would seriously love to get the clutch slave cylinder and brakes all back together again. Then, I will work on the radiator again. Then mount the seats and install carpet. Then put the wheels on and see if I can get it purring like a kitten, and just MAYBE get it to drive under it's own power. Ah the dreams of the deluded.
 
Project Mutant: Hole-y Floorboard, Fiatman!

Cut out the only rust-through spot I found on the whole car. This is the floor-drain in the drivers side footwell.

Will cut an appropriate patch and weld it in, and then prime and paint, after I wire-brush away the surface rust around the footwell.

AND, the new CV joint cover arrived! So, maybe tomorrow I can get finished replacing the shifter seal and boot, and get the axles back on the car. (Also need to remember to put in the GL-1 gear oil). Then, maybe put the motor back in position, with the lower mount in place.
 

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Project Mutant: Quick update. Both axles are ready to install. Replaced the gear selector shaft seal and rubber boot on the transmission. Replaced the grounding strap. Re-tightened the bolts on the oil pan.

Next to re-install the axles, re-install the lower engine mount, re-connect the shifter to the transmission, and put fresh GL-1 90wt oil in the transmission. That should just about be one evenings work.

But not this evening.
 

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Project Mutant: It is kind of a difficult thing, when rebuilding a car, to get other people to relate to the efforts involved. You take a ton of things apart, refurbish, replace, repair, and then re-assemble. So after many many hours of work, you end up with something that looks like it did when it left the factory, albeit usually somewhat seasoned and beaten up.

Hard to get friends and family hyped by pointing out the axles that took so many hours to remove, rebuild, and replace and say "Yep, they look like axles, by golly."

"Yeah, but these axles are clean and shiny and have new CV boots, and the motor mount is clean and satin black, and, and, and..."

I now have the axles mounted back in the car, the suspension re-attached (which required removing and then replacing a portion of the exhaust to get one bolt back in), the lower engine mount back in place, and the engine back up to the level where it belongs. Gonna fill the gear oil tomorrow, and then I will get back to the master cylinders. Yay! (y)

One other really frustrating thing I have found a couple times now, is losing a Fiat-specific part, and having to order a replacement. Case in point is a little shoulder-bolt that is used to connect the shifter to the transmission shift rod. I KNOW I took it out. I bag every nut and bolt. But that little sucker just up and vanished. :bang:

Had to order one (and the new axle nuts) from Midwest Bayless. Now I have to wait a few more days before I can officially wrap up the under-carriage work. One small gripe I have with this is that I end up spending more on freight than I do on the parts. Doubles the cost for repairs. :(
 
Yes, it's often hard for family to appreciate how much time and effort you put into rebuilding/restoring a car. But I suppose it's the same with many other activities that people do. E.g. does a non-baker appreciate how much time/effort someone puts into baking/decorating a cake? play a musical instrument? paint your house? get a garden to look nice? I think we all tend to under-appreciate the efforts of others doing something that we can't/don't do and perhaps are not really interested in.

I wouldn't get too upset when a job goes a little wrong and has to part torn apart again to sort it out. Happens to everyone, even the professionals - but you don't make the same mistake again (hopefully!). Next time you just make different mistakes....:D

Losing fasteners/ small parts :bang: Again we've all probably done this. Personally I believe in the existance of Gremlins - they sneak in and hide things, just for fun. And then there's the way things bounce when dropped...
You can search everywhere, you're not going to find it until after you've bought a replacement....

Ordering parts and paying freight costs.... If it makes you feel any better - at least you can order parts and have them shipped within your own country (for most stuff anyway?). I'm in Ireland :cry: Everything, and I mean everything, has to be imported from another country - every part, every fastener, every consumable, every tool, every book/magazine, every damn thing. Some things cannot be imported personally (e.g. flammable or items that are hazardous to mail). So here we pay for freight/postage on everything from a foreign country (no free shipping on Amazon etc. either!)Our government then adds VAT (value added tax, although I can't see any value in it for me!) of 13.5 or 23%. Luxury items are charged the 23% rate. Hand tools, car parts and incidentally toilet paper attract the 23% rate :cry:
This is for imports from other EU countries. From outside the EU, we also get charged Import Duty and then the VAT..... Not to mention the delay caused...
or the currency difference charges... Feel any better now? :)

You're on the 'home straight' now. Just think of the future, the feeling of satisfaction when you can say that this car rebuild is 'all your own work' and the memories of it that you'll carry with you forever. At the end of your days, you might be glad you did all this work and kept a photographic record!

Regards,

AL.
 
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Project Mutant: Got the shifter mechanism all put back together. Still need 90w GL-1 oil in the transmission. Got the clutch master cylinder out, and started taking the brake master cylinder out.

The two master cylinders reside just above the pedals, under the dash. Oddly enough, they use really long bolts to go from one, across the pedal assembly, into the other, to hold them on, together. They are not bolted onto the pedal assembly separately. The bolts are not very big diameter, but they are VERY long..

It LOOKS like I will need to pull out the heater box in order to be able to remove the bolts. Hehe. Engineering, eh?

I adjusted the engine timing by ear, and now it starts and idles a LOT better. However, it won't accelerate... It didn't before, and it still doesn't. Idle good, press throttle, engine dies. Dunno, maybe Mass Airflow Sensor? THAT is a problem to tackle after the clutch and brakes and radiator tubes are done, and the beast sits down on it's own feet again.
 
Project Mutant: I am truly excited! With some help from a friend, and some info from the internet, I fixed a definite and crippling problem for exactly zero dollars!

The car would start, and idle reasonably well. However, when you went to press the accelerator to rev the engine, it would just die. By all indicators, this was related to the air flow meter. On newer cars, this has been obsoleted by the mass airflow sensor. The job of this device is to measure the amount and temperature of the air flowing into the engine. It does this with a flapper valve that gets pulled when the engine wants more air.

I used the good old neanderthal method of checking it by sticking my finger in the opening to check for whether it would move freely. It wouldn't. It met some sort of soft-stop, and wouldn't open up at all. AHA, I said.

I took the device off the car, and on the workbench I was able to remove the top cover, and examine the inside. Thanks to the internet, I had a vague notion of what I should be seeing, and how it was supposed to work. I found a small metal arm that had moved past a limiting switch, and so it was in a permanent shut position, and could not move back. I gently moved the copper limiting switch back, and moved the flapper valve back where it belonged, and then allowed the copper limiting switch to go back where it belonged. NOW the flapper valve moved freely, AND the engine started and revved like it was SUPPOSED to.

In the two pictures attached, you can see in one that the arm has swung clockwise TOO FAR, and is now on the left side of the little copper limiting switch. In the other picture, you can see that the arm is now back where it belongs. I was unable to attach the video showing the engine revving and the AFM in action!

EUREKA!

I was also able to determine that the AFM electronics in the case are in really good shape! That is one less BIG item off my list. The car starts, runs, and accelerates. Now just need to get the brakes and clutch cylinders refreshed and cleaned and bled, and this X might just be ready to run!
 

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AND, after even MORE digging, it looks like the little chrome arm is in the WRONG position!

When the flapper is closed, the u-shaped contact should be in the location that it is in in the first picture. Time to take it off again, and get the chrome arm positioned correctly to insure things run like they are supposed to!

The picture attached to this post shows the arm and contacts in the correct position.

Aaaand... Now the components are correctly adjusted, and the car runs great. (Only running for short bursts, since no coolant yet). Someone had tried to do some brute-force adjustments to the AFM, and they succeeded in screwing it up. I had wondered why the cover that was supposed to be sealed on was taped on. MUCH better now, and correct.
 

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If I am correct, then I don't need to remove the master cylinders from the pedal box. I should be able to undo 4 hard lines (Clutch, left front brake, right front brake, and rear brakes) and then remove the entire pedal box assembly as a unit.

The brake lines connect to brass blocks on either side of the assembly and are fairly easy to access and disconnect. All of the other brake line connections are on top of the master cylinder, and ridiculously hard to get to. The clutch line connects to the front of the clutch master, and was relatively easy to get disconnected.

That would solve a lot of problems. It will also make it MUCH easier to refurb the brake and clutch pedal assembly, and get it looking 'pretty'. I will try it tonight.
 
Project Mutant: FINALLY got the brake pedal/clutch pedal box off with the master cylinders attached. 35 year old brake line fittings can be a real bear. I have no idea where I bought the little wrench in the photos, but it works like a miniature pipe wrench, and gets a grip on fittings that don't want to budge, or are stripped.

Now that I got it off, the brake light switch is completely toast. (How does a plastic thread get stopped by rust, anyway?). I had to twist it in two and then drill it out so I could remove the remainder. So, I ordered a new switch. Then, both pedals action centers around a 6" long nylon bushing. Mine seems to be rusted or otherwise seized into the pedal box. So, I will be trying to coax it out, followed by brute force if necessary. As a preemptive strike, I've ordered a replacement one of THOSE as well.

After I get the nylon bushing out, THEN I will be ready to do the good old wire brush and sandpaper action on the pedal box and pedals and etc.
 

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Project Mutant: Considering what I started with, and the struggle it took to get there, I am ALMOST hesitant to re-install the pedal box and master cylinder assemblies.

What I have now is very nearly mechano-porn. A makeover in every sense.

Alas, it is now too hot in the garage to continue today, so I will probably reinstall it tonight.
 

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Great progress. Thanks for the updates.

Ive not done the pedal box in my car so nice to see the photos and tips
 
Project Mutant: Well, the garage is a LOT cleaner, most of the tools have been put away (kind of), and I have one workbench that I need to finish cleaning off.

I filled up the gearbox with 90wt GL-1 oil, and tracked down some various parts and pieces for the next steps in the process. Also threw away a bunch of parts that will never be used again, and the recycling bin is a bit heavier because of it.

I think tomorrow I will finish cleaning the workbench, and then finish cleaning the brake lines and clutch lines as a precursor to reinstalling the pedal box. Before I reinstall the pedal box, I am going to remove the heater core, so I can take it to a radiator shop to have it checked, cleaned, and have any problems fixed, before I install the new heater control valve, and put the heater assembly back in place.

I've also decided to wait to install the pedal box until the new brake light switch shows up, so I can install it when it is on the bench. With my back problems, I don't relish laying in the footwell doing installations, and want to keep it to a minimum.

The stainless steel tubing that I ordered to replace the rust and scale filled coolant tubing under the car should be here tomorrow. That is the NEXT task after I get the brakes and clutch mechanism all functioning like they are supposed to. The tubing is simply straight tubes, so all of the bends and etc in the existing tubes will need to be fabricated or otherwise re-engineered.

They call me "The Fabricator"... Come with me if you want to live!

?????????
 
Project Mutant: It doesn't seem like much, but I have now succeeded in getting the 4 brake lines and clutch line thoroughly cleaned out, and hooked up to the calipers and clutch slave cylinder.

Of course, I HAD to lose one of the spring clips that holds the brake line in place, so that had to be ordered. ?

I will not be able to work on the car for the next 5 days, so next Tuesday I plan on removing the heater core, and getting it refurbished, and then getting it re-installed. Then NEXT weekend, I will put the pedal box back in, and get the brakes and clutch bled and operational again.

The stainless tubing showed up, and it sure is pretty. I should be able to start on the coolant hose and tubing replacement process late next weekend. Hopefully I can find a replacement thermostat housing before the end of March.

Wow. I may just have the car back on it's own four feet at the end of March. Then I can work on the body mods and dent fixes, and then on to the interior. Then, Finally, paint.

Who knows? I may just make it to the Fiat Freakout on Aug 15th after all. But I'm not gonna reserve a hotel room just yet! ?
 
Thanks to Bertie in Canada, I found a great thermostat housing.

Thanks to Delta Airlines, I am now basically crippled... Two 12.5hr flights to take care of family business resulted in a back that is in constant searing pain.

Which means that, at least for now, progress on the X has ground to a halt.

Hopefully the doctors can fix my back, and I can get back to work.

Until then, we are at a standstill. Like most long-term projects, there will always be ups and downs.
 
Hope your able to get back to it soon.

Good you've got a thermostat.

II recently got a 'new' car with heated seats and i've noticed using the heated seats has really helped my back. Ive a desk job and in winter I don't get much exercise in and tend to get a bit of back ache
 
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