I have just taken possesion of my late stepmothers 1974 fiat x1/9 which has just been shipped over from Calgary Canada.It has not been used since 1987 and has only 35k miles on the clock with no rust on it anywhere as its been stored in her garage . Unfortunately the engine has seized ,how long ago I dont know, now my questions are;

Does anyone know or recommend anyone who would strip and rebuild the engine as I do not have the time at present.

Would the head need to be reconfigured for unleaded ?

How easy is it to get rid of the North American emission crap ?

Hope someone can help
Many thanks in advance:bang:

In your area I don't know, if you are willing to go as far as Reading then Auto Integrale do a good job (ask for Kieth). Going the other way if you are happy to go into London (South Harrow) then you might try Scheldt and Pettet (plenty of experience with X1/9s).

All federal spec engines came ready for unleaded so dont bother pratting around with that side of things. The only thing you will want to do is ditch the anti-smog hardware. Converting the existing components is a bind - just buy in a euro-spec induction and exhaust system. It will be much cheaper but now comes the problem that you likely haven't thought about.

Not 100% sure about the 1300 but the fed-spec 1500 has a lower compression ratio than the euro-spec equivalent which means without modification you are never going to get the same sort of power as you are expecting. You would be better off just finding a complete euro-spec engine and fitting it instead. The only time you will likely want to keep the original (assuming it can be rescued) is if you want forced induction in which case you can run a low pressure turbo without (too much) worry. Or just bolt on a supercharger like this: http://www.sfconline.org.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1867