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[Ladaspeed]

Crap cellphone pics from when I first looked at it.





It is sound as, owned by an aircraft engineer for the last 14 years and you can see he has been anal in a good way all over the car.

1981 1500cc
Lowering springs from the UK...?
Shocks modified for KYB inserts
Grooved discs front and rear
Rebuit engine '4 or 5 years ago'
All the alloy wheel caps!
Sports exhaust
Rebuilt and repainted rear suspension
Synchromesh on all the forward gears =-0
Minor rust around windscreen and front wings
Blown head gasket
average paintwork
'Smokes a bit on the overrun'
Aircraft grade rust treatment in all the boots, pockets and cavities

He had a rebuilt 1600 SOHC Tipo block and head he was about to drop in, but he gave up as he needed the garage space.
I may talk to him about this a bit later in the piece - he had worked the head, CC'd it and balanced all the pistons crank etc.

Got the X for $1000 as is.....!

Plan is to sort the head gasket drive it for a while and see what else is wrong - the smokiness may be easy to fix - will keep you updated.

[Ladaspeed]

been thinking that it really needs some 14 or 15 inch steelies - bit hard to find in a 4 x 98 tho

Also thinking about the debumpered matty B look - mmmmmm

[Ladaspeed]

Quick update - just went back to the guys house to pick up the engine cover and a few other bits - which turned out to be a whole uteload of parts!

Spare head + cams + inlet manifold, cables, trim, lights, instruments, brake disks and calipers, 2 sets of springs, shorter driveshaft (for uno turbo conversion), etc etc etc

Fucking stoked.

[Ladaspeed]

Started to remove the head.....



Nice little sports exhaust.....



One of these things is not like the other...... =-(



Fucking snapped head bolt - maybe the 4 foot bit of pipe on the end of the socket wasn't such a good idea.


The worst bit of rust...



Still pretty happy with what I have seen of the car - I have sorted another engine just in case I manage to munter this one too badly....

[Ladaspeed]

irritated now

5 x stuck head studs;

1 x stud out by double nutting

2 x studs out by welding the nut on

2 x studs broken off just below the welded on nut

1 x head stuck on like the the laws of fucking nature have done a wee bit of mischief around my garage, thereby allowing cast iron, head gasket, steel and aluminium to become a single miraculous new element, impermeable to all external forces including nuclear fission which I hereby name cuntanium.

[Ladaspeed]

A mate who is even bigger than I am came round to smack it even harder, but still with no success.

After a 5 minute discussion we decided it needed to come out.....

3/4 of an hour later.....






Shweet....

Now I have room to swing a BIG hammer.

OR buy one of the following;

- A complete Uno Turbo 1300 for $1250
- A rebuilt but has been sitting for something like 15 years slightly worked engine for $500
- Wait for my wanted ad on TM to net me a running 1600cc Tipo injected motor for nix

Whadddayouserekon?

[Ladaspeed]

Or this maybe....?

http://forums.toyspe...pic.php?t=63959

[Ladaspeed]

Have sorted some early model bumpers, hopefully should arrive in the next few days from Auckland - should shorten the car by about 4 foot or so.

Will be able to park nose to the kerb anywhere now....

Did a strange kind of swapsies for a disassembled gearbag that the original owner had that I bought to do the swapsies.....

Also talked to him about the Tipo block and head he has;

CC'd head, machined for better flow around the inlet valves then skimmed to get the CR up to 9.7.

Weight matched rods and pistons, balanced crank, new rings and bearings.

Lightened flywheel, new clutch plate.

Pretty cheap too, he is talking $500 - I reckon that this will be the go.

[Ladaspeed]

Bashed the engine some more = head still on....




Big box of little bumpers and indicators arrived in the mail....




Rear surfboard off...




Front porch removed...




Big lumps of plack shit...




Will be a bit of tweaking needed to fit those front bumpers on - rears shouldn't be too bad.

Get paid in a couple of days - shiny new engine time methinks

[Ladaspeed]

Yay!

[Ladaspeed]

Quick update;

Engine is going back together slowly but surely, having to pilfer a surprising number of bits off the old engine + there are a few significant differences between the X1/9 and Tipo engines..

- Front seal mount - wrong mounting for the timing indicator, used original
- Rear seal mount - Tipo has extra mount for a crank angle sensor, used this one just in case.....
- Front block cover + Engine mount + timing belt tensioner - no auto tensioner on the tipo (!), so need to use the X cover which has a spigot on it for the tensioner mechanism, but also has a mount hole which will need welded up so water doesn't piss out. No biggie tho.
- Oil pickup is longer and angled differently on the X - used the original one...
- Head bolts are M10 on the Tipo, M12 on the X =-(
- Water pump housing has different mounts for the alternator
- Head to thermostat housing is different, have cad'd up an adapter, just needs to be made.
- Timing belt pulleys are different - have used the Tipo ones.

[Ladaspeed]

A minor update as I have been away in Oz for a wee while so have not done very much....

All the shiny engine bits are here now although I am probably going to get a cam ground for a bit more grumpyness and the cam box trimmed to suit;




Fitted new old front indicators;




Added an extra radiator fan just in case;




With the aid of a Dremel the drivers seat sits back another 25mm - all the better to easier accommodate my 6'3" frame - and any man would be pleased to gain another inch or so...

[Ladaspeed]

Very excited - just picked up my cam from Kelfords - it's very grumpy, had to talk sweetly to it to get it to come home with me.

Have mounted up my new old front bumpers, rears will be sorted this weekend + mega pic update.

[Ladaspeed]

Time for the mega "I've stuck on my bumpers" update.....

A tad delayed due to me being basically a lazy bastard.


Started with the fronts and these fairly disparate items;




Set the bumper up on the car - unfortunately the later style bumper mount exits the body well below the earlier style bumper, you can see this where the screwdriver is sticking out.
In this pic you can also see the wee spot of rust on the lip (Read: could double as a colander) - not too bad tho, a couple of hours should have that sorted.
Also note all the overrider mounting gubbins on the bumper which I decided to lose as I thought things might look a bit cleaner without, thereby causing myself lots more work;




Welding a cap on the inner face of the bumper where I lost the overrider mounting;




Fronts and mounts all cleaned up and waiting for some mattyB spraybomb action;




All painted and mounted up + bonus viewage of the rot;




Basically the same happened for the back but with less dicking around, although I am not that happy with the way they sit, probably needs the outers wrapping around a bit further, which means half an hour with a file at most.




Other news;
Pick up the head tomorrow complete with grumpy cam and correct clearances.
Am going to use the original cam drive gears/belt setup as the cam wheel has had some extra drive pin holes drilled to get 1/6th of a tooth movement depending on position - I may not need this adjustment but it would be nice to have;

Block = 1.75mm taller (1600 vs 1500)
Head = 0.5mm machined off
Cam box = 2mm machined off to account for reduction of the base circle
In theory then the cam wheel is 0.75mm closer to the crank......probably not enough to notice.....?

[Ladaspeed]

Spent some quality time with my engine on the weekend;

Checking TDC;



This was a stupid place for the timing wheel as I couldn't turn it 360° without knocking it out of kilter. So I set it up on the flywheel which was much more satisfactory;



Set it all up on the standard timing marks and veeeery gently checked the valve to piston clearances - of which there were loads thank god - I didn't relish the prospect of taking the pistons out to get machined;



Had to dial in the cam which was interesting and stressful as I have never done it before - I went very slowly with this too.
This was made relatively easy by the previous owner who had helpfully drilled extra dowel holes in the camwheel so that one hole jump roughly equals 1/6th of a tooth movement;



Two jumps and it was as close as it is ever going to get with this setup.

Had to dial it in on the max lift point of each cam as there was no direct vertical access to the cam follower. Did the inlet first and the exhaust was bang on so I guess thats ok. The true test will be no horrible clunking noises when I start it up first time....

Spent a lot of time dicking with the belt and tensioner setup - even to the point of buying a 1300 belt to see if that would fit - no joy until I realised that the tensioner pulley was about 3mm smaller diameter than my original - that was enough difference to make it work with the 1500 belt. Have to get a swap on the bearing now + there is a cheap 1300/128 belt on TM at the mo....!




Anyway, only a couple of things left to do and it will be ready to go back in.... Yay!

[Ladaspeed]

Scored some cheap downdrafts off Trademe along with a random manifold. The seller didn't know what they were and they looked pretty scodie.
I asked for a fixed price offer after they didn't sell. They arrived today.....





Stoked.

[Ladaspeed]

Trial fitted my new carbs today - unfortunately the manifolds are borrowed and have to go back soon, but I have modelled them in CAD and am getting a price from a patternmaker as we speak.....

I think I have them on the wrong way - hard to see what is front/back through all the filth . As you can see I have not cleaned them up yet;

[Ladaspeed]

Well the head/thermostat adapter finally turned up, I wish I could sneak a wee milling machine into the garage to do jobs like this.

Mrs Ladaspeed = 'Husband of mine, what is that large green machine in the spot where my car usually parks?'
Ladaspeed = 'Ah erm well ah, O yes, I have had it for years! have you only just noticed it love of my life?'

*Uncomfortable silence*

*Mrs Ladaspeed looks around for a handy blunt instrument*


Anyway, here it is, ugly but functional. I bolloxed it up a bit, the tapped holes should be M8 - muggins me made them M10. Not too much drama tho as the holes in the thermostat housing were at 9.5mm ish, I opened them out to 10mm, all is well;



Opened up the back with a file so it will not reduce the flow too much from the Tipo head;

[Ladaspeed]

Well the engine is finally in...!

There was a bit of a hiatus while I just made sure that all was well, as I was not totally comfortable that I had everything checked, mostly as I had not checked the valve to piston clearance after I had indexed in the cam. Hence I stripped the head off again..... as it turned out it was fine, but better to be safe than sorry

Raring to go at 10.15 Saturday morning (well as raring as Saturday mornings ever get...);




Lift the old girls petticoats;




Bit of the old under and up;




And at 11.30, there we have it;



Still a bit to do - inlet/exhaust and radiator, but all going well we will be doing a test run this week...

[Ladaspeed]

GAAAAHH - it is all ready to start but the header tank is leaking like a sieve......

I have another (which is the original one) but it is full of oily scum, which is why I used the spare - any ideas the best way to clean it out?