ThePog

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.

I reckon I was lucky to get the ones I did, and I had to ship them down from auckland... Ive got a set set of overriders if you need them? You could try these boys - NZ X1/9 Register http://www.geocities.com/x19register/

Well it would look like this with the overriders; So I guess much the same but less bulbous. I have a bit of tasty mesh that will probably do the job of filling the radiator hole as the original grill is pretty much poked, I did wonder if it would look odd before I did it but I am pretty happy with the results.

I think he means a 'Shooting Brake' a phrase well worth the google. These (but only as a wagon) are without doubt my fav frenchie - I have considered buying one myself but could not quite come up with a convincing justification for my missus who has some pretty fucked ideas about appropriate cars.

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!

Don't worry about the thirst - the wagon used about as much with the sidies as with the single downdraft with heaps more power. And the noise - like a dozen virgins gargling the spunk of the gods.

Mint.

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.....?

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.

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...

He put the 16V head on the existing block, but left the 8 valve turbo as it is bigger. Said it was a nightmare. He also said something about not being sure about the breather routing - so hopefully this was the problem, not anything too serious. He did say it was still running ok apart from the fuelling issues...!

Well I have just been out to Ruapuna again for the Fiat/Lancia club day - lots of interesting sheetmetal for you boys to drool over; A Chapmans Prototipo; A roughish BC driven by a lovely young lady; Slightly more exotic; Some of you might recognise this one, unfortunately Nick had done something bad to the engine before he could take me for a ride.... At least 3 125T's that i could see; A 128 Coupe daily driver with interesting carburation arrangements; Something little and Fiat; A mint Montecarlo; An even minter Dino; E30 BMW with a Lexus V8 - this sounded very nice! A very exotic Lambo - got a good fanging around the track too; Delta Integrale - just had a 16 valve head put on and was pissing black smoke out down the straight. Then it came in with oil pissing all over the engine and wreathed in smoke. Brian said he would probably break it....!

Thanks, I will keep my eye on them - I have a wee fetish for reading technical manuals Hows that wagon going?

Well I don't have a red exhaust extension thingy, and I would rather use a cheese grater on my cock than own a Pulsar, but fortunately I am an arsehole.

Yes seen that one in a couple of vids now, unfortunately family and mortgage put a stop on most of the stupidity that I want to undertake - maybe in a couple of years when I have managed to master the full 85 horses I will be looking to break the hundy horses somehow.

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.

Also, I have to say that that Honda dash looks arse. The standard X dash is awesome, the rev counter goes backwards FFS, why you would want to replace this with 2 acres of grey plastic is beyond my comprehension.

Well that is basically what I was thinking of when I started looking for an X, find a cheap stalled project and hack it together with something grunty and japanese, paint it mattyB, and thrash it till it died.... However after I found this one, it was way too tidy to be messing up so the plans changed a bit. Tipo engine still only has 85HP which is quite embarrassing for a 1600cc engine really. Still, we will see what it turns out like I guess.

Yay!

Red oxide primer = win

You mean one of these....? Photos are from last weekend at Ruapuna. Unfortunately I don't have a spare 30 grand to make a proper one of those. My daily is a diesel Hilux - this project is to balance things up a bit..

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

all of them old Quite frankly unless you have owned one then hush now

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.

I know it would be wrong, but just think of 140 hp stock, total reliablility, cheap parts, etc. But I may have well bought an MR2 then....