ThePogs Fiat X1/9

[ThePog]

Well she is all up and running now, and I have driven her for all of half an hour or so without leaking petrol or melting a piston.

This is what the airbox looks like, although it is now black and the ridiculous pod filter actually seals at the mounting point due to the power of RTV

There should be no significant CFM restriction with this setup.....

Having got her started and basically running (very poorly I might add) I took her to Italtune to get the carbs set up. Brian said they had a fair bit of dicking around to get it running right throughout the range, it has ended up with 130 mains, 200 air, F24 tubes.

So how does it run? ok but not spectacular

Depending on how fast you are going it gets a bit out of kilter if you just plant the throttle, and takes a wee while to clear up and get going again + it doesn't feel that much livelier (if at all) than with the standard carb....

Having scoured turbo124 and the Guy Croft forum many times over the last year I was pretty sure that it was unlikely to be a weapon running the setup I have with the standard exhaust manifold, and I suspect that this is the issue now.

However, until I build some nice headers (next week probably ) I will be able to at least check that all is right with the mechanical mods I have done.... and regardless of all that it at least sounds much faster

There is a wee bit more to do anyway - I need to sort out a catch can, which I will probably make out of the leftover 3" tube. There is also an oil leak from the cam cover, probably just needs tightening correctly.

Interestingly, it seems to be running quite a lot cooler than it has been - 80 degC (indicated) rather than the previous 90 deg - any reason that this would be?

That is all I have to report Captain.

[ThePog]

DIYCatchCanoutofrandombitsyoufindinyourgarage Time!

The bits I found;

Tube - random leftover exhaust tubing. This isn't as thick as it looks, it is just the way it looks after my Topmaq 2" pipe cutter (that has been slightly modded to cut 3" pipe) has been at it..

The endcaps are made from computer case (which also saw use in the dizzy inspection plate mods), the smaller tube is from the fuel pickup from a Lada stationwagon, the larger tube is the dipstick guide from the original X1/9 engine.

I did have to get some stainless steel wool that is packed down the bottom between the two tubes, but my wife bought that while she was shopping, so effectively free

O and I did buy a wee air filter thingy off trademe for $8.75 to stick on the top.

Weldy weldy weldy...

I also found some Festo push in right angle fittings so will fit those up with a bit of clear tube if I can find some....

[ThePog]

Have been messing around with header design.....

Not 100% sure on the clearance to the waterpump, but overall it is not too far off. Primary size is 35.1mm/1.6mm wall section as the ports are 31mm ish. Pipe length is 1020mm.

It has been an effort making sure that the bends are the standard prebent section sizes from Autobend...

Can someone tell me whereabouts at the collector the primary is considered to finish?

[ThePog]

Hmmm sexxxyyyyy

Was going to roll down the the fast 4/rot bizzle today and do some car park driftn stylzs show those little punk mutherfuckers what awesome really is, but the thought of being raped by the rozzers held me back so I went to mitre 10 instead and bought some spouting product.

[ThePog]

So for shits and giggles I though I would fit an o2 sensor to vizzle the stoichiometricizzle.

17 μlarge got me a jaycar kit which even someone as deeply electrically retarded as me could slap together in a trice as there are only 4 things on it. It took longer to figure out the values of the resistors than the entire length of the rest of the project.

A Toyota Vitz o2 sensor and a friendly supplier who gave me two M18 metric fine half nuts sealed the deal;

And the prize for the roughest ever fuel air indicator mounting goes to;

Well that would be me then.

Result? - I had no real baseline to judge it from, other than the pot was wound fully anticlockwise to get it out of the yellow and into the green, so it is probably running rich on average. However, it is remarkably consistent under all load conditions, and making it do it's flat spot dying/coughing/farting thing didn't really affect the ratio, so it is hard to say it it is caused by leaning out or getting too rich.

As this was the point of the episode, it is probably been a waste of time...

mmmm pretty lights though.

[ThePog]

So I have been fiddling around this weekend trying to sort out some carb issues;

1. It is running quite rich - a. it chews the petrol, b. the narrow band o2 sensor I have put on is *indicating* it is rich.

2. It has a flat spot at around 2.5k if you are careless with the throttle - not that bad really but it would be nice to smooth it out.

3. It idles quite high, 1500 - 1800rpm when warm, and this is with the butterflies fully closed (no contact with the stop adjustment).

On the basis of various informations I gleaned from various sources, I thought I would first make sure that the timing was correct, as up until now I couldn't check it to spec as it has never idled at 900 revs...

First I pulled apart the dizzy and checked how much advance it would allow, which was 25deg. I then marked 30 and 35 degrees on the front engine pulley and checked the timing against that, as at 35deg max advance this would make it 10 deg static timing. Doing this was timely as I discovered that the blocked off vacuum unit had lost its screws and was flapping around the side of the dizzy

After setting the timing this way, the idle dropped a couple of hundred revs, not much but it made the car run much smoother although that could be attributed to the vac unit..

Then I bled the clutch, which meant taking off the airbox, so while I was at it I had another look at the throttle setup. It looked like it was binding slightly and preventing the butterflies fully closing. I gave a judicious tweak to the interconnect (with vise grips ) to align things a bit better. After this I started it up and balanced the carbs and - voila! A smooth idle at 1250 revs.

I took it for a quick test drive and it feels really lively now

I will now look at changing the idle jets from 50's to 45's to see if that affects the richness - after that my knowledge and capabilities are fully extended so I will find someone else to look at it if it is still not right.

[ThePog]

So we had a Fiat/Lancia track day yesterday, and I took the X along for a bit of a thrash, however things got a bit more exciting than I expected....

Turned up bright and early having borrowed lots of kit from a mate who races in the V8's;

Unfortunately on the 4th lap of driver training the car managed to set itself on fire! The extra charging circuit wire had shorted on the back of the alternator and set fire to mostly everything between the alternator and the battery - there was a truly exciting 30 seconds while we jumped out and put it all out + tore the main supply wire off the battery!

I have no pics of the aftermath as I got Nick to tow me home (behind Brian's Integrale, this was not the perfect tow car as it is a bit laggy below 3000 revs... )

Things looked pretty bad mostly as everything was coated with fire extinguisher. After I got it home I had a better look;

This is the remains of the power wire and the main supply junction

This is the near new and now decidedly second hand battery

These photos are after the fact as I ripped everything out, vacuumed all the extinguisher powder, whipped down to Ripco for a new battery/terminal/wire/etc, rewired it all from the battery to the fusebox and created a new junction. I then checked everything still worked, which fortunately it did, and drove back out to Ruapuna.

There were a few disbelieving looks from some of the boys who had inspected the damage when I had towed it back off the track

From that point on things went pretty well - I explored the outer limits of road tyre adhesion (and beyond those limits at the hairpin - but we won't discuss that any further), and tried to crack the ton on the main straight - which I did manage after a good run round the last bend, but I nearly had brown trousers before I made it around the bend at the end of the straight!

Bit hard to tell, but this was once a warrantable tyre that probably isn't anymore

The only real problem was the brake pedal going very soft after pulling into pit lane to wait the next turn, but out on the track it felt pretty bulletproof.

I will need to go over the car to check nothing has broken, but I am pretty happy with the days result.

This is Nick and I about to go home - Nick managed to not blow his engine up this time

[ThePog]

Been a wee while since the last update, mostly because I don't really like taking it out in the rain and there has been enough of that recently to seriously consider building an ark...the 'puddles' the streets around here are about as deep as the doorsills on the X and I dont fancy a musty smell to go with the burnt electrical wiring smell

Things done/to do;

1. After the track day I bled the brakes which made them better than they were before, so it obviously needed it, and it probably should have been done before the trackday....

2. I have been meaning to spin the carbs around so the bowls are facing the front as I have found the car flooding itself coming to a stop on steep downward inclines. I knowledgeable man told me so, but I didn't think it would matter but it does.

3. I have also noticed that one of the carbs has been seeping petrol out of a wee ding on the float bowl - I knew the ding was there when I installed them, but it is obviously more cracked than I expected. The best option to fix it seems to be a metal filled 2pot epoxy, as I wasn't that keen to break out the gas axe and have a go at soldering it up

So time to crack on, going to have to hack up my stylish airbox to make it fit when the carbs are moved unfortunately.

A customary position now.....

A crap shot of the ding, damn these point and shoot cameras...

metal filled 2 pot epoxy applied;

What with it being a balmy 4 degrees in my garage, the epoxy wasn't looking like setting anytime this century, so the carb is now sitting in a high place in the kitchen with a woodburner going full tilt, should be sweet by tomorrow.

Might give it a cleanup to knock off the bigger lumps then do a pressure test - will be interesting...

[ThePog]

One minor issue during the swap around - pretty close to the cambelt cover etc, solved in 5 mins with a file...

Spent a lot of time fiddling with the linkage - I had to dick around cutting and welding the interconnect to make sure the actuator rod was clear of the accelerator pump. I also wanted a little more pedal travel, but this made it hard to get it past the fuel line, which made the fuel line to close to the frigging airbox etc etc, but I got there in the end;

Also needed to mod the airbox cutouts;

A lick of paint on the fixed box + some better box to carb gaskets and all was good;

I might be able to take it for a drive around Ruapuna next weekend hopefully as the CCC is having a fun day...

And I really REALLY want to do this;

http://retrorides.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=readersrides&action=display&thread=60739

[ThePog]

Thought I would try out the factory standard Fiat weight loss programme;

I will check tomorrow and weigh the oxide discarded onto the floor, should be 20kgs or so.

Come summer I should be competitive with the F5000's around Ruapuna, based on power to weight.....

[ThePog]

So the old girl has been running sweet as a nut for a good wee while with no problems, although I have been fiddling with a few things...

I discovered the clutch slave cylinder was leaking like a bastard after we had bled it but later on there was still obviously air in the system. I went to bleed it again but didn't bother as you could see the fluid all over the gearbox casing. Fortunately you can still get bits for these pretty easily and I bought a brand spanking new one for around $80, which I slapped in this week;

Unfortunately you need to remove the header tank and drain the cooling system to get access, so I took the opportunity to replace all the small hose clamps with better quality items - I have been getting a few wee drops of coolant on the floor after it has been out, so I thought I had better. I have also got some T bolt clamps for the main pipes on order, so will replace those as well.

In other news I will be getting some exhaust flanges profiled from Reautomotive up in the Naki, and I can now get trade prices at Autobend, so the headers shouldn't be too far off.

I have also redone the extra power/charging wire mod again, this time with a fuse up near the battery so I don't get a repeat of the Ruapuna excitement I had. I also cut away the alternator shield a wee bit so that the wires are completely clear of anything even remotely earthlike.

I scored a weber carburettor manual off trademe for $20, it covers DCNF's so I am pretty happy as I now know how to tweak the idle circuit so it is not running so rich. I know it is rich as I can use 1/8th of a tank of gas in one trip in the traffic to work and back.... 98 octane aint cheap neither. I got some smaller idle jets from the UK as well just in case.

That is all.

[ThePog]

So a long time no update, basically because I have just been caning 10 types of shit out of it, it has been lapping it up like the bitch that it is then asking for more.

Have been meaning to build some exhaust headers but seems a shame to fuck around with it when it is going so well.

The only problem has been truly rampant fuel consumption - 29l/100kms when i finally got around to working it out

So a couple of weeks ago I got it tuned, gained better fuel consumption at the expense of a wicked flat spot which basically made it undriveable on the open road. I started fucking with things myself out of sheer frustration and have basically fixed that after many days of it running and sounding like a bag o shite, which turned out to be the exhaust hanging off the manifold and me being too stupid to realise it. Good work dick.

Anyway I have a few spare days over chrimble so I thought i would actually build the headers instead of just wanking on about them, so I started yesterday. I had already bought the prebends from Autobend and the flanges from RE automotive in Taranaki, he is a good boy to deal with and pretty cheap.

Insert headers here....

One pipe

Two pipe

Three Pipe

Four

Except I only got the first two sorted so far....

There will be more in the next couple of days no doubt.

[ThePog]

Heres 3 pipe that I just cranked out;

And here is the 4 - 2 collector that I made a couple of months ago in mega hi rez/clarity phonecam version;

Have not yet tacked the pipes in place, they are just sitting there making sure the CAD was right and that the pipes will not be burning shit in the bay. Will need to tweak the heater outlet somewhat, it is sitting a bit close to number 4.

[ThePog]

Todays effort;

Pipes should all be within 5mm of the correct length as i had to only trim minor shit to get fitment.

Also realised that I will need to take bits off the engine to actually fit the fuckers once the secondaries are on.

[ThePog]

Basically done except for the wee lick I need to take of the head mating faces to get the heights right for the inlet manifold.

Painted them with some shithouse hi temp spray bomb, amazing how being all one colour makes shit look better.

I spent most of the time so far fighting the serious fucking wrongness that is my welder, serves me right for only spending $350 on it fuck it is a piece of shit endlessly jamming the feed, so you waste 2 meters of wire when you unjam it and then the bastard jams again while feeding it through, and then does it again. 6 meters of wire wasted for one jam. Fucking wire feed has ONE FUCKING JOB TO DO, that is to feed wire through and it fails at the one task it has been specifically designed to do. grrrrrrr aarrrgggghhhh blllluuuurrrgggghhh /rant

Now there is just a mega hack of the existing system to remove some uglyness/make it fit/etc - should be able to do it from what is there....

[ThePog]

Finished sorting the rest of the system today has been a mission fitting it around the unreasonable demands of family life over the last few days.

This is the bit of ugly that has prompted all this, I imagine that this would have done nothing for the zorst flow;

 

Also modified the water pipe so that the rubbery bits were away from the hot bits. I like hot rubbery bits as well as any man but only in the right context.

Might have to bite the bullet and grind back the welds on the headers, boys have been giving me shit about how rangi it looks......

[ThePog]

Stuck it all back together today and went for a drive, seems all good. Noise is no more or less that what it was before, maybe a little more raspy , but it feels a lot smoother and much livelier. Didn't really give it the big one as will wait until things have settled down a bit/made sure no leaks etc.

Need to extend the heat shield on the back of the alternator as the exposed wires are about 30mm from one of the pipes - also need to extend the wires for the O2 sensor as I have repositioned it to the other side of the system to make sure it was close to the exit of the headers....

The pessimist in me will not be happy for another week or two, but basically I am pleased....

[ThePog]

All together again after doing this to the alternator heatshield so that the electrickery stays within its little pipes;

So I took it for a reasonable run to make sure shit didn't fall off/break/burn/explode/etc which it did not, but it was obvious the carbs still need some work, there was mega backfiring on the overrun and while it doesn't have the flat spot of death it does have the flat spot of painful flesh wound. Also for giggles I put a pipe to my ear and listed to each choke, it was perfectly obvious that each choke was sucking significantly different volumes, glad I paid money to acheive that shit right there.

As it is now obvious that the only way to get satisfaction is to do it yourself, I wrangled myself this wee beasty;

Which is going to be inserted into these;

And awesome will ensue.

[ThePog]

Well awesome has mostly ensued, I have balanced the carbs, the exhaust is sweet - apart from falling off after the multiclub run because I did not use split washers on the bolts at the join between the headers and the rest of the system. I have tweaked the carbs so they mostly run ok, still a wee flat spot and hefty fuel consumption but shit it goes well for all that.

Also I have scored some items of interest (to me anyway) - an early model stainless steel header tank, rare as hens teeth and 10.667 x e^24 more awesome than the shitty plastic one that mine has right now. It has a ding but quite frankly I am not the sort of boy to care too much about that;

And another engine cover;

Which I will modify to get some more airflow + a cold air box for the induction as it gets extremely hot under the bonnet.

This?;

probably more like this;

The one on the car is so mint it would be wrong to chop it to bits.

[ThePog]

So I thought i would have a hack at the extra cooling/ducting etc.... these boys are just resting there for now;

To be honest I think it looks fucking shithouse, maybe it is the budget back to the future element coming through. I will probably lower them a bit so they do not look like dogs ball so much and see if it improves things.

It makes me feel the same way I feel when I see this;

kind of squirmy inside like you need a shit after a hot curry the night before, and you know you are going to need a full roll of toilet paper/access to a shower.

Had to give up on the side duct business as it would mean making the whole bonnet removable, cbf with that. Might have to think of something else.....?