Latest X19 Project...

fiatmonkey

Tim Hoover
Hey folks,

Been a while since I posted any project stuff so I thought I would share my latest. I picked up a 74 x19 last spring for another k-series swap. Turned out to be a major rust bucket with some good bits, but not resto worthy. Shortly after found another 74 running in better shape with a complete interior so selected that as the project car.

00r0r_dkDb4hd8dL9_1200x900.jpg


Had all the hard to find 74 bits + decent Faza flare kit.

After I fit it for a k24/20 engine, I sent it to a shop in Shingle Springs, CA (near my brothers race shop) for media blast and metal work.

20171114_133611-e1510717445565-1200x675.jpg

20171114_133713-e1510719604251-1200x675.jpg


Nothing was revealed that I didn't already know about - usual bad spots on the 74 like the battery tray, rear boot, etc., I didn't want to bore you with pics of that stuff. I will save it when those spots get repaired :)

I am about 100+ miles from the car, so I don't get up to see it often, but it is coming along.

I decided this time to go with a fully built engine. I met Norris Prayoonto from Prayoonto Racing at SEMA last year then reconnected with him again while at a track event at Willow Springs while visiting my friend who tunes Honda engines (and had tuned my last supercharged k20). I was blown away by Norris' car and that he had an all motor, naturally aspirated k-series engine making over 450HP. I had him build one for me good for (hoping) 300+

20171030_221236-e1513311432436.jpg


The beauty of this engine is there is room for boost should I decide to go that route. I personally like the way the all motor K series pulls and when the vtec kicks in, these things sound awesome. The blower sort of drowns it out ;)

Other mods are electric water pump, so one pulley (alternator) for the crank to turn. Reverse direction intake mani, so the TB now points toward the pulley side of the engine. Lots of other stuff coming too.

Anyway, thought I would share...
 
Good to see you back at it! I'll need to get the Scorpion blasted and shot with primer, possibly you could pass their name along to me when I reach that point?
-Christopher
 
Hi Tim. Nice to get some details of what you have been hinting at. Once you have the X K20 bug, it’s hard to get rid of. Looks like it will be a screamer. My project is stalled right now due to lack of time. Looking forward to more progress posts on yours. It will inspire me to get back to mine.
 
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Hey folks,

Been a while since I posted any project stuff so I thought I would share my latest. I picked up a 74 x19 last spring for another k-series swap. Turned out to be a major rust bucket with some good bits, but not resto worthy. Shortly after found another 74 running in better shape with a complete interior so selected that as the project car.

00r0r_dkDb4hd8dL9_1200x900.jpg


Had all the hard to find 74 bits + decent Faza flare kit.

After I fit it for a k24/20 engine, I sent it to a shop in Shingle Springs, CA (near my brothers race shop) for media blast and metal work.

20171114_133611-e1510717445565-1200x675.jpg

20171114_133713-e1510719604251-1200x675.jpg


Nothing was revealed that I didn't already know about - usual bad spots on the 74 like the battery tray, rear boot, etc., I didn't want to bore you with pics of that stuff. I will save it when those spots get repaired :)

I am about 100+ miles from the car, so I don't get up to see it often, but it is coming along.

I decided this time to go with a fully built engine. I met Norris Prayoonto from Prayoonto Racing at SEMA last year then reconnected with him again while at a track event at Willow Springs while visiting my friend who tunes Honda engines (and had tuned my last supercharged k20). I was blown away by Norris' car and that he had an all motor, naturally aspirated k-series engine making over 450HP. I had him build one for me good for (hoping) 300+

20171030_221236-e1513311432436.jpg


The beauty of this engine is there is room for boost should I decide to go that route. I personally like the way the all motor K series pulls and when the vtec kicks in, these things sound awesome. The blower sort of drowns it out ;)

Other mods are electric water pump, so one pulley (alternator) for the crank to turn. Reverse direction intake mani, so the TB now points toward the pulley side of the engine. Lots of other stuff coming too.

Anyway, thought I would share...
Hello, Impressive amount of work! But to the point, since RSX came along I wanted to fit this motor in the Fiat. I bought my fourth X a few months ago, accident and rust free, one owner, and Any hints of sourcing stock K20 with everything on it for decent price? I'd like to keep the original outside look of the X, no flares, no aftermarket wheels etc. I began with making Euro style bumpers and early front valance / grill out of carbon (or rubber as an option), which I sculpted from scratch and tried to improve over the originals, offering a few design options. Wonder if you might be interested, work is in progress and photos are posted in this forum. I also have supply of new front turn signals and rubber bumper blocks to complete my "kit". If you are willing to share some thoughts and details, feel free to call me anytime 610-732-9306.
20171205_111027.jpg
 
Hello, Impressive amount of work! But to the point, since RSX came along I wanted to fit this motor in the Fiat. I bought my fourth X a few months ago, accident and rust free, one owner, and Any hints of sourcing stock K20 with everything on it for decent price? I'd like to keep the original outside look of the X, no flares, no aftermarket wheels etc. I began with making Euro style bumpers and early front valance / grill out of carbon (or rubber as an option), which I sculpted from scratch and tried to improve over the originals, offering a few design options. Wonder if you might be interested, work is in progress and photos are posted in this forum. I also have supply of new front turn signals and rubber bumper blocks to complete my "kit". If you are willing to share some thoughts and details, feel free to call me anytime 610-732-9306.View attachment 7042

Nice choice of X19 for a swap! The swap kits are out there, but you may have to source a few random bits. I just passed on a k20a2+trans+harness. It was going for 2400. When I changed my mind back, it was gone. You are likely to find a swap for closer to 3k. You can always go the JDM route too. I can appreciate the the stock look, but I think you should at least consider wider wheels. 200HP deserves at least 7" rims. I like the CD66 replicas:

allison_cd66.jpg


I am interested to see other pics of the custom grill. Have any of it not installed?
 
Nice Tim. Are those the Allison's CD-66 Competizone Sportiva CD 66 replicas here? What offset are you going to run? Those will fit in stock wheel wells with coilovers so you ought to be able to squeeze in 8" wheels! You'll need that plus an LSD if you're putting down 300+ HP and... I'm guessing 200lb-ft torque with your K24...
 
Nice Tim. Are those the Allison's CD-66 Competizone Sportiva CD 66 replicas here? What offset are you going to run? Those will fit in stock wheel wells with coilovers so you ought to be able to squeeze in 8" wheels! You'll need that plus an LSD if you're putting down 300+ HP and... I'm guessing 200lb-ft torque with your K24...
Yes on the wheels and the LSD - have a DC5 trans that will work fine :)
 
Nice choice of X19 for a swap! The swap kits are out there, but you may have to source a few random bits. I just passed on a k20a2+trans+harness. It was going for 2400. When I changed my mind back, it was gone. You are likely to find a swap for closer to 3k. You can always go the JDM route too. I can appreciate the the stock look, but I think you should at least consider wider wheels. 200HP deserves at least 7" rims. I like the CD66 replicas:

View attachment 7045

I am interested to see other pics of the custom grill. Have any of it not installed?
20171205_103136.jpg
20171205_101243.jpg
20171205_101319.jpg
 
Nice choice of X19 for a swap! The swap kits are out there, but you may have to source a few random bits. I just passed on a k20a2+trans+harness. It was going for 2400. When I changed my mind back, it was gone. You are likely to find a swap for closer to 3k. You can always go the JDM route too. I can appreciate the the stock look, but I think you should at least consider wider wheels. 200HP deserves at least 7" rims. I like the CD66 replicas:

View attachment 7045

I am interested to see other pics of the custom grill. Have any of it not installed?
The deeper lower cut (open area) and the curved grill is done because of my specific radiator layout, tilted backwards and slightly lowered, but I offer a full hight valance and flat grill just like the original early design for stock positioned radiator.
 
Nice choice of X19 for a swap! The swap kits are out there, but you may have to source a few random bits. I just passed on a k20a2+trans+harness. It was going for 2400. When I changed my mind back, it was gone. You are likely to find a swap for closer to 3k. You can always go the JDM route too. I can appreciate the the stock look, but I think you should at least consider wider wheels. 200HP deserves at least 7" rims. I like the CD66 replicas:

View attachment 7045

I am interested to see other pics of the custom grill. Have any of it not installed?
And you are right, if I go K20, I may need wider wheels, I just loooove my chrome plated original Chromodoras. Now working on a smart way to improve the brakes on a budget :)
 
Are you using wheel spacers to move the Sportiva’s outward? Although I have not seen them on a normal X flare, those look much farther out than I would have expected.
 
Well done Tim. Think I'm having a deja vu. That engine looks strangely familiar. Nice job on the grill. Did you make a mold for reuse? Looking forward to seeing more progress.
 
Are you using wheel spacers to move the Sportiva’s outward? Although I have not seen them on a normal X flare, those look much farther out than I would have expected.

I don't recall how many spacers I used in that pic, but it def wasn't 0 offset to start. I think the 66s are +10 if memory serves. I don't know what the offset on the original rims are.
74k24_Project_-_Google_Drive.jpg
 
Well done Tim. Think I'm getting Leanbean here and having a deja vu. That engine looks strangely familiar. Nice job on the grill. Did you make a mold for reuse? Looking forward to seeing more progress.
I can't wait to see the final pics, Tim. Are you learning a lot from this project or are projects like this a second nature to you?
 
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I can't wait to see the final pics, Tim. Are you learning a lot from this project or are projects like this a second nature to you?
I am proud to say...I learn something everyday :) More so about these awesome little cars we all cherish and love. This is the first time I have ever taken a 74 back to this level, so absolutely learning something on this resto-mod and (hopefully) applying what I have learned from other projects to this one. I will say the major things I am learning are probably the same that Fiat did as they rolled new models out of the factory for years. the most important being the bad choice of where to lap and spot weld engine bay metal in the early days. I will have some pics after I get back up to the car after Christmas and I will show the new weld joints and gussets we add.

As far as the swap's go, I haven't quite done enough of them to say I have learned anything major. I try to add as much metal back, weld all seams, etc., but until I know where the long-term stress points are, I can only try to engineer it based upon what I "think" makes sense. For example, this section (yellow highlight) where I removed a fair amount of metal I welded in a square bar about 1/8 thick, drilled to allow any bolts, then covered with a 1/8 1 1/2" wide bar. The vertical plate on the left of it is 3/16".

metal_channel.jpg


Same approach throughout the car where I remove any metal really, or think I am adding stress and compromising the chassis strengths and while I am at it, why not improve on what Fiat may have skimped on here and there ;)
 
Good to see you back at it! I'll need to get the Scorpion blasted and shot with primer, possibly you could pass their name along to me when I reach that point?
-Christopher
Hey bud! The shop that does media blast in Shingle Spring is awesome and cheap, but as you know you need to get it to metal/body/paint pretty quick thereafter. I have a guy up there that can do the body and paint as well, its just a long trip. They would take good care of it for sure, but I am sure there is something closer down in the Peninsula to you. I took up to T-n-T Powder Coating as they do all of HooverSpeed's work and it's close to the shop.
 
Some updates on the projects (yes, there are two simultaneous now)


The battery bottom trey was completely rusted out so built a new one:


IMG_0097-1200x900.jpg


Getting new (used - donor) nose as the old one was pretty banged up and full of bondo:

IMG_0096-1200x900.jpg


Engine bay boxed in:
IMG_0092-1200x900.jpg


I will have more pics soon...of both projects...
 
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