What did you do to your X1/9 today ?

Well I took a little time off for Christmas this year from a very heavy work schedule which will last into mid next year. So, I decided to get a drill press as a present to Kevin from Kevin to aid in the X restore, among other projects. The problem is space which I am very tight on so I always have to optimise space and here is the solution. I found this area in a corner.
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At first glance This might seem a no go to place a drill press but with a little scrap angle Iron and a welder, wah la!

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twincam69 said:
Took the ‘75 out for a run. Sounded good through the New River tunnel at 5k plus and frightened a SUV with my air horns when he tried to cut me off. All in all a good day!
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I took out one of the Fiama horns and installed a WoLo Badboy (which is actually in tune with the other horn) airhorn in its place. Never underestimate the power of a loud horn!!!
 
Restored my Abarth steering wheel. Thoroughly cleaned with saddle soap, took a while to get 30 years of grime off of it. I then sanded out cracks/scratches, conditioned with lexol leather conditioner. The seam was starting to separate, so I added yellow stitching to secure it.

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Did the same for the leather shift boot, added yellow stitching to the boot neck as well.

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I like how it turned out.
 
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autox19 said:
Got to play with my Christmas present. My wife got me a starter (ender 3) 3d printer. Why is this in "what I did to my x19 today? Well my first low resolution print
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Odie
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KBabcock said:
Great printer for the money and prints as well as units costing 2 to 3 times its cost. Enjoy.
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After reading these two posts I had to see what the going price is for a good entry level 3D printer these days, so I Googled it. Wow, that is a LOT less than I expected. I'm not very knowledgeable of them in general, but the last time I looked at any prices they were significantly more costly. :)
 
Dr.Jeff said:
After reading these two posts I had to see what the going price is for a good entry level 3D printer these days, so I Googled it. Wow, that is a LOT less than I expected. I'm not very knowledgeable of them in general, but the last time I looked at any prices they were significantly more costly. :)
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Yes it is shockingly inexpensive to get into one these todays. The Ender 3 variants run $176 to $290 and both will print out the same quality, just different nicety features. The Enders are based off a public domaine design so third party parts are abundant.
 
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Yesterday was brutal...

I pulled the oil pan and installed the correct gasket this was way more of a hassle than it should have been...

I started looking closer at the brakes and discovered that someone had used a zip tie on two of the calipers instead of cotter pins. As expected, one of the zip ties had fallen off and the brake slide / shim thingy was 1/4 of the way out. Not good.. One of the back calipers had been dragging long enough that the pads on that side were gone. The parking brake mechanism had been coated in grease that turned to sludge..

Ordered pads, rotors, rear calipers, brake lines and parking brake cables... Never guess what I am doing next weekend :)

I have a new goal of making this the best X1/9 it can be...
 

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ecohen2 said:
Yesterday was brutal...

I pulled the oil pan and installed the correct gasket this was way more of a hassle than it should have been...

I started looking closer at the brakes and discovered that someone had used a zip tie on two of the calipers instead of cotter pins. As expected, one of the zip ties had fallen off and the brake slide / shim thingy was 1/4 of the way out. Not good.. One of the back calipers had been dragging long enough that the pads on that side were gone. The parking brake mechanism had been coated in grease that turned to sludge..

Ordered pads, rotors, rear calipers, brake lines and parking brake cables... Never guess what I am doing next weekend :)

I have a new goal of making this the best X1/9 it can be...
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The inventor of the zip tie must be so proud to know that his invention is used on car brakes!
 
Today I finished off a partial new loom for the ignition system. The old one from the donor car was all the wrong lengths and had badly cracking insulation.
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Old loom that was replaced.

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Nasty condition wiring, this was for the crank position sensor. I still have not yet found single core shielded cable to replace like for like, but I shortened the cable and put new terminals on, and this seems to be good for now.

New one build running new power and earths "data" between ignition ECU and the BKL3 unit. Took me a while to figure it out but looks pretty good now.

Best news started up straight away.

Next time I am at the car I will take a photo or 2 of the new sub loom. Still some more tidying to do but its getting better.
 
This winter break I was able to continue with my X's bodywork. From the doors forward, the car is almost ready for paint. With mild amounts of body filler and some metalwork, I was able to get the problematic dents mostly resolved. There are a few down low which may be problematic but for now, I'm making good progress.

Got to drive it around a bit too - running just as it usually does, impressive given how long it's been since being driven often.
 
Used an ultrasonic cleaner and some nice rust resistant paint to refinished the caliper brackets. Meanwhile a friend of mine used a 300 degree, 150 PSI steam cleaner to get an amazing amount of crud off the calipers...
 

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Started the bonded title process for Dominick. First step is a ordering a search by the DMV for last owner of record. This happens in both Nebraska and New Mexico as the car came from south of Albuquerque.
 
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Alex(Tenerife) said:
Yesterday I fitted my new Spanish number plates.

Just to put that into context that has been a process that has taken about 9 months!
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Can you have the smaller "US size" plates as an option in Spain as well? I managed to convince the Swedish authorities to have them after sending them measurements and pictures and four or five telephone calls😑.
 
Bjorn Nilson said:
Can you have the smaller "US size" plates as an option in Spain as well? I managed to convince the Swedish authorities to have them after sending them measurements and pictures and four or five telephone calls😑.
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I think I could have maybe got a square rear plate, but I found a way to mount my plates in the UK that I think works. My front plate is mounted to the ally girder front bumper. What I did to make space was to move the plastic mouldings 1 bolt outwards. This then gave me space to mount the plate. This way I don't loose any air flow into the radiator:)
 
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