Really nice install!
What are you using for fuelling?
I take it the manifold pattern is different to the SOHC head..?
How much did you have to move the engine mounts by?
Thanks mate - it looks a lot better since the engine bay has been painted and all the wiring and plumbing tidied up. That's in "bugger what it looks like - lets just get it on the track" spec. I went back. Stripped the whole car and made it "pretty" afterwards!
Fuelling is DCOE pattern 45mm throttle bodies. Haltech injection. When I get my act together I'll fit the slide throttles I have.
I had to get an intake manifold made. Yes its totally different to a SOHC (crossflow head for starters) and Fiat twin cam (old style) and 16v manifold patterns were so different we soon discarded the idea of modifying a Fiatorque cast manifold as more work than starting from scratch. The smart thing to do for a roadcar would be to use the bottom 1/2 of the standard manifold (which includes the injectors and fuel rail) and mount the throttle bodies to the camboxes (if the engine is tilted backwards a little and the firewall insulation removed it should fit - although not tried) - but mine is a racecar and I wanted nice straight runners. This means that the throttle bodies are in the spare wheel area - and the filter in a box between the seat and the firewall. It makes a spectacular back massager. Anything longer than a lap sprint and you need earplugs. :lol:
Top engine mount was modified to take a standard "dogbone". It was a bit of a gamble to mount it to a cambox that was never designed for that but seems to be doing OK. This may be because I like rubber mounting engines. I wear contact lenses and I don't like the way that hard mounts make your eyeballs rattle. :wink2:
Of course the bottom mount is attached to the gearbox so you don't have to do anything there as long as you are using one of the 128/X1/9 style 'boxes. The engine bolts straight to these gearboxes - but the Regata/beta/strada 105/125/130 twin cam pattern is different so you need to keep it in the family. Despite what you read the X1/9 1500 box is MORE than capable of taking the extra torque/power anyway - so why change?
The front engine mount is a different story. There isn't one. The engine mount attaches to the front of the block under the distributor blank-off plug next to the oil filter and then wraps around to a "leg" that goes in front of the cambelt cover. These pictures should provide some idea.
On my car I wanted to retain the standard body mounts (as there is a category of racing in this country that calls for a standard block which I may need to compete in at some stage) so we did extensive modifications to the block (rather than the car) which required re-routing the cambelt, modifying the tensioner pulley etc. Not recommended if you aren't looking for a big job or you don't know what you are doing!
So yeah, as engine swaps go its not the hardest one you've ever seen - but as is usual its never as easy as it first seems. I chuckle everytime I read that these engines "drop straight in" to an X1/9 or a 128. I guess it all depends on your definition of "drops"!
Its a nice motor though. Very well suited to an X1/9. Very little weight difference to a SOHC and although the power figures are not spectacular its very torquey even from very low revs.
