Abarth X1/9 Engine Swap

Here I have a few pictures of the current status of the build in the test body
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for Bob Martin. Bob wants to use the Air to Air Intercoolers which will be mounted in the engine bay. Each intercooler will have a 6" fan mounted to them and enclosed ducting to the side scoops. A temperature switch will be in the plenum and will control the intercooler fans. One benefit will be that the engine bay will be forced cooled by the fans when temps exceed the target plenum temperature.

Here are a few pictures. The engine bay will be even tighter than my car with air to water intercoolers.

TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
Hi Tony,

I think you'll find that the intercoolers won't work very well back there - I used an anemometer to measure airflow at the side ducts, and it was dismal. Completely useless for intercoolers. I modified the air ducts to see if I could increase the airflow, but it didn't help much. Especially when at low speed - they'll just become heat saturated and truly become interheaters :)

I know that many people locate their intercoolers there for Uno swaps (which was my plan A), but it's doubtful that anyone has done a proper (in air) inlet vs. outlet temp measurement.

I bought a PWR 4x6 barrel intercooler (not cheap), similar to the one that you have in your first car. I believe that a water to air intercooler is the only way to go for our cars (especially at higher than stock boost). If the bodywork is being modified to incorporate proper ducts, then it should be OK, but they'd end up looking like a Testarossa :)

The Alfa 4C has air-air, but the duct is properly placed in the bodywork to promote airflow into the IC core.


Either way - great work! :) Can't wait to see your creations in person! Hopefully you'll take me for a ride ;)
 
Myron, on my car with the water to Air intercoolers I have a temperature probe in the plenum after the turbo charger that is connected to a dash gauge. At about 160 degrees F the ECU starts pulling back on the engine. In the air cooled intercoolers that will be put into Bob Martins car the fans will draw air through the intercoolers. Remember he has big fenders that allow a lot of hacking to get air to draw through the intercoolers. Even sitting in traffic the fans could be running and cooling down the intercoolers, where in my installation I need forward motion to push air over the 5 rads.

TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
I have no experience in any of this but has anyone considered installing the intercooler in the rear trunk? Plenty of room for any size intercooler and you can cut open the trunk lid for air access...although air flow over the trunk lid has been discussed ad nauseum with no consensus.
 
carl said:
I have no experience in any of this but has anyone considered installing the intercooler in the rear trunk? Plenty of room for any size intercooler and you can cut open the trunk lid for air access...although air flow over the trunk lid has been discussed ad nauseum with no consensus.
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X19 Rear Intercooler.jpg


Seems to be working for Bob, and I have not seen any negative feedback on this installation.

Someday, after I win the lottery, I promise I will take a stock and Dallara styled X1/9 to a wind tunnel and have a simple flow study produced.
 
Continuing on I have done the plumbing of the intercoolers between the turbo charger output and the intake plenum. I still need to purchase a 6" and a 9" section of 1 3/8" hose to complete the plumbing. The piping shown in the pictures is from the stock Fiat 500 Abarth car intercooler circuit, I used the tubing and bends and added in a short section of 1 3/8" straight tube as well. Since this is the first time I have done an air to air build engineering the project once again took a bit of time. Interference was an issue on the right side of the engine bay as the X1/9 engine cover hinge was in the way. The hinge was moved 1 3/4" toward the right side of the car and the engine cover was modified. It should be noted here that the Abarth engine requires certain parts that it came with to operate correctly. The issue at hand will be that all of the engine sensors must be installed and that non OEM devices cannot be used. Earlier engines( not Abarth) and ECU were much simpler and were not dependant on an ECU to BCM ( body control module) interface. To get this engine to run and run correctly it is dependant on OEM sensors and a protocol that must at all times be maintained. One of the interesting things in the build is the marrying of the 2 identities. For instance the Abarth engine uses a 176 degree thermostat but the X1/9 has a temperature switch on the Rad to control the fans that closes at 190 degrees F. A little insight will now present an over heating problem so the solution must be to either change the OEM temperature switch or run wires from the Abarth BCM to run the fans.

Yet with this integrated platform things like cruise control and power door locks could be added to the older X1/9 identity. These kind of things need to be decided early in the planning stage of the build. The Abarth engine is not just and engine. You cannot just supply 12volt power, water and fuel and expect it to run. On the electrics part of the build the Abarth engine incorporates a 12 volt 120 Amp generator. It is controlled by the ECU and it always maintains 14 volts. No matter what is turned on the voltage stays constant and the ECU manages the RPM of the engine to sustain that voltage.

Enough of the blabbing, here are some pictures of the build as it progresses for Bob Martin's X1/9
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Dallara.

TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
Jim I would like to say this can be done in weekend, sadly because I work full time and because of the complexity of the build I am not taking on any orders. There have been people asking about this, but... since I am working this drags out the whole process.

Thanks for the interest, let's see how Bob's Dallara pans out.

TonyK.
 
TonyK said:
Jim I would like to say this can be done in weekend, sadly because I work full time and because of the complexity of the build I am not taking on any orders. There have been people asking about this, but... since I am working this drags out the whole process.

Thanks for the interest, let's see how Bob's Dallara pans out.

TonyK.
Click to expand...
I have to keep coming back to this post Tony. You are a friggin' genius with this stuff.
 
As good as it is for working out issues, the mistake I made, well I harvested all of the good parts from this body is that I really should have left the wiring harness, AC lines, brake and clutch lines in place because all of this stuff is needed for the finished product. The thought though of cutting through a good wiring harness, well... I just could not do it. Just realize that the build is complicated and hacking at a road car to prove an idea, well, it is a bit scary in my mind.

Thanks for the kind comments.

TonyK

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
 
Using the stock OEM sensors for the build is where things get complicated. The mounting of plenum MAP sensor is on the plenum.( one of two on this engine) All sensors on the car use a monitored protocol. Even a simple master cylinder level switch is not just a switch but has a nominal resistance value that the ECU looks for to prove that the wiring is good to the sensor. Anyway since the intake plenum needed to be modified the stock sensor and tube it is mounted to has to be discarded and since I normally work with 304 stainless steel a mounting block needed to be made for this sensor. Follow the pictures.

TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
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TonyK said:
Continuing on I have done the plumbing of the intercoolers between the turbo charger output and the intake plenum. I still need to purchase a 6" and a 9" section of 1 3/8" hose to complete the plumbing. The piping shown in the pictures is from the stock Fiat 500 Abarth car intercooler circuit, I used the tubing and bends and added in a short section of 1 3/8" straight tube as well. Since this is the first time I have done an air to air build engineering the project once again took a bit of time. Interference was an issue on the right side of the engine bay as the X1/9 engine cover hinge was in the way. The hinge was moved 1 3/4" toward the right side of the car and the engine cover was modified. It should be noted here that the Abarth engine requires certain parts that it came with to operate correctly. The issue at hand will be that all of the engine sensors must be installed and that non OEM devices cannot be used. Earlier engines( not Abarth) and ECU were much simpler and were not dependant on an ECU to BCM ( body control module) interface. To get this engine to run and run correctly it is dependant on OEM sensors and a protocol that must at all times be maintained. One of the interesting things in the build is the marrying of the 2 identities. For instance the Abarth engine uses a 176 degree thermostat but the X1/9 has a temperature switch on the Rad to control the fans that closes at 190 degrees F. A little insight will now present an over heating problem so the solution must be to either change the OEM temperature switch or run wires from the Abarth BCM to run the fans.

Yet with this integrated platform things like cruise control and power door locks could be added to the older X1/9 identity. These kind of things need to be decided early in the planning stage of the build. The Abarth engine is not just and engine. You cannot just supply 12volt power, water and fuel and expect it to run. On the electrics part of the build the Abarth engine incorporates a 12 volt 120 Amp generator. It is controlled by the ECU and it always maintains 14 volts. No matter what is turned on the voltage stays constant and the ECU manages the RPM of the engine to sustain that voltage.

Enough of the blabbing, here are some pictures of the build as it progresses for Bob Martin's X1/9View attachment 15492 View attachment 15493 View attachment 15494 View attachment 15495 View attachment 15496 View attachment 15497 View attachment 15498 View attachment 15499 View attachment 15500 Dallara.

TonyK.

Grimsby Ontario Canada.
Click to expand...

Better get to work on those Evap and Boost codes Tony!!! Awesome work, par for the course with you.

Question? DO ANY OF YOU HAVE A REGULAR JOB?!? I wish I had more time to devote. It sucks working in spurts. When I do have time, the weather is crap. When I don't have time, I have parts and the weather is gorgeous.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
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