View attachment 11768 Didn’t work. Appearently the hood sucks more air then fresh air blows in.
Since it seems pertinent to this thread, I will offer my evaluations derived from the info I have from airflow studies I have done on similar cars, including my Mk1 MR2, which is very similar to the X1/9.
The X1/9's designers followed period established practices for the X1/9's aero management. Air flowing into the front radiator exits underneath the front end (quite obviously). This is standard practice for most front mounted radiators regardless of engine location. For most any front engine design the air passes through the grill and radiator and is exhausted under the front end. This creates a high pressure area under the front suspension which increases with speed. Redirecting the remaining air over or around the front by the use of an air-dam improves radiator flow by reducing the additional airflow under the car. Newer designs, like the 997+ generation Porsche 911s vent the front radiators through either the front wheelwells or through the hood, or both in the case of the 911. This has great effect on front downforce by eliminating most of the high pressure under the front axle and is why the FAZA cars (and many since) exhaust the radiator through the hood.
Its important to note that Fiat included a number of panels to close off the underside of the engine compartment from the road below. This is contrary to front engine layouts where airflow through the radiator is exhausted out the bottom of the engine bay. The panels blocking off the airflow was done to reduce the air from being drawn from under the car up through the engine compartment and exhausted through the engine lid. For the X, the vertical rear window creates a low pressure zone over the engine cover as air flowing over the roof creates a void there. The vented engine cover then exhausts the air flow into the engine compartment via the vented lid. The primary source of airflow into the engine compartment is through the side scoops. The purpose is to provide fresh clean air instead of hot dirty air from under the car.
In reference to the quoted text above, any attempt to draw air through the engine lid only recycles the air from the engine compartment back into the intake as the heated engine compartment air tumbles between the engine compartment and the flow over the roof. Given that, the only source of fresh clean air is from the side scoops. Exactly where the FI system's OE canister intake is located.
When developing my '80 model DSP racecar I tried several version of a cold air intake. I data logged the intake air temp and found that none of my attempts were very productive. I did build an airbox that sealed the intake trumpets to a feed from the side scoop but the restriction was such that there was no net gain and I removed it.
The FAZA style snorkel is the simplest source of cold air for the engine intake but requires it be plumbed directly into the intake.
I too have noticed the significant flow of hot air from through the distributor panel into the cockpit. Its pretty standard that the cockpit has a lower pressure than the airflow around it. Therefore its more likely the air from the distributor panel is due to the lower pressure in the cockpit than any excessively high pressure in the engine bay.