Cure for all X ills...

dcioccarelli

dcioccarelli

Dominic Cioccarelli
... take it for a drive.

Today I was having a bad X day. I had squirted myself in the eye with oil while attempting to compress a bumper shock (the first 2 had air, the 3rd oil and the 4th nothing: don't ask). Then I discovered a new oil leak. Then I wasn't 100% happy with the gear shift alignment.

Anyway, I drove outside into the best evening we have had this Summer in southern Germany. Only about 20 degrees, long twilight and super visibility of the apls. A quick belt down the autobahn at 160 and then a small turn off towards Tegernsee and the X was really in its element. Small curvy roads, lakes, fields, forests and the best sunset I have seen for years. It seemed that I was the only car on the road.

Enough to say that any of the X's previous bad behaviour was well and truely forgiven....

Cheers,
Dom.
 
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Very nice Dom

Happy to hear you had a wonderful drive. It does make everything just a bit better. :)
 
question!

did i correctly read 160??? is that kmh or mph?? either are wayyy more than what i've asked of mine! at 110kmh mine runs at 4200 rpms and the steering starts to shake... am i missing something? how high in rpms do you guys go on the highway?
i'm perplexed...:hmm:
 
That's gotta be KpH

Dany said:
did i correctly read 160??? is that kmh or mph?? either are wayyy more than what i've asked of mine! at 110kmh mine runs at 4200 rpms and the steering starts to shake... am i missing something? how high in rpms do you guys go on the highway?
i'm perplexed...:hmm:
Click to expand...

But if you're getting steering shake at 110 KpH (a bit less than 70 mph) something is wrong: wheel imbalance, out-of-round wheel, lug-centric wheel off-center, alignment, more serious suspension problem. 80+ mph cruising on an interstate should be smooth, although a just a tad noisy.
 
One way you know you're in an X...

... is that you go around the rotary two or three times just because it's so much fun.
 
+1 on the balance problem....

Find a place that has a Hunter GSP 9700 Road Force Balancer AND a guy who knows how to use it----afterwards the car will travel smooooooth as glass:laugh:
 
Thanks

Thanks for the replies, I am worried about not getting 100% out of my car. I know that my wheels need to be righted, but they were balanced when I installed the new sumis last month. As for the suspension everything it's new... Top plates, shocks, wheel bearings, tires,... I haven't touched any of the rods or bushings, because I would go berzerk and replace everything.

On an RPM level 4200*60Mph is ok then? Man I wish I had a 6th gear!
 
There was a 13" stock wheel that was repaired on the current X which has a similar vibration problem at over 60 Mph.. The repair looked good, wheel balanced up fine, but still caused vibration.
This wheel could have been out of round or ?

Replaced all four wheels and the X now rolls with no bad vibes even at xyz digit speeds.

At some point of X ownership, all those suspension bits will need attention.. go berzerk not or later...


Dany said:
Thanks for the replies, I am worried about not getting 100% out of my car. I know that my wheels need to be righted, but they were balanced when I installed the new sumis last month. As for the suspension everything it's new... Top plates, shocks, wheel bearings, tires,... I haven't touched any of the rods or bushings, because I would go berzerk and replace everything.

On an RPM level 4200*60Mph is ok then? Man I wish I had a 6th gear!
Click to expand...
 
I'll second the Hunter recommendation...

"Road Force" balancing has (for me) twice diagnosed a vibration problem not found with a standard balance...
 
Speed

Dany said:
did i correctly read 160??? is that kmh or mph?? either are wayyy more than what i've asked of mine! at 110kmh mine runs at 4200 rpms and the steering starts to shake... am i missing something? how high in rpms do you guys go on the highway?
i'm perplexed...:hmm:
Click to expand...

Yes, that was 160 Kph. The car will happily go to 170 but you start to really eat fuel for the extra 10Kph.

160 is just over 5000 RPM. I drove from Berlin to Zurich once (over 1000 kms) and stayed pretty close to 5000 RPM all day (on my 1500 carb X). These engines are amazing...

Dom.
 
Could this maybe be caused by a bend brake disc?
Or is 60 mph vibratoin typical for wheel imbalance.
/Paul
 
Another example of the the 1.5L durability.. We ran the LeMons X between 6,000 to 8,000 RPM full throttle for about 20 hours, lost coolant which caused a head gasket failure, replaced the gasket and run the car for the entire next day to the end of the race.

We then "hot rodded" the engine with motorcycle carbs and ran it just the same for several track test days, hour after hour with bumped up engine output. The car is out now for another track test day and after that, the LeMons race.

When car folks say FIATs are unreliable or fragile... think about this. Not bad for an 40 year old design. Lampredi got this one right.

What I will say for now about the LeMons X, it's faster than it was in December... More later.


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dcioccarelli said:
Yes, that was 160 Kph. The car will happily go to 170 but you start to really eat fuel for the extra 10Kph.

160 is just over 5000 RPM. I drove from Berlin to Zurich once (over 1000 kms) and stayed pretty close to 5000 RPM all day (on my 1500 carb X). These engines are amazing...

Dom.
Click to expand...
 
!!!!!!!!!!! ??????????????? :)))))

worthless.gif
 
i love the roadfoce 9700, we have one at work, and its by far the best piece of equipment ive used, if the tire is sorta out of round, sometimes if it is mounted differently on the rim, it reduces the vibration sometimes
 
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