Fiat Tempra Digital Dash Swap - '86 X1/9

ShadBawskers

ShadBawskers

Low Mileage
Hello Xweb!

Back in October my X1/9 was broken into and had it's ignition busted (they attempted to hotwire it) and they left it in the middle of a road. So I've been unable to start the car and see if transmission or anything else is messed up. Anyways, the car is now getting the repairs it needs and we're looking to do some other goodies to the car while it's under the knife.

One of those things being a Fiat Tempra digital dash swap. I picked up this part off eBay a couple years ago but havent done anything with it until now. The seller mentioned that folks have swapped these into X1/9's in the past but they never got around to it. They specified that it'll obviously take some electrical work and cutting of the dash but I think the digital 80's vibe would look super rad in the X1/9 once it's back on the roads. I've included a picture of the full dash but the part I've received is outlined in red since the other half of the dash is irrelevant to the X from my understanding.

Has anyone here done this swap or seen this in person? Any tips?

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Interesting. I have never heard of anyone putting a Tempra dash into an X1/9, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened. Hopefully someone here has some info for you.
 
There used to be a guy who posted here on X-Web named Ovi Trestaru who bought one of these. He sent it to me to sort out sensors for it (like 12 years ago) and I returned it to him but I don't know if he ever installed it. He was located somewhere in Bulgaria. Not much help here but you can see that few if any have taken this project on. I like the dash though. Looks pretty cool...

Here's a couple for those who are interested in trying it themselves...
https://www.ebay.it/itm/334436708032 -for parts or not working/ (might be fine, don't know)
https://www.ebay.it/itm/164405111232 -taken out of service. (assume working)
 
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bbrown said:
There used to be a guy who posted here on X-Web named Ovi Trestaru who bought one of these. He sent it to me to sort out sensors for it (like 12 years ago) and I returned it to him but I don't know if he ever installed it. He was located somewhere in Bulgaria. Not much help here but you can see that few if any have taken this project on. I like the dash though. Looks pretty cool...

Here's a couple for those who are interested in trying it themselves...
https://www.ebay.it/itm/334436708032 -for parts or not working/ (might be fine, don't know)
https://www.ebay.it/itm/164405111232 -taken out of service. (assume working)
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If you recall, do you mind if I ask what exactly you had to sort out with the sensors?
 
Really sorry to hear your car got vandalised like that. There are some (insert your own expletive) idiots out there.

This dash looks similar to the uno turbo digital dash which has been put into X1/9s before. This one looks more fun as the mileage is also digital.

What's the back of that dash look like? I love stuff like this very fitting to the era of our cars.

You probably need an electronic speedo sensor for the gearbox. much more reliable than a mechanical one which has a habit of wearing out and breaking.

No personal experience but I'd suggest playing with it on the bench with a spare battery and sensors and get it working there. You can try using the X1/9 coolant temp sensor, stick the hot end in a cup of boiling water and see if it reads about 100.

Take you time with it on the bench, have some fun and when you understand it all and its working, thats when I would look at fitting it.
 
ShadBawskers said:
If you recall, do you mind if I ask what exactly you had to sort out with the sensors?
Click to expand...
I had to sort out the values of the sensors, such as the Temperature, Oil pressure and Fuel senders. It was a long time ago, so (unfortunately) I don't have (or remember) the information on what I found. You might be able to get this by utilizing the original sensors used on the Tempra. That would be my recommendation at this point. with regard to the digital Speedo sensor, you definitely want to use the one from the Tempra. If it needs adjustment, (which is likely) I would get ahold of Yves Blackburn (here on X-Web) and ask him about the device he used for making this adjustment. From what I remember, it does a re-calculation of the pulses it receives and outputs an adjustable pulse train, giving you a proper number of pulses for your application. Hope this helps & makes sense ...
 
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