I have joined the X1/9 party!

villainous

Low Mileage
hello!

i've been lurking this forum long enough to think it's time to say hi. very recently picked up my first Fiat, and it's an X1/9 (which i've been lovingly calling 'fette d'arancia'), and i couldn't be more thrilled. i also couldn't be more busy already, with about a billion things to fix/improve, but that's a topic for another thread. 😂 coming from a long line of (wonderful) Honda's there is certainly some new here, but all of the same joy of a spicy little car.

it's a 1500cc, 1980 in that trademark orange, that came with some pretty rad Campy's! some pics at the end, hopefully...

needless to say, this forum has been fantastic, and i'm very excited to be a part of keeping it that way! lots of adventure in the land of wrenches so far, so i'll make a point of documenting what i'm doing (hopefully) for all the other new owners as well.

i'll make another thread at some point revolving around the work i'm doing on the car, but i'll hint that the first goal is getting that engine feeling as peppy as the '86 CRX's that we've got as well (which is still 100kg lighter... i won't pretend that's not the case). wouldn't be a bad thing to get it as reliable as well! i admit i don't trust the X very much at this point, hahah.

anyways, chat soon!

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Welcome to the active side of the forum. Your new X looks to be in nice condition overall. That's a big plus because as you say, there will be plenty of other things to take care of without having to improve the general cosmetics.

Agreed, great wheels.

Personally I wouldn't try to compare it to your Honda. Unfortunately I think that will only lead to disappointment because they are two very different cars in every way. One is much more modern with all the advantages that come with that; practical, reliable, economical, comfortable, easy to live with. The other is old school and crude by comparison, but that's part of the charm I guess.

Being a '80 it could be either a carb or fuel injected engine. Personally I prefer the FI, so long as you get it sorted properly.

Keep us informed.
 
Hi @villainous,

Nice wheels. Most 1980 x19 in Canada were carbureted but I guess this one is FI (antenna on the passenger side, but it may be only a Quebec thing!)

I used to autolslalom my x1980 x19 and my biggest opponent in the class was a1984 CRX. But in the end, I was starting to beat it most of the time.
 
hi @Dr.Jeff @DanielForest thanks so much for the warm welcome!

i think you'd be surprised how similar the X and the 1st gen CRX are, actually! in my case, both i have are carbureted (and both the 'last years' of carburetors too), though one is a Hitachi and the other obviously a Weber. today, after correcting all of the timing issues and lightly retuning the Weber it's actually feeling quite a lot like the CRX! certainly different still, but both now into that eager feeling that i love. you're certainly right, though, about not comparing it to a more modern Honda in those specific terms, haha.

@jsadamski thank you so much!! i was lucky to have come across it locally through a friend of a friend. yours looks great as well!
 
Wheels are super cool. Just picked up my first X this last Nov and have been going through it. The forum is really helpful. Tons of info. Will be fun to see another project progress. Keep us informed.
 
Welcome and yes your new ride looks very nice. Some of the best rims ever offered on an X.

If it is allowed, removing as much of the power robbing crap applied to the end of the carb era would be of benefit with hopefully a simpler carb with fewer potential vacuum leaks.

Looking forward to seeing where you take it.

All the best and congrats on a great purchase.
 
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Coming to the party late...

Just wanted to add my welcome as well!

A word of "good" advice...

Before you do ANYTHING, check here first! Maybe leave out asking about the "best oil" or filter kinda thing as there will be a plethora of opinions, but just about everything else will have a bit of a "twist" to it and we can save you a lot of time, money and frustration.

As an example, the first time I changed out my alternator took over 2 hours from the bottom. Now it takes 15 minutes via the trunk access panel. I had the car 15 years and never knew that panel existed... and from '78 on back it didn't.

Secondly, the Bosch and Marelli Alternators are fragile. NEVER jump start another car from yours as 80% of the time when the other car starts it will either cook your regulator or rectifier. Originals or getting them rebuilt can be expensive or difficult... and you'll have the same fragile alt. There are simple some mods using a GM alternator or some Japanese equivalents.

Again... WELCOME to the DARK SIDE!

(Remember always that good advice usually comes from experience, and most of those experiences are bad...)
 
Welcome! Now, if you really want to wake up your car, add a better cam to it. You would be surprised how much of a difference a more aggressive cam makes for driving, and it does not hurt drivability unless you go with some crazy profile.

Looking forward to seeing your progress!
 
Thanks everyone for the very warm welcome! It's been busy for me lately, and haven't had a lot of time to work with the Fiat. It's running well generally anyways, though I'm soon to head into a thorough coolant leak check soon, hah. Still can make a trip around town no problem so haven't been too worried! Anyways, expect to hear from me in the future, for sure!
 
Thanks everyone for the very warm welcome! It's been busy for me lately, and haven't had a lot of time to work with the Fiat. It's running well generally anyways, though I'm soon to head into a thorough coolant leak check soon, hah. Still can make a trip around town no problem so haven't been too worried! Anyways, expect to hear from me in the future, for sure!
There is a great thread in the “Best Of Xweb” under the Workshop part of the forum where you can see what you should start planning to replace or work on with your X. Some of the things may already be done but it will give you a sense of the scope of future work.

I am not a fan of replacing things just to replace them but there are definitely things which should be done sooner than later (flexible brake lines, fuel lines) that affect safety and general reliability. Servicing the brakes is inexpensive and will ensure great stopping which this car is very capable of, it is easy work on this car and won’t take long aside from the bleeding which some people have trouble with.
 
Coming to the party late...

Just wanted to add my welcome as well!

A word of "good" advice...

Before you do ANYTHING, check here first! Maybe leave out asking about the "best oil" or filter kinda thing as there will be a plethora of opinions, but just about everything else will have a bit of a "twist" to it and we can save you a lot of time, money and frustration.

As an example, the first time I changed out my alternator took over 2 hours from the bottom. Now it takes 15 minutes via the trunk access panel. I had the car 15 years and never knew that panel existed... and from '78 on back it didn't.

Secondly, the Bosch and Marelli Alternators are fragile. NEVER jump start another car from yours as 80% of the time when the other car starts it will either cook your regulator or rectifier. Originals or getting them rebuilt can be expensive or difficult... and you'll have the same fragile alt. There are simple some mods using a GM alternator or some Japanese equivalents.

Again... WELCOME to the DARK SIDE!

(Remember always that good advice usually comes from experience, and most of those experiences are bad...)
So on my ‘74, there’s no access panel? How long would an unfamiliar tech need then to change an alternator on one of these - I’ve read some posts saying up to FIVE hours? Would you recommend alternators other than Bosch & Marelli?
 
Keep in mind that if you pick another brand, you'll almost certainly have to modify the related brackets etc, or fabricate new ones. People here have put in Delco 10si alternators. Cheap and easy to find, but fabrication needed. I don't know if they are better than the Bosch units, though.
 
So on my ‘74, there’s no access panel? How long would an unfamiliar tech need then to change an alternator on one of these - I’ve read some posts saying up to FIVE hours? Would you recommend alternators other than Bosch & Marelli?
I hesitate to mention this, since you are relying on paid mechanics to work on your car, but a very common alternative is to fit a Delco alternator. It does require a some custom modification to the mounting bracket but this has been well documented in the past. It may be in the Wiki.

I really couldn't say how long an unfamiliar tech would take to change the alternator on a '74.
 
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