K20 Build at Midwest

[dcioccarelli]

View attachment 12246...fixed the electrical issues this car would still be on the market today.

I'd like to know what other people think of this particular point. From my perspective, the X1/9 electrical system was quite good for its day. I've owned a 1978, 1981 and 1988 and never had any major issues (except for 2 caused by previous owner mods). The "brown wire mod" was really only required on one of the cars and that was already detailed as being required from the factory. Other than that, I can't think of any issues. Remember that you need to compare with cars of the same period. If I look at the Lucas system in my brother's MGB, there I might have something to say...

As for the X1/9, I find that the quality of the wiring to be very good. The wiring itself, the connectors and the switchgear is all first class. On my '78 for example, I have had no issues. I did upgrade the fuse holder to a blade fuse setup a couple of years ago, but this type of fuse wasn't available in 1978.

Often, people blame the electrical system for issues that are self-inflicted. One example is retrofitting halogen globes to early cars. The system was simply not designed for the extra current which will lead to a failure of the low / high beam switch in short order. The solution is obviously to add a relay, but this is in no means a design failure in the original wiring which was only designed to accommodate 50W incandescent globes.

If you compare (stock) X1/9 electrics to cars of the era (even Japanese or German cars) I really don't think the X1/9 is any worse.

Cheers,
Dom.

 

[kmead]

I have had few problems with electrical on any of my Fiats, the biggest issues have been from people who have effed up the system thinking they know what they are doing.

I would agree that getting them to a blade type fuse is huge improvement.

On the 87 it has had 3 issues which I have resolved, a really bad resolution of a brown wire mod/fix, a wire that had broken on one of the large connectors on the back of the fuse box and a failed connection of a ground in one of the taillight housings which caused a shared ground to be used by the turn signal making the running light flash. On my 85 no issues. On my 80 no issues. On my 124 Sport Coupe no issue aside from some minor ground problems with the side markers which is no surprise and on my 850 Sport Coupe no issues with the system itself but I have had problems with the modification from generator to alternator I did in the early 90s. I will be changing that to another less complex system.

So all in all in my experience Fiat electrical systems work well if they are maintained and not screwed with. That and being kept out of the salt which my cars have never suffered.

 

[hotx19]

Could you please post a couple of pics of the exhaust and header setup
It sounds very nice and as I am attempting the conversion ATM I'd like to see what you've used etc
Thanks again
Great looking car also

 

[Rupunzell]

Fiat management would have NEVER produced the exxe. The only reason why the exxe ever touched a road was due to Giovanni Agnelli ordering the production of the exxe. Fiat management wanted a FWD two seater in the 128 model line-up. Last thing Fiat management wanted was a small mid-engine two seater. By very early 80's Fiat had essentially given up on the exxe and granted rights of production to Bertone. While Fiat continued to supply exxe bits to Bertone, it was essentially a Bertone production car there after. Fiat management was DRIVEN to stunt any potential development of the exxe.

It should be known that Fiat contracted Bertone to accept a huge lot of USA spec and other spec 1500cc power trains regardless if Bertone used them or not. This was another reason why the exxe never got a power train "up grade" after the 1500cc/5sp.

As for better power trains, this could have been easily accomplished by Fiat if they were interested. Fiat could easily put any of the performance Abarth designed engines with suitable gear box into mass production and put a far more powerful power train in the exxe, up the chassis-suspension and a LOT more on the exxe, but there was absolutely ZERO interest or motivation to do this. This is also why the exxe was never put into the winner circle by Fiat as there was ZERO interest or intent to allow the exxe this kind of market status or market identity. Fiat was interested in selling motor vehicles by the millions, not a few hundred at best.


Bernice

I also think Fiat would have jumped at the chance to build a more powerful power plant for the X. If they had the tech we have today, I couldn't imagine what it would look like. I think Brayden's builds are by far the best. Love to see his k20 with some boost. 300 HP is easily had. Heck, it can be done with internals only upgrades, but easily reachable with a supercharger + stock k20 or k24.

 

[Rupunzell]

From the vantage point of knowing more than a few folks who are investors... Investors put $ into the US only due to return on investment, this does NOT help those who have no ability to invest. This is predatory in more ways than most would ever know and does ZERO to help anyone who is not a banker-investor-stock holder. Facts are, jobs and employee wellbeing are NOT the goals of investors, they only care about return on their investment.

I'll leave this here, as this easily degenerated in to a political no-win battle.


Bernice

On a side note a little over a year ago they US stock market led the Canadian stock market by 2000 points, then Donald Trump got voted into the picture, the result, your market leads the Canadian market by 8500 points. Say what you want about Trump, investors are putting money into the US market. Canada has increased interest rates and that helped our dollar a bit, but it slid when we entered into the realm of Carbon tax, Green Energy, environmental regulation and higher taxes. Clearly the US is the place to invest your dollars. This hurts us with the US dollar being so strong when buying from the USA and it is a hard number to swallow when quoted in US dollars knowing that currently another 30% has to be added to that number.