dcioccarelli
Dominic Cioccarelli
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.