Lancia Scorpion #1733 -- new owner, project start

Jealous, but In a good way, maybe envious is a better word. Good luck with the project.

Signed,
Just a regular guy
 
Meanwhile, Matt at MWB told me just to keep the incorrect rebuild kit and he'll refund me, so I'm all taken care of there. He also apologized for the continued hassle. I understand the challenges of running a small business and I will likely order from MWB again in the future, but I will place my order directly with Matt when I do.[/QUOTE]

I have only had one little hiccup and We are both baffled. (replaced all the injector hoses) and all the replacement hoses cracked and failed. Not even a second word was spoken and Matt Replaced the kit and asked for the defectives to be returned for inspection. I am guessing His hoses supplier had a bad batch or something replacement is holding up well, as is the 2nd set I purchased for the wifes X1/9. I am going to order another set for the Brown X1/9 that should be a soon to work on the project again.
 
When you have time, w I’d like to hear what you are doing in the way of the engine.

So, the engine is based on a new-old-stock 1.8-liter Scorpion short block I purchased last year (there are some pictures earlier in this thread). This is a nice advantage as I'm starting with a factory-fresh crank, rods, oil pump, etc. Obviously all seals, etc will be replaced with new. To that, I'm adding new 0.4 oversize, 4mm dome pistons for a compression ratio of 9.8:1, Serra B3 cams, dual 42 DCNF carbs on a correct Alquati Beta M.C. manifold, all new valvetrain with new-old-stock Abarth valves in standard size, and the Serra "rally" exhaust system. The cams, carbs and exhaust all came off the car's original engine which also had 9.8:1 CR pistons, but was seized.

I have an aluminum flywheel for the car (8 lbs), but we'll probably run a slightly lightened steel flywheel instead -- I'm nervous that an 8-lb flywheel is going to be no fun for street use. We are still figuring out which electronic ignition system to run. One of the issues there is that I won't be running vacuum advance with my carb setup and I don't want to run a vacuum advance distributor without the vacuum connected -- that seemed to create hesitant behavior around town in my old 2.0-liter 124 Spider. Incidentally, I didn't want to run a 2.0-liter engine in the Scorpion because I prefer the way the 1.8 revs to the 2.0-liter's torque. I want to enjoy running this car to 6k+ rpm.

The engine should be done with balancing this week and I'm hoping this all will put me at stock European 2L Montecarlo output of 120 hp, a roughly 50% increase from U.S. spec.
 
Another update! I've been slow to finish up the brake work with a few "life" things getting in the way, but got the new front brakes back on the car this past weekend including new pads, rotors, calipers and metal-braided hoses. Attention now turns to the rears, which will have all the same new parts. The last job and the worst, will be the new clutch and brake master cylinders along with replacing the old reservoir hoses.

One interesting thing I discovered: The car has been difficult to push around which I attributed to frozen brake calipers. That was certainly part of the problem, but I also found that the wheel stud conversion on the car had been done poorly. The studs had too much length on the end that was threaded into the hub and as each stud end passed the bearing housing behind, it would interfere and bind. I discovered this when I found the studs weren't very tight in the hub and I went to tighten them further. I think the car had been driven like this for quite some time and each stud end had a corner that was ground down. I took all the front studs out and replaced them with longer alloy-style conical lug bolts that I had laying around. Before the car gets back on the road, I'll order a new set of studs and nuts that are the appropriate length.

One issue I'm having now is that I replaced the front Epsilon wheels with the Ronal A1 replicas I recently bought, shod with 195/50/15 Dunlop Direzza tires (the same size as the Falkens that were previously on the car). After bolting everything up, the inner sidewalls are slightly touching either the spring perch or spring itself -- I need to take a closer look exactly where this is occuring, but there is definite contact. The Ronal wheel offset is 25 and I'm running one stock 5mm spacer per side as the car had when I got it. The only other thing I can think of is that the material on my new rotors where they mount to the hub is thinner than that on the old rotors, causing the wheel to sit further back in the wheel well. The wheels don't appear super tucked-in, but there is about half an inch between the outer sidewall and the narrowest part of the fender lip.

Guess I'm going to need some thicker spacers in the front -- any suggestions? I know MWB sells them, but curious if there are other options folks are using.

Other than that, my mechanic tells me the new engine is undergoing final assembly this week and next, so it's going to be time to tow the car down for the installation. I'm still hopeful that I'll meet my goal of driving the car for the first time by the end of June, even if there's still some tweaking to do through July and August.
 
Things are coming along pretty well for you, glad to hear it. I respect your preference for the 1.8 & its revs over the torque of the 2.0. I do love the revs of the 1.8, but I also love the grunt from the 2.0. I had one of each in the '69 124 Spider I drove back in college. I think I'll go with the 2.0, but I'll be watching your thread with interest.
Curious as to where ya got yer pistons?
 
Curious as to where ya got yer pistons?

Pistons were from AutoRicambi, very happy with their service.

I checked the offset on my Epsilons and they’re 10 in the front. Plugged some numbers into an offset calculator and looks like I’ll need a 10mm spacer to have the same inner clearance as stock (which won’t be much, it appears). I think I’ll probably buy a set of 15mm spacers for the front but need to check rear offset too before I order.
 
here is a set of 15mm spacers on a scorpion front spindle

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@BEEK That's probably what I'm going to need. Looks like you're running 15mm spacers plus a factory 5mm spacer? Where did you source yours from?
 
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I noticed 5 lugs instead of 4... Fiat Dino wheel placed there just for looks?
That was a four-lug wheel, I sold it quite a while ago. I'm fairly sure the car had those on all four corners, before a previous owner switched to 15x7 three-piece Epsilons.
 
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@BEEK That's probably what I'm going to need. Looks like you're running 15mm spacers plus a factory 5mm spacer? Where did you source yours from?
I bought them on evilbay from demon-tweeks. They had hub-centric 4x98 15mm spacers with bolts. Cost me about 50.00 us for a pair.
search there
 
Wow, has it really been another 2.5 months since my last progress update? I should have taken photos, but I finally got around to getting the rear brakes just about buttoned up with new calipers, rotors and pads. I also purchased two new protective rubber boots for the parking brake cable because I chewed up the ones that were on there during disassembly. What I hadn't considered is what a pain it is to get the boots to stretch over the cable hardware. I still need to get them fitted and will likely try heat to soften up the boots and make them flexible enough to slide over the fittings. Then, I guess I really should pull out the pedal box and install the new clutch and brake master cylinders that I have. At least the car is no longer difficult to move around with the previously frozen brakes.

Regarding the engine, apparently things are ready to go back together (and have been for a bit) except that my shop has been unable to retrieve the completed cylinder head from the shop of the machinist it uses (who the owner swears is the best guy in the area). Apparently the shop has been closed and calls not responded to for several weeks -- the machinist is having some health issues, which isn't entirely uncommon with him I'm told. I dropped things off and commissioned the engine about six months ago, so I'm antsy to get this car on the road but understand these things take time and setbacks do tend to happen. Guess I'll just revel in the anticipation for that much longer.

Meanwhile the wheel spacers I bought don't really fit correctly and I'm past the return period, of course. The spacers are hub-centric and also have a machined lip to maintain the hub-centric fit to the wheel. Unfortunately, the lip on the actual hub of the car is thick enough that when the spacer is fit, it leaves a gap between the spacer and the back of the hub about 8mm thick. Even with a 5mm factory spacer behind the thicker 15mm aluminum spacer, there's still a few mm of gap to take up. All this said, after looking under the car, I think all I really need is two stock 5mm spacers on each side to give enough clearance between the sidewall and spring perch.

That's about it for now...
 
Good to get an update there. You might try hot water that's just off the boil for heating the rubber bits. I did that a lot when I used to service commercial espresso machines, worked well.

I look forward to your observations about your motor & its performance. I suspect that the best people to work on such a motor are none too young & have age-related health problems. I respect your patience.

Be glad you're not painting your car in your garage, it's such a labor of love...


Keep posting, I'd love to see more X1/20 content to keep me motivated.
 
Be glad you're not painting your car in your garage, it's such a labor of love...

Yeah, my car is going to need paint too, might be in the budget next year. Interested in your progress, sounds like you're doing the job yourself? I'm not sure I have the ability, but all I hear are nightmare stories about commercial paint shops -- cars sitting for months or years without progress, poor results, over budget jobs, etc. Sounds like a real crap shoot out there unless you "know someone." And even then...
 
Yeah, doing it myself. It’s a love/hate kinda thing. I’m more of an artist than an engineer, so I’m better suited to bodywork & paint/interior than to wrenching. I can get’r’done with the wrenches, but god forbid someone watch me do it. I know what I’m doing but I’m also severely (honestly for real) dyslexic, so wrenching takes me forever. Probably shouldn’t drive a damn car to begin with ; )

I’ll get progress pics up soon, but all cars during bodywork look like sh!t. It looks really awkward without its buttresses & bumpers on it, and since I’m also an idiot I’ve covered my new interior in dust... the bodywork is mostly done, it’ll be in 2k primer before it’s too cold in the garage to spray it.

The metal is so very thin on these cars as to retain a millimeter or two of lightweight filler even on undamaged panels. The sanding block doesn’t lie. About half of each undamaged panel is left with a very thin layer of 2k spot putty on it. At least I have a frunk lid with zero rust on the vents, that still amazes me.

It’s all budget-driven work regarding body & paint, & I understand why this service costs so much. At least your car looks presentable as-is for now & won’t require an initial sanding with 60 grit like mine.
 
My car is really more of a 10-footer as you'll see in the photos below. It was sprayed black over the original gold and the black is starting to shrink, crack and peel. Worst spot is around the A-pillar/windshield frame and the front hood -- if I just resprayed those sections, the car would look 50% better. But if you look at the paint closely, nearly everywhere, especially on top-facing surfaces, it's starting to let go with little micro cracks that will only get bigger. I think all the black paint is going to have to be sanded off to at least get back down to the gold again, if not bare metal, before the respray.

My trunk lid also seems to be rust free around those vents, but as you can see in one of the photos, a little surface rust has started near an area of cracked paint. I feel like the car can't really be driven in the wet as it is right now (or washed with water), so that limits how I'll be able to use it before I have it resprayed.

I'm assuming you've done this sort of thing before. You sound like you know what you're talking about!
IMG_1179.jpg IMG_1180.jpg IMG_1181.jpg IMG_1182.jpg IMG_1184.jpg
 
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The adventure continues...

Today, I got to pulling the pedal box to replace both brake and clutch master cylinders. As with the rest of the brake system, I got lucky with the hard lines and each fitting came off cleanly with a flare nut wrench. There was some cursing as I lay on my back in the footwell wrestling with the steering column, but a little over an hour later I had everything removed. Upon disassembly, the box looked like it was in pretty good condition without any real corrosion. The cylinders themselves even looked pretty good externally, but since the calipers were in awful shape inside, it's probably best just to start from scratch with new cylinders.

The major issue I ran into is that upon removing the clutch pedal, I realized the welded on stud that hinges the pedal to the box with a nut was partially broken (pics attached). So it looks like I need a new clutch pedal! Anyone have one to sell me? These are also the same as X1/9, right? Anyone seen this failure before? I've also pointed to the bolt on the assembly so everyone is clear where it is.

I'll also be replacing all the old cloth braided hose with new stuff from Matt @ Midwest-Bayless, where I also ordered the new cylinders. It looks like all the old plastic nipple fittings are smaller diameter than the hose I was supplied and the same size as the new clutch master fitting. My new brake fittings are the larger size to match the hose. I have an old NOS brake master with a larger fitting, so I'll swap that out on the new clutch master and everything should be fine there.

I'm also considering installing some OMP aluminum pedal covers that I've had laying around while I have the assembly out. They're just slightly larger than the stock pedals and might feel a bit better under foot.

Was hoping to get the whole assembly back in the car today, but looks like that won't happen until I source a new clutch pedal. One step forward, one step back (per usual).

broken-bolt.JPG broken-bolt2.JPG pedalbox1.JPG new-cylinders.JPG new-pedal.JPG
 
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