Making of a 308 interior

That is a major piece of bracing, clearly much heavier than is what's needed to just support a center console. I would leave it in place, even racing Xs have it in place. You are customizing an X, not recreating a 308 so a little diversion is just fine. You climb into an X and wear it like a worn pair if jeans, a spider you jump into like hopping onto your favorite couch.

Having spouted all that, I'm willing to bet that in normal day to day street driving you wouldn't notice the brace missing but who wants to take the chance.

Indeed. 308s probably don't need any reinforcement in this area as they have tube (space) frames.
 
Shame there are no crash test pics of an X1/9 cabin to see how it deforms under impact. Honestly, what bothers me more than what may happen if that compresses (since you'd likely be dead/crushed if the metal deformed significantly that far into the cabin), is the lack of side impact protection for the driver/passenger if hit in the middle of the door. I've considered adding shallow box section from the sill to the tunnel, to mimic what is used on all the Volvos' I've owned :D
 
I've considered adding shallow box section from the sill to the tunnel, to mimic what is used on all the Volvos' I've owned

I think one is built into the floor already where the front and back floor pans overlap. The resulting 'box section' is about 3" wide and around 1.5" high but runs thru the center tunnel. Not sure if these pics help, and maybe you're thinking of something bigger/beefier (Volvo!)
IMG_0430.JPG
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Based on Jeff vanDyke's unfortunate exxe, not sure that helps all that much as modern car bumpers are so much higher.
 
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Based on Jeff vanDyke's unfortunate exxe, not sure that helps all that much as modern car bumpers are so much higher.[/QUOTE]

Makes me want to install a roll bar so I can have door bars added.
 
In those days Blaupunkt was a leader in automotive sound systems. But unfortunately that has changed. The company was taken over by Bosch several years ago, who then decided to discontinue the brand. So they sold the name to other companies. For the US market (only) it was purchased by a Chinese company that has slapped the name/logo on a VERY inferior line of garbage radios. Do not confuse the old Blaupunkt name and great German quality with what is currently wearing the badge. In other parts of the world the brand name is owned by other companies but I cannot speak for their products (other than to say they are NOT the German Blaupunkt). This may make original units like yours collectible so hang on to it.

Mike, as a new member please feel free to start a introduction thread and tell us all about your vehicles. But be warned, we love seeing lots of pictures.
 
I've spent a few hours over the past number of days cleaning the cockpit up a bit. I'm going to remove the heater core and associated fan and cables. It's just so nice and tidy in there without them. (I will put a few electric heaters in the dash in their place but I only intend to drive it in nice weather so they should just be a formality).
heatercore.jpg


Removal of the steering wheel was a real pain but I hear that is par for the course. I also removed the center console bracing mentioned previously to open up the space even more. I still have to weld in the support that is now lost so don't freak out just yet :) I plan on reinforcing the tunnel at the same time so the net difference should be minimal. An interesting side note: the tunnel was more "floppy" than I expected it to be once the bracing was removed. It's rather thin metal down there but I was expecting it to be a bit beefier honestly. I'm sure it will stiffen up once the new bracing is in but I am always amazed at how they can make even floppy stuff structural.
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I took carl's advice and went looking for 124 spider gauges and found some in my area. I have it planned to purchase them from a guy on Monday for $200 for the lot. They are pretty good and should fit the bill perfectly. The wonders of the internet gave me some great shots of the 308 gauge cluster that I could scale to spec after finding the exact hole sizes for the spider gauges. Heck I can even purchase the aluminum back plate replica for a 308 if the gauges are the same size - which they may very well be seeing as how they are from the same manufacturer.
gauges.jpg


Tomorrow I hope to get a good portion of the dash mocked out in polystyrene.
 
My shifter tunnel had several cracks in it near the shifter opening and apparently it's not all that uncommon. I think of reinforcing it but have no clue how to do it. As for temp heat, you could install seat heaters or wire up a motorcycle electric vest which I was going to do but realized my feet get cold really easy and those options wouldn't help me.
 
Clark, can you tell us (me) a bit more about electric heaters for cars? Seems like it might be a nice thing for those of us with stripped interiors. While I did reinstall my heater box with just a single lever to work the fresh air vent it would be nice to have an even simpler setup with no coolant hoses.
 
In those days Blaupunkt was a leader in automotive sound systems. But unfortunately that has changed. The company was taken over by Bosch several years ago, who then decided to discontinue the brand. So they sold the name to other companies. For the US market (only) it was purchased by a Chinese company that has slapped the name/logo on a VERY inferior line of garbage radios. Do not confuse the old Blaupunkt name and great German quality with what is currently wearing the badge. In other parts of the world the brand name is owned by other companies but I cannot speak for their products (other than to say they are NOT the German Blaupunkt). This may make original units like yours collectible so hang on to it.

This history of Blaupunkt is all wrong. Sorry Dr Jeff. Except he is right that modern Blaupunkt are all made in China, but the parent company is still German. There is no separate “USA only” ownership or branding, and the company had been owned by Bosch since the 30s. So “many years ago” is correct, but it wasn’t Bosch’s ownership that caused the China manufacturing.

2009 was when the company was divested from Bosch....currently owned by a German PE company but everything made in China.
 
BJ, I was in direct contact with the US offices of what was Blaupunkt (no longer is), and the US office of the Chinese company that now owns the US rights to the name. What I reported is what they told me. It could be wrong, but it came straight from those sources.
 
Clark, can you tell us (me) a bit more about electric heaters for cars? Seems like it might be a nice thing for those of us with stripped interiors. While I did reinstall my heater box with just a single lever to work the fresh air vent it would be nice to have an even simpler setup with no coolant hoses.
Hey Carl, electric heaters are a mixed bag. Around here most places sell the cheap $30 units (link) that plug into a cigarette lighter and aren't good for much. I have had a few in the past that I used for keeping dew off camera lenses when taking astrophotos all night under the stars. They can accomplish that but not much else. It sounds like you are looking to keep yourself warm. Sadly electric heaters are not going to work for that without a lot of effort as far as I know. It would require 1500W at a minimum and I am not aware of anything along those lines. Pretty sure something like that would necessitate an upgraded alternator too. If I end up needing heat to keep the fog off the X's windshield I would consider of a solution like this one - T7. There's a short video clip here.
 
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It seems using an electric heater would not be a very efficient method. The one referenced above by Clark is rated at 50 to 70 amps...combined with the usual electrical loads that's more than most X1/9 alternators output. Even with an upgraded alt it would not generate a lot of heat and require some really heavy gauge wires, etc.. Not to mention is is almost the same size as a stock heater core. I think there is a reason the automobile manufacturers don't use them.

Perhaps you could design a simple small radiator type heater using the hot coolant; same method as stock but more compact and locate it somewhere out of the way (spare tire well perhaps?). One "choke style" cable to open/close the valve and a little single speed fan to circulate the air. Take a look at JimD's suggestion to Carl in the following thread (scroll down to the middle of the page):
https://xwebforums.com/forum/index....hese-holes-in-the-firewall.33318/#post-284135
 
Yeah, seems short sighted to get rid of an established, reliable source of heating in lieu of adding stress to the electrical system.
 
I have no problem with the stock heater on my X, was just curios about electric alternatives. I have only one control, leave the vale on "hot", and use the fresh air vent to modulate the use of the heater, I don't have the fan installed as I have ever used the heater fan, once you get moving air flows very nice through a Fiat heater. I don't have any of the ducting to defrost as I would never take the car out if the weather was iffy.
 
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