my 1.6 16v swap

[Daniele]

Hi to all the forum, I'm opening this thread to share with you the preparation of a 1.6 16v engine that I'm going to mount on my fiat x1/9, in the meantime here are some photos of the engine in its current state

but this is already the final result, before reaching this point I had to solve some problems regarding the swap on the fiat x1/9 and the carburetor conversion, but let's go one step at a time

the first big problem was mounting the engine support on the distribution side, this is because I didn't want to modify the chassis and the engine supports, I tried to adapt the engine to the car and not vice versa.
I then changed the position of the timing belt, as if that wasn't enough, I didn't even want to make holes on the block, so I created a plate to use the holes already present.

 

[Daniele]

the central support, the one attached to the engine head, was much simpler (Don't judge my welds, I don't know how to weld)

 

[Daniele]

sorry if I continue the story through the replies, but I can't add more than 25 photos at a time and I have many photos of the project, anyway let's move on, once the supports are made, the timing belt is modified, it's time to modify the serpentine belt, I chose to move on to a V-type belt because it is much narrower (I had space problems with the frame) and because it is the same type that was originally mounted on the x1/9.
so I bought a replacement water pump with the pulley for this type of belt, an alternator of the same model mounted on the x1/9 and I had to machine a new pulley for the crankshaft.

 

[Daniele]

we arrive at the chapter on the aluminum sump, this was not necessary, but the idea of having a normal steel oil sump instead of an aluminum one bothered me, so I bought an aluminum sump and an oil pump pick-up foot for the x1/9

 

[Daniele]

now let's move on to the last pieces of this project, I wanted to avoid as much as possible the idea of using an electronic control unit for injection and ignition, I wanted the car to be as simple as possible and faithful to the period, I therefore opted to convert the engine (originally with electronic injection) with carburetors, with distributor ignition, to do this I had to manufacture some parts and use parts from other engines, for example, the carburetors and the plenum come from an Alfaromeo, the distributor from a Fiat panda fire.

 

[Rupunzell]

Nice and interesting..

What was the Fiat donor car?
Where are you located?


Bernice

 

[Daniele]

Nice and interesting..

What was the Fiat donor car?
Where are you located?


Bernice

no donor car, I bought this engine at the junkyard, this type of engine was mounted on the fiat brava, bravo, multipla, marea and palio.
im located in italy

 

[Rupunzell]

Many years ago when Fiat North America dissolved, they had a sample Fiat Marea 1600cc twin cam in crate that was purchased by an exxe owner. The 1600cc twin cam with EFI was installed into an exxe chassis without much difficulty.

BTW, that intake manifold with the twin DCOEs and Fiat oem air box is kinda special.


Bernice

 

[tigeravg]

Thank goodness...an X modded with a Fiat engine.

What a great thing, to go into a junk yard and have your choice of any version of Fiat motor you like for a swap. I'd be in hog-heaven.

And nice machine work, Daniele.

 

[Rupunzell]

There are SO many modern Fiat/Alfa Romeo/Lancia engines/transaxles that could be installed into the exxe.. that were never imported to the US of A...

Time line for Fiat oily bits in the US of A expired in the later 1970's... Since then Fiat group designed/produced many, many, many modern variants never seen or known about in the US of A market..


Bernice

 

[Alex(Tenerife)]

Looks similar to some classic twin cam engine swaps I have seen.

I really like the Alloy sump swap and I have not seen the fiat branded air box looks cool. Have you measured it will fit like that? It looks quite high. I really hope it does fit, it looks awesome.

Can't wait to see more progress as it happens
Its projects like this that make me wonder what would of/could of happened had development of the X1/9 been continued.

 

[Dr.Jeff]

I love it, great project! Good plan and excellent work....keep it up. And keep us posted.

 

[Daniele]

Looks similar to some classic twin cam engine swaps I have seen.

I really like the Alloy sump swap and I have not seen the fiat branded air box looks cool. Have you measured it will fit like that? It looks quite high. I really hope it does fit, it looks awesome.

Can't wait to see more progress as it happens
Its projects like this that make me wonder what would of/could of happened had development of the X1/9 been continued.

the air box does not exist, I assembled it, the lower part is actually the air box of an Alfaromeo (I think of a 75 aka the Milano in the US market) the upper part with the writing fiat sedicivalvole, is It was designed by me and I then had it made by a company specialized in typographical clichés, given that it was not possible to obtain the same result with CNC machining, in fact the lid is not made of aluminium, but of magnesium, and the workmanship was carried out through the use of acid, in short, quite a nuisance, but the result pays off.
for the characters of the sixteen-valve writing I took inspiration from those present on the plenum of some Ferrari of the time, as regards the overall height, it should fit, but I'm not sure

 

[Daniele]

Many years ago when Fiat North America dissolved, they had a sample Fiat Marea 1600cc twin cam in crate that was purchased by an exxe owner. The 1600cc twin cam with EFI was installed into an exxe chassis without much difficulty.

BTW, that intake manifold with the twin DCOEs and Fiat oem air box is kinda special.


Bernice

the two carburettors and the lower part of the airbox come from an Alfaromeo, the upper part was made from scratch, designed by me and produced by a company specialized in typographical clichés, the design is freely inspired by that of the plenums of some Ferraris from the 80s (308, Testarossa)

 

[Daniele]

I love it, great project! Good plan and excellent work....keep it up. And keep us posted.

Don't worry, I will

 

[Daniele]

Thank goodness...an X modded with a Fiat engine.

What a great thing, to go into a junk yard and have your choice of any version of Fiat motor you like for a swap. I'd be in hog-heaven.

And nice machine work, Daniele.

thanks for the compliments, I use the lathe and the milling machine for hobby

 

[kmead]

Great project. Very nicely done. Amazing work, particularly in the rearrangement of the timing belt routing.

You answered all of my questions in your story. There have been a few of these engines in the US, Russ McBride bought one and installed it in an X. The engine he picked up was a prototype which had been being tested in Detroit as that period there was still a relationship between GM and Fiat.

My only suggestion revolves around how you executed the torque rod mount. As it sits right now your mount will act like a spring under load and will eventually fail at the fastener on top of your aluminum barrel you added from cyclical fatigue work hardening the part and it will likely snap.

At the least adding a fastener directly inline with where the load will be applied would help. I would add a solid quadrant to the side of the bracket to fastener into the end of your aluminum barrel. You wouldn’t need the rest of the strap over to the other cam box.

I can’t wait to see your install into the car.

Wow.

 

[JimD]

There have been a few of these engines in the US, Russ McBride bought one and installed it in an X. The engine he picked up was a prototype which had been being tested in Detroit as that period there was still a relationship between GM and Fiat.

I found an old link to the archives that mentioned Russ McBride's twin cam X and I was able to scrape these pictures from Daniel Tohill's old Photobucket account.

 

[Daniele]

Great project. Very nicely done. Amazing work, particularly in the rearrangement of the timing belt routing.

You answered all of my questions in your story. There have been a few of these engines in the US, Russ McBride bought one and installed it in an X. The engine he picked up was a prototype which had been being tested in Detroit as that period there was still a relationship between GM and Fiat.

My only suggestion revolves around how you executed the torque rod mount. As it sits right now your mount will act like a spring under load and will eventually fail at the fastener on top of your aluminum barrel you added from cyclical fatigue work hardening the part and it will likely snap.

At the least adding a fastener directly inline with where the load will be applied would help. I would add a solid quadrant to the side of the bracket to fastener into the end of your aluminum barrel. You wouldn’t need the rest of the strap over to the other cam box.

I can’t wait to see your install into the car.

Wow.

my bad, the photos are not updated, the additional screw you are talking about is there, but you can't see it because it is hidden by the engine support, as for the part that also connects the other camshaft, it has 2 functions, distribute the load and hold the spark plug wires in place, I will probably add more photos for these details.

 

[Daniele]

I found an old link to the archives that mentioned Russ McBride's twin cam X and I was able to scrape these pictures from Daniel Tohill's old Photobucket account.
View attachment 83125
View attachment 83122
View attachment 83123
View attachment 83124

so is the engine in the photos one of the prototypes imported into America?If you have any other information on this engine I would be very interested.