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Pistol Pete

Pistol Pete

Low Mileage
Hi, I am a new member to the forum world and have recently acquired a 1980 X1/9 from a family member. It needs a fair bit of work rust wise. When I got it home and got to look at it under lights I found that the brake fluid reservoir is cracked on top. The brakes are barely working as it has been sitting for at least ten years hence the rust. I will be pulling the calipers off for a going over in the near future. I get the feeling that the flex hoses are blocked as there is no fluid coming out of the bleeder when I apply pressure to the brake pedal. Can anyone tell me if cracks in the top of the reservoir will prevent the brakes from working? Obviously I will replace it when I can but I'm trying to work out where the main problem is.
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Welcome! Car looks good and straight, congratulations. The crack in the brake reservoir is common, those are hard to find but you can substitute other parts easily. The crack will have no effect on pumping fluid through the brake lines with the brake pedal. Your assumption that your brake hoses have swelled and need replacement is spot on.
 
Pete Whitstone said:
Welcome! Car looks good and straight, congratulations. The crack in the brake reservoir is common, those are hard to find but you can substitute other parts easily. The crack will have no effect on pumping fluid through the brake lines with the brake pedal. Your assumption that your brake hoses have swelled and need replacement is spot on.
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Thanks Pete, much appreciated. A little scared about the amount of rust I will find as I will be doing as much as I can by myself learning (a lot!) on the way.
 
I'd say the real problem is someone installed the steering wheel on the wrong side of your car.

Welcome aboard

I'm also new to X1/9s. But not new to FIATs, or rust. A word of caution on your brake reservoir - don't go running around too much with it like this. Brake fluid eats paint, so if it gets out it will leak into the cowling, and that's not good.
 
bradartigue said:
I'd say the real problem is someone installed the steering wheel on the wrong side of your car.

Welcome aboard

I'm also new to X1/9s. But not new to FIATs, or rust. A word of caution on your brake reservoir - don't go running around too much with it like this. Brake fluid eats paint, so if it gets out it will leak into the cowling, and that's not good.
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Thanks mate, the car has been unregistered since 2004 the brakes barely work at all so it's too dangerous to drive unfortunately. Fixing the brakes are first in the agenda so I can at least take it for a spin round the block!
 
Welcome to Xweb Pistol Pete!

You can use two clutch reservoirs instead of the one large brake reservoir. You would need to rework the bracket to hold the smaller reservoirs, but it works fine. The US model 74s came so equipped and my 1985 was converted to that setup by the previous owner.


Another possibility is to locate a brake reservoir from an older BMW. Occasionally Jeff Stich has a BMW kit for sale. You can probably find an old thread of his in the FS&W section.
 
JimD said:
Welcome to Xweb Pistol Pete!

You can use two clutch reservoirs instead of the one large brake reservoir. You would need to rework the bracket to hold the smaller reservoirs, but it works fine. The US model 74s came so equipped and my 1985 was converted to that setup by the previous owner.


Another possibility is to locate a brake reservoir from an older BMW. Occasionally Jeff Stich has a BMW kit for sale. You can probably find an old thread of his in the FS&W section.
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Awesome. Thanks for the info. I dare say I'm going to need a fair bit of advice for the work on this car. My experience with cars is mostly with old Holdens.
 
You can "fix" your cracked brake reservoir with a soldering iron if you're careful and it's not too bad, melt the crack closed, not pretty or permanent but will keep moisture out while you find a more elegant solution. Your calipers are probably seized or at least partially so, do the wheel(s) get really hot after driving a bit? Go around the block and see if any one wheel is excessively hotter than the others. These brakes are a little weird, the calipers slide on "wedges" and if the cars sit, the brakes don't slide like they should, I had to pound mine apart with a sledge hammer!
 
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Welcome! Great looking car! Have always loved that color. They could just call it "80" and you would know it is that green. Fiat and many GM cars in the early 80s used that color. I just did what you are about to do so a couple points I might add... I found a small brake cylinder home to be very useful. Spray all the fasteners with penatrant days before you start to disassemble. If you don't already have some be sure to get flare nut spanners for all your brake fittings. I am replacing both of my master cylinders and I can see the clutch MC was replaced using a vice-grip locking pliers and I hope I can get my spanners to work. The system is quite simple but don't overlook the wedges that hold the calipers in place. Clean and dress them up as well as the hangers they come in contact with. Any binding there can cause uneven wear and worse. Bleeding the system is the most fun! Toughest three days of any X1/9 owners life! Nah, really not that bad but sometimes you will get a fussy one that just doesn't want to bleed... Just keep at it and you will come out on top! Good luck!
Regards
 
Thanks for the info everyone, a copy of the Haynes workshop manual (AKA 'the bible) came with the car which looks pretty handy. I'm crossing my fingers that when I start cutting into it I don't expose more rust than I can fix. I will post some pics hopefully this weekend. Does anyone know any tricks to tuning the Weber?
 
jvandyke said:
You can "fix" your cracked brake reservoir with a soldering iron if you're careful and it's not too bad, melt the crack closed, not pretty or permanent but will keep moisture out while you find a more elegant solution. Your calipers are probably seized or at least partially so, do the wheel(s) get really hot after driving a bit? Go around the block and see if any one wheel is excessively hotter than the others. These brakes are little weird, the calipers slide on "wedges" and if the cars sit, the brakes don't slide like they should, I had to pound mine apart with a sledge hammer!
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I haven't had much of an opportunity to drive it but when I did I found that the front left locked up but the other discs still had a fine surface rust on them when I checked indicating that the pistons maybe seized in the caliper or there is a blockage preventing them from being pushed out?
 
We have a member who sells a kit periodically, that uses a reservior from a BMW check our for sale section.

Another vendor, same set up as above:
http://m.g.ebay.co.uk/itm/291925959094 this is apparently a Girling part so looking for that might elicit more choices.

Another alternative might be the Mitsubishi Eclipse which also shares the bottom/side outlet configuration, this hasn't been checked for correct sizing yet so ...if there is a junk yard near you might be able to have a look at one.

http://www.streettunedmotorsports.com/parts/oem_dsm_brake_fluid_reservoir_mb534535.htm
 
Pistol Pete said:
Hi, I am a new member to the forum world and have recently acquired a 1980 X1/9 from a family member. It needs a fair bit of work rust wise. When I got it home and got to look at it under lights I found that the brake fluid reservoir is cracked on top. The brakes are barely working as it has been sitting for at least ten years hence the rust. I will be pulling the calipers off for a going over in the near future. I get the feeling that the flex hoses are blocked as there is no fluid coming out of the bleeder when I apply pressure to the brake pedal. Can anyone tell me if cracks in the top of the reservoir will prevent the brakes from working? Obviously I will replace it when I can but I'm trying to work out where the main problem is. View attachment 1152 View attachment 1153
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Pete,

Welcome to the wonderful, wacky world of X1/9 ownership!

As many have stated, replacement alternatives are available for your brake reservoir. If you choose to try to repair it first, here's a tip that worked for me: simply "paint" the cracks on top with a thin bead of JB Weld. Granted it will look like its crawling with shiny gray worms but it works like a charm.

As for your rust issues, I've been down that road on my 83X rebuild. You just have to dive in and start going after the rust areas - one by one. Here's a detailed post that covers many of my rust remediation issues that you may find useful:
https://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/chronicle-of-a-rebuild-1983-x1-9.30983/#post-260237

Good luck and never hesitate to reach out to the Forum for help!

Ed
Austin, TX
 
Pistol Pete said:
Hi, I am a new member to the forum world and have recently acquired a 1980 X1/9 from a family member. It needs a fair bit of work rust wise. When I got it home and got to look at it under lights I found that the brake fluid reservoir is cracked on top. The brakes are barely working as it has been sitting for at least ten years hence the rust. I will be pulling the calipers off for a going over in the near future. I get the feeling that the flex hoses are blocked as there is no fluid coming out of the bleeder when I apply pressure to the brake pedal. Can anyone tell me if cracks in the top of the reservoir will prevent the brakes from working? Obviously I will replace it when I can but I'm trying to work out where the main problem is. View attachment 1152 View attachment 1153
Click to expand...

G'day mate...
I used to have the same model and colour for 11 years. Usual spots for rust are around windscreen, bottom of doors, sills, floor of boot, nose cone (as in yours), pretty much anywhere. If car lived near the ocean it can be too far gone to repair. I was given 2 exxies like that and they ended up at the metal recyclers. There is a book called FIAT X1/9 by Phil Ward and in Chapter 6 he talks about where rust occurs and how to fix it. There are some horrendous pictures of rusty panels which have occurred because of the salt they put on English roads.

You don't say where in Australia you are. If I knew that I might be able to recommend a local "expert" to contact. Have you found the X1/9 Australia website? http://www.x19.com.au The fellow that runs it (Mark) is a real enthusiast and owns 8 or 9 exxies! He is also one of our club's webmasters and I am President (Fiat Club of NSW). Based in Sydney. Mark will probably see this thread and chime in soon...
 
T
Warren Smith said:
G'day mate...
I used to have the same model and colour for 11 years. Usual spots for rust are around windscreen, bottom of doors, sills, floor of boot, nose cone (as in yours), pretty much anywhere. If car lived near the ocean it can be too far gone to repair. I was given 2 exxies like that and they ended up at the metal recyclers. There is a book called FIAT X1/9 by Phil Ward and in Chapter 6 he talks about where rust occurs and how to fix it. There are some horrendous pictures of rusty panels which have occurred because of the salt they put on English roads.

You don't say where in Australia you are. If I knew that I might be able to recommend a local "expert" to contact. Have you found the X1/9 Australia website? http://www.x19.com.au The fellow that runs it (Mark) is a real enthusiast and owns 8 or 9 exxies! He is also one of our club's webmasters and I am President (Fiat Club of NSW). Based in Sydney. Mark will probably see this thread and chime in soon...
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Thanks Warren, I'm in Hornsby about 20 minutes north of Sydney New South Wales.
 
Colltech said:
Pete,

Welcome to the wonderful, wacky world of X1/9 ownership!

As many have stated, replacement alternatives are available for your brake reservoir. If you choose to try to repair it first, here's a tip that worked for me: simply "paint" the cracks on top with a thin bead of JB Weld. Granted it will look like its crawling with shiny gray worms but it works like a charm.

As for your rust issues, I've been down that road on my 83X rebuild. You just have to dive in and start going after the rust areas - one by one. Here's a detailed post that covers many of my rust remediation issues that you may find useful:
https://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/chronicle-of-a-rebuild-1983-x1-9.30983/#post-260237

Good luck and never hesitate to reach out to the Forum for help!

Ed
Austin, TX
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Thanks Ed, the write up is gold. Hoping to start pulling apart this weekend so I'll post some pics then.
 
Hi Pete

Good to see your planning to get it back on the road. I send you a message with my email info if you like please make contact.
 
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