The pros/The cons?

Yes, I have 6 vehicles, an X 1/9 will make 7. FI it is! Ha ha!

Well then, your decision seems made and I won't say anymore. This forum is good for questions like yours although we tend to drift off topic a lot which surprisingly didn't happen here.
 
Well then, your decision seems made and I won't say anymore. This forum is good for questions like yours although we tend to drift off topic a lot which surprisingly didn't happen here.

I am happy when topics drift, because I still get to learn something relevant to the X 1/9.

A lot of wisdom on XWeb, and I love it.

I cannot wait to get my own car so I can experience the annoyance and bliss of X 1/9 ownership. Ha ha!
 
Carb or FI is immaterial, as it certainly doable and not a bank-breaker to buy one kind and make it the other, and vice versa. Esp now that the repro fuel tanks available can do both.

If you are a home mechanic kind of guy, and you are looking at two cars, the tie-breaker is NOT what type of induction it has. The tie breaker is ALWAYS "How good is the body?" with the answer firmly rooted and based on a THOROUGH inspection by someone experienced in where our cars rust.

BUY THE BEST BODY***, everything else falls into place.

***The only time the above advice does not apply is if you are a superbly accomplished restorer of classic cars with exceptional metal and rust repair skills.
 
Carb or FI is immaterial, as it certainly doable and not a bank-breaker to buy one kind and make it the other, and vice versa. Esp now that the repro fuel tanks available can do both.

If you are a home mechanic kind of guy, and you are looking at two cars, the tie-breaker is NOT what type of induction it has. The tie breaker is ALWAYS "How good is the body?" with the answer firmly rooted and based on a THOROUGH inspection by someone experienced in where our cars rust.

BUY THE BEST BODY***, everything else falls into place.

***The only time the above advice does not apply is if you are a superbly accomplished restorer of classic cars with exceptional metal and rust repair skills.

Interesting you say that...I am looking at one right now. It is clean, and very straight. I checked inside the headlamp buckets/inspection panels, under the doors, wheel wells, the chassis sills, the frunk and rear trunk (with all carpet/padding removed), and the A-pillars, door jambs where the door meets the body/hinges, shock towers at all four corners, trunk corners ...and all the fasteners, from the shock towers, hood/trunk hinges...all of them...are bright, shiny, unpainted, and rust free. This car was so very well loved, and it shows.

I would prefer FI, but this car is so damned good, such an outlier as far as condition is concerned, I may have to just buy this particular car. Even though I am not in love with the color, it is original. All I am finding otherwise are problem cars, rusty hulks that have very poor bodies, masked by terrible paint, and lots of botched repairs.

I have heard it said about X 1/9s, but also classic cars in general: "Mechanical work is not expensive, but bodywork will bankrupt a person."

I am looking for the best body, and most complete car I can find, for a price within my budget. I will address the other things after I acquire it.
 
Carb or FI is immaterial, as it certainly doable and not a bank-breaker to buy one kind and make it the other, and vice versa. Esp now that the repro fuel tanks available can do both.

If you are a home mechanic kind of guy, and you are looking at two cars, the tie-breaker is NOT what type of induction it has. The tie breaker is ALWAYS "How good is the body?" with the answer firmly rooted and based on a THOROUGH inspection by someone experienced in where our cars rust.

BUY THE BEST BODY***, everything else falls into place.

***The only time the above advice does not apply is if you are a superbly accomplished restorer of classic cars with exceptional metal and rust repair skills.

Fuel injection is superior to the carburetor in so many ways, otherwise car manufacturers would not have replaced carbs with injection.
However when I am out in the sticks with out a parts store for a hundred miles around and a fuel delivery problem does arise I would rather it be with a carbureted vehicle.
Worst case scenario you can always punch a hole in the hood a dribble gas into a carb to get you at least with in walking distance of help.
 
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Fuel injection is superior to the carburetor in so many ways, otherwise car manufacturers would not have replaced carbs with injection.
However when I am out in the sticks with out a parts store for a hundred miles around and a fuel delivery problem does arise I would rather it be with a carbonated vehicle.
Worst case scenario you can always punch a hole in the hood a dribble gas into a cab to get you at least with in walking distance of help.

Carbonated? So you are a Champagne kind of person, not into Moscatos?

I had to do it. I can't be held responsible. Ha ha!
 
Ah, but nothing will give you ‘that sound’ other than dual open throat Webers! :p :cool:
Yes, it is hard to beat the sound and throttle response. I put mine on in 1980 when it was a pretty popular upgrade. If I were doing a performance upgrade today, I'd likely go the FI route. For what they are getting for Webers now, you could probably put together an FI system with better drivability and performance. Maybe four throttle bodies could replicate some of the dual Weber characteristics but I suppose that could get expensive.
 
Yes, it is hard to beat the sound and throttle response. I put mine on in 1980 when it was a pretty popular upgrade. If I were doing a performance upgrade today, I'd likely go the FI route. For what they are getting for Webers now, you could probably put together an FI system with better drivability and performance. Maybe four throttle bodies could replicate some of the dual Weber characteristics but I suppose that could get expensive.

Yes, but dual DCOEs are so hard to beat for appearance, and "period-correctness"...I love both, carbs and FI, but for different reasons.
 
Not necessary, friend.

Just enjoying a great discussion with my comrades.

Taken in the humor as intended.

So now, lets talk engine sounds, Vroom Vroom.

I got a thrill listening to my 128 with a 79 Strada at red line+ but also have come to enjoy the soft hum of the electric in my X when I am putting a load on it coming out of a turn or just accelerating.

There is sound and there is noise.

I have twenty six inch glass packs on my FJ40 with a 350 Chevy engine.
It has a throaty rumble up to about 2000 rpm but passed that it starts getting loud.
Not that rappy pipe sound that some of the good old boys around here seams to like, just your average every day loud.

Other than Fiats I have had Chevy's that sounded good when cruising but have always thought older Ford V8's with duel exhaust had the best sound.
The rare Ford in my family was a 63 with a fairly stock 289 and flow masters my son and I fixed up for him when he was 16 y/o that made many guys think it was a bigger engine than it was.

The 1500 Strada I had went through some tonal changes while I had it.
I drove it the first year or so with the stock 2bbl but wanted duel Web's but had no money.
I did have a big 1 3/4 S U that I adapted to the stock intake manifold.
It worked pretty good but I never got the proper needle taper so it had a flat spot when accelerating in the higher rpm's.

The sound was interesting though.
It is hard to explain. It was pretty much Fiat when driving but when you revved it or let off the gas slowing down it sounded like it was going to suck the air cleaner through the intake. The slider piston would flutter making it do that. It didn't seem to add or subtract to performance but sounded kind of mean.
I only ran the S U for a couple of weeks and then went back to the 2bbl.

My next endeavor was two 2bbl's. I made a manifold to accommodate 2 datra 32's and ran them for many years until I got rid of the car.
It was kind of like having a 4bbl.
I first had separate air cleaners and the engine was louder than normal at highway speed so made a larger one piece air cleaner that fit over both carbs and that brought it down closer to normal interior noise.
When all the butterfly's were open at 8000 rpm it sounded like an Indy car.
I drove the car, with those carbs, coast to coast several times with no problems and got as high as 40 mpg if I kept the tack steady at around 60 mph.

If you haven't figured it out I am a shade tree first class but have managed to do some weird but functional stuff.
 
Taken in the humor as intended.

So now, lets talk engine sounds, Vroom Vroom.

I got a thrill listening to my 128 with a 79 Strada at red line+ but also have come to enjoy the soft hum of the electric in my X when I am putting a load on it coming out of a turn or just accelerating.

There is sound and there is noise.

I have twenty six inch glass packs on my FJ40 with a 350 Chevy engine.
It has a throaty rumble up to about 2000 rpm but passed that it starts getting loud.
Not that rappy pipe sound that some of the good old boys around here seams to like, just your average every day loud.

Other than Fiats I have had Chevy's that sounded good when cruising but have always thought older Ford V8's with duel exhaust had the best sound.
The rare Ford in my family was a 63 with a fairly stock 289 and flow masters my son and I fixed up for him when he was 16 y/o that made many guys think it was a bigger engine than it was.

The 1500 Strada I had went through some tonal changes while I had it.
I drove it the first year or so with the stock 2bbl but wanted duel Web's but had no money.
I did have a big 1 3/4 S U that I adapted to the stock intake manifold.
It worked pretty good but I never got the proper needle taper so it had a flat spot when accelerating in the higher rpm's.

The sound was interesting though.
It is hard to explain. It was pretty much Fiat when driving but when you revved it or let off the gas slowing down it sounded like it was going to suck the air cleaner through the intake. The slider piston would flutter making it do that. It didn't seem to add or subtract to performance but sounded kind of mean.
I only ran the S U for a couple of weeks and then went back to the 2bbl.

My next endeavor was two 2bbl's. I made a manifold to accommodate 2 datra 32's and ran them for many years until I got rid of the car.
It was kind of like having a 4bbl.
I first had separate air cleaners and the engine was louder than normal at highway speed so made a larger one piece air cleaner that fit over both carbs and that brought it down closer to normal interior noise.
When all the butterfly's were open at 8000 rpm it sounded like an Indy car.
I drove the car, with those carbs, coast to coast several times with no problems and got as high as 40 mpg if I kept the tack steady at around 60 mph.

If you haven't figured it out I am a shade tree first class but have managed to do some weird but functional stuff.

Outstanding. Are the twin Del' Ortos any good? Or, if I run carbs, should I stick with a single or twin Webers?

I want everyday usability with as little retuning/synching as possible...if I were not to go with a FI car.
 
I'm impressed that some on this site have had FI cars for years and never had an FI problem. I sold my Little Sister FI car because I could never get it to run properly - even after multiple wrenching sessions with two mega-experienced forum members. So given that I did not want to modify it, I sold it to someone more talented. Looking back, I wish I had just pulled the FI and set it aside, and gone with a carb. Then I could enjoy the car and yet still return it to stock if desired. After that experience, I am carb-only. I like being able to upgrade my cam without having to worry about it playing nicely with the FI. I also am so old that when I grew up pretty much everything was carbed, and for the most part once they were set up, we were done and just drove them. Yes, you have to warm them up (but don't you want to somewhat anyway?) prior to driving off, but a dialed-in carb car should run crisply and quickly. A friend of mine is an LS swapper, and always retains the FI, but he also tends to spend weeks chasing down issues with idling, hesitation, etc. So.. as I review this, it seems like I am saying carbs are king and FI is crap. I actually love FI, but I love it on new cars that don't have bunches of 40-year old electronics to deal with. I also greatly respect those on this site that keep them working and enjoy the cars as they were designed, or have the mental capacity and cash to go with aftermarket FI X1/9 solutions. I just can't seem to get there.
 
Take your choice, horizontal.

IMG_0542[2].JPG


or vertical
IMG_1124[1].JPG


The good sounds are there and you don't have to pay for expensive stereo stuff.

Absolutely nothing wrong with a simple two barrel on an X if you have it jetted correctly....with FI there are sooooo many components and wires and sensors.
 
Take your choice, horizontal.

View attachment 25992

or vertical
View attachment 25993

The good sounds are there and you don't have to pay for expensive stereo stuff.

Absolutely nothing wrong with a simple two barrel on an X if you have it jetted correctly....with FI there are sooooo many components and wires and sensors.

Which is better, horizontal or vertical carbs? Which gives a straighter shot into the intake?

Awesome examples, Carl!
 
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