The Rat's Nest - 81 X1/9 Build

Clatter

Clatter

True Classic
So it all starts with a call from my friend Damon...
One of those car friends - You know the type.
I'd told him about my past X1/9 experience.
My first (running/driving) car was a white '76, followed by a red '79.
He somehow got the impression that those were good memories.
I guess that time has a way of giving you rose colored glasses.

Damon is a house painter who works for a realtor who specializes in estate liquidation sales.

What do you know, look what's under a cover buried in redwood needles?
Couple that with my oldest son finding an old pic of me with my first car,
And now another project is upon us..

Like with boat ownership, The first day is a happiest one.
To think we could have just ended this here.
"Look! An X1/9"! We saw it. Great. Done. Walk away.
If only...
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My neighbor drives a hauler and cuts me a sweet deal on a rather complicated extraction.

Our youngest son comes home from school to find the thing being unloaded.
Little does he know...
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jimmyx said:
Build quality on those nests are excellent; great attention to detail, although the subsequent housekeeping is lacking.... Best of the luck with the rehab. Wear a respirator, I'm not sure an N95 will be enough.
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:eek:
Yeah, between the mold blooms and hanta virus, I'm not sure which is worse.

Good thing i have two boys! :p
 
But wait! There's More! :D

Not only to we have rodent and mold damage,
There's also the work of a PO!
Dig the plumber's strap washer tank mount,
Or clever use of an electrical box cover.
And then the clincher.. The old "box of leftover parts".
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Every shade-tree project has those, right?
The "things you don't really need"... :rolleyes:
 
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tvmaster said:
This could end up being a tale of epic proportions that will outlive us all....
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Heyman,
I'm hoping that's how this works out!
Been watching your build for a while and it was part of my inspiration to let it fly.
Hopefully, having it up here in front of God and everyone will help make sure this gets pushed through.
 
So far, this was all a few months ago...
I'd cleaned things up and threw away the trash.
Pulled the drain plugs from frunk and runk, got the drain lies clear.
Pressure washed everything except the passenger cabin, but it got wiped down.
Put on new tires (that i have to go swap for a smaller size :rolleyes: ) and drained all fluids.
Pretty stoked that the fuel tank was left full because the gas that came out wasn't as bad as it coulda been.
Not -too- much fuzz on the trans drain plug,
But,
Unfortunately,
The engine didn't have any oil in it for some reason...

That, plus finding a rod cap in the 'extra parts box' made me leery of taking this project on.
I have other projects going on, and this one was easy to back-burner.

The clincher came when it came time to title the car.
The Communist Republic of Kalifornia tried to extort me for over $1000 in back registration fees.
At that point, i didn't have that much in the entire project!
I can deal with rat s#it, but not that kind of rat s#it! 😡

At that point, my kids weren't into helping, I have other fish to fry, and we're at the only point in the project where i might be able to get out without losing my a$$.
So i put it up for sale here and on Crankslist and decided to cut and run.

It looked decent enough, and, as carl here pointed out,
There really isn't much rust.
Once cleaned up, it almost looks like a decent car!
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A couple of people came to look at the car, and one guy was offering $2500.
He really wanted it, had cash out, and was almost begging me.
I could tell he wasn't really in a place to succeed with this project based upon a few things he said.
Y'know what i mean..?

A couple of those wormy flipper types came by and made me nauseous.
They left a slimy trail all the way back to San Jose.
Being in a position to make a few bucks taking advantage of some poor sucker made me feel like one of them.
I couldn't in good conscience sell this car to one of my brethren, even at a decent profit.
So, it sat for a few more months...

My oldest, who also has the car disease, went off to college,
And the youngest, who doesn't, wasn't all that interested.
But then, somehow, he got wind that this was a cool car.
Maybe one of his friends said something?
But all of a sudden, he's committed to helping his Dad get it going.
And what that kid says he'll do, he does, that for sure...

So, his older brother came home for Christmas,
We sold the boat and made a clean spot,
Got a carport installed day before yesterday,
And now it's on! :cool:

Three hours into the engine pull as of 12/19/23.
We pulled the plugs and squirted some oil in, and the motor turns.
Albeit with rat s#it raining down out of the alternator.. :rolleyes:
There's a temptation to do the whole "will it run" thing like on YouTube.
Damon really wanted to do that - a non-interference engine, right?
But it sat for like 15 years at least, and with that rod cap, I'm not risking it.

Plan is to pull that motor today.
Wish us luck!
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I'm just now reviewing this whole thread. And I agree with @carl, there appears to be very little rust considering the amount of 'water-holding' debris that covered it. Once you got it cleaned up it almost seems worth reviving. I'm with you - don't even bother trying to make the engine run. Pull it and rebuilt it, or better yet do a complete powertrain swap for something with guts and reliability. ;)
 
It's great to hear your kids have come around. I got my cousin's '86 that was stored in his side yard for ~13 years (thank god under a cover and under covered patio) back on the road for my oldest. I started a thread on it but haven't updated it with the latest:

Picked up an ‘86 Bertone today!

Dragged home an ‘86 X1/9 for my soon to be driving son. He wanted mine, but there’s limits to what a father will do for his son. Needs all hoses and hydraulics, hasn’t been driven for a decade (sound familiar), but I know the history of the car and know it was parked as a perfectly...
xwebforums.com

This post has inspired me to get off my ass and update that thread.

His interested came and went throughout the process to get it roadworthy again, I think there were times like when the transmission was out that I imagine he couldn't see how it would ever be back in one piece much less functional like ever, but now that's running and he's driving it daily to school he loves it. The 80's are all the rage with the kids lately and since it's an 80's car with pop-up headlights he's clearly driving the coolest car in school. And the top comes off!!

My wife got a kick the other day out of him pulling up with the top down and his sunglasses on. I probably looked exactly like that when I was driving my '80 X1/9 in high school...

I hope it works out for you and your sons, I’ve enjoyed it immensely.

Dark Days:
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Happy Days!!
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Stoked you guys are following along.
Know that I've been reading all the threads on this forum for over a year and followed most of the recent builds.
I think we might have seen a couple of you at Concorso Italiano?

Redwoods can make for some great vintage car preservation.
Here we're in Santa Cruz, the southern edge of redwoods,
Not really Northern California, but not central CA either...
So, it's relatively warm/dry for the redwood forest.
For those not familiar, the redwoods drop tons of needles and twigs.
Unlike pines, their needles are in clumps, attached to each other in a sort of compound arrangement.
The twigs and needles pile up to offer protection from sunlight but drain very well.
Their branches usually aren't big relative to their size, so they don't fall and damage cars so much.
The root systems are extensive and provide good drainage.
When a car gets left out, if it's under a redwood (and in the redwoods, everything is under a redwood) it's remarkably well preserved.
I've lived in CO and AZ, and in CO the roads get salted and in AZ the sun kills paint and rubber/plastic.
Many coastal redwood areas get salt spray or a lot of rain,
But here at the Southern edge, it's a great place to get an old car.
 
This is a great thread! Following with great interest and respect for your tenacity! My Rat **** story was pretty bad, but has nothing on this!
 
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