What did you do to your X1/9 today ?

or i could....

double post and save you the trouble :) I replaced the speedo cable on my 86 and WOW, just hope i never have to do that ever again.
 
Nice! How they look in the gloom of today? I mean, yesterday was NICE... How is the system holding up to the brighter lights with the relays added? Oh, and did you go the "plug and play" route or the "cut and splice" way?
 
pyrraxis said:
Nice! How they look in the gloom of today? I mean, yesterday was NICE... How is the system holding up to the brighter lights with the relays added? Oh, and did you go the "plug and play" route or the "cut and splice" way?
Click to expand...

Just got home so I had a chance to take some back roads in the dark and rain. The low beams are great, probably 20-30% brighter the high beams are absolutely unbelievable.

I kinda got carried away. I installed a Blue Sea Systems 6 position fuse block next to the battery and ran two 12 gauge wires one to each set of relays. I cut the connectors off the headlights and crimped relay terminals on and inserted them into the relay connector housings. I used the ground for the headlights to ground the relay coil and connected the headlight ground wire directly to the bolt that holds the ground junction piece on. I used Panasonic 20A mini relays and ceramic headlight sockets. My, apparently-worth-its-weight-in-gold, headlight switch no longer gets hot. :headbang:
 
Well yesterday/today I took my bumpers off. I still haven't removed the front supports yet as I'm going to "invest" in a lower profile jack so I don't have to shove the car up on boards for clearance.

My winter project is to make new bumper supports that bring the bumpers in about 3/4"-1" so they don't look so massive and ungainly but still benefit from the protection and retain most of the stock look. I'm also going to paint the bumpers and surrounding trim black or something better than the patchy body color paint on them now. I'll end up making a thread about the bumper "tuck" when I get down to business. Anyway I took a couple photos of the backside w/o bumper, mind you this is in my garage with sketchy lighting.

164757_478836880795_537235795_6270570_6413363_n.jpg


166851_478836945795_537235795_6270572_1511033_n.jpg
 
al_ngl said:
Well yesterday/today I took my bumpers off. I still haven't removed the front supports yet as I'm going to "invest" in a lower profile jack so I don't have to shove the car up on boards for clearance.

My winter project is to make new bumper supports that bring the bumpers in about 3/4"-1" so they don't look so massive and ungainly but still benefit from the protection and retain most of the stock look. I'm also going to paint the bumpers and surrounding trim black or something better than the patchy body color paint on them now. I'll end up making a thread about the bumper "tuck" when I get down to business. Anyway I took a couple photos of the backside w/o bumper, mind you this is in my garage with sketchy lighting.

164757_478836880795_537235795_6270570_6413363_n.jpg


166851_478836945795_537235795_6270572_1511033_n.jpg
Click to expand...
the easiest way to achieve this is by simply drilling a small hole in the oil filled bumper shocks (I prefer still mounted to the car) and then collapsing the bumper. All the oil from the shocks is forced out through the drilled hols and the bumpers now sit about 1-2 inches closer to the body of the car.
 
Eastep said:
the easiest way to achieve this is by simply drilling a small hole in the oil filled bumper shocks (I prefer still mounted to the car) and then collapsing the bumper. All the oil from the shocks is forced out through the drilled hols and the bumpers now sit about 1-2 inches closer to the body of the car.
Click to expand...

Could you possibly put in a self tapping plug of some sort in to stop it going in too far? I'm looking to retain some distance for the bumper to move in before hitting the bodywork, and enough distance that I can still unbolt the bumper from the shocks, while also having some pressure in the shocks to resist a small collision. Also, do you have to drill into a certain tube or could you drill either? Sorry, I'm not very knowledgeable in the anatomy of shocks. Should the shocks have some give normally, because I stood on each of them with no movement whatsoever.
 
the shocks should not move at all (unless theyre blown) as for drilling them, you have to drill through both. When I did this years ago, I went for the flush look with big bumpers. As I collapsed the bumper shocks, it did take some force to as the oil is trying to escape a small hole. On this note I wouldn't think it unreasonable that you could collapse them to a point you desire then plug the hole with a set screw or something to retain the oil still in the shocks, and they would still function nearly the same as before the modification, while giving the look you desire.
 
Exhausted

OK, Mike --

Here are the headers & exhausts. You'll have to squint to see the black headers. My son welded up the holes very nicely. The muffler & tips are on jack stands while I fabricate brackets. He says "That looks evil." I think that means pretty good.

extips.jpg
 
pretty nice indeed. I think your gonna love the exhaust at around 6-7k rpm especially if the exhaust is red hot from a spirited drive, it'll provide that crackle/pop from exhaust overflow :headbang: BTW I'll take a pic of my empty exhaust bay and you can see how it was mounted
 
1-8-11

I finished painting the engine and trans this morning. I might get around to painting a few other odds and ends like the cross member and few other bits to help tidy up the bay.
DSC02647.jpg

DSC02650.jpg
 
I am still working on...

Created a fiberglass top for the race car, added some reinforcement today. Hope to have the scoop finished by today.

The air ducting to vent out air from the radiator is almost done. One more coat and it should be set.

Then a skim coat of bondo for the top and we should be set for primer. Hope to have it done in a couple of weeks.

Eric
 
al_ngl said:
Well yesterday/today I took my bumpers off. I still haven't removed the front supports yet as I'm going to "invest" in a lower profile jack so I don't have to shove the car up on boards for clearance.

My winter project is to make new bumper supports that bring the bumpers in about 3/4"-1" so they don't look so massive and ungainly but still benefit from the protection and retain most of the stock look. I'm also going to paint the bumpers and surrounding trim black or something better than the patchy body color paint on them now. I'll end up making a thread about the bumper "tuck" when I get down to business. Anyway I took a couple photos of the backside w/o bumper, mind you this is in my garage with sketchy lighting.
Click to expand...

to compress a bumper shock

last reply ---> http://xwebforums.com/forum/index.php?threads/4616/

and after its compressed you can pretty much move it to what ever distance you want. At least mine you could.
 
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Replaced the carpet in Big Bird.

I'm never doing that again. This crusty old goat is tired and hurting all over from head to toe.:mallet: Better to leave that work for the young punks.
Mike
 
I replaced the carpet in my previous '79 and it wasn't too tough a job. Do you have pics of your progress?
 
Mike, you're like half my age.

No wonder it wasn't too tough. Technically not too challenging, but when you're on your knees and reaching underneath to tuck in the carpet or screw in retaining strips, or bolt the seat belts back, etc. it gets to you after a while. When you're done, you can barely move.

Anyway, didn't take any pix. The old carpet was kinda dark straw color and totally shot. The new stuff is dark brown, nothing special. Bought it from Mad Matt. As I turn to the dash repairs, door cards, and seats, I'll be sure to get some pix.

The seats I'm definitely leaving to the pros. The dash and door cards I might take a first shot at as I studied Frugality 101 from Papa Tony.

Mike
 
Yeah I forgot about some of the contorting it took to install, especially in the foot-wells. When I did the resto, I used rolls of auto carpet so it was a little easier then having to use the stock clips and mounting points etc.. Gl on the rest, I'll be re-doing my carpet this year in hopefully leather, along with re wrapping my dash and center console
 
well not really carpet but yeah leather in place of carpet. I might have patches of carpet like floor mats sewn in but the plan is all leather and just flip some plush floor mats over so the rubber side is up for daily use then the plush side stays mint for shows :)
 
I drove it on a sunny 70 degree day..

over 100 miles. had two people comment at stop lights/signs. Drifted through one particularly cool turn...saw the College I graduated from.. had a ball....life is good.
 
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