What did you do to your X1/9 today ?

I replaced the water we ran in the radiator for the Lemons race with antifreeze and put the license plate back on. This weekend my son will come into town so that we can build a tow bar and he can flat-tow his X back to his place. I will be happy as the 124 Spider can move back indoors.

I also changed the oil in my truck, and modified one of our racing gas can spouts to fit an OEM fuel filler neck.
 
What did I do? Drove like the Devil was chasing me while listening to the music of Esquivel and Louis Prima, turned heads, and slapped a permanent smile on my face. I also bought some hardware to tack down the recover material I put on the dash. Man, but I love this little critter!
 
Got the hondata almost totally hooked up. I still need to pin the ECU for the data logging switch. My race harness didnt come with any of the normal switches pinned i.e. ac. Calibrated hondata with the wideband. Had to go -.4 on the voltage. Now hondata and wideband are the same. Loaded base map had to do an initial +15 percent on the low speed fuel. Now idles 14.7. Cant wait for continuous warm weather!

20190413_125214.jpg


Odie
 
Got the hondata almost totally hooked up. I still need to pin the ECU for the data logging switch. My race harness didnt come with any of the normal switches pinned i.e. ac. Calibrated hondata with the wideband. Had to go -.4 on the voltage. Now hondata and wideband are the same. Loaded base map had to do an initial +15 percent on the low speed fuel. Now idles 14.7. Cant wait for continuous warm weather!

View attachment 21211

Odie

Great progress. I need to drive over there and get a ride sometime. Find out what real performance is like...
 
Great progress. I need to drive over there and get a ride sometime. Find out what real performance is like...
Hopefully I will have it up to snuff to take it anywhere in Michigan. :) last year I barely trusted it to work and back

Odie
 
I’ve been splitting my daily driving duties between the X1/9 and the Audi.
Not sure if this post belongs here because all I did was bring my car to my neighbor and he did all the rest.

He did a 52 point inspection, LOL. That’s how you can tell he used to work for a dealer I guess. Here’s some of the highlights:
1) Adjusted timing and idle speed, also found the tach was reading 500rpm high, partially due to a bent needle.
2) Fixed a number of coolant leaks (mostly clamps) as well as the water pump (replaced).
3) Got the alternator rebuilt, brushes were worn.
Voltage at battery 13.6 before rebuild, 14.1 after.
4) repositioned the window slider motor as the window was straining to go up and was going up crooked and too high.
5) cleaned a number of electrical connections around steering column, especially going to ignition switch. Also resolved a bad ground that was sparking.
6) adjusted clutch, also found the throw-out bearing was resting against clutch plate ( don’t remember exact wording there) was able to pull it off slightly but not completely.
7) replaced some heater hose, water pump bypass hose, engine mount between trans and engine,gear shift shaft boot.
8) worked on the door latches as they were kind of worn and had a lot of play and didn’t sit flush.
8) a number of other little things like e-brake indicator light, tires balanced, adjusted the windshield washers, fluids etc.

All in all it feels like a different car to drive. A lot smoother and happier. Before it idled too high 1100-1400rpms, now it sometimes idles perfectly around 900rpms especially after it’s warmed up, but sometimes will idle low 500-600rpms. Holding steady in either case.

One thing seems worse, 2nd gear synchro. It’s popping out of second sometimes, especially when cold.
 
If your throw out bearing is always touching the pressure plate fingers it will cause the bearing to spin all the time. That will seriously reduce the life of the throw out bearing. If you can't get it adjusted correctly, it could be due to the clutch plate being so thin that the pressure plate fingers are extended way too far. Have you checked the clutch thickness to see if it is in spec?
 
If your throw out bearing is always touching the pressure plate fingers it will cause the bearing to spin all the time. That will seriously reduce the life of the throw out bearing. If you can't get it adjusted correctly, it could be due to the clutch plate being so thin that the pressure plate fingers are extended way too far. Have you checked the clutch thickness to see if it is in spec?
I have not checked the clutch thickness. I’ll see if Don (my neighbor) noticed it or if he can show me how to do that. Thanks very much.
 
I have not checked the clutch thickness. I’ll see if Don (my neighbor) noticed it or if he can show me how to do that. Thanks very much.
There is an inspection hole at the top of the bellhousing. From the factory, it came with a rectangular rubber plug which may or may not still be there. There are also timing marks there as well which I find to be easier to use than the ones on the crank pulley. If you look down there, you should get a view of the clutch disc up against the flywheel.
 
Frustration. Got the new ecu with hondata installed and switch added for datalogging. Still have a miss under load. Ugh. Honda sites are saying vacuum leak. I can spray carb clean all over and no leak. About to just buy another b engine.

Odie
 
Charged the battery and started it. Need to replace the strut mounts before driving as the roads here are isht, don’t want to pound the sheet metal strut towers further.
 
What I did to Gary’s X???
Replaced the fuel injectors. The injectors that were installed (original, maybe???) didn’t seem to have the correct flow rate. The X would stop accelerating at 4800 rpms. Now, I had the X to 6000 rpms. Not going there too much but just wanted to see if the new injectors changed that aspect of the system.
The X is also faster 0-60 as well. And there is no fuel smell like before (always ran rich).
Tightened other things and just performed routine maintenance as well.
Now, suspension, radiator and AC then mechanically she will be perfect.
Couldn’t have done this without all the expertise from all of you guys.
Mike
147F8C83-0AE5-42D5-A1AF-646CB5A2B577.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Going to the auto Italia car event at Brooklands London on Saturday, gave my Lido a check over and a test drive. When I got back I noticed at tick over the revs would dip occasionally and there was an odd random ticking noise coming from the distributor. Took the cap off and....



Ah! Where’s that gone!, couldn’t see the centre brush anywhere so took the distributor off and tapped it on the workbench...



New cap on order express deliver, hope it gets here in time.
 
I've had similar trouble with rotors. The ones with an internal resistor, and the resistor burns out leaving no contact between the coil and cap. I don't care for that type in the first place so always buy ones without a resistor.
 
I've had similar trouble with rotors. The ones with an internal resistor, and the resistor burns out leaving no contact between the coil and cap. I don't care for that type in the first place so always buy ones without a resistor.
There seem to be many more resistor rotors out there for some reason. They are not really needed if you have resistor plugs or suppression wires or if you don't care about listening to AM radio..
 
Back
Top