What did you do to your X1/9 today ?
- Thread starter Eastep
- Start date
Cratecruncher
True Classic
Haha, the old clogs she was wearing shook at 70. I just did some early Saturday morning runs "on a controlled professional racing circuit in Mexico" and got up to 90 mph without even spilling my coffee. The Beamers and Escalades were getting out of my way for once! (BTW, notice anything odd about that picture?)I just hope you got the round ones, the square ones are no fun.
Dr.Jeff
True Classic
Were you really in Mexico? Being in Texas it is possible. What track would that be?
Reminds me of those puzzles in the back of magazines; how many clues can you locate in the picture?
I noticed four odd things:
A: You stepped in dog poo.
B: You must be really short if you need a ladder to put the wheels on your X1/9.
C: Your tire installed does not understand that the "dot" on the tire indicates the light spot, and therefore it is where the valve stem should be located to reduce the amount of balancing weight needed. However, sadly very few installers seem to know that these days.
D: Trons.
Do I win any prizes?
Dan Sarandrea (Phila)
Waitin' On Parts...
Yeah, those Feds are directional but were not mounted as such, so no matter how you slice it, two will be correct and two will be "backwards."
Mechanogeek
True Classic
They are unidirectional tires, and they face the same direction on all four rims. So, when you mount them on the car, the ones on the left will be 'backwards'
DING DING DING!!! WINNER! Yay me!
Cratecruncher
True Classic
Sorry Mechano! Dan the Philly Man beat your answer by 60 seconds.
Short story long, I bought the tires on line and shopped around for tire services. I guess I haven't bought tires in a while. Some places wanted $120 to mount and balance four tires. I took the tires and wheels in the back of my C5 to Walmart and had them do it. They say you get what you pay for. I paid $38 and think that was way too much. I was so anxious to get out of that place that as soon as the tires were done I just grabbed them and tore out of there. It wasn't until I got home and ready to install the tires that I noticed they were all pointed the same way. Load 'em up and back to Wallymart in 5:00 Friday traffic, wait another hour, etc. The best part was when I got home from "testing in Mexico" this morning there was a wheel weight sitting in the middle of the driveway. Fortunately, fearing that might happen I labeled the location and amount of weight on each wheel and can replace them with my own stick-on weights.
Jeff, I had no idea those little yellow dots indicate the lightest point. So you get 1000 points for participating in my contest because you learned me. Oh, and "Mexico" is where I do all my high speed testing in order to comply with our local posted speed limits.
Short story long, I bought the tires on line and shopped around for tire services. I guess I haven't bought tires in a while. Some places wanted $120 to mount and balance four tires. I took the tires and wheels in the back of my C5 to Walmart and had them do it. They say you get what you pay for. I paid $38 and think that was way too much. I was so anxious to get out of that place that as soon as the tires were done I just grabbed them and tore out of there. It wasn't until I got home and ready to install the tires that I noticed they were all pointed the same way. Load 'em up and back to Wallymart in 5:00 Friday traffic, wait another hour, etc. The best part was when I got home from "testing in Mexico" this morning there was a wheel weight sitting in the middle of the driveway. Fortunately, fearing that might happen I labeled the location and amount of weight on each wheel and can replace them with my own stick-on weights.
Jeff, I had no idea those little yellow dots indicate the lightest point. So you get 1000 points for participating in my contest because you learned me. Oh, and "Mexico" is where I do all my high speed testing in order to comply with our local posted speed limits.
Dr.Jeff
True Classic
I had a similar experience with my mom's car. Bought tires online and took them to a discount service place for mount/bal. They did manage to get the unidirectional thing correct, but not the tire location (dot). The balance seemed good so I left it that way, but they had used a lot of weights. I've also had (in the distant past) weights come off right after a balancing. So far these seem to be staying on.
I see what you mean by "Mexico". But you got me thinking, having a actual race track just over the border in Mexico would be an inexpensive way to be able to have fun without all of the hassles.
I see what you mean by "Mexico". But you got me thinking, having a actual race track just over the border in Mexico would be an inexpensive way to be able to have fun without all of the hassles.
Mechanogeek
True Classic
Cratecruncher
True Classic
I'm active in a couple of car and motorcycle clubs around here and at a San Antonio event I met some nice fellows that had driven up from Monterrey, Mexico. They invited everyone to come to their event in a couple of months and everyone agreed it would be a great adventure and count us in. But it turns out you now have to have a passport to cross the border. You have to get special car insurance because Texas policies don't cover Mexico. The event was an autocross at a very ritzy hotel ($$$) in the heart of the city. Then I started wondering about roadside breakdowns and on and on. We decided it was way too much hassle to spend a weekend chasing cones with some car guys in Monterrey.
autox19
True Classic
this morning I learned a little about hydrophysiscs (if that is such a thing). when I went to put the 15s on the car I was debating on the size. I was told by a certain young whipper snapper, who just may have a black and red k20 x, " go big or go home". so I did go big. I have now discovered that 225's in the front and 245's in the rear of a 2000 lbs car turns it into a boat at pretty slow speeds on wet roads. After only getting 1/2 mile from my house and having the car drive like it was on ice, I went back and jumped into my van. the good part. look VERY stormy and I probably shouldnt have driven the X anyway.
Odie
Odie
Maybe he said "go big, but if it rains, go home and get the van"?
Tom Ginefra
True Classic
Really nice job. What process was used?
nichol01
True Classic
I did not see how it was done. But what I gathered was he rattle can black the entire emblem. Then lightly sand off the black going with the grain on the letters. After that clear coat. It takes attention to detail and alot of patience. It turned out great.
Dr.Jeff
True Classic
Damn, those are the very two things I don't have.
kmead
Old enough to know better
No comment. Oh wait...
I picked up some "new" door cards from MWB last weekend and I need to create some plugs for the emergency winder holes. I did some measuring and ordered a bag of generic plugs from McMaster-Carr. They were a little too big, which proves my measuring sucks. I relieved the edges with a utility knife until the plugs would snap in and still pop out, without simply falling out. I think they will work fine. I have 25, so I can try again if my first efforts prove faulty.
And if your wondering. I needed new cards because I fabric painted the cloth part of the old cards. They look fine, but are like sand paper on your skin.
And if your wondering. I needed new cards because I fabric painted the cloth part of the old cards. They look fine, but are like sand paper on your skin.
Dr.Jeff
True Classic
Odie, that looks like what is called a "cold weld". The MIG wasn't set hot enough, as in not enough amperage on the welder settings. Too low of amps/heat setting and there isn't much penetration of the metal (like in that case). By comparison, too high and it will blow right through (burn a hole) the metal (like when welding sheet metal). Try cranking it way up when you redo it. If your welder was already maxed out when you did those welds, then you need to use a larger welder with more juice. And that weld result likely indicates that all of the other welds are the same. So unfortunately it might be worth pulling the engine and redoing all of them before something bad happens.
autox19
True Classic
My thoughts exactly. If i remember the issue was it was too hot for the rail but too cold for the braket. We are going to do 2 things. 1. Redo how the bracket is attached to disperse the load better and preheat the thicker metal of the bracket so we can use the lower temp and not burn through the rail. The odd part is it appears that it didnt penatrate the rail and did on the bracket.which makes my theory untrue. The welder was not on max at all so turning it up shoukd not be an issue (i think it was on 4 of 10 on my friends big hobart mig). I really think it was poor design on my part. Not thinking about the torque load as well as the extra load when i hit bumps. I was only thinking of static load. Taking the engine out isnt too bad. Last time we timed it to be 2 hours for a single person.
Thanks for the input. Its why i love this forum!!
Odie