What did you do to your X1/9 today ?

Installed a BobG aluminum radiator in my 86X. It went pretty smooth, but I had some drips. I will keep an eye on it and hopefully the little bit of tightening I did on the fittings will stop the drips. This morning there were only the same to drops as last night. We will see.

The stock rad I took out had 2 stock fans mounted, The car is non-AC, so when I put the new rad in I decided to give the single modern fan Bob sent with the rad years ago. The rad had a shiny shroud for the smaller fan. :) The old unit weighed 24lbs without the lower brace, the new unit weighed 16.8 with the lower brace installed. I wasn't sure if my scale was weighing them correctly, that is the heaviest 7lb difference I have ever felt.
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During the idling test, the fan came on at temp, but struggled to cool the rad down and the fan just kept running. I took the car for a test drive and the temp came down to 190 and stayed there till the next stop light. Basically, I think the behavior is correct now. The temp rises when sitting still, fan comes on as temp rises, and the temp comes back to 190-ish when on the move. On the stock rad the temp was climbing on the highway, which in my experience is a sign that the rad is not doing its job.

Anyway, I hope I have tamed the drips. I don't want to pull it again. If I have to, its my own fault. The weld on the temp switch bung wasn't 100% flat. I installed the switch a couple times trying to decide if it was going to affect the seal. Finally decided it was going to be fine, but that was where I was getting a drip.
 
JimD said:
During the idling test, the fan came on at temp, but struggled to cool the rad down and the fan just kept running. I took the car for a test drive and the temp came down to 190 and stayed there till the next stop light. Basically, I think the behavior is correct now. The temp rises when sitting still, fan comes on as temp rises, and the temp comes back to 190-ish when on the move.
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To me that indicates there isn't enough air movement from the fan. That is exactly what the fan is for, to provide enough air flow to allow sufficient energy (heat) exchange when the car isn't moving through the air. I'd either install a second fan or replace the single one with a higher CFM unit. If a second fan is installed they could be set up with two different temp activation levels (i.e. a two speed temp switch). That way the second fan only comes on when the first one can't keep up. Look at the two speed temp switches for early VW's - a direct fit in this rad. Easy to wire it, but make sure your power feed to the switch can handle both fans (good place to use a relay).
 
Dr.Jeff said:
To me that indicates there isn't enough air movement from the fan. That is exactly what the fan is for, to provide enough air flow to allow sufficient energy (heat) exchange when the car isn't moving through the air. I'd either install a second fan or replace the single one with a higher CFM unit. If a second fan is installed they could be set up with two different temp activation levels (i.e. a two speed temp switch). That way the second fan only comes on when the first one can't keep up. Look at the two speed temp switches for early VW's - a direct fit in this rad. Easy to wire it, but make sure your power feed to the switch can handle both fans (good place to use a relay).
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I agree. I would be more worried if the temp didn't come down once I was driving with more air flow. I have lots of stock fans and the car is already wired for 2, so I will probably stick one in there eventually, especially if I have to pull the rad down to address any further drippage.
 
JimD said:
the car is already wired for 2
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I don't know if your car was wired for two fans from the factory or if it originally came with AC. But on my factory AC equipped X, the second fan is wired only to the AC circuit. So it only operates any time the AC is switched on. My non-AC single fan X had been converted to dual fans and a prior owner wired it (poorly) for two - the factory wiring was only for one fan. These are different years of X's and I don't know how it was for all of them (or yours). But something to look into so your second fan is operating as desired.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
the second fan is wired only to the AC circuit.
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On my non-AC '86, the wiring is present for a second fan; in fact, the second fan was there, too- wired to an empty, unused relay socket in the wiring tray; it was easy to simply plug in a 30 amp toggle for a manual switch until I install a dual temp switch (that I got over this past winter) and rewire the socket. The power to the socket is unswitched battery power, I have to remember to turn it off.
 
Jefco said:
On my non-AC '86, the wiring is present for a second fan
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I also have a non-AC '86, but a prior owner hacked up the wires so I'm not sure what was there from the factory. But your description makes sense. I imagine that was only for the Bertone built X's?
 
Jefco said:
On my non-AC '86, the wiring is present for a second fan; in fact, the second fan was there, too- wired to an empty, unused relay socket in the wiring tray; it was easy to simply plug in a 30 amp toggle for a manual switch until I install a dual temp switch (that I got over this past winter) and rewire the socket. The power to the socket is unswitched battery power, I have to remember to turn it off.
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I had to drop the new rad today to address the drip, so I put one of the stock fans from the old rad in the second position while I had the rad down. For the drips, I ran a file over what looked like a high spot in the temp switch bung weld, but really didn't feel high. Just looked it. I filed it anyway, just because I hate dropping the rad. I put some Teflon tape on the threads of the temp switch and reinstalled. Let it warm up and only the one fan came on, so on Jefco's advice, I will have to look in the wiring tray and see if the circuit is open.

Took it for a drive, no drips so far, but overnight seems to be the true test.

UPDATE, the next morning: No drips of coolant. I am hopeful this rad won't need to come back down any time soon.
 
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Cleaned the twenty year old grime off of the 14” rims soon to be wearing new rubber. Likely will need to paint them first, unfortunate but likely necessary. They cleaned up pretty well, all have similar damage from the guys cranking down the clamp on the spin balancer unfortunately.
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These parts looked pretty much the same when I started. They all came off parts cars and were pretty atrocious. Lots of bead blasting, prep, painting, chasing threads, new gaskets. The new thermostat came from the "2 for 1 overbuy" stash, as well as the water pump impeller and pully. Took a bit of time, but saved cash. I like to clean up stuff I have around. Much better sense of DIY. This is for a surprise rebuild, hence the save money vibe.
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The Jetta Wagen is nice.

Your X looks great as well. I like the Octavo’s on there, it is an unusual rim to see on an X.
 
Jefco said:
Not Octavo's, the center's not right; I think he's got the Momo's.
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You’re right.

Is that what the Momo’s look like? Nice detail around the bolts.

The 14” wheels I have are remarkably bland in the center area, this is a nice detail.
 
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Momo Antarès on my 1974...
Nearly 40 years ago. Car is long gone... This was my first x19. Excuse the whale tail. I was young. o_O
Momo was a very popular brand in Québec. Especially for aftermarket wheels, steering wheels and shif knobs. Now it seems Momo seats are the trend.

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