What did you do to your X1/9 today ?

Polished up the chrome rings ! With Covid, just know where to go :( silver79x.jpg
May I say those wheels are fabulous. I know the matching car color adds but I've always said that '79 steelies are underappreciated in the community. Here is photographic evidence to support my claim! By the way, isn't owning classic sports cars about driving? Who needs a destination? Just go out and drive.

Your other cars look very attractive too. Even that German one, I guess.
 
May I say those wheels are fabulous. I know the matching car color adds but I've always said that '79 steelies are underappreciated in the community.

I'm with you, Cratecruncher! I have these on my 79 and I think they are the nicest looking of all the OEM rims that were available. I just think the basic design suites the X to a tee.
 
I've always said that '79 steelies are underappreciated
I'm with you, Cratecruncher!

I have a set you guys can have. ;)
Not sure how or why this started for me but for as far back as I can remember being interested in cars (some of my earliest childhood memories), I've always had the opinion that any factory wheel must be replaced by custom aftermarket wheels. Imagine how much money I could have saved over the years if that wasn't the case. o_O
 
Look forward to raiding how you get on!


Door stays replaced today. I now have doors that stay open!

Left is the new pattern part, middle came from the passenger side and the right hand one was the drivers side, an original item. The passenger side was a doddle to fit but the drivers side was a pig as the door is slightly distorted around the mounting point meaning the two hooks didn’t line up with the eyelets on the car body.

Neg Hello from Michael in Australia.
Bought a new door stay from Midwest. Its new and improved, but not sure how to fit it. Does the slider have to compress spring wire nearly to door pillar? Does one use vice grips to compress it ? new door stay.jpgdoor + pillar mountings .jpg
 
I'm converting, well adding really, electric trunk and engine lid release. Sick of opening the door to open them. Using a VW solenoid.
 
Interesting. Please add some pictures.

This is VW solenoid. These are pretty grunty and will pop the engine lid easy. Just making up some brackets etc. I'll then start looking around for a two way momentary switch that I can fit in the console, or dash, that will look period. Push backwards, trunk opens, push forward, engine lid opens.
 

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This is VW solenoid. These are pretty grunty and will pop the engine lid easy. Just making up some brackets etc. I'll then start looking around for a two way momentary switch that I can fit in the console, or dash, that will look period. Push backwards, trunk opens, push forward, engine lid opens.

Clever. I didn't know VW used a solenoid like that. I found solenoids on Ebay for this purpose. Probably not as robust as the VW units. Still have to open the door to release the trunk & engine cover. We just converted the stock cable unit with switches.
 
Does that mean that your releases are in the passenger's door jamb? Never thought of that.....that WOULD be inconvenient!
 
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This is VW solenoid. These are pretty grunty and will pop the engine lid easy. Just making up some brackets etc. I'll then start looking around for a two way momentary switch that I can fit in the console, or dash, that will look period. Push backwards, trunk opens, push forward, engine lid opens.

Which VW and where used? It would be interesting to know so I can grab some at the junkyard. Thanks!
 
Which VW and where used?
Judging solely from the part number on the example shown, it appears to be the trunk/rear hatch actuator for Mk3's. But I'm not certain if it was only used on particular versions/editions or all Mk3 models. Looks to have a rather long shaft compared to the generic ones (pics below). So for some uses it may be more difficult to install?

VW:
trunk-latch-actuator.jpg

Generic:
330-010_HR_0.jpg
 
Does that mean that your releases are in the passenger's door jamb? Never thought of that.....that WOULD be inconvenient!
Yup, fiat/bertone never moved the frunk , trunk or engine Cover release for the rhd cars and yet they did find the time and money to move the windscreen wipers
 
Judging solely from the part number on the example shown, it appears to be the trunk/rear hatch actuator for Mk3's. But I'm not certain if it was only used on particular versions/editions or all Mk3 models. Looks to have a rather long shaft compared to the generic ones (pics below). So for some uses it may be more difficult to install?

VW:
View attachment 34948
Generic:
View attachment 34949
The VW one is perfect for the Fiat. You only need to bend a straight piece of metal with a 90° twist in it. Drill a couple holes in the ends and screw it in place. It will screw to the trunk panel and be quite discreet because of it's shape. I've used them to change over the 928's rear hatch release mechanism.

Forgot to add, that rod is removable
 
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Maybe I should write the complete story, but you could get the beginning at:

Now, 20 years later, the engine is rebuild, fitted with a pair of DCOE's and today I finished the installation of the brakes with stock parts. I prefer to wait until the car is running to do some other mods. So today was my last calipers to be fitted. In the last months (years?) I put some new hoses from the reservoir to the master, get a new master and change the flexible hoses, the calipers, the rotors and the pads on all 4 wheels. Now, there is TON of air in the system. So I filled the reservoir with synthetic Dot 4 and let the fluid go down by gravity with all the bleed screw opened and the nose of the car higher than the rear. I hope to see fluid at the calipers tomorrow...
 
I recently blew a head gasket. My car has been down for the summer. I had been procrastinating on all the repairs I needed to do to the car, since it was running so good. So I am going to take advantage and finish some much needed work. I finally found time install my new Henk radiator.
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Sanded down and cleaned the rad area.
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The Henk radiator fit perfectly.
 
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