What did you do to your X1/9 today ?

I took my X out for the first time since October. Took a couple of photos:

Marine Layer on Coast from Russian Ridge Mindigo Hill Entrance Lot- 2020_12_10.jpg


The white fluffy stuff you see in the distance is the marine layer coming inland from the Pacific Ocean. This spot is roughly the northern boundary of the CZU Fire that burned nearly 90,000 acres and over 1,000 homes. The vast majority of the burned homes were well south of here as it is pretty sparsely populated in this area. All this area was evacuated for quite some time. Fortunately, my house was about a half mile from the mandatory evacuation zone.

1974 Fiat X19 at Russian Ridge Mindigo Hill Entrance Lot- 2020_12_10.jpg


As you can see from my shadow, the sun was very low in the sky.
 
dllubin said:
I took my X out for the first time since October. Took a couple of photos:

View attachment 39624

The white fluffy stuff you see in the distance is the marine layer coming inland from the Pacific Ocean. This spot is roughly the northern boundary of the CZU Fire that burned nearly 90,000 acres and over 1,000 homes. The vast majority of the burned homes were well south of here as it is pretty sparsely populated in this area. All this area was evacuated for quite some time. Fortunately, my house was about a half mile from the mandatory evacuation zone.

View attachment 39625

As you can see from my shadow, the sun was very low in the sky.
Click to expand...
people back east always say to me “aren’t you afraid of earthquakes?”. “No”, I respond. “Fire, yes”.
 
In the Midwest we have tornadoes..... Bottom line, no matter what, something can get you. Remedy? Just go enjoy the cars!
 
Finished up another rust-treatment project. I forgot to take a good "before" photo, but the right rear fender, just behind the side scoop, was pretty bad. You could see it from 10+ feet away, as the first photo below shows. (The enlargement inset has a yellow arrow pointing right at the spot.)

But I'm not planning on repainting the car right now, making paint tricky. The body is a custom color, and I don't have access to a paint gun/booth at the moment anyway. There was no way I was going to be able to get anywhere near an acceptable color-match.

So I ended up just extending the side scoop to the wheel-well using flat black. The overall goal was for it to be relatively unobtrusive and blend in.

I think it turned out reasonably well. The bondo work was subpar; it could have used at least one more round of shaping. But I finally got tired of skim-sand-repeat and just called it done. Flat black covers up a multitude of sins. And there's currently a two-foot-long hole in the rocker panel that needs attention before I get too far into perfectionist mode on this little spot.

Photos follow:

1607875116256.png





1607875266350.png


1607875312999.png


I considered lining up the stripe with the top/bottom of the side channel, like the right-pointing arrows below. The trouble then is what to do on the front end. You could do a flat edge aligned with the front side of the scoop, where the downward-pointing arrow shows below. Or you could angle it into the scoop at some midpoint, though that would probably look weird given the curve of the channel edge. I think I like the current look best, but if anyone has thoughts, I'd be curious to hear.

1607875943285.png
 

Attachments

  • 1607875220776.png
    1607875220776.png
    1.9 MB · Views: 79
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: geo
JNewm said:
But I finally got tired of skim-sand-repeat and just called it done.
Click to expand...
I totally understand, it gets old going back over it again and again....fill, sand, fill, sand. I wish they would develop a body filler that does not require the mixing, so you can just squeeze it out of a tube onto the body and spread it. Like they do with the finishing glaze fillers.

In my opinion, unless you plan to paint the black stripe all the way along the side of the car (in the recessed area), then I'd leave it as is. At some point if you need to do paint work on the other repairs, then you can repaint this spot as well.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
I totally understand, it gets old going back over it again and again....fill, sand, fill, sand.
Click to expand...
I blame it partly on the beautiful weather today; I just couldn't keep the X indoors all day.

Sneaked a photo next to its younger cousin. Call me biased, but I think the X holds its own in the looks department...
1607898701092.png



And here we have two very different takes on the classic two-door, red convertible:
1607898818588.png
 
Last edited:
made a cambox / carby linkage for the lemons racer last night, pretty happy with the result.
20201217_113716.jpg20201217_113735.jpg

you can operate the throttle linkage on the cambox thru 90 degrees, to actuate the carburettor thru it's 78 degree movement. if you go past 90 degrees the rod "stretches"


SteveC
 
Last edited:
82F93575-ABCF-4043-9D9C-16F5EAD0D01B.jpeg
Early last Spring, I realized my ‘81 X was going to turn 40. I wondered what to get for its ‘birthday’. But what it wanted more than anything was to be driven. So, I resolved to reach 70,000 miles before the dawn of 2021.
Winter is off to a mercifully slow start in Wisconsin, which allowed me to reach my goal.
 
My alloy project boxes arrived in the post today, so after work today I made the instrument / switch panel for the lemons racer, these will mount ahead of the shfter, up around where the heater controls / clock would be on an S2.

20201222_203644.jpg


Top is engine oil temp, next is a capillary engine oil pressure gauge, a capillary engine water temperature gauge, and the last gauge is transmission oil temperature., top three gauges have red warning lights, big green button is a pull (illuminated) on switch for ignition, above it is the starter button. The three beaver tail switches are headlights, wipers (2 position) and interior lights.

SteveC
 
fiatfactory said:
My alloy project boxes arrived in the post today, so after work today I made the instrument / switch panel for the lemons racer, these will mount ahead of the shfter, up around where the heater controls / clock would be on an S2.

View attachment 40239

Top is engine oil temp, next is a capillary engine oil pressure gauge, a capillary engine water temperature gauge, and the last gauge is transmission oil temperature., top three gauges have red warning lights, big green button is a pull (illuminated) on switch for ignition, above it is the starter button. The three beaver tail switches are headlights, wipers (2 position) and interior lights.

SteveC
Click to expand...
Perhaps showing my ignorance I would think the ignition switch would be at the top so you don’t push it in inadvertently when reaching for the beaver tail switches above.

It already looks vintage :)
 
kmead said:
Perhaps showing my ignorance I would think the ignition switch would be at the top so you don’t push it in inadvertently when reaching for the beaver tail switches above.

It already looks vintage :)
Click to expand...

it actually mounts in the car like this, for that exact reason to have the ignition button NOT where your going to bang it and turn the car off.
Top box is offset back a little so it sits on the ledge where the chassis member runs left / right under the dash. as I said up where the heater controls / clock area, but forward so the driver can reach when he's strapped in.
20201223_083855.jpg

If you like vintage, you'll love the old school mechanical tacho I have out of some old Alfa that I'm adapting a cable tach drive to the end of the camshaft, that's going on the steering column right infront of the driver, it's in a million pieces right now so not much of a picture opportunity.

SteveC
 
Runner set arrived in the post ths morning, after work I mounted them and put the chair in the car. The bolts supplied were rated 8,8 cap screws, a little short, so I fitted some stainless A4-70 rated cap screws that were more the length I required. Adjuster works best mounted to outside, but the original runner raised lump in the floor interferes with it (on either side) so a section of that will have to go.
20201223_192901.jpg


the seat runners aren't bolted down to the floor, I dont have the right hardware to do that yet

In full back position it clears the original retractable seat belt mount (which I was leaving there for now just incase I wanted to mount belts / roll cage bars to it) so you can see how far right I've moved the driver to get more space.

A driver's POV / artist's impression of what the cockpit will look like.
20201223_192954.jpg


the belt set arrived today but I rejected them and sent them back.... didn't like the mount tabs. Ponied up for an original Simpson 5 point harness from the USA instead.

SteveC
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top