What did you do to your X1/9 today ?

Looks like you got rid of the restriction that the end of the stock snout. That probably had less cross sectional area than the carb. I replaced my snout with a 4" hose fitting and connected it to the driver side scoop with a hose. The 4" opening seemed to help but the hose and external air did not seem to make a difference. A friend of mine replaced the air cleaner lid with a pie pan whose diameter was the same as the filter element allowing air in all around the filter. That actually worked very well.
HI dllubin yes the snout was removed before I got the car , took 3” exhaust pipe curled the end , and shaped other end to fit housing then made hole bigger to much up new piece , will see how it works in the spring ,
 
We struggled with ours until we made a tool that would fit to a couple of studs and could be used to push down on the studs while connected to the head to pull it up. Hard to explain correctly but it worked like a charm.
Thanks l have seen a simliar thing, what studs were they? The locating studs or the head bolts?
 
Thanks l have seen a simliar thing, what studs were they? The locating studs or the head bolts?
Early engines used studs on one side and bolts on the other. Gunk and corrosion would cause the head to get stuck on the studs, thus the special head removal tool. Later engines used bolts in all location, and it looks like that is what you have.
 
I know an undamaged "nose cone" is highly desirable. If you can carefully remove that, (all the way down to that little lower flange) you will likely make some member very happy. I know a member who looked for one for a year. Just say'n.
I was thinking that too. It seems to be one of the few parts that isn't rusty! Even the rain channel looks good. Somebody went an glued on the Fiat badge though!

Roy
 
Tried again looks like l will have to fabricate a tool tried everything blocks of wood ,rubber mallet by the time l farbricate it may be cheaper to take l might take it to someone🤷🏻‍♂️l don’t want to damage the head l miss my old mechanics in my hood that’s why lm trying to learn but l don’t have the proper tools thankyou for your help 🤓🤷🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️😂🥂
 
I made one of these.
Yep that’s the one l have seen apparently this great gentleman has passed away RIP looks like the way to go if it works l can lend it to the Fiat gang in Victoria 🤷🏻‍♂️😂man it’s frustrating thankyou for you help king sir salute 🤷🏻‍♂️😂🥂
 
@Paolo that tool won't work in your case. It's designed to push down on the end of the stud ...which you don't have as your head is retained by 10 bolts...

the tool is needed in cases where the steel stud and the aluminium head have stuck together due to galvanic corrosion, that's not the case with your engine, as the head retaining BOLTS came straight out. The head stuck on STUDS is not your problem

The head (and gasket) locating dowels are hollow metal tubes that fit around the spot on the front corners where the bolt passes thru, they only fit into the head and block by about 8mm each side.

SteveC
 
@Paolo that tool won't work in your case. It's designed to push down on the end of the stud ...which you don't have as your head is retained by 10 bolts...

the tool is needed in cases where the steel stud and the aluminium head have stuck together due to galvanic corrosion, that's not the case with your engine, as the head retaining BOLTS came straight out. The head stuck on STUDS is not your problem

The head (and gasket) locating dowels are hollow metal tubes that fit around the spot on the front corners where the bolt passes thru, they only fit into the head and block by about 8mm each side.

SteveC
Hi Steve, I used the jacking plate to jack off the top of the loosened bolts. Only had to move it a couple of mm to free it.
 
The “wire-ectomy” continues!
I turned my attention to the electric window circuits now and removed 8meters of wiring😳!
5F7A93F9-EA65-4EB4-9C35-B01552295E93.jpeg

I could have removed more but as I’ve already put dash back in place I decided to just leave drivers side door wiring and excess grounding wire in place until
I remove the dashboard again when I do the bodywork so the 8m will increase!
So a total of around 15m of ridged wiring has been exorcised from behind the central console!😳
B1BD24E1-AD04-467A-8F80-C4950407CD05.jpeg

The new wiring is modern, minimal even
Including separate illumination circuits for
The LEDS and far more manageable considering I have 9 operational switches.
Admittedly I have new relays in place so new wiring is only driving the relays for up/down so relays doing all the work and not the switches!
As these switches are no longer available this really is a “must do” alteration that all should do as there is ALOT of load on those switches without the additional relays.
 
I made one of these.
This is similar to the tool we made, except that I don't think ours isn't designed to bolt to the cam box (honestly I don't remember because I haven't had to use it in years). The others are correct - this is for the heads that use studs on one side. The galvanic corrosion between metal studs and aluminum head causes the two to become seemingly welded together.

Conceivably this tool could work on heads that use entirely bolts, but you will need to find some studs that fit several of the bolt holes to have somthing to push against the "lift" the head.

Good luck.

PS - for those of you who said it only applied to "early" motors, ours was a 1980 carbed model. I suspect the better distinction would be to say that it applied to carb models and not the FI models that used the later head. Does anyone know the exact date / model year of the transition?
 
On my 1300, there was no galvanic corrosion between the studs and the head. There was a buildup of this black tar like substance that made it nearly impossible to turn the studs. I tried PB Blaster and other penetrating oils unsuccessfully. I tested the one stud I got out and found that carb cleaner dissolved the black stuff. I soaked the remaining studs with carb cleaner overnight and they came out fairly easy.
 
To all the Melbourne X19 and 128 people found this great gentleman callEd Steve Vapour Blasting in Blackburn $50 truly amazing
 

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Every once in a while I still get to work on my X. Kind of tough when it's on the other side of the country...

Today's fun was injector hoses. Probably the third time I've done them since I've owned it. Not a favorite job but at least I know what I'm in for. It was a lovely ~65F today so at least the old rubber was somewhat pliable and new stuff went on without too much of a fight. The perpetually dead battery is on charge so hopefully the old girl fires up tomorrow.

Last December the X received a gear reduction starter, and the December prior was an aluminum radiator and other cooling system maintenance. That stemmed from an overheat in 2018. Compression test was good so I'm hoping no head gasket issues.
 
Every once in a while I still get to work on my X. Kind of tough when it's on the other side of the country...

Today's fun was injector hoses. Probably the third time I've done them since I've owned it. Not a favorite job but at least I know what I'm in for. It was a lovely ~65F today so at least the old rubber was somewhat pliable and new stuff went on without too much of a fight. The perpetually dead battery is on charge so hopefully the old girl fires up tomorrow.

Last December the X received a gear reduction starter, and the December prior was an aluminum radiator and other cooling system maintenance. That stemmed from an overheat in 2018. Compression test was good so I'm hoping no head gasket issues.
Well, it fired up! And came up to temp which is unusual for this car. The temp gauge would barely move until it got hot in traffic. Well, back to family visits so a road test will have to wait. Good to see it come to life again though!
 
Been a bit slow getting the head sorted, today though I finally got around to lapping in a new set of valves, next will be new stem seals and springs then I can get around to setting the cam shim gaps
 
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