Back in the fold..

Suppose I'd better update as I've had the car a couple of weeks now!

Dragged it home behind the old Astra- after freeing off 3 of the stuck brakes, and hammering off the caliper and pads on the 4th. An uneventful drive back home- the sun was even shining!



On arriving home, Lesley did her usual disinterested look out of the window when something arrives on the back of the trailer. "that looks nice" she said. Bonus

I live on a small hill, and the Trab was in the garage so I planned the next stage. Should I phone some mates to give me a push? Should I try to revers the trailer up to the garage and roll the X into the garage on the winch? Hmmm. Stuff it, I'll stick a battery on it and see what happens.Check oil, check water, A little V power down its throat and it fired up first time, and idled!!- First time since 2005. Even bigger bonus

Gently pressing the clutch, waiting for it to go to the floor... nope. engage reverse, yes, let up clutch... it moved backwards! Drove it round to the garage and left it idling. The old fuel was stinking, and there was a little black smoke, but it took throttle,and sounded sweet. I was amazed how eerilie quiet it is,after being used to carbied X1/9's. I had another poke around the engine bay, and was surprised how it has been converted- I've seen quite a few conversions, and read about converted cars on the internet, but this one is a bit unusual- No mods for a start, standard airbox,standard dump valve,uno coolant bottle in a strange place,Airflow meter where the coolant bottle usually is, Ignition ECU in the boot,and Injection ECU behind the spacesaver spare wheel, still has the Uno sump too-even the boost pressure limit switch wiring was still connected.

A short vid of it running for the first time in 6 years-a bit lumpy as its 6 year old fuel!

It had a broken drivers quarterlight (the reason it was taken off the road) the gearstick dropped down and the brakes were all siezed, so I got to work. The Uno front brakes freed easily,and are in pretty good nick after a cleanup,so they can stay. The rear calipers were SOLID, so I have a pair of those coming my way,and new pads are here, the discs are fine.

I called up a mate about some parts- a bit of a recurring joke here as I once rode over to Glasgow late one night on my bike, with a quarterlight still fitted to its rail jammed down the back of my jacket as some one had broken his, he is now breaking his X1/9 and sent it back to me he kindly gave me a gearstick too- Thanks Eoin!!. Both were fitted but found when I put the drivers window down it blew the fuse.. took a wee while to work out I'd trapped the electric window wire behind the window rail :oops:

A few days ago I went round to do some more work- started it up and it ran for a few minutes then just died. When I tried to restart it it was "blocking" like the timing was miles out. I'm not that clued up on the Uno injection or ignition systems, so I had to refer to the Haynes-which is pretty good for diagnosing- its an old manual which seem to be much better than the new ones. I checked all the sensors and found the crank sensor had gone open circuit. Found its the same sensor as an early Sierra Cosworth, so got one coming too- got a timing belt and oil filter as well. The Sierra Cossie Oil filter is far shorter than an Uno one,and a genuine ford one was less than a fiver. Sorted I always used to use 2 litre Sierra filters on my standard x1/9 engines.

Timing belt and tensioner fitted, coolant flushed,and flushed and flushed. It had anti freeze in it,so wasn't too bad.

Still waiting on the calipers and crank sensor-so no more news yet, apart from the hole I found today.. Someone has sealed all the seams on it, and sealed over the drain hole in the pocket on the right hand side of the engine, which has been full of water...

.

Hopefully it'll be MOT'd and back on the road next weekend I couldn't believe it started so easily- I was expecting to spend a good couple of weeks getting it running properly. 18 years for yours, that's unbelieveable, the petrol must have been like tar!:shock:

I've got a crank sensor on its way-thanks for the offer!- same as a Sierra Cossie sensor- they are both the same on mine- Marelli SEN8D, not sure if this is they way it should be, but it works!

cgi.ebay.co.uk/TDC-sensor-Marell ... 0464201539


The driveshafts look like the 2 short X1/9 ones, with the extra CV joint, need to ave a proper look as 1 of the inner CV boots is burst- not had it up on a ramp yet to have a good poke around, but forgot about the oil cooler! Not come across one yet... just got the back end up on stands for now in my tiny garage, but the stupid big exhaust on it gets in the way. Was going to do a bit more today but it was bloody freezing and snowing.. :shock:

Its all a bit of a learning curve for me just now- Owned quite a few turbo'd cars -Volvo T5, Saab 900T16S,- but never had an Italian turbo yet, although did used to look after an Integrale Evo2 which was some tool !

Had a bit of a fright today.. finished the brakes on one side, and decided to give the car a wee run up the road, to put it in the garage backwards to do the brakes on that side. The wee car took off like a rocket, then BLAM.. blew the hose off the bottom of the intercooler.. I pure near **** meself.

Bringing it back down the road,with no brakes and idling at 5000 RPM was fun... :roll: Its drawn blood 3 times today, burnt me twice and shut my fingers in the engine cover. Had my tea and away back out for some more

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Was totally weird! The boost limit switch was still connected, but with the wastegate being stuck, it just boosted and boosted until the pipe popped off, and at the same time the ignition cut, much to the amusement of the wee boys that were playing football at the side of the road. I'm keeping everything standard for the first few hundred miles, as its been idle for so long. I've taken the intercooler, all the pipes and the airflow meter out to check it all, and replace some of the jubilee clips. May try and relocate a few things as its pretty crowded in there- with the camshaft driven dizzy and the standard airbox, there's not a lot of room to spot any problems- any issues by the roadside would take a fair bit of dismantling. I think I'll put an X1/9 distributor back in to free up some room, and noticed today the dizzy oil seal must be gone, getting oil in the cap. I think I might also try and put the airflow meter in the boot, and maybe draw cool air from one of the side vents. I'll have another root around tomorrow.

Bugg*r. Looks like its spat its wastegate flap down the exhaust. No boost.

Oh dear! Just when it was all coming together so quickly... At least now's your chance to justify putting on that hybrid turbo you want!

I think it may be OK. Need to get a boost gauge hooked up. Seemed quite perky this evening, so may just be me..

Tiff. If you need any parts let me know Calipers a-plenty and much much more.

What kind of turbo dose it have? is it the early IHI as I have a split one for spares. Including working wastegate and housing you are welcome to.

Dont get yourself stuck.

Cheers

Guy

Tiff wrote: Bugg*r. Looks like its spat its wastegate flap down the exhaust. No boost.

Tiff I have had boost problems in the past with both no boost and overboost. Both times I hound the problem was a siezed spindle to the wastgate flap especialy if the turbo has been unused for some time.



The waste gate shaft is held on with a circlip. disconnect the wastegate and check that the spindle/arm is free moving (see picture highlighted in red) plenty of WD40 and work it back and forth to free of. Very tough components will take some abuse. Also with wastegate disconnected short boost pipe and apply a bit of pressure via airline to make sure it opens ok.

With your car being a 1500 plenty access to tubo via panel in rear boot. If all else fails you can have my spares.

Hope this helps

Thanks for that! The wastegate flap/spindle was well seized- hence the massive boost and the blowing off of hoses.... I took the actuator arm off, which is fine, and freed up the spindle... when I was doing this I heard a tinkling noise and the next time I drove the car when it was all back together it felt a bit flat..so I assumed the flap had fallen off.. I drove it again last night and it felt a lot better- so I'll wait to get a boost gauge hooked up and see what it says. It is an IHI- been digging around and it looks very similar to those on Isuzu Troopers and early Subaru Legacy's.

Biggest problem is.. its not MOT'd or taxed, so I'm just running around locally for testing purposes- I've not had a chance yet to give it any real beans.. but at the moment it doesn't feel much different to my 1500.

Tiff

The IHI turbo is quite a simple beast. You can change the waste housing without disturbing thrust bearings or compresor wheel

You are very welcome to the spares I have

Let me know

One years MOT as of today

No advisories, 28% efficiency on the handbrake - emissions 2.1%.

Happy!

excellent well done you happy fast road driving