new to these lol

Hi all , I have been a life long Triumph TR man along with the odd excursion into classic Jags and Mgs . I have NEVER owned an Italian car of any description but got tempted this week by a 1987 1500 X1/9 which hasnt run for 3 or 4 years .

Bodily it seems pretty good .

Got it home last night and had a tinker tonight . Totally dead when I put a battery on it but found some dud wires and it spins over sweet now , wants to fire but I havent put fuel in it ( tomorrow )

Was looking on good old fleabay this eve for the usual filters / timing belts / plugs etc etc and see there are points and caps for various dizzys - mine is a carb version of 1987 - is there an easy way to tell what dizzy I have as my eyes arn't what they were and its not overly accessible lol .

I am pretty well versed with my tools - have fully restored TR6 , Mg Tr2 etc but as I said , NO experience with one of these . Where should I pay particular attn as I recommission it ? there are no brakes at all so presume the seals have failed somewhere . What are the notorious point which I will need to sort ?

I am looking forward to having a bit of a laugh with this car :woohoo:

One other thing as it comes to mind , there is a nasty looking K&N filter on the carb which seems to have left an engine breather or 2 just - sort of flopping about !

I presume that the breather would have been plumbed into the original airbox? Is here
(a) a standard fix/ place to put the breather when said nasty filter is on or
(b) anyone got a spare original ?

Hi Scott and welcome to the club! You can access the distributor through a hatch provided in the bulkhead behind the spare wheel. Undo the four nuts and the hatch pops off (it is usually stuck to the sound insulation) from the engine side.

Your dizzy should be a Marelli S135 I think. There are some good eBay suppliers, Eurosport UK are also good: www.eurosport-uk.net/shop/index.php?main...g8c0qsmsqeldb7htt4s5

As for recommissioning, the brakes are good when maintained, but really suffer if neglected. They will need refurbishing. The Haynes Book of Lies is useful for this.

As for an air cleaner box, put a wanted ad up, I'm sure someone will have one.

Cheers

Rachael

Hi Rachael , many thanks for your welcome and advice , hatch located and removed , points and plugs mis-gapped and manky , new fuel filter and a couple gallon of petrol. Hour and a half spent after work today and its running sweetly and sounds pretty good

A very happy bunny . Haynes book should be in the post along with filters etc . will do the cam belt and tensioner when I get them and replace the brake hydraulics.

Once the book arrives will go through the electrics . Are factory manuals available ? certainly they were for my TR2 & 6 , they were far superior in their ccntent compared with he Haynes.

Thanks again

Scott

Hi Scott,

My first X1/9 had a K&N filter on it. Hope I'm not speaking out of turn here but I had that car for about 7yrs and at the same time I also had a GF totally std and there is NO difference in performance what so ever. The K&N did make the car sound better thou. As for the breather there is a small mesh filter for that, just one. I think it's main purpose is to spray oil all over the engine compartment thus preventing rust :dry: :dry:

IMHO I'd get a std pancake filter and plug the breather into it. The car I had with the K&N also had larger jets which also help to waste fuel. I think FIAT knew what they were doing when they built the car. Maybe not performance peaked but in std mode totally enjoyable.

I have the partly dissolved remains of a workshop manual, I need to scan it and repair it! Being an amateur, I'm not sure where you can get them these days.

Graeme / Rachael , thanks for comments .

I will start a hunt for a proper air box and other bits lol

Hi Racheal,
Sorry might be a bit thick but what did the last post mean?

Graeme , I had asked Rachael if there was such a thing as a factory wokshop manual - seems there was but it has dissolved :lol:

Just to update , changed timing belt and tensioner , plugs , points, condenser etc . New battery and it starts on the button and sounds sweet

Will have to set to the hydraulics now . Sadly the light switch I bought off the other post has never arrived and the company are not responding to emails . Any one got a spare for sale ?

What is all the nonsense typed re the Scottish meets elsewhere on this forum ?? smacks of all the bad feeling I experienced at the Jag clubs . Is this a club worth investing is or has everyone got their own agenda ? I only ask as my view is a club is where people meet and HELP each other ( both mechanically & encouragingly ) - the TR Register which I am a member for my TRs is superb in this respect and I was kind of hoping this would be the case for the X19

There was an unhappy period a few months ago where things got very bitter. Those with their own agenda ostensibly left this club, with a great sounding of trumpets, to form their own. Sadly, they can't help themselves returning here to stick a knife in when they see an opportunity. I won't say any more because I'll get told off for mentioning it.

Anyway, out of that unhappy time the club has emerged with a new lease of life.

And for "workshop" meets, I would enjoy that! I'm much more a tinkerer than a driver and I do get satisfaction from fixing other people's cars while my own cars languish on axle stands or sink into the undergrowth in my back garden!

That makes sense , I will skip over the bad feeling.

The going to folks houses and helping with the tricky bits is what a club is about for me , I have certainly had a mate round a few times assisting with engine rebuilding where 2 pairs of hands are better than one and I am off round another mates tomorrow to rewire his TR6 . Its what makes the cars useable and enjoyable . Esp important is no scary big garage bills .

Another wee update .

Took headlamp motor out today as the o/s one didnt work . Stripped it down , sorted all the connections and the commutator . But of grease on the moving parts and hey presto , a working motor and the repair cost nothing

Went through all the other electrics , bled clutch and had my first ever drive of a Fiat X19 - only backwards and forwards in the back garden as there are no brakes lol .

So next weeks job is the brakes then hopefully get it MoTd :woohoo: