X1/9 adventure...

Arranged with Jim to collect his VS on Saturday,so I booked a train ticket to go down to London to collect it and drive it home.He was a bit apprehensive as the car hadn't really been on the road for a few years,but I thought I'd take the chance and bring it home under its own steam. I left Markinch train station at 9am,armed with a bag full of car and bike magazines to read during my journey.Upon arrival in Edinburgh,I was told that the East Coast line was closed due to engineering works,and I would have to go via Carslile...anyway,got into London at 5pm,and after a couple of runs on the tube,finally got to the station where Jim lives.He collected me in his Integrale Evo,and enjoyed a white knuckle ride through London,If you ever live in London,get one of these!!! Sprinting between the lights with the turbo chirping away was worth the train trip itself!!

Anyway,got all sorted out at Jims,and I got to drive his blue 1300 for a wee bit,its a lovley wee thing!,then had a look over his green 1300.It was just how I remember them as a wee boy! I doubt there are many left in such original condition anywhere. It was now nearing 7pm,so I thought it best to make a start on the long journey North..so we waved our goodbyes,and I put my trust in Holly,the sat-nav lady to get me out of the city.

10 minutes up the road,in half a mile of traffic in the Blackwall tunnel,the temp gauge shot off the scale..and sounds like a kettle boiling coming from behind me.I had to keep moving though,with people tooting and flashing at the sauna behind the car. once I got out of the tunnel,I pulled in to a side street and popped the engine cover,and gently released the geyser using my jacket to stop me getting scalded...empty. I had 2 litres of water,so I poured that in and got another 2 miles down the road. Eventually I managed to get to a petrol station and filled and bled the cooling system,and got out the city with the temp just under 90.

The car was really lacking power and everytime I accelerated,I was getting a backfire,and no real increase in power,so I stopped in at a services,and bought some supplies for the journey,and adjusted the timing a bit. Took the roof off,and set out on to the motorway.All was great for about 40 miles,car was driving beautifully,there were great tunes on the radio and the heater was pumping out hot air.The roads were empty and I was really enjoying myself!

Just when I'd totally relaxed and got into the mood for charging up the road there was suddenly a very loud and expensive sounding noise came from behind,the car cut out and I coasted into the hard shoulder...I jumped out expecting to find oil and conrods all over the carrigeway.... :roll:

After a bit of investigation using my test lamp for light,I saw that the distributor had siezed,so the whole lot had been turning,ripping off the HT leads,breaking the hold down clips,pulling out and smapping the LT wires and smashing the dizzy cap..the rotor arm had also gone AWOL. Damn and blast....or words to that effect were probably heard up in Scotland....

I had brought a few spares,so I checked to see what I had,the dizzy cap I had was different...the rotor arm fitted though,and the points were the same,so I removed the plate out the dizzy and straightened it on the crash barrier and removed the small broken piece of metal that had caused all the carnage in the first place. I'd like to show you a picture of it,but its still lying on the M11 somewhere,chucked over the carrigeway in a rage...

Now I had the dizzy internals all together and back in,and a bit of wire fixed in from the coil to the |dizzy,there was the problem with the cap. Half of it was missing and there was no way of fixing it to the dizzy body. I sat on the crash barrier and smoked a few fags,contemplating what to do next.Do I finally join a breakdown service..

Not without a fight!!! I had a brainwave of using my bootlace to tie the cap on ,even just to get me to the next services.After a few failed attempts I finally got it to stay in place,and tentativly turned the key..It fired up straight away,and idled perfectly...I'm sure I even saw it smiling!!!

Back out on to the motorway and all seemed well,timing was a bit out,but if anything,it was even better than before..I had a few thoughts about the sparks flying about in what was left of the dizzy cap being next to the fuel pump,but quickly tried to think about something else..

Quite a few miles up the road,I pulled in to the services and gently moved the distributor and set off again.The car was running perfectly,plenty of power and no funny noises,so I settled into a 90mph cruise up the M1 and life was great again! By this time it was about 5am, and tiredness was setting in,and it was beginning to get foggy,so I decided to forego the A68-one of my favorite roads into Scotland-and head over to Carslile and up the M74.On the slower roads I noticed that the idle had risen up to 3500RPM,but I left it for now,but did have a moment driving through one of the small border towns,and there was a traffic car sitting there..Trying to keep a CSC exhaust quiet and keep to 30 with the idle at 3500 without showing brake lights took all of my coordination skills so as not to get pulled!

Over into Scotland and I pulled into the services for a BIG coffee and to adjust the fast idle,which had been sticking on,and back on the road-roof on now as it was POURING down! A bit upthe road the alternator light came on,not just a dim glow,but full on....noooooooooo. I pushed on switching off anything I could do without,and made it to the next services.I then noticed that at idle and slow speed the light would go out.So this is how the rest of the trip went,charging up the motorway for a while,then stopping and ticking over for a while,letting the battery get some food.Every now and again,the alternator belt let out a huge squeal and a groan and the light went off,this at least kept me awake!!

We fianally got back to Glenrothes at ten past eight this morning. me absoluteley shattered and filthy,and the X on 3 cylinders making some horrible noises,but we were home...like 2 battle weary soildiers back from the front line after a tour of duty. I went straight to bed,and slept like a log until 4pm,and the car is sitting outside in the rain,waiting on some TLC to get it back into rude health!!

A big thanks to Jim for picking me up and letting me see his 1300's and hopefully I was right about your non working horn!

Makeshift bootlace repair


The smashed dizzy cap


Home at last

hi tiff,

Deya vu comes to mind for most people reading this i think, but thats what i love about a journey in a x19 you ask yourself the question 'Are we gonna get there?'

Are u sure the Apollo13 astronauts weren,t Scottish.

Superb story Tiff You got the tan leather you so love too. I hope this wee beauty will live out of the rain in your garage because the rain won't take long to turn this lovely beast into a pile of rust. Looking forward to welcoming the new car into the Scottish clan. I'm glad we have a car which isn't red or a shade of red

Ewen

No doubt Jim will now be selling shoelaces on E-bay

A brilliant story off "Triumph over Adversity".
I bet you this car will now perform faultlessly for you once you have sorted out its various recomissioning problems and the story of its first drive under your ownership will go down in x1/9 folklore for generations to come.

OOH Charlie...you said the T word...I thought there was a swear filter on this forum??

I always said I ran my X on a shoestring,but this day it was a bit much...

Haha, what a story Tiff!!! my coca cola did meet the keyboard on more than one occassion though....! :lol: Good job I insisted on filling that bottle with water!

Im delighted you made it back in one piece though, its a great car that just needs a little TLC to make it into a superb car once again. Missing it like hell already even though I hadn't used it for so long - WHY oh WHY is it always when you sell a car it sounds and looks soooooo good as its being driven off onto the horizon by the new owner......

Cheers,
Jim.

Tiff - That's a great story. I'm sure the car will pay you back (and lots more) for the moments of stress on that journey.

Reading your experience with Jims ex-vs had me a little worried .....I thought you were going to say the cambelt had broken, and since it was me that helped Jim replace it the last time it had any significant work done on it, was a little worried!! - (However I might just have to take responsibility for the timing as I think I was the last person to adjust it! - unless Jim did since.)
By the way Tiff - you might find the valve clearances are a little out - after fitting a new head gasket, (and despite Jims collection of shims,) there were several which were a few mill out - not significant enough to affect the running, but one of those jobs that needed sorting later which somehow get overlooked - (unless Jim did since!)
Anyway glad you made it - must remember to carry a bootlace in mine
p.s. - did your boot fall off?

Geoff,the car ran beautifully when everything was in order,there is a slight noise from the tappets,I'll get round to it soon!The dizzy clamp was tight! it was a small piece of metal-what looked like the post that the spring hooks on to-that broke,could have happened anytime,but I have to admit,I've never came across it before!!!

As for my boot..I just took them off..I must have looked a right sight walking around service stations in the middle of the night in me socks..dirty hands and a mad staring expression..No one refused to take my Scottish money then!

NICE ONE TIFF AND WHO SAID DRIVING AN EXY WAS BOARING, THAY WHERE SO WRONG