Valve Assembly Part I

So, its been a bit of time since I have released any updates. Its actually quite a bit harder to work on the car when I have to take off gloves to handle a camera. Kinda slows things down. But I guess it is not so bad as I get a chance to swig on something cool (See the background of one of the pics).

So here is the head all planed and ready for installation.


Need a tissue?

The head was planned to get rid of a not greater than .006" warpage across cylinders 2-3. While apart, I also had a valve stem/seal job done with new seals and settings. While I did have the valve area cleaned inside to remove excess carbon, I didn't spend the money to have the valves opened up anymore. The valves are already bigger than stock, and I do have a budget. I did get the valves seated to the head, so it should provide an excellent seal, and some improvement in compression


Seated Valves

I don't particularly care to bend over. Yes, getting older sucks, and waking up with a sore back is not fun. So, I'm choosing to do a bench valve job. Its a little harder in terms of redundant assembly, but much easier than bending over a car that is so low to the ground. In assembling engine components that have been cleaned dry, you need lots of lubricant to prevent friction, and scoring of sensitive components. You can see my makeshift squirt bottle with Synthetic lubricant, and a tube of Engine Assembly Lube. Use these LIBERALLY!


This is what the tissue was for. What were you thinking?

In dry assembling the cam box to the head, you have to torque everything down equally. See the cam is going to be applying areas of lift as the duration is exposing itself to the tappets and ultimately the valves. Be sure to do this work on a surface that has your head up off of the bench or you risk bending a valve. Both time consuming and expensive. Especially with these big hard to find valves. You may not be able to see it in the picture, but there are blocks underneath the head.


Applying even hand torque

What is done next is the measurement of the shims seated in the tappets. This is a time consuming process made far more difficult by silly American standard measurements as opposed to the metric system.


Shim measurement tool

Unfortunately I need to sign off tonight. I have been doing this work at my warehouse in Gardena/Compton, and late at night it gets, well interesting. So I promise more updates to come. Right now I am concurrently assembling the cleaned and detailed A/C, alternator, water pump, and mounting hardware. It hasn't come without excitement I'll say.

Stay cool, and keep the tissues near.

The end and the beginning

So, time to let you know what happened to Zanardi. in the late 90s I was a go getter. Corporate America make room because here I come. One day while driving to a meeting during the summer, I noticed that my coolant temp was getting a bit high. I was only 5 miles from my meeting location, so I thought, no biggie. No more than a mile later, the temperature pegged out, and I had steam rising from the front of the car.

Silly me, I was worried about missing my meeting. I got a tow and yes I made the meeting. But something in me was different. I couldn't help but think of my little friend. Generally I'm excellent at having the ability to focus on the subject at hand. I vowed to put the time in to fix her, and I actually did put forth the effort. I enlisted the help of a famous Fiat racing and repair facility for help. While their reputation was stellar, my experience was less than. They did do a competent job on the rebuild of my transmission, but frustration grew very high for me. I would have them check the head with the standard tests, but I kept getting water in the oil. The gunk on the top right is what I pulled off the oil pump intake.



This is the car with emulsified oil. Wonderful huh?

Yes, a condition like this can be catastrophic. I knew I was having difficulties with something so I never did drive Zanardi like this. Over those 6 years the car was down, I randomly tried different things, but my heart wasn't in it. There were 2 previous attempts to fix the car. Going all the way down to removing the head. At great risk of life and limb, believe me, I towed the car from here to there and back again. But, I never did let the car go. Mostly Zanardi was stored in my garage, and promised that I would get the car the attention it needed. I just knew that at some point, the time would be right to get reaquanted with my old friend.

So, fast forward to today. Its been approximately 6 years since the car has been on the roads, and I'm consulting with the best of the best. There is an excellent support group called XANA at

http://www.network54.com/Forum/12159/

At XANA I have gotten the support that I need including motivation, comraderie and meeting other X heads like me.

In choosing to rebuild the car, I knew I just didn't want to put it on the road, I wanted to get the car looking better than when I first owned it. As I have once again disassembled the engine, I found a crack in the block that somehow went unnoticed. I began working with a new machine shop called R&D in Costa Mesa CA. John of R&D found that my head was more than .006 inches out of true. Remember, every time I had the head off I had it checked for true. So, the failed attempts to put Zanardi on the road came down to some of my negligence, and the negligence of the previous Fiat facility.

Its easy to get a head rebuilt and trued. Not so much to fix a crack in the block. First order of business was the get the head off. A new friend from XANA, Alex came down, and we first did compression tests, and a leak down test. The evidence was clear that there were problems. Of course I already knew this. One of the problems was that my head had frozen to the block. Something about Aluminum, water and metal causing a bond. Brett of Port Hueneme, a fellow XANA member and awesome Fiat guy heard that I was having issues with the stuck head. He was nice enough to get in touch with me and loan me a special head removal tool that got that B*tch off.

(Brett has an excellent '74 X1/9 that is for sale)

His Ad is at:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/112729/thread/1154050541/last-1154058081/FOR+SALE+1974++X1-9++$3000

Pictures are at:
http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h103/brette10/

Next up was to find the crack.


Viola


In finding the crack, I felt like I was on the right road to understanding what the problem was.
Next up was removing the head studs. Of course the studs were frozen in the block. I highly recommend PB Blaster for anyone that needs to unstick/unfreeze stubborn bolts, studs, etc.


Quick Commercial from our Sponsor

I did manage to get the studs out after a week of perpetual soaking of the stud threads with PB. I also used some Gin & Tonic, and I learned a few new swear words. Onward and upward.

In mid July, the head was sent out for rebuilding to R&D Performance for rebuilding. As highly touted as the other Fiat shop is, after two failed diagnosis, I won't be getting assistance from them again. The head was easily given a valve job, and the valves cleaned and seated.


The Before Picture

This past weekend, my friend, Alex, was generous enough to come tow the car down to the same R&D machine shop so I could have my block repaired.


Is the trailer worth more than the car?

The ride to the shop was of great interest. See, Alex's tow vehicle is a newer model Escalade. With 345 odd horse, it gets around. More interesting and of life peril is the fact that Alex has an X that is his Race Car. So needless to say people moved around him. Or should I say he moves them. I think I heard him say, "Well if I hit someone its with your car not mine." Yeah, fun drive. Seeing that Alex is a great resource, I can't really complain.


I'm quite sure he is thinking of how to antagonize people on XANA

Once R&D and I chose the best route, John went about drilling out the hole and retapping the threads.


John working


John tapping the threads

I'm known to be rather frugal. So, while at John's shop I managed to borrow his tap and compressed air to clean out the threads of the other block mounts. This will allow a proper seat of the studs and correct torque. Since the head has been planned, torque is going to be critical.

So, currently I'm finishing up cleaning some parts. I have the piston tops cleaned, and the accessories almost finished for installation. I do need to source an 84 millimeter stud with a 12 by 1.25 pitch. Anyone, anyone? Bueller, Bueller? This was because we drilled out the cracked portion of the stud area to thread the stud in deeper.

The engine has gone from this


Before

To this

B Level cleaning


Next on the list is to get back my intake manifold. Yes there is a story. I'm still on the fence post about getting the header Jet-Hot coated. I will be painting the accessory mounts for things like A/C and the Alternator Bracket. Sometime about 10 August, I will start bolting parts on.

Stay out of the Ice Plant medians kids.

Predictability and Confidence

Prior to telling you about where I am in the restoration, I thought I would share some details about the general aspects of the Fiat X1/9.

The layout of the car is a mid engine design. While this design was used in other mass production vehicles like the Toyota MR2, Pontiac Fiero, and the Porsche 914, the X predates all but the 914. The first model roled into Italian history in 1972. Two years later, a US spec model was imported to North America.

In American culture, this car was deemed to be seriously underpowered. Introduced with a 1300 cc engine, it was surely no match for American muscle. Think again. In a straight line, American muscle cars were competent in straight line speed. However, the X, had a different calling. With only 2,000 lbs, its superiority was enforced on the twisting roads. This was accomplished through mid engine placement. This puts the weight of the engine closer to the center of the car. In effect, the balance of the vehicle is remarkable.

No other car I have driven provides as much feedback to the driver about the handling of the vehicle. When you can connect with the car and have confidence in its predictability, its easier to drive at the limit. While any car can be overdriven, the safer car is the one that communicates to the driver.

In a shoot out test created by Grassroots Motorsports magazine in 1997, the Fiat was compared to the 914, MR2, and Fiero. While the Fiat had the lest amount of rated power, it bested all of the above at Road Atlanta race track. Predictability and balance. This is what truly makes a car fast. In fact a comment of the article was, "The Bertone (Fiat) was amazing. The handling and feel were more formula-car than any fendered car we have driven in a long time." High words of praise from author Tim Stoddard. If you are unfamiliar with Grassroots Motorsports, I highly encourage you pick up a copy. While your car may not be featured, the engineering and driving advice offered are applicable. The magazine is head and shoulders above the usual car magazine fare.

My particular car is the 79 model. This model comes with a 1500cc engine, and a Five Speed Transmission. This provided a little more torque over the 1300cc car, and increases the top end speed. Weight is increased to about 2,100 lbs. Stock I think my car was rated with 75 horsepower, and 0-60 time over 10.5 seconds. Rather anemic I know. However my particular car has had a lot of improvements. The cam has been changed, big valve head, headers, dual DCNF Weber carburetor, and larger tires. While I do not have a current dyno sheet for the car, I estimate that I am at 95+ horse at the wheels. Assuming a driveline loss of 15% that would be about 110 horse at the engine. Comparing this to the 75 stock horses, I have an increase of approx 45% more horsepower. This really changes the dynamic of the car.

While I am partial to this brand, if you know of someone with a mid-engine car, I highly recommend that you drive one. Its an experience like no other.

Buying Zanardi

So, just a quick start...
Zanardi was purchased approx. Sept. of 1995. I bought the car from a Gentleman named Russ in Alta Dena. Russ was the second owner, and at the time, the car had 78,XXX miles on it. Russ was a engineer by trade and mainly did design for automotive parts. I fiugred this was a great pedigree, and began negotiating. During the wheeling and dealing Russ and I found some common themes in our life, and it seemed fitting that I take the car. While I didn't pay what he was asking, I gave him as much as I could. Yeah, backwards, but fitting.

The car hadn't been registered in some years, and had badly faded paint from environmental stains, like tree sap, bird droppings, etc. In fact during the inspection, I was greeted by a number of the representatives from the Arthopodia class of insects. I purchased the car, and carefully drove it home. I was worried about the state of the timing belt, hoses, brakes, you name it. While driving, I had the pressure of not having insurance on the car, and lack of registration, but you know what? I was grinning ear to ear.

These pictures are from some time a year later. Approx Sept 96. They are scans so they come out a little weird. Remember photos? I spent many-many weeks working on the paint to get the color showing on her. I lived in a apartment complex, and I'm sure my neighbors thought I was OCD. I finally got the color to look right by abandoning the cheap waxes and polishes and using the heavy duty 3M stuff. Hard to work with, but worth the result.

The start of the affair

I'm quite excited to share my passion for the Fiat X1/9. This space of digital domain will be devoted to my restoration of my 79 Fiat X1/9. I have had a long standing affair with Fiats since my first car a Fiat 124 Sport Coupe at age 16. I have had three fiats in my time, and a host of other branded mild to exciting cars. But really, NOTHING compares to the sound of a SOHC Fiat with carbs.

So bear with me as I pull this together, I'm anxious to get pictures, history and links going. As I'm currently getting the car back on the road, with a projected drive date of late August 2007.