So now that I have been driving around in a X1/9 for a little over a week, I thought I would share some pics, and let them speak for themselves. Recall that the drives that are occuring have had a 10 year history of near misses and complete BS. I have a major engineering shop that owes me huge for shody work (if you want it done right, go to John Edwards at Costa Mesa R&D - check out the video of pistons that will run to 12k RPM!)




I also owe a huge thanks to benefactor Fiat Charlie! I should send a truckload of Omaha steaks your way my friend. So, I guess it is a wash. I reap, and forgive. If you haven't read the blog it won't make much sense, but to this day, as the red X, Zanardi is being stripped, I'm still finding work that I was billed for, but never done. Doesn't matter. The X is all heart.



This is the business end of the drivers view. I'm still running at 210+, but I have a manual fan switch, so I can get around traffic/idle temps.



The interior is still preserved, but my back hurts after 30 minutes in the car, whereas I can drive for 4+ hours in cars with seat adjustments. I am constantly stretching and pinching in this car, but who cares.









I am slowly bringing the paint color back with 3M rubbing compound and lots of wax on and off. Thank you Daniel-son.

As I type at 1:30 in the morning on a Sunday night, I wonder what my neighbors would think of a 7,500 RPM launch? Who cares? The car feels great!

Bella Machina

Here is some music to go with the read:



Registered and legal. I think that perhaps every member of my family has driven a car in some state of illegality. Be it missing registration, insurance, we take the cake. So, today was a suprise when I registered and made legal my little X. I drove it to the Compton DMV. Whoa, scary place. There was quite a line, but I had made an online appointement. I was easily seen and serviced in 20 minutes. The line didn't really move from when I arrived and left. Do they not have internet access? Instead of the large bling earings the inner city fellas wear, perhaps they would do well to get a computer? Is that inane?




In any case, the plan today was to put some highway and stop and go traffic miles on my little X. The rear engine layout of the X is a challenging environment for proper eninge cooling. I have done quite a bit to bleed the air out of the cooling lines, but still feel uncomfortable with the 215+ coolant temperatures.

First thing I did upon my babies first arrival at casa de piscando was to give her a decent detailing. I washed off accumulated dust, droppings and the oh so familiar grease stains familiar to a Fiat. I spent some time doing the interior and before the sunset, I snapped some pics of her C level clean.





I quickly got out to Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and followed the sunset north throught the overpriced homes that are so coveted. The only car I took note of was the Smart cars parked two to one driverway on Highland. http://www.smartusa.com/

My car has a old Sony tape radio and some small little speakers on the rear shelf. A poor comparison to the multi channel amplified system I have in my Mercedes.

In a good convertible, you won't notice. But tonights drive was epic. The music played, but I couldn't care less what was playing. I tiptoed through the surf traffic from the last rideable waves and found myself at one of the few open stretches of the PCH South of Los Angeles airport. The sun was at the last 3-5 minutes of light and the glow from the Pacific Ocean was stellar. The car, the moment and my thoughts reminded me of being 23 again and behind the wheel of my origional X, Zanardi. The byline of this blog is Divorce and Resotration from the perspective of a car guy. This was in fact Restoration. I can't recall the last time a car gave me this same feeling of peace. The Sun, the water, the car and I were at one. Instantly, I became aware of the radio, "City of Blinding Lights" was playing by U2. It has been some time since I have had a car moment. This one can't be written about, but know that I will keep it special. It is easy to have romance as a young man, harder still as a middle aged man. Business, Bills, and Blondes....need I say more? Right now, the Mercedes will sit in the warehouse unless I'm picking up Pitter, my daughter. I hope my future will be about 1.5 liters of pure italiano. Bella Machina my friends.

Of course it is a Fiat

This afternoon, my young protege Chase came by my warehouse. I was more than happy to show him the X1/9. The car delighted me while we took corners around the early evening comuter traffic that is uniquely South Los Angeles. Prior to leaving, we took off the Targa top and enjoyed the open air driving aided by the power windows at full down. We only took the car a couple of miles, and that was a wise choice. However, being in the company of a friend, I did let the motor grunt a bit by drawing revs up to 7,500 RPM. Oh what a symphony!

After Chase left, I distinctly smelled a strong odor of gas. Looking under the car, I was rewarded with a nice puddle of accumulating fluid. Having been into the bowels of a Fiat time and again, I thought, "ohh how cute, something to fix..." Famous last words.

The braided fuel hose from the tank to the fuel pump was leaking at the upright fuel pump connection. I have experience changing fuel filters, and hoses, so I was not too worried about the work. In fact, some caution and preparation would have served me well. I pulled the car into the warehouse a bit, and left the engine compartment in the alley to keep the dripping gas out in the alley way to dry. After jacking up the car, and putting it on jack stands I got under the car with an assortment of tools I thought I would need. Of course I had a flat head screw driver, a drop light, and a 1/4 ratchet and set of sockets. What I didn't bring was common sense! After visualy seeing the leak, I decided in some state of stupidity that I would squeeze the hose.......

The hose instantly debrised into dropping rubber bits within a stream of gas coming from the tank. I'm a shade tree mechanic, and have some fine wins to my belt. An assisted rebuild on a 350 Chevy (thanks dad), a built Honda Integra, 50k self maintained miles on a Mercedes, but nothing will drop your confidence like a stream of gas. I quickly did a mental check of potential fire sources, and gave some thought of how to plug the stream.

I secured some spare bolts lying around a new clamp and a razor blade. The last thing I grabbed was a spark plug that had been changed from the new head job. Little did I know that my last thought was the best. I tried inserting a number of like sized objects to the degraded hose but found myself short on size. Like sticking your finger in a dam. Finally the spark plug made a good fix to slow the stream to a drip. In no time, I found that my arms itched, and worse, my right eye was stinging from the coating of petrol on my eyelid. I washed up cursing myself for not foreseeing this, and made a quick post on Xweb to know what I was looking for.



I decided that I wanted this done tonight and wasted time going to a Autozone and a closed Kragen to buy the correct hose. No such luck the correct 12mm size hose was not stocked. At this time, the car sits in the warehouse, with a clamp on the spark plugged fuel hose, and the writer itching at chemically burned skin. Of course it is a Fiat.

A running Fiat!

So, I wanted to show pictures of the new Bi-Xenon lighting on my Mercedes, nope have not done that. I wanted to talk about the paint truck that had an accident that happened in front of me on the freeway in July, nope...But, I can tell you this.

I have a running Fiat! An 85 Berton x1/9. This was the car that was given to me by Fiat Charlie. Right now I'm into in for about $600 in labor assistance, and another $600 in parts. It is a combination of 1300 cc Big Valve Head, stock FI block, balanced and rebuilt injectors to create a smooth spinning engine that revs easily to 6500 rpm. I'm not going to put pictures up until I get a chance to spend some time detailing her, but ohh is she soo gorgeous!