My eye was caught by the X1/9 entered in the latest UTCC. Would love to hear more about it, anybody know anything?
Poking around found this: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/fiat-little-secret/
Is it the same car or are there two Honda K24-swapped X1/9s in the world?
Oh, the power of Google tells me there might be many. Bayless even sells a kit: https://www.midwest-bayless.com/p-1029-k20-kit-stage1-acura-honda-k20-k24-engine-swap-kit-for-fiat-bertone-x19.aspx
(wheels turning...) Now where to find a rust-free X1/9 to start with.... :-)
They're out there. Rust free will be big(er) money though. I bought mine for $150 3 years ago, and if I weren't so tall that the targa top would kill me on the street I'd find another in a heartbeat to street drive. Mid engine is just buckets of fun
The tall guy rollcage really ruins the lines, but this one was destined for the scrapper eventually. No targa, hail damage on every panel, fully rusted out floors, every wire chewed and about 15 gallons of animal refuse. Not to mention the signs of damage that seem to have come from a large hit to the underside, possibly from a dukes of hazard style jump. Or the chevy master cylinder mounted in the frunk througha literal tear in the firewall to operate the front brakes with some allthread
Jerry
PowerDork
11/10/20 10:17 a.m.
There's a few. I've been to Bayless in Columbus, neat place. I'd consider one if I could find a good X1/9 to start with.
JAdams
New Reader
11/10/20 10:21 a.m.
That's amazing! I'd love to have one of those with a K24
There's a Honda powered one running around here in VT. Not sure if K24 though. Emerald metallic paint. Looks and sounds great.
We did a full photo shoot on the UTCC Fiat, so magazine feature to come.
Google "graversen fiat x1/9"...I still think about doing this at least once a year...going on about 15 now...
Cool! Back in the day I was "the FIAT guy" at the shop where I worked so I know these cars pretty well. Modern Honda power would be way better than any of the swap options we used to talk about over beer back then. The other big problem is engine access. I'd be thinking about something in the back like what some British roadsters did in the front, where the fenders at all come up with the hood. Sit on the tire to work on the engine, oh yes.
In reply to ekauppi7 :
Pretty hard to do with the upper structure needed to support strut suspension. Stratos opens all the way, but there is little improvement in access. No one is skinny enough to sit on the tire and have 3 elbows to work around the chassis.
Brayden from bayless midwest has a supercharged K20 powered x/19.
This is one of the cars the kit is based off of.
It's truly a riot to be in, if I wasn't double his size I'd love to drive it. It's a little monster.
