Hi, anyone ever own a Fiat X1/9? I may aquire one soon and was wondering if anyone had comments about this car, I remember in the '80's driving a few of my friends X1/9's and liked it. Anyone have pics, specs, ect you can post here?.. Plmk, thanks..jim

I owned a 1979 Fiat X1/9.

I loved it, but it did have some headaches, such as some good body rust damage, and electrical wiring problems. But it is not bad to work on mechancially and is pretty simple for other electical stuff.

I end up selling it to somebody who was in love with them. He left an anonymous note on my windshield one day, about how he loves them and wanted to buy it. I figured he could do more love with it, along with fixing up the body rust. I was living in the dorms and had no garage, so I sold it too him for basically what I paid for it. I bought it for $400 (ran good) and sold it to him for that much. I had it for a full year and was my daily driver for that time period.

I owned an 80 model. Always loved the style of them and therefore ended up liking Fieros. Fiats of that era are prone to problems. The Italian mafia was in charge at that time and the cars were used more as smuggling devices than as cars. I went through 3 motors in mine, but the even worse problem was the electrical. Even with a high-output alternator on it, I couldn't run my headlights, windshield wipers, and radio at the same time. Even at their best the wipers were If-fy.

I did enjoy the car. The removable top was great. The style was great if you were a teenager in the 80s. I think it might be a little small for me now, although I have looked at a few in Camera Ads and thought it would be cool to have another one. If you get one, get a copy of a Bayless Racing magazine. They are outside of Atlanta and sell all sorts of performance parts for Fiat/Lancia.

http://baylessfiat.com/

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3rd Annual California Coast Run, November 11-13, 2005

[This message has been edited by Songman (edited 10-30-2005).]

still have one. unless you plan on spending alot of $ on hard to find parts and traceing elecrtical problems don't get it. don't plan on it beeing a daily driver either.

I owned a Fiat 850 Sport, and a 124 sport back in the day. I worked on a few X-19s. (shudder!)
Brand new, they were fun to drive. It was a mid engined sportscar based on the front wheel drivetrain from an econobox. I think Pontiac used a similar design in the '80s.
As has been stated before, they were (like all Fiats) prone to rusting, because they were built light, fast, and cheap.
My Fiats didn't have electrical problems, but most X-19s did.
The engine has solid lifters, and part of a tunup is adjusting the valves. In order to do this, you measure the lash with a feeler guage. If its in spec. go buy a lottery ticket, its your lucky day.
If not, you use a special Fiat tool to depress the valve spring. Remove what appears to be a steel hockey puck. Measure it with a micrometer. Do the math. Look in your box of pucks for one that is thicker or thinner and will make things right. Be careful, do it wrong and burn a valve.
This is all done while standing on your head (like a Fiero)
And parts are hard to find in the USA.
Get the picture?
That's why you never see these cars on the road anymore.
If the one in question is ABSOLUTEY PERFECT, and inexpensive, and you want something unusual for car shows, go for it. Otherwise.......
Buy a Peugot or an Edsel or a Yugo. Or another Fiero!

[This message has been edited by NEPTUNE (edited 10-30-2005).]

I never owned one, but did work on a few. As I recall, an X1/9 was the last car I worked on as a professional mechanic.

Ditto the above regarding rust and electrical problems, also oil leaks, cooling, and carburetion. Think of an X1/9 as a lightly-built, rust-prone Fiero, assembled by someone who didn't really have his mind on his work.

That said, they are fun to drive, and the valves are easier to adjust than on an old Jaguar. (Damning with faint praise?)

I had 2 of them, a 75 and a 79, I have no idea why I bought the second one, I guess I liked the styling or was just a glutten for punishment. The first one was a disaster, I bought it used and after driving it for a week the camshaft belt slipped and I had bent valves (belts are fairly easy to change and should be done frequently) The 75 also dropped a ball joint and snapped a C.V. joint at various times. The heater control valve sprang a leak inside, there was numerous small electrical problems and lots of rust. The 79 did show signs of improved quality control, more rustprofing a bigger engine, 1500cc as opposed to 1300cc and also a 5 spd. instead of a 4. The weak point on the 79 besides the cam. belt was the tranmission, mine had a very noisy reverse gear and someone had already worked on the transmission at 18000 miles when I bought it. I believe 79 or 80 was the last year that used a carburetor after that it was fuel injection. One of the best investments I had was a factory Fiat shop manual that my dad bought me for Christmas one year. I remember when I saw my first Fiero I thought it was a rip-off, imposter of the X19, now I know different! The Fiat was a good handling car and had a very smooth engine, especially the smaller motor. The later models had more pollution equipment on them, air injection pumps, cat. convertors and smaller carbs. I have seen some pics. of highly modified X1-9s including body kits, they still look very sharp.

I had an 81 with a five speed, broke teeth off the reverse gear on two different occasions. Otherwise the X1/9 had very few problems for me. The $1600 US for repairs on the tranny did hurt some, but it was an awsome car on fifty MPH and tighter turns.

This was the reason I purchased a Fiero, midengine V6. Faster..stronger...

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all i know about them is that if you take the 'big" engine and put the head from the "small" engine on it, a direct bolt up, you get something like 12:1 compression ratio.