A Work in Progress 4.5: 1978 Fiat X1/9 Serie Speciale (Fear of The Unknown)

I am genuinely in awe of the ingenuity, skill and time that many members of the X1/9, Italian and broader car communities put into their restorations.  Seeing people refurbish, adapt and engineer parts and panels - often to a higher standard than factory items - blows me away.    

As a man of lesser skills, I enjoy doing what I can, generally confining myself to cleaning things up, wire-brushing, rubbing back, painting, plus wrangling electro-spaghetti and fitting the occasional accessory.  If it unbolts, I'll more than likely have a crack at it; anything much more complex than that, maybe not so much ... . 

This is what was lurking beneath the fluid reservoirs.

As the owner of a 41 year old X1/9, I do experience the odd moment of fearful anticipation.  Take, for example, the munted, bubbled sound deadener / weather sealant that greeted me when I went to explore the ominous seepage emanating from one or both of the X's fluid reservoirs.  What horrors lurked beneath its surface?  Was this going to be the rust-repair in waiting that derailed my plans for a relatively straight forward resto?

Surface still protected by original primer and with Sikaflex applied.

Fortunately not!  The car's much-maligned, toxic-smelling shipping container home seems to have kept the water out of the area, meaning that the metal below was clean and rust-free.  Phew!  It was also a relief to discover that beyond the immediate brake fluid leakage, the sound deadener was still intact and therefore didn't need to be stripped from the entire width of the car.

Remediation came in the form of a tube of paintable Sikaflex Pro multi-purpose sealant which was spatulaed up to and over the nearest edge of the remaining intact sound deadener.  Further Sikaflex was applied to any remaining areas that had the potential to trap moisture, before Rust-oleum etch primer and new sound deadener of the same brand were sprayed over all surfaces. 

Etch primed, above and below.

Above and below:  sound deadener applied.

I'll also be employing the same technique to replace and rejuvenate the sound deadener beneath all four mudguards (a start on this has already been made), as well any other under-body areas where the existing coating is past its 'best-by' date.  After that, the car's off to local Italian specialist workshop Fogarty Automotive for a quick-bits transplant - the engine, gearbox and suspension from my Series 1.5 - with the latter being offered for sale as a standard car soon after to help finance a full respray for the Series 1.

That will only leave me with a bit of tinkering - rubbing back and repainting the bumpers, sourcing and fitting a new front spoiler and passenger's side engine grille, having the ladder stripes made and applied - and then the car's done.  As done as a 41 year old can be, that is!    

And it turns out that the fluid seepage was caused by an insecure clamp.  Bonus!

U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)

All iPhone images.