CAR SOS Fiat X1/9 - The truth about the poor workmanship
Discussion
Fitting substandard components and carrying out work carelessly is not a mistake. It's slapdash carelessness at best, sheer incompetence at worst and the last thing you would expect given the nature of the show.
Excellent work getting the X1/9 back on the road OP, it looks really purposeful, track ready in fact.
Excellent work getting the X1/9 back on the road OP, it looks really purposeful, track ready in fact.
They showed the cylinder head and said it would need a full rebuild but nothing about the block. It's obvious it was not properly honed which is surprising considering it had covered 122k miles. I've no idea who actually did the engine but apart from being cleaned up the block has had no work. I sent a very polite but factual email to the show but had nothing back. I'm just putting it behind me now and looking forward to the new engine.
If I remember correctly, the chap , who was unknowingly having the car restored for, never got to see it completed and passed away during the resto. Now, I know its all TV drama to have deadlines for time to make it more watchable, but we will never know if with availability of parts for the engine where at the time available or they had to 'make do' to get it done for the poorly guy.
They do seem to ship out engine works in later episodes of the program and I dont think that the team are that knowledged with mechanicals in the same way they do a complete bodywork resto and looks great.
Its good to see it again and hopefully the work can be put to one side as you are getting a complete rebuilt and better spec engine than it was originally bought with.
They do seem to ship out engine works in later episodes of the program and I dont think that the team are that knowledged with mechanicals in the same way they do a complete bodywork resto and looks great.
Its good to see it again and hopefully the work can be put to one side as you are getting a complete rebuilt and better spec engine than it was originally bought with.
Lance1965 said:
They showed the cylinder head and said it would need a full rebuild but nothing about the block. It's obvious it was not properly honed which is surprising considering it had covered 122k miles. I've no idea who actually did the engine but apart from being cleaned up the block has had no work. I sent a very polite but factual email to the show but had nothing back. I'm just putting it behind me now and looking forward to the new engine.
its too long a time gap and 2,000 miles done to be moaning about this now to the show. Hope you get it sorted I'd be ditching the old 1500cc 8v motor and put either a punto gt ie turbo engine in there or a nice lampredi twin cam either 1.6 or 2.0 the standard x1/9 engine was not much good even when new.Lance1965 said:
As an avid fan of CAR SOS I was excited to purchase one of the cars that was restored on the program, in October 2023. I bought the fiat X1/9 (season 9 episode 3) from the Bibby family. I learnt that the car had only covered around a hundred miles since the rebuild back in 2021 as the family did not use it (personal reasons). There were a few teething and running problems in the 2k miles I covered in three months which I could never get to the bottom off until two months ago on the way to a classic car show it suffered a catastrophic breakdown!
The car was recovered and sent to a Fiat / Lancia specialist Frank Rizzuti (Avanti Motorsport) who had helped on the program before (Fiat uno turbo feature)
Upon stripping the engine it was found that the head gasket failed between cylinder two and three as it was fitted with a non-genuine inferior gasket 1.2mm instead of the 1.5mm genuine one (see pictures for comparison) and the alloy “fire rings” were a lot smaller. (pictures enclosed) It was also discovered that the wrong carburettor had been fitted (choke size too small, made for 1300cc not 1500cc) Please note this was not the original carburettor they serviced on the show and i have no idea why they binned that for a new manual choke one On top of that the cam timing was also out on the “piper cam” The combination of all these resulted in lean fueling and blown gasket. Also when taken apart it was discovered that the thrust bearing was drilled and screwed instead of pins and the clutch was a "non branded one" The drive shaft bolts were hand tight only and because the cam timing was out it caused all the valves to be bent when the engine let go and pieces of the alloy “fire ring” on the head gasket ended up in the cylinders and scoring the bores (pictures enclosed) It was also evident that the original engine was not “honed” given its 122k miles, which surprised Frank and me, considering the excellent work on the bodywork which I can not fault by the way.
I am now left with a rather large bill for a complete engine rebuild which I am having done as I still intend to use this car for charity runs in memory of Steve Bibby as I promised to his wife Collette.
I can’t help thinking all of this would have been a huge blow and disappointment for the Bibby family had they gone on and used the car, especially after 2k miles.
I’ve always admired the amount of work that goes in to these builds and the extensive attention to detail but I can’t help but wonder why there were so many unnecessary mechanical mistakes made on this car.
Its currently having a 1550cc engine, big valve flowed head and twin weber downdrafts fitted, I have also fitted period abarth cromodora wheels. It will be the car it should have been. As I said, the body work is amazing i can't fault that but mechanically it was a disaster waiting to happen
This reads like a bit of a nasty post to be honest. What was your intent? To shame the show into paying for a rebuild?The car was recovered and sent to a Fiat / Lancia specialist Frank Rizzuti (Avanti Motorsport) who had helped on the program before (Fiat uno turbo feature)
Upon stripping the engine it was found that the head gasket failed between cylinder two and three as it was fitted with a non-genuine inferior gasket 1.2mm instead of the 1.5mm genuine one (see pictures for comparison) and the alloy “fire rings” were a lot smaller. (pictures enclosed) It was also discovered that the wrong carburettor had been fitted (choke size too small, made for 1300cc not 1500cc) Please note this was not the original carburettor they serviced on the show and i have no idea why they binned that for a new manual choke one On top of that the cam timing was also out on the “piper cam” The combination of all these resulted in lean fueling and blown gasket. Also when taken apart it was discovered that the thrust bearing was drilled and screwed instead of pins and the clutch was a "non branded one" The drive shaft bolts were hand tight only and because the cam timing was out it caused all the valves to be bent when the engine let go and pieces of the alloy “fire ring” on the head gasket ended up in the cylinders and scoring the bores (pictures enclosed) It was also evident that the original engine was not “honed” given its 122k miles, which surprised Frank and me, considering the excellent work on the bodywork which I can not fault by the way.
I am now left with a rather large bill for a complete engine rebuild which I am having done as I still intend to use this car for charity runs in memory of Steve Bibby as I promised to his wife Collette.
I can’t help thinking all of this would have been a huge blow and disappointment for the Bibby family had they gone on and used the car, especially after 2k miles.
I’ve always admired the amount of work that goes in to these builds and the extensive attention to detail but I can’t help but wonder why there were so many unnecessary mechanical mistakes made on this car.
Its currently having a 1550cc engine, big valve flowed head and twin weber downdrafts fitted, I have also fitted period abarth cromodora wheels. It will be the car it should have been. As I said, the body work is amazing i can't fault that but mechanically it was a disaster waiting to happen
Edited by Lance1965 on Saturday 25th May 10:47
Edited by Lance1965 on Saturday 25th May 10:54
Edited by Lance1965 on Saturday 25th May 10:56
rallycross said:
Lance1965 said:
They showed the cylinder head and said it would need a full rebuild but nothing about the block. It's obvious it was not properly honed which is surprising considering it had covered 122k miles. I've no idea who actually did the engine but apart from being cleaned up the block has had no work. I sent a very polite but factual email to the show but had nothing back. I'm just putting it behind me now and looking forward to the new engine.
its too long a time gap and 2,000 miles done to be moaning about this now to the show. Hope you get it sorted I'd be ditching the old 1500cc 8v motor and put either a punto gt ie turbo engine in there or a nice lampredi twin cam either 1.6 or 2.0 the standard x1/9 engine was not much good even when new.Interesting thread. There’s an ex car SOS Ford pop hot rod on the retro rides forum that is being made roadworthy as they had left it with a non functional gear shift and the front suspension had big issues with binding and poor geometry. The guy sorting it out had had to cut the whole front end off and get a new double wishbone front suspension fabricated. Brake system was dangerous too. Bit of an eye opener.
Always had a soft spot for the X1/9 as my mum had one (before I came along...) in bright orange.
Shame it needs a lot of work but taking the TV stuff aside, what classic doesn't throw up unexpected expenses throughout ownership?
I'm sure like all of these car shows timelines are short and many, many different people are involved along the way. I much prefer a thorough forum or YouTube documentation of work on a car. Anything with a specific timeline is going to work to that as opposed to final quality.
Hope you get it sorted - Lampredi vote here although the Punto 1.2 would be a riot!
Shame it needs a lot of work but taking the TV stuff aside, what classic doesn't throw up unexpected expenses throughout ownership?
I'm sure like all of these car shows timelines are short and many, many different people are involved along the way. I much prefer a thorough forum or YouTube documentation of work on a car. Anything with a specific timeline is going to work to that as opposed to final quality.
Hope you get it sorted - Lampredi vote here although the Punto 1.2 would be a riot!
Tommie38 said:
Lance1965 said:
As an avid fan of CAR SOS I was excited to purchase one of the cars that was restored on the program, in October 2023. I bought the fiat X1/9 (season 9 episode 3) from the Bibby family. I learnt that the car had only covered around a hundred miles since the rebuild back in 2021 as the family did not use it (personal reasons). There were a few teething and running problems in the 2k miles I covered in three months which I could never get to the bottom off until two months ago on the way to a classic car show it suffered a catastrophic breakdown!
The car was recovered and sent to a Fiat / Lancia specialist Frank Rizzuti (Avanti Motorsport) who had helped on the program before (Fiat uno turbo feature)
Upon stripping the engine it was found that the head gasket failed between cylinder two and three as it was fitted with a non-genuine inferior gasket 1.2mm instead of the 1.5mm genuine one (see pictures for comparison) and the alloy “fire rings” were a lot smaller. (pictures enclosed) It was also discovered that the wrong carburettor had been fitted (choke size too small, made for 1300cc not 1500cc) Please note this was not the original carburettor they serviced on the show and i have no idea why they binned that for a new manual choke one On top of that the cam timing was also out on the “piper cam” The combination of all these resulted in lean fueling and blown gasket. Also when taken apart it was discovered that the thrust bearing was drilled and screwed instead of pins and the clutch was a "non branded one" The drive shaft bolts were hand tight only and because the cam timing was out it caused all the valves to be bent when the engine let go and pieces of the alloy “fire ring” on the head gasket ended up in the cylinders and scoring the bores (pictures enclosed) It was also evident that the original engine was not “honed” given its 122k miles, which surprised Frank and me, considering the excellent work on the bodywork which I can not fault by the way.
I am now left with a rather large bill for a complete engine rebuild which I am having done as I still intend to use this car for charity runs in memory of Steve Bibby as I promised to his wife Collette.
I can’t help thinking all of this would have been a huge blow and disappointment for the Bibby family had they gone on and used the car, especially after 2k miles.
I’ve always admired the amount of work that goes in to these builds and the extensive attention to detail but I can’t help but wonder why there were so many unnecessary mechanical mistakes made on this car.
Its currently having a 1550cc engine, big valve flowed head and twin weber downdrafts fitted, I have also fitted period abarth cromodora wheels. It will be the car it should have been. As I said, the body work is amazing i can't fault that but mechanically it was a disaster waiting to happen
This reads like a bit of a nasty post to be honest. What was your intent? To shame the show into paying for a rebuild?The car was recovered and sent to a Fiat / Lancia specialist Frank Rizzuti (Avanti Motorsport) who had helped on the program before (Fiat uno turbo feature)
Upon stripping the engine it was found that the head gasket failed between cylinder two and three as it was fitted with a non-genuine inferior gasket 1.2mm instead of the 1.5mm genuine one (see pictures for comparison) and the alloy “fire rings” were a lot smaller. (pictures enclosed) It was also discovered that the wrong carburettor had been fitted (choke size too small, made for 1300cc not 1500cc) Please note this was not the original carburettor they serviced on the show and i have no idea why they binned that for a new manual choke one On top of that the cam timing was also out on the “piper cam” The combination of all these resulted in lean fueling and blown gasket. Also when taken apart it was discovered that the thrust bearing was drilled and screwed instead of pins and the clutch was a "non branded one" The drive shaft bolts were hand tight only and because the cam timing was out it caused all the valves to be bent when the engine let go and pieces of the alloy “fire ring” on the head gasket ended up in the cylinders and scoring the bores (pictures enclosed) It was also evident that the original engine was not “honed” given its 122k miles, which surprised Frank and me, considering the excellent work on the bodywork which I can not fault by the way.
I am now left with a rather large bill for a complete engine rebuild which I am having done as I still intend to use this car for charity runs in memory of Steve Bibby as I promised to his wife Collette.
I can’t help thinking all of this would have been a huge blow and disappointment for the Bibby family had they gone on and used the car, especially after 2k miles.
I’ve always admired the amount of work that goes in to these builds and the extensive attention to detail but I can’t help but wonder why there were so many unnecessary mechanical mistakes made on this car.
Its currently having a 1550cc engine, big valve flowed head and twin weber downdrafts fitted, I have also fitted period abarth cromodora wheels. It will be the car it should have been. As I said, the body work is amazing i can't fault that but mechanically it was a disaster waiting to happen
Edited by Lance1965 on Saturday 25th May 10:47
Edited by Lance1965 on Saturday 25th May 10:54
Edited by Lance1965 on Saturday 25th May 10:56
Lovely looking X1/9 OP, fingers crossed you manage to get her running again without too much further headache!
A telly show car will always be a compromise between the needs of filming vs. time taken to source parts. What are they going to do with the engine in bits on the floor or the car on a lift? Oh, it's going to take 3 months to get a genuine widget, let's come back then, or let's try this other widget instead...
Justin S said:
If I remember correctly, the chap , who was unknowingly having the car restored for, never got to see it completed and passed away during the resto. Now, I know its all TV drama to have deadlines for time to make it more watchable, but we will never know if with availability of parts for the engine where at the time available or they had to 'make do' to get it done for the poorly guy.
They do seem to ship out engine works in later episodes of the program and I dont think that the team are that knowledged with mechanicals in the same way they do a complete bodywork resto and looks great.
Its good to see it again and hopefully the work can be put to one side as you are getting a complete rebuilt and better spec engine than it was originally bought with.
I was friends with Steve Bibby but lost touch with him long before he was ill. Steve was such a good bloke and was obsessive about his car. I really hope the new owner gets it sorted and drives the wheels off it!They do seem to ship out engine works in later episodes of the program and I dont think that the team are that knowledged with mechanicals in the same way they do a complete bodywork resto and looks great.
Its good to see it again and hopefully the work can be put to one side as you are getting a complete rebuilt and better spec engine than it was originally bought with.
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