Submitted By: Mark Grant

Date:7/20/95

Model Range, Interest:SOHC X1/9, Tips

Addl. Information: From a preformatted document sent in by Mark, hopefully more to come!

General X1/9 Technical Questions

Contributors

Mark Grant 
(mark@unicorn.com)
 

'So where do they rust ?'

Simple answer - just about everywhere ! Along the sills, around the wheelarches, around the suspension points, on the floor of the rear trunk, along the front valance, along the top of the rear of the roll-bar, above the exhaust pipe, under the flip-up lights, in and around the headlight motor compartments, along the weld below the windshield, in the drains from the engine compartment, if blocked, around the air intakes, the engine cover, the rear wall of the engine compartment, along the base of the doors, and the doorskins themselves.

Those are the main spots that I've noticed in the past. A good car will have little or no rust, a bad one could be badly rusted in all these areas.

'Ok, so how do I change the damn fanbelt ?'

This is quite amusing, as a new X1/9 fanbelt is too short to be slid over the pulleys, and there's no space to get a lever in there. In fact, the first time I tried this I wasted an hour and a half without success. The art is to realise the power of the starter motor...

All you need to do is to slacken off the alternator, remove the old, stretched, belt, and slide the new belt onto the alternator and water pump pulleys. Next, wedge it onto the crankshaft pulley as far as it will go, and disconnect the lead from the coil to the distributor. Now, all you have to do is to turn the key to run the starter for a couple of seconds, and the belt will be pulled into place.. tighten up the alternator, reconnect the coil, and you're ready to go.

Of course, if the belt jumps off, then you've misjudged the direction of rotation of the crankshaft. Just wedge the belt onto the other side of the pulley, and try again.

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