Gig Report: Ahnnnnn yes I thought about it and well I think Santa Claus, drives a Fiat? Fiat Palio maybe?

mongooz said:
ummm.....the snorkle might be a tad over the top.
:lmbo:
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Nope. It's pretty much mandatory in fact. The airflow into the engine compartment was barely adequate for the stock motor. Barely. Back in the day, that snorkel was fitted to every X that had a go fast motor. Abarth made them readily available to consumers. It's very much like the old F1 and Indy car snorkels of the day. It's "period correct" FWIW.

A lot of newer modified Xs forego the snorkel in favor of greatly enlarged side intake ducts as part of the big fender flares. They also typically have a much more efficient radiator and multiple high efficiency intercoolers.
1975_Fiat_X19_Abarth_Prototipo_Tribute_Side_resize.jpg
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IMG_0054.jpg
 
Yeah, my dad had one back in the day. Worst cooling system design EVER. If you didn't 'burp' it correctly, you were guaranteed to overheat. Also, the water pump was a nightmare to replace. Our Fiat mechanic Tony was the size of a jockey, and even his hands were too big to get to many of the fasteners on that engine. And the T tops leaked.

It was a lot of fun going downhill though.
 
335clone said:
Yeah, my dad had one back in the day. Worst cooling system design EVER. If you didn't 'burp' it correctly, you were guaranteed to overheat. Also, the water pump was a nightmare to replace. Our Fiat mechanic Tony was the size of a jockey, and even his hands were too big to get to many of the fasteners on that engine. And the T tops leaked.

It was a lot of fun going downhill though.
Click to expand...
T-tops???

Don't you mean Targa Top?

But yeah, they were no fun to work on. You HAD to replace virtually every piece of rubber in the engine bay bi-annually including timing belt and fuel lines or you'd either end up destroying the (interference) motor when that belt snapped, or watching it burn on the roadside when a fuel line cracked.

Interestingly, my last X1/9 had a moonroof installed into the Targa top. No leaks either :)

Sent from a van down by the river.
 
Me way back in the day at SIR, now PIR, near Auburn, WA.

Alfa1.jpg





Same event, back of the track. I loved this stretch. Really fun to drive.
AlfaTrack2.jpg


No, I really wasn't all that fast, though I drove decent lines. And I am only Santa to my own kids and wife. :)
 
OGG said:
T-tops???

Don't you mean Targa Top?

But yeah, they were no fun to work on. You HAD to replace virtually every piece of rubber in the engine bay bi-annually including timing belt and fuel lines or you'd either end up destroying the (interference) motor when that belt snapped, or watching it burn on the roadside when a fuel line cracked.

Interestingly, my last X1/9 had a moonroof installed into the Targa top. No leaks either :)

Sent from a van down by the river.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Targa. Still leaked.
 
Kris Kringle drives a Chevrolet, this is canon



(What, in any case, is a "Chevrolet"? Are the above ve-hickles "Chevrolets"?)
 
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