FiatX

We got the Fiat from TeamTac member Mark York. Originally the little car was from California (so I'm told). It was sold in Huntsville, AL to Steve Hoelscher (4 time SCCA Solo II National Champion). He tinkered a bit with the car, replacing the 1300cc motor with a 1500cc (leaving the 1300cc head for better compression) and doing a couple other minor things with it while running it at some local AutoCross events.

Car changed hands between several TeamTac (Twickenham Auto Club, Huntsville, AL) members before coming to Mark York. He picked it up to use as a RallyCross beater, and in fact had run one muddy RallyCross in it before deciding to give it up.

We took possession of the car a couple weeks after the RallyCross. We had used our truck/trailer to take Aaron Mosher's Club Rally Sirocco up to compete in the 2004 NASA Cherokee Trails Rally. Our job was to transport his Rally car from Huntsville up to the event in Cleveland, TN and back, and also to work as Service Crew for him during the event.

After the event, we returned to Huntsville and dropped Aaron's car off at his house. Mark had already dropped the Fiat off there earlier, so we swapped vehicles on/off the trailer. Of course, with our luck, the Fiat wouldn't start so me and KVT man-handled it out of the front yard and up onto the trailer....as the truck/trailer sat out in the middle of the residential neighborhood street....on a Sunday morning....in the pouring rain.

For the Saab, it was tornado sirens going off as we tried to get it loaded and out of there, with the Fiat, it was a pouring rain storm. Anyway, we finally got it loaded up and hauled back to Florida.

First order of business: Remove that gaudy hood ornament
that Fiat used to put on their 2-seater sports cars!

Here, the car is given an overall inspection by Zeke the Wonder Beagle, then it was subjected to repeated washings (and we still haven't gotten all that red Huntsville RallyCross mud out of it yet).

It was mid-May 2004 when we picked the X-1/9 up, and our goal was to get it race ready and back up to Huntsville for the TeamTac's 50th Anniversary events. I really wanted to do some amazing transformation work on the Fiat. We worked almost every night between June and October, feverishly trying to get everything done in time.

Gas tank had a hole in it (probably from the RallyCross), so we pulled it out and replaced it with a 5 gallon fuel cell which was relocated to the front trunk compartment. We had to install braided fuel line to get the gas between the fuel cell (front) and the engine (rear), as it passed thru the passenger compartment. The battery holder/location in the front trunk compartment had completely rusted thru to the cars passenger side interior, so it was moved to the rear trunk area and the rusted out hole patched.

Completely stripped the interior, including seats, carpets, dash, console and anything else we could yank out of it. Then we removed the side and rear window and all their associated hardware.

Shattered the windshield removing it, then took a saws-all to the windshield frame. It ended up in the junk pile with the targa top and the rest of the stuff we pulled off.

All the wiring (a lot of which didn't work) was removed, along with pretty much all the accessories they once powered. Heater, wiper/wiper motor, interior lighting, dash gauges, etc. were all removed for weight savings.

We then rewired the car, running circuits only for the ignition, the radiator cooling fans, the electric fuel pump and some gauges (oil pressure, water temp, tachometer, shift light).

Picked up some wider, lighter wheels from a Chattanooga SCCA member after meeting them at a Solo 1 event at the Talladega Gran Prix track. They were a bit rusty, but after a sandblasting, painting and new set of Hoosier race tires, they looked real good.

Fresh paint, new tires, starting to look better! Decal on trunk lid is from Midwest X1/9.com. Got tons of help and advice from those folks in putting this thing back together. Not only do they sell X1/9 parts, they also race X1/9s themselves.

Popped in an aluminum race seat, a 5 point race harnesses, and a new tachometer. A 'custom' aluminum front spoiler replaced the damaged/missing fiberglass spoiler (actually the 'custom' aluminum spoiler was a template my Dad had used when building a fiberglass air dam for a 1964 Ford Fairlane drag car he built a couple years ago).

A home-made lexan mini-windshield, new belts, hoses, plugs, a tune-up and changed out all fluids (oil, brake fluid, radiator fluid). Then some racing decals (and some decals we had custom made by KenRally decals), and we were ready to go.

Originally we planned on building this car to run both Solo II and Solo I events. But the cost of a full roll cage would be almost 10 times the price we originally paid for the car itself. So we've decided to forego the roll cage as it's not required to run just Solo II events. We'll just have to come up with some other idea for Solo I and Hill Climbs.

Upon further rules clarification, with the Hoosier racing tires and no top, the Fiat will have to have a roll cage installed, even to run in the DP class for SCCA Solo 2 events. Guess we need to look into getting one installed.

Car was eventually sold in March 2006 to a fellow SCCA racer from Chatsworth, Georgia for an undisclosed sum and other considerations. Good car and had a lot of fun building and driving it. Just time to clean out the shop a bit as it's getting crowded in there.