One leaving the UK

So this is good news, really is is. I am taking my X1/9 over to my new home in Tenerife. I moved there for a year out in 2014 and never really came home. During that time my poor exxie has sat on my parents driveway (under a series of covers).

When I parked her up in 2014 I had just finished an uno turbo conversion and was about running right. 1.1 ish bar of boost and a healthy 140 ish bhp on the rolling road.
After much work and the help of a few known faces and the some garages/workshops it back on its feet, has had an MOT for a couple of weeks now and yesterday did the 1st leg of the trip to Tenerife. The first leg being Ledbury to Portsmouth.

Only 1 minor incident on the way, after finally putting the spare wheel to engine bay access panel back on, it had been off for a long time as I have had some issues getting the engine to run correctly over the "rest", I knocked off the oil temp gauge sender wire. oops. So I did pull over to reattach it. Hands deep in hot engine I was asked by a kind passer by if all was well.

On the drive down I think I diagnosed what the intermittent low boost problem might be. Going to check and probably change the TDS and engine speed sensors. I am thinking welding in the wheel arches, lots of sparks and small sensitive magnets in the sensors might not be a good combo. When we arrive at Santander I will check and see if the sensor on the crank has lots of iron filings and weld spatter on it!

Goodbye driveway


Starting to queue


More queueing but now I can see the ferry, huzza


Made it onboard safe and sound. Battery disconnected just in case. Next stop Santander.


Lots of interesting cars on the ferry, You might spot the e type, well it was followed by an F type. very different cars for only 1 letter different. A few porsche.

Sent from the ferry, more to follow

Well done you! That is quite a journey with car and ferry. Santander is 2004km from Tenerife! Safe journey and keep us posted!

Hope all goes well with your journey.

There is another X1/9 on Tenerife which belonged to the late Bob Spencer.
His grandson now has it. It is also a modified X1/9, however, I cant remember what the conversion is?

I have heard it is a twin cam turbo. Hope to meet up with grandson and the car some time on Tenerife.

So first day of driving through Spain. I have decided I enjoyed the ferry as a was to get to europe, very civilised, no crapped space of an aeroplane, bars, restaurants and a spot of dolphin watching. I didn't see a whale, but someone I got chatting with did spot a minkie whale. As expected disembarkation from the ferry took a while, but she started up first time which was a relief. At this point I will mention I just did the repair from Nick Troth section in the club magazine at Nicks very strong recommendation, very burnt wires down there, so I can't stress enough to everyone to just pop open your late model fuse box and check all is ok. Security wanted to know if I was a welder as my welding helmet is on the passenger seat. No just a bad amateur not my profession!

So first I will say the north of Spain has some stunning scenery and great roads. Long bridges over deep valleys and long tunnels. After a couple of tunnels I decided time to sort out the headlights (should have done it before but wanted to get out of Santander). he plan was to fit LHD headlight set from europsort as I am keeping the car LHD. So first went according to plan, second did not. Rust welded screws holding in the headlight panel. Should have check it before setting off as this was the plan. So after a short while of trying, with help from a local mechanic, no joy. So plan B, fitting a reflector on the stuck side until I get back home.

Next after a few more glorious miles, time to refuel. Spanish fuel at the BP garage I found was all clearly labeled as being E5, both the 95 and the 98. As I only put 98 in, filled up and set off.

Before I continue I want to say here that Spanish roads are a joy. Low traffic levels, mostly a few lorries/trucks and very small number of cars. Times when I could see for miles and I was the only car in site. Highly recommended.

After a brief argument with the sat nav, making good progress when I hear a loud POP. And to be clear I was being gentle with the boost. Time to pull over, get out the triangle, flashing light and call RAC European breakdown as on the side of the motorway. After the necessary paperwork, taken by grua (Spanish for crane, but its a recovery truck) off to the local town in the car repair area, just in time for the 2 hour siesta/lunch break. So tasty lunch was had, and then off to find a repair.

This is not a duck!

The problem turned out to be a cheap boost hose had blown. Big hole in the middle of it. Leason learned, buy quality and buy once. So after an hour and a half and speaking to lots of repuestos and taliers eventually found the only shop that sold silicone hose. He didn't have a 75-65 that I had blown but he did have a section of 70mm that would suffice to get me moving again. So after 6 euros and 2 hours I am finally back on the road and made it to Salamanca before the sun went down. Not as far as I plannned but it is within contingency. Found a reasonable hotel with a restaurant and underground parking. So now fed, thirst quenced and time for sleep before setting off again tomorrow.

Plan to replace all the silicone hoses after arriving back home.

Fingers crossed I get to Huelva tomorrow, only 5 hours of driving left in mainland Spain.

Hope you are enjoying the tale, I will keep telling it until I get to Tenerife anyway

Loving it! Look forward to next chapter!

So started the day in Salamanca, didn't see much of the town but a good nights rest and good feed. The restaurant catered for me being vegetarian really well, so couldn't be happier with that stay. Anyway so the hotel had an underground carpark, which I picked not to stay out of the rain but as the car is full of personal possessions I am taking with me, wanted to keep it out of sight. So after a quick stop for supplies (coke zero) time to set off.

After a good run, fuel gauge got low again so stopped to top up. This time a nice Spanish brand, repsol. again found the 98 but also the 95 was also E5, so all good. I am and have been trying to avoid the E10 as I hear some fuel lines don't like it and some of mine are pre E10 was considered. In particular I had one specially made with the fuel rail fitting swaged in professionally and don't want to mess with unless there is a problem. Anyway good excuse to fuel up with 98 every time I can.

Changed the sat nav over to kilometers, so now I can see speed in big numbers, not the little ones on the speedometer which has both but MPH is much easier to read, especially and I hate to say it with my aging eyes. The kilometers are counting down nicely. My temporary repair from previous day did fail on me once, hose popped out. Was never a great solution but has kept me mobile. So after a quick roadside repair (I put the hose back on and tightened up the clip) back off again.

Stopped for a rest, for me not the car, and spotted the first sign to Sevilla. Hurrah getting closer. So nice opportunity for yet another photo. After eating up a few hundred kilometers it started to get warm, again the weather not the car, so pulled over to change into shorts. Far too hot for my cargo trousers, ,sorry my American friends I can't bring myself to call them pants, that's just wrong and you need to accept it However this give also give another opportunity for a photo opp. Beginning to feel like a grand tour of the petrol stations in Spain, but while driving I can't exactly take photos, but believe me the scenery is beautiful. While the car hadn't overheated I did take the chance to let it cool down a little. So I sat with a cold coke while the electric water pump ran and dropped the temperature down a few degrees.

So i was driving along, and it started to get a little darker, hmm I think, then I notice a puff of something from the car in front. Odd I think, the I realised the road is damp with more and more puddles appearing.
Then would you believe it I ran into a thunder storm with hail stones, thunder and lightning. Had to slow down quite a lot as I couldn't see let alone risk of aquaplaning. It even made the Spanish news!

www.abc.es/espana/tormenta-granizo-deja-...230518215706-vi.html

Car did great, we got through without issue, just really wasn't expecting the storm. After a tunnel which was a welcome respite from the rain, things started to dry up and eventually the sun came out. Next thing I notice is the Sevilla Tower on the horizon. Traffic starts to increase as I get closer, a bit of careful navigating and I say goodbye to Sevilla and head towards my destination of Huelva.

I hadn't thought about it but on the way I see a sign to circuit velocidad. Which after I checked was monteblanco, an F1 testing circuit. Sadly no track days on the calendar, maybe next time when the car isn't full of luggage.

So to continue the fuel commentary, orange light flickered on time to refuel. This is not how fuel inefficient it has been but I had now done over 500 km. I found the brand I normally use in Tenerife, Cespa, but for some reason their ultima petrol was 95, the same as the regular. Very confused I put the ultima in, but only 10 litres, just to make sure I don't run out before the ferry.

So I headed towards the sea and I found instead the large estuary, didn't find a spot to park where you could also see the car, so here is some water.

So that's it, I have driven north coast to south coast. I know it's not the same as those who have driven east to west coast of the US, but I am still over the moon with the drive so far.


Next I book a hotel for 2 nights while I wait for my ferry on Saturday. And obviously at then end of a day of driving on a Grand Tour, the only thing to do is have a beer. Found this lonely chap in a bar just down the road from my hotel. (which also has underground parking and as a service they washed the windscreen)

Love it!

Wow, impressive journey!

Brilliant story so far, can't wait for the final (?) chapter.

Can we use this for the club mag at some point?

Loving this! Interesting about the petrol differnces. Must take you ages to write this up. Well done!

So a short update on the journey, no photos this time, due to bad internet access onboard. They have a technical error that I had to explain to the staff, but not my problem to solve.

Anyway after chaos at the port, badly organised, queues delays as the sniffer dog had to sniff everyones car. This caused some interest when he opened the passenger door thinking it was the drivers door and things started to fall off the seat. Anyway I digress, I checked my ticket the day before departure so there would be no surprises. As a Canarian resident I am entitled to and received a health discount for the ferry and wanted to make sure all was in order, somehow I had managed to purchase a ticket without the car on it. Don't ask me how but I blame their nonintuitive web site and the fact that for some reason, don't ask me why, they didn't list an X1/9 in the list of fiat vehicles. Anyway with this sorted the day before at the ticket office in the harbour, I thought all would be well. Well no. They missed a vital piece of paper so I had to go back to the office to ask for it before the car was allowed to proceed.

Lets say 2 hours of stopping and starting the engine in some good heat did not do my battery any favours. So the inevitable happened and one time it didn't start. Grr a couple of very helpful other passengers gave me a push and we back running again. Did the port or ferry staff help, no.

Anyway made it onto the ferry. Battery disconnected for the journey. fingers crossed. I am optimistic.

This ferry is definatley more of a ferry and less of a cruise but I am sat at Gran Canaria while they unload the passengers for here and load a few to go from here to Tenerife.

Next stop Tenerife and a short hop from Santa Crux to the south to go.



btw so many times I thought I found a shop for something while searching online, only to find its in California. I don't suppose that happens the other way around very often!

I was anticipating this question. Of course I would be happy for this to make it to the club magazine. I have the photos in a higher resolution if that helps the print, I shrunk them down to save bandwidth for everyone (me included)

Its taken a while to write but as I am doing this by myself , no space for My wife as the car is full of stuff and other plans to do a road trip fell apart for various reasons, I found I have had plenty of time to fill.

So arrived couple of days ago. Journey over. Wow what a trip.

Few pics for you from the last section and safe in my parking space.



Next the hard work of converting over to be ready for matriculation. All I have to do is move the fog light and swap over the headlights.
Spend a couple of days fighting damaged ally rear bumper and a corroded headlight pod.

Hi Alex

Andy told me you would like to do an article on the Tenerife move in the next club mag. Can you email me some good quality pix & text to my email please:

ggarymanders@runbox.com

Cheers

Gary