Special Series 1300 Restoration

How do you mount the motor on an engine stand?
I've only rebuilt two engines previously and both of them had four bolt holes available. One was gearbox mount holes, the other one was a side of the block engine mount location.
The X engine only has two gearbox holes and nothing on the side of the block...

Any ideas? Not sure I like the idea of only two bolts...

I've now spotted the two holes higher up the block. My gearbox was only held on with two bolts!! but I see there are four now. The top two are not open ended though, they are threaded. Anyone know the thread size? A wheel bolt goes in a little but then stops abruptly so that's not the right thread...

Right. Progress. I have a Beta engine block on a bench, I tried the holes in that- the Fiat wheel bolt threads in perfectly. So I tried again in the X1-9 block and used a little force... they threaded in slowly so with some lube and stop/starting I got them in. Obviously just full of crap; probably because there hasn't been a bolt in there for years! Lol. Ok, I'll get it onto the stand tonight now.

Andrew, you will find that they are also the same thread as the head bolts if you have the 10 bolt head. I think they're M12 x 1.5.
Mick

Good work & nicely equipped garage!
The wheel bolts are M12 x 1.25?

Watch out for the thermostat and water pump bolts snapping off.

Yes guys I believe that thread size is correct.
I didn't get it onto the stand this evening, I didn't have any suitable bolts for the two threaded holes.
As I will be getting new head bolts Mick I might use the old ones for bolting to the stand.

I'll be getting a quote from my local gearbox rebuild place in the morning... no idea what to expect!
I'll probably need a sit down tho...

And yeah, it is a nicely equipped garage. Taken a few years to get the tools I wanted... As an impoverished musician nothing happens quickly! There is a two car sized workshop area behind the X (out of shot). It has a big workbench in it and a Lancia Beta... an I'llgetroundtoit project...
Snapped bolts... not looking forward to that...

Spent some time on the car this last few days. The engine is now mounted on a stand. The gearbox is at the local specialist for an overhaul which will hopefully just mean replacing the synchro rings. And the body is fully inspected and decisions have been made regarding what repair panels to order from Eurospares. OMG it's rusty! I knew it was full of bodges but... Jeeeeez, I never expected it to be this bad! Lots of pics to follow but in the meantime here is a picture of my sill...

Engine bay drenched in Gunk. Zero rot anywhere here, even underneath is great! Very oily, that's why!

Typical rear end rust... and bodge...

Rear o/s sill. And what was in it. Proper cowboy job!! How anyone can repair a sill with a piece of steel glassfibre bonded to rust I'll never know... and on a convertible too!! Serious...

Same on the n/s rear sill. Spectacular bodges...

Good news! The centre section of the o/s sill looks like it is solid original metal

But not quite such good news regarding the n/s... Could've been worse though.

Front o/s wing. Strange place to rust I thought... :huh: Or is this normal for an X? The n/s is identical... Gotta love the mesh-n-filler bodged repair though... Must be right, even the Haynes books tell ya to do it! Anyway, after looking at it I decided the only thing to do would be to replace the wing. I'm not clever enough to seamlessly weld in a patch there... well, maybe I could but why would I? Better to replace the wing I feel.

o/s/r arch stripped to check for rust and bodge. None! Gleaming original metal inside and out. Very pleased :woohoo: