# General > Motoring >  What a hoot!

## ducati

So, we have been looking for a classic sports car to have some fun, do a bit of restoration and join a club. I've been looking at all sorts hence the recommendation thread.

On ebay I spy-ed an X1/9 that looked pretty original with a bit of tax and MOT, relatively low miles and had been owned for a while (since 2004) by an enthusiast. I got it for £439.


Now if you look for the next cheapest small sports car it will be a hard top TR7 a Triumph Spitfire or an MG Midget. All likely to be twice as much and in my experience needing a lot more work.


The X1/9 needs a couple of fairly serious body repairs; one rear wheel arch and the windscreen frame looks extremely ropey. None of these are beyond the capability of a home restorer and it needs a respray. As it's had a couple already I'll do a bare metal up job. 


Anyway as its MOTd till the end of October,and it is such fun to drive,  we picked it up from Aberdeen last Wed and took it down to Dunrobin this weekend, ended up entering the classic car show and I'm being roped in as a judge next year it would seem, and it didn't miss a beat. We'll keep it on the road for the rest of the summer.

So, consider as an entry level classic. Open top, mid engined, handles really well, what more do want?

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## Beat Bug

Look out for the rusting under the bonnet. That was the downfall of the one we had some years ago.

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## ducati

> Look out for the rusting under the bonnet. That was the downfall of the one we had some years ago.


Aye, one of the reasons I went for this one, it's really clean and had a the suspension tops replaced 5 years ago and still looks brand new.

Attachment 10017

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## poppett

Congratulations on your "find".

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## ducati

Thanks poppett, it has a long way to go before it is as tidy as the Mountain Goat though.

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## ducati

I thought I would get the MOT out of the way before I start on the paintwork so it is ready to go in the spring. So I set about checking it over yesterday. All I found wrong with it was a seized rear caliper and a perished gearchange shaft boot.

Thats it!  :Grin:

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## Even Chance

Nice wee find you have obtained yerself there. Weel done! Certainly a bargain for the price.
 Now start a thread on its photographic restoration when it begins and keep us all updated regularly please!

 Best of luck

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## ducati

> Nice wee find you have obtained yerself there. Weel done! Certainly a bargain for the price.
> Now start a thread on its photographic restoration when it begins and keep us all updated regularly please!
> 
> Best of luck


OK I will be doing the photo thing anyway. Here it is, as is. The photo just doesn't show how horrible the paintwork is!Attachment 10706

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## upolian

> OK I will be doing the photo thing anyway. Here it is, as is. The photo just doesn't show how horrible the paintwork is!Attachment 10706


it really does lol!

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## ducati

> it really does lol!


I was going to say ask upolian  ::

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## upolian

aka eagle eyes lol

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## Fran

Nice. I have a toyota roadster and love it.

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## Even Chance

The door just wants to punch my head in it stands out that much! lol!!

 From humble beginnings masterpieces are made mind......

 Its a nice wee car, and I mind having a toy one when I was young. Should be a lot of fun for you and Mrs D buzzing around the roads up here when its done.
I now need to get my head away from boats for 5 mins and get my 71' Mini finished and on the road again. Its been getting re-built for the last 5 years!!

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## ducati

I know what you mean. I took me 5 years to restore a TR6 from the ground up but it was worth it in the end.

This one however has one winter. Should be OK it is very solid. I've just stripped the interior so I could get the 1 piece carpet out and have a look at the floor structure. Happy to report all is well. 

The next job is strip the paint and repair the rear wheelarch, front wheelarch and windscreen frame. Then paint the whole thing.

I'm going to use a new (to me) Acrylic system using a concentrated colour that doesnt need more than a couple of coats then I will bury it in clearcoat so I can really polish it up. Not for the purist but I am doing Rover Nightfire Pearl. It is very similar to the original Fiat Light red Metallic but easier to get hold of.  ::

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## Even Chance

Sounds great. Good to hear she's basically sound. Its the welding that does my head in. And the painting.
 The acrylic paint is great to use, but I found it likes the ambient temperature to be very warm.
 Thats what the Mini is getting. 5 litres of the stuff smothered on a wee Mini that I can cut back nicely to a decent shine.
 Ive painted the doors, front end (its a one piece removable steel front) boot lid and roof already. Just the shell itself to top-coat yet and put it all back together again for next summer (hopefully) :Wink:

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## john w

Well at least by the time you get back to it the primer will be nice and cured. You still have a good few months ahead of you assuming you start right away. Wouild be nice to see another Mini back on the road.

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## Even Chance

Aye yer right there JW!!
Primer's coming back off to start again tho. It sooks up moisture, so its not safe to paint over stuff thats been on for a while.

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## ducati

Painting, I've decided I don't have the facilities to paint it in the winter so I will do all the prep and hand it over to my local friendly paint guys with a proper booth.
They can mix the correct colour too (I know having the wrong colour would drive me crackers over time :: ).



The stripping down is going well, it is a very well put together little car.

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## ducati

I really got stuck in this weekend. Some rust on the bottom front of the rear wing and I found a repair that is OK after stripping the stoneguard and filler off. Other areas that need attention are the rear panel where the number plate was screwed on through about nine holes  ::  and a bolt hole for the bumper end cap is rusted out. The drivers side sill looks to have a fair thickness of filler so I suspect that's been repaired too. The wheelarch that I was worried about is actually very minor, just surface rust in a couple of places that had lifted the paint. I stripped it with my trusty wire brush on the angle grinder (if you want to strip anything off anything that is the beast to use!) and clean shiny metal broke out. :Grin:  

I have taken some photo's so I will post them shortly.

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## ducati

Attachment 10964Attachment 10963

No probs for a man of my caliber  ::

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## Even Chance

If those are the bad bits then you've nowt to worry about!
Should be back on the road in a few months then.
Good to see you getting stuck into it tho. You've given me some more incentive to get back into the garage again.

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## ducati

> If those are the bad bits then you've nowt to worry about!
> Should be back on the road in a few months then.
> Good to see you getting stuck into it tho. You've given me some more incentive to get back into the garage again.


Yes it is all about momentum. I have most of the repairs featured in the photos done now. Unfortunately my welder has died with drive problems and looking at the parts prices (its an SIP Trademig) it is uneconomical to repair. 

SO folks I need to beg, borrow, hire or buy a welder. Needs to be at least 80amp with a min of 30 to 40 amps. Idealy I need a decent semi-industrial machine with pref. a Euro Torch.

Anyone have one? :Grin: 

Cheers.

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## ducati

Well slightly less of a hoot now. Some small repairs needed on most of the lower panels, just where they touch inner panels, caused by electrolysis. Not a big issue and usually easily fixed, I just cut out the rust and flush in new metal. Trouble is, it is taking forever with a sick welder. I bought a new drive wheel and liner and it is marginaly better but still won't feed smoothly which makes neat welds impossible.

So I'm still looking for a replacment welder......anyone?

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## poppett

Can`t help with a replacement welder.....sorry.   It is the one thing not in the shed at the foot of the garden, and boy could we have done with one last week for "the goat".   Patched up to pass test, but have sourced new sills to go on and needs some deep thought about a futuristic refurb between the boot floor and the back bumper to keep it in tip top condition......remember the rusty stuff from under the bumper when you were polishing it??

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## ducati

> Can`t help with a replacement welder.....sorry. It is the one thing not in the shed at the foot of the garden, and boy could we have done with one last week for "the goat". Patched up to pass test, but have sourced new sills to go on and needs some deep thought about a futuristic refurb between the boot floor and the back bumper to keep it in tip top condition......remember the rusty stuff from under the bumper when you were polishing it??


Indeed! Don't worry, new welder on the way. :: 

I've finished the first corner, that's repairs to the lower front of the rear wheelarch and the sill closing panel, the wheelarch and a couple of repairs on the lower rear valance panel. I'll post some pictures when I get around to it, probably at the weekend. It is a lot of faffing but you can't get new wings etc and the repair panels that are available, are no better than I can make myself.

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## ducati

Well I've stripped all the stoneguard off the drivers side sill and apart from a small repair to the rear associated with a previous repair mentioned earlier on the bottom of the rear wing, all is good. Likewise, the rear bottom of the front wing. A repair on the front wheelarch turns out to be a badly filled ding so no rust there either. It is rather looking like any rot is confined to the rear quarters. Certainly the car is very well protected with underseal and stoneguard. This was done at the Bertone factory but subsequent owners have obviously kept up the treatments. After it is painted it will be getting a couple of buckets of Waxoil from me!  :: 

I've removed the drivers door so the shuts and the A & B pillers can be stripped to bare metal as I want a really good, factory looking finish here. The drivers door has a load of filler in the bottom (hence the dodgy re-spray) so that looks like it might be fun and games. Normally I would just replace the skin but again there are no new panels and one I found (old stock) from the factory (wrong side) is being offered at £200!

A quick update, I bit the bullet and took off the windscreen trim which turned out just to be 'glued' on with mastic, there is as I suspected some fairly impressive rot around the bottom of the screen. Not sure what to do at this stage, Ideally the screen needs to come out to repair it properly. However it is bonded type and I'm not sure whether new ones are available and they rarely come out in a state to put them back in.

Pics will follow but therealducati is away 'till tonight with the camera.

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## ducati

Attachment 11173Attachment 11174Attachment 11175Attachment 11176Attachment 11177Finally got around to taking some pics.

 The grey is just a light coat of etch primer to protect the bare metal

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## ducati

OK. So the drivers door, it has had a bottom repair panel very badly rippled and distorted hence the filler. I've stripped it out and will refit it and try and straighten it out with hammers and dollys. I'm not brilliant at this so there will be some filler but at least I'll get rid of the high spots so it will look straight once its painted. The seams were pretty cruddy with surface rust so I've given them multiple Jenolite treatments and they are starting to clean up. Once this is done I'll re-seam seal them so they should look pretty factory. There were some small rust holes around the bottom of the frame so I've just filled them with weld and tidied up with the grinder and they look fine.

That's about it at the moment as its ffreezing in the garage.  ::

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## ducati

So having put the door back on I braved the wind and reconnected the battery and put the drivers seat back in and backed out the garage and turned the car round to get at the front end. Just striping it down now and all seems in good shape. There is acres of plastic trim bits to strip off and you have to get at the concealed bolts through the headlight hole so with my giant banana hands it's a bit like redecorating your hall through the letterbox  :: 

Why is it the Italians, when they want to facelift a car, just cover it in nasty black plastic? '80s Alfa Spider anyone? 

Anyway it looks like it will be ready to paint just after Xmas so I've got a good quote (provided I polish it myself) so can't wait to start putting it back together again.

So questions now about how far do I go? I would like the best possible car that is usable. I built a concourse TR6 and hated using it because of the work it created to keep it in that condition. But I will strip and paint all the suspension bits, clean up the engine bay (that's in pretty good nick anyway), I've already cleaned up the interior and its not bad although the drivers seat could do with rebuilding.

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## ducati

Finally got all the plastic crep off the front. I'm seriously considering sourcing a set of 1300 bumpers and replicating the original design as it is much cleaner.

Anyway, the only rot in the front is at the bottom of the metal part of the spoiler on the drivers side. The area exposed by removing the headlamps and lifter mechinism is very clean where I was expecting rot to have set in so that saves a lot of work. The painter doesn't want me to strip it right down to bare metal but a lot of areas where there are pimples in the paint ( the main reason for the respray in the first place) isn't clean until you get to the metal so needs must.

I'll post some pics of the front tomorrow.

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## Even Chance

Sounds like yer getting on great. Its not a great time of year to be working in a cold garage. Ive put off working on the Mini AGAIN to build a small rowing boat for my wee lad for his Xmas. Hope to get back at it in Jan or Feb though. Fingers crossed.
 If you like the cleaner look of the 1300 bumpers, then do it. Now's the time....   I had a look at pics, and they look better to me anyway, but thats just personal opinion mind.
 I stripped the mincer right back to bare steel, but its a LOT more work. At least I know whats hiding underneath! :Wink:  nah, its all sound clean steel! Nothing else will do!!

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## ducati

> Sounds like yer getting on great. Its not a great time of year to be working in a cold garage. Ive put off working on the Mini AGAIN to build a small rowing boat for my wee lad for his Xmas. Hope to get back at it in Jan or Feb though. Fingers crossed.
> If you like the cleaner look of the 1300 bumpers, then do it. Now's the time.... I had a look at pics, and they look better to me anyway, but thats just personal opinion mind.
> I stripped the mincer right back to bare steel, but its a LOT more work. At least I know whats hiding underneath! nah, its all sound clean steel! Nothing else will do!!


I can't decide about the bumpers. I've found a company that make the quarter bumpers and the correct front spoiler to go with, in GRP, for about £100. I just usually like to keep this kind of car original. Its not as simple as just fitting them either, there is a bunch of mounting holes to weld up and new mounting brackets to fabricate.

In the meantime I've stripped the passenger sills and wing bottoms and there are a couple of repairs that look fine on the rear wing bottom but the sill is clean as a whistle. I've removed the rear window and have arranged for Autoglass to remove the windscreen next week. Hopefuly it can be done without breaking it. If the worst happens, new ones are available (£250 fitted  :: ). Quite reasonable cost for removing and re-fitting; £116 in total. Just shows though, even trying to do this kind of restoration on a strict budget, the costs soon mount up.

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## ducati

Attachment 11586Attachment 11587Attachment 11588Attachment 11589

Finally some pics before my garage falls down in this damn wind. It is doing my head in!

The radiator is going to need attention do you think?

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## ducati

What a result! Steve from Autoglass came today to remove the windscreen. Out in one piece and it's in good condition so should go back no probs. No sign of any of the clips that should hold the trim on though. The hunt for a set of these should be fun.

Just a few small jobs to finish now, then it is off to the painters.

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## ducati

I've made a start on repairing the windscreen aperture. Both bottom corners are done and I'm about to start tackling the middle bottom section. There is a good 8 inch length here where the frame is completely missing.  :: 

The metal behind is clean though so the good news is, it was rotting from the outside where water was sitting behind the trim. I'll have to make sure this is well sealed to keep the water out in future.

I'll try and upload some pics of the windscreen frame later today.

Apart from the above there has been no structural work to do at all. All the rust and repairs have been the extremities on outer panels so the initial assesment of it being a solid car were correct.  :Grin:

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## ducati

At last the promised pics. The first two show the repairs done to the bottom corners of the windscreen frame. Followed by the remaining damage to the bottom, still to repair.

Quite fiddly work with a not very subtle welding technique, but I have had plenty of practice.  :: 





Attachment 11756Attachment 11758Attachment 11759Attachment 11760Attachment 11757

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## poppett

Your welding is far superior to some I have seen.

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## ducati

Attachment 11851Attachment 11852


Well I've finished the welding to the frame. Attached a couple of pics. Just cleaning it up with Jenolite prior to shaping it up with a little filler.

By the way, all of you out there in hoot following land waiting for me to set fire to the dashboard, I use a stuff called Weld Stop Blanket. It is a heavy hessian like stuff but it is made out of Kevlar fibre. It is also used in the mfg of some types of bullet proof vests.  ::

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## poppett

You have been a busy Ducati.

I had every confidence you wouldn`t set fire to anything!

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## ducati

Just a quick update. Still welding, the front lower passenger side wing looked solid until I sanded off some small bubbles and it turned out to be mostly made of filler. Whoever repaired it last was some sculpter  :: 

Finished off a small repair to the back passenger side which was a bit fiddly because it included half of the cutout for the exhaust. So, nearly finished apart from the passenger door which is a bit of a disaster so I might purchase a lower repair panel. I'll decide once I get all the paint off it.

I'm still confident it will be back on the road for the summer.  ::

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## poppett

You will be delighted to get back to your own welding after the two weeks hard labour you did welding for me.   Looking forward to seeing the finished project.

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## ducati

Finally will be getting back on the X1/9 after spending some time setting up another major project. Just addressing some rot on the bottom of the drivers front wing forward section (same as the other side, looked fine until I started sanding the filler).

Note. If you can see filler on both sides of the repair, filler ain't what you should be using. :: 

After this is welded up with new metal, I need to sort the passenger door, then some minor bodyworking to take a few ripples out then it should be off to the paintshop. Famous last words. Watch this space.

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## ducati

Famous last words indeed. Ah the passenger door...Not original it came from a later car as witnessed by the filled holes for the door mirror. 

Talking of filler, the bottom of the frame was so rotten that it was parting company from the skin. Add to that the numerous holes in the rest of the frame and bottom of the skin, and I have had a fun couple of days. I suspect that there are more repairs now than door. Anyhoo, all done now but it will take some serious leveling with filler to straighten it all out. Having put so much work into it I will use it, for now at least, but if you see me selling one in future, don't buy it!  ::

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## ducati

Actually, I've just trial fitted the door and it could be worse. It needs the bottom front and back edges building up a bit to fit the door gap right but it isn't far off. I'll do that by running beads of weld down the edges.

I'll post some pics tomorrow when the boss gets back with the camera. I didn't take any before's unfortunately. ::

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## ducati

As I didn't have any reference when making the folds in the new repair bits for the skin, the frame that supports the fold had disintegrated, I have to build up the edges with weld to achieve a good door gap.




Attachment 13187Attachment 13190Attachment 13189
Attachment 13188

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## ducati

Attachment 13282Attachment 13280Attachment 13281


Three days in this door so far, that's the skin more or less straight and the door gaps sorted. Actually most of the work is in the frame. You'll have to use your imagination though 'cos I'm not taking the bliddy door off again!

This is why, when you take your car to the restorer he says certainly, that will be £20,000 please  ::

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## ducati

Attachment 13730Attachment 13731Attachment 13732

Well I've been busy again. Days and days of work flatting and filling all the little dings (I bet I've missed some) and the bonnet.....I've had to sand all the paint off as there was blistering that had gone right through to the metal. anyway, I've decided to paint it myself in the end, a bit short of room as you can see but it is managable.

So with a bit of decent weather and a bit of time, it should be ready to put back together soon. I'm in no rush, I'd rather spend more time and get a decent finish.

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## poppett

Good luck with the weather for the paint job.

Must get myself to specsavers.............thought she was going to be pink, but realise it is just the light.

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## ducati

> Good luck with the weather for the paint job.
> 
> Must get myself to specsavers.............thought she was going to be pink, but realise it is just the light.


Not pink! Light Red Metallic  ::

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## ducati

So nearly finished painting now. Totting up the materials was a bit of an eye opener, 11/2  litre of etch primer, 3 litres of high build white primer, 3 litres of celulose colour and I recon another 3 litres of clear coat. 

Plus consumables; 5 litres of panel wipe and 5 litres of thinners, countless DA discs and wet and dry sheets.

I got the colour with the car but the cost of the rest is at least £150. I looked up the cost of the colour £200 so quite a pricy business.

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## ducati

Well I suppose you are all gagging to find out how I'm getting on. No? Oh well...

So I have painted 5 coats so far and just finished flatting down and I have achieved a mirror finish with 800 grade finishing paper. ( I could go down to 1200) so I'm quite pleased but in sunlight the colour is a bit patchy. I've only just noticed, can't think why.  ::  Too noticable to just clearcoat it so I need to get some more paint and give it another couple of coats.

In the meantime I've been tidying up the engine bay and this is really starting to look something. No photos now until it is finished.

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## ducati

BTW I have decided to stick with the original bumpers and trim. There are too many other things that identify it as a later car. For instance the bigger engine has a much longer stroke and is physically taller requiring a higher engine cover and yet more plastic to lift things like the filler cap. I don't want to end up with some kind of Frankenfiat!  ::

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## ducati

Anyway, while I'm waiting for the paint I am addressing one or two mechanical issues. 

Sorted the carb, the accelerator pump lever was seized up causing difficult starting, the waterpump looks like it has been leaking for about 100 years so thats off and a new one ordered, the alternator, while it was working, is extremely corroded inside so thats on the way too. I love shiny new parts don't you?  :Grin:

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## ducati

Also been stripping all the suspenders and cleaning up and painting all the bits. In the process I noticed one of the rear shocks was sweating ever so slightly so ordered up a new set of KYB GR2s (good for sprints, hill climbs etc). I know I said I wasn't going to spend much... ::

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## ducati

Big milestone today. Steve from Autoglass came and re-fitted the windscreen. The car is complete apart from finishing up the paint job and re-fitting all the bits of trim. Time is the main problem as I have an awful lot of projects on the go at once. Ho Hum!

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## ducati

Well, she's nearly there. Just fitting up all the bits of trim, door glass and all the other gubbins. Quite satisfying cleaning everything and fitting clean shiny bits but frustrating at the same time as I'm now getting the numerous broken trim clips and stuff coming home to roost. 

The paint job is I'm afraid, pants. It's polishing up well so you can't see the patchyness unless you're right on top of it. So it is a 20/20 car.
Not surprising really, when you try to paint in too small a space with very poor light. At least I know all the rust is repaired properly so it should go for another 10/15 years before any more attention is needed.

I know I'll end up painting it again once I've built my new, massive, well equipped workshop  ::  up at the new place next year.

Before I put her back on the road I'll replace the cam belt and tensioner and change the engine and gearbox oil so she'll be happy mechanically for a bit too.

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## ducati

Had a second opinion on the paint job today and I am revising my description to; mostly pants  ::

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## ducati

Attachment 20568Sneak preview  ::

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## ducati

Now I've finished the polishing and fitting all the brightwork, the paint ain't bad except for the bonnet and bootlid so I'll just re-do those now then I'll be resonably happy with it. Just a taste of the sort of time the refit is taking, I've just spent half a day making a new set of boot and engine cover release cables fit. You can't get the original ones and mine were toast so you have to file down the nipples  ::  on a set that nearly fit to get 'em into the levers, then route them up through the back wing and engine bay then trim them to the right length....What a palava!

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## tonkatojo

What colour is your paint ducati ? it looks like "Austin Allegro chocolate brown" or very similar.

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## ducati

> What colour is your paint ducati ? it looks like "Austin Allegro chocolate brown" or very similar.


No just a crap phone and bad light. It's light red metallic. I'll post some more pics when I'm happy..er with the paint job. Thanks for watching, I was about to say Hallo Hallo is this thing on?  ::

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## Bobinovich

LOL I've been keeping a watchful eye on the thread too Duke - you are not alone!  Wouldn't know where to start myself, but is fascinating reading through the trials & tribulations of such a project  :Smile:

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## ducati

> LOL I've been keeping a watchful eye on the thread too Duke - you are not alone! Wouldn't know where to start myself, but is fascinating reading through the trials & tribulations of such a project


Thank's Bob
Anyhoo, I've finally finished up refitting the door cards (stupid blindin' plastic sodding, clips) engine cover and got all the electrics working (a feat in itself with a 30 year old Italian). Fitted a new cambelt and tensioner (good decision as the old tensioner fell to bits when I drifted it off the shaft) changed the oil filter and oil bung, the same as fitted to a Ferrari 308  ::  for the cynics amongst you who doubt her heritage.

I've re-flatted the bonnet and am ready to repaint and I should get her MOTd next week if house build, boat, oh and er..work permit.

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## squidge

Im watching too Ducati - its nice to read your updates and not have a row about them lol  ::

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## ducati

> Im watching too Ducati - its nice to read your updates and not have a row about them lol


If you could guarantee that classics would be tax exempt at 30 years old I'd change my vote.  :Grin:

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## squidge

I am writing a letter to all the main party leaders and a blog post and an article for Common Weal on that point RIGHT NOW!!!!!!

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## ducati

AAAGH! too busy to do anything with it this week. I'll try to get it MOTd next week. I'd be interested to know if it is the most northerly X1/9 (as one of my parts suppliers suggested). Anyone else have one?

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## ducati

So I never did get it MOtd last year, too much else going on. I did repaint the bonnet/boot so I've just a couple of little button up jobs and she's done and will be on the road for the spring.

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## givemecandy

Hi, just found this thread, I must say I had a buzz around knockhill in a 1.5l x1/9 some years ago they are fun. Being rear wheel drive ( as all sports cars should be ) you could swing the back out about liberally. fun fun. I found it totally different to my old 944 turbo but the light weight made it really enjoyable. Have to meet up sometime when you complete the restoration and have a blast around somewhere quiet. Took me 4 tears to do my rebuild and many, many skinned knuckles, lol. good luck with the project.

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