Intro from the Newbie

[JThw8]

Hi, new guy here. So far in life I have had I Beta Zagato, one beta and a love of all cars, especially italian, countless fiats, VWs and other assorted misftits have come through my doors.

I autocross in my spare time and have been on the lookout for a new car for the season...nothing I car related as they just werent in the forefront of my mind

Anyway yesterday Im at an autocross when someone says "Hey Jim, the red cross has one of those funny italian cars you like" Didnt know much about it other than it was mid engined, so I figgured it was an X1/9 but hey, they autcross ok so I went to look

1976 Scorpion, one owner, 59,000 miles. Runs drives, small rust hole in drivers floor, strut towers are all good, small dings and dents. Lights work, wipers work, everything works. All original manuals, dealer literature and shop manual were with the car.

They wanted $2200, Im cheap, I offered them $1000 and its now at my house :) Need to sort out a few things, and Im going to keep it more stock that I normally would, make it a driver and part time autocrosser, it is just too clean to gut and modify.

First question of the day....over in tech

[DJ]

What's the VIN number of your car, Jim?

[JThw8]

good question...I have the paperwork out in my truck, I will get it and post it back when I get a chance

here we go: 137AS0101315

[Warren Horby]

Hi,
Welcome!
And thank's for taking away my title. :)
I to am going to solo my Scorp as well.
The firs thing you want to do is replace all your bushings to get the car tight.All the tricks to make an X1/9 handel work with the Scorp and having said that, you will have a powerfull weapon. ( the suspensions are the same other than the swaybars.) You will have to locatea 34mm carb and a set of Euro cams. ( providing you are running in stock or super stock ) That should get going. If you want better springs there are a pile of options to use. You will have to keep us posted to see how well you do.
Cheers.

[JThw8]

Id love to hear the options on the springs....cheaper the better, Im on a tight budget and I have alot to do.

Where did you get your suspension bushings? Im looking at the sets from Montehospital and just wondering if there are other options and suppliers out there. Not that there is anything wrong with montehospital, they are going to be getting alot of my money, I just like to have some local options as well.

Most likely going to run in C Street Prepared here, so the carb change is ok, and I will definitely start looking for it. Do you know which particular carb I should be looking for? My local fiat guy has lots of NOS webers and sometimes if I have a number he can find me something. I have to check on cams, but since Im just running locally I doubt anyone would challenge it either way, but I think they are legal in that class.

[Will]

Split bushes from Chad (red ones) are your best bet, still can be tough to install. Use Energy poly bushes on the rear bar- Chris Ice has the part numbers on this.
Chad's progressive springs are a nice compromise, but for autocross you are probably better off with a coil-over conversion IMO.
Best solution is most likely the LEDAs. I saw one of Scott Hay's, those things are awesome!

-Will

[Warren Horby]

DON'T USE URITHANE BUSHINGS!!!
Your rear suspension will bind up.
This has been tested and proven buy one of the BEST solo drivers in the US. ( Steve Hoelscher, who drives an X1/9 ) I defy any one to prove him wrong on this forum or others. He states that the design of the rear a-arm has 2 different radius points causing the a-arm to bind up because of it. ( Steve has researched this extensively.)
He also uses STOCK bushings in his racecar and has had no problem with them. Plus if you switch your bushings that will cost you prep points and bump you up in class. You can get new bushings at Bayless or Vicks ans I think Chris Obert sells them too. The carb you want is the Weber 34DRATRA. It is a srtaight bolt on and looks identicle to the stock carb.
I didn't mean to rant about the bushing thing but why spend money where you don't have to. Good luck.

[Warren Horby]

I forgot about the springs.
One option is to cut your springs. ( cheapest method )
Second option is to cut the rear springs and use rear X1/9 springs on the front. ( cheap method )
Third option is to get some springs from a Ford Granada and cut them to suit. ( cheap option to give you spring rates over 300# )
Forth option is to purchase a coilover kit for a Honda Accord/Prelude and install them on your existing struts. ( Need minor work to make them fit and an inexpensive method that works well.)
Fifth option is to purchase springs from the Montehospital. ( expensive option and might not be stiff enough for solo racing but looks good.)
Hope this helps.
I have tried all of these methods my self and it boils down to what you want to do with the car and your budget.

[JThw8]

Warren, great information all around thank you!

For the brakes I will probably stick with the scorpion parts if I can get them, but its nice to know there are options if Im in a bind time wise.

And I had read what you were saying about the bushings someplace else after I had posted that. I know Steve Hoelscher and value his opinion so I will rule that out. Also when I pulled things apart last night I noticed all the bushings had been replaced recently and were in very good shape, no point in messing with whats good. What about the sway bar bushings? Leave em stock or is urethane ok there? Again these were recently replaced so my limited budget is better spent elsewhere right now but good to know for the future.

Springs...
I would love to hear more information on options 3 and 4. Actually as long as we are at it, what about cutting the stock springs? I know noone ever really approves of this method, but Id love to hear from someone with firsthand experience. Ive run cut springs on many of my autocross cars with no ill effect.

Option 3...Granada springs...really? Any particular year? Front springs? rear springs or all? (Not sure what kind of suspension setup is on a granada)

Option 4...again what year of accord/prelude. Im fairly handy with fabbing up my own stuff and have the tools needed to do it, I would love to learn more of this option, any resources on the subject would be appreciated.

Thanks
Jim

[JThw8]

. The carb you want is the Weber 34DRATRA. It is a srtaight bolt on and looks identicle to the stock carb.


Just talked with my local parts guy, he couldnt find a listing for that carb, he has a 34 DATR7 250, which his weber book lists as correct for the scorpion. Brand new for a decent price

Anyone know if this is a worthwhile carb for a little more power? Just cant quite talk the wife into the cost of dual carbs :)

[DJ]

Either a 34 DATR OR a 34 DMTR will work fine. The only difference is automatic versus manual choke. (dAtr versus dMtr) You can use the water choke off your original carb to replace the manual on the DMTR.

You may need to enlarge the hole in the bottom insulating gasket.

[JThw8]

Thanks for the info DJ.

One more question on the brakes thing. Is there any modification needed to use the 124 rear calipers. It seems almost impossible to find the scorpion ones stateside and my time is short so Im planning on trying that and getting the rebuild kits for my scorpion ones (Bruce doesnt require the cores) and run the 124s while Im rebuilding.

Also has anyone measured the piston diameter on the 2? Bruce has 2 rebuild kits for the 124, a 35mm and a 38mm, Im just wondering if the 38mm is actually for the larger scorpion calipers. I will measure myself when I get a moment, just figured I would ask.

[John Allen]

The Scorpion/MonteCarlo caliper pistons are 38mm, the Betas are 35mm and the 124/X1/9s are 34mm (if I remember correctly...).

The calipers are the same size dimensionally and will fit the stock brackets, the front/rear balance will be upset.... Should be OK until you get yours rebuilt.

-John Allen

[JThw8]

Thanks for the info John, that is pretty much the plan, give me something to work with while I rebuild the old ones or source new ones. Nothing like being under the gun timewise. I think my eventual plans will include an adjustable proportioning valve since I would like the adjustability during racing. Street use is a bit less of a concern as this is definitely a fair weather, occasional use car for me.