Lancia Beta Forum

While trying to slim down the fleet, decided to sell my VX coupe, well thanks to advice and help from fellow members I ended up having to ditch the engine. Bo-lackeds i think the word is.

So hay presto , my next project.

So going to stick a carb 2 ltr engine in it and still keep the PAS in it.  Couple of other ideas in my mind of how it will end up, but what ever im going to do will have to be done quickly. Thankfully only welding to be done is a patch on a turret and new sills.

O/S sill is started. Once welding done, wiring next , fit engine then paint.

Some pics on my facebook.

Well some progress has been made since my last posting.
Both sills have been replace, welding 95% complete, thankfully the rear turrets were virtually holeless.
Rear wheel arches however were rather poor to say the least.

The coupe has also gone on a diet , all sound deadening has been removed , that weighs about 10kg alone.

The guts will be ripped out , the car did have a factory sunroof, not anymore , anything not needed goes. Yes i know ill have a large hole left, small sheet of ally will solve that.

Dear Mark,
Good to see you have some time for your own cars! Look forward to seeing the finished result.
On another matter, did you receive the photos of the front VX Air Dam that I sent you? Do you still want it or shall I put it up for sale to the other Forum members?
All the best,
Chas,
(VXdeMAYO). :)

Mark

I am always impressed with how you manage to get so much done to such a high standard. Where do you keep that team of Elves?

Cheers

Eric

and do you loan these Elves out Mark?

Hi Eric and Matt
Thanks but sadly no elves.
A few more updates for you too, had a day or so on the car this week and maybe get some more done over the weekend.
Roll cage has been primed and test fitted.
Still got the floor brackets to weld in place, this cage however will cause me to make drastic modification to a dashboard.

Next, a mate did some drastic surgery on the doors, we still have some weight to loose from them yet.
before and after............

and while he was doing that, i got my hands dirty cleaning crap off left from getting that sound proofing off, got back ache with my leaning in the bot area. i started with the pass side but it started like the drives side pictured.....

Ricambi have a pair of fibreglass doors on e-Bay at the moment if you really want light....

Hy Stuart, I already have a pair, they are a real bitch to fit.

Mark

Looking good Mark :) Will she be ready this year?
I presume the cage has a connecting tube between both "A" posts at dash height then? Minimalistic dash planned?  ;)

The plan is to have her ready for the summer Marcus.
As yet there is no bar across the front , somethin to consider.
The front uprights are very very close to front dash mounting points.

Mark

Impressive progress even without the "Elves". Just one thought I assume you will be fitting removal able door bars to the cage particularly as you have lightened the doors the risk from side impact through the doors is very real and we need you in one piece.

Cheers

Eric
PS what is the problem with the GRP Doors apart from the way they explode into shards when they are hit?   

Hi Mark,

Is that an off the shelf bolt in cage? Only asking as I have an OMP bolt in on the way for my coupe. How did you remove the soundproofing? I found the quickest and cleanest way is to freeze it by using dry ice or similar which makes it go rock hard, then just hit it with a hammer - breaks off in big chunks and leaves no residue.

Looking good though, will be watching with interest at the progress, I trust there will be some suitably large wheels to fill those arches?

Thanks Ian

Hi Eric
Problem with the fibreglass doors is that there are no internal fixings on them, so some fabrication would be required. I do need a pair of lower door hinges that arnt ceased up if you now of any. (they can have a fair bit opf play in them, need to be loose).

Yes i do have door bars with the cage.

Mark

Hi Ian
Yes its an OMP one, test fitting it seems to say orig dash wont fit at door mounts.

Thanks for the tip, Ill remember that one, mine took lots of patiences.

Mark

Mark

I learnt the hard way too. Slaved with a hair drier and a scraper in the boot for days, even the kids wouldn't accept large sums of money to help...Tried the freeze method and did the rest in half the time!

On a separate note How did the brake upgrade work out in the end on the HPE?

Regards Ian

Hi Ian
Well brakes worked better than std ones but i havnt really abused them. They  will be transferred to coupe along with hydraulic handbrake and adjustable brake bias thingy.

Wheels have been ordered 7x17 with 15 offset. Lightweight Team Dynamics .

Had some time off last week and spent a fair time working on the coupe. Finished cleaning the crap off the shell inside, we got the mounting plates fitted for the rollcage, my mate is a better welder than I am. Also got the large hole in the roof plugged up, didn't go exactly to plan, was not a happy bunny, so we have ended up adding weight using filler :-( .

Mark

It looks good to me and those rear turrets are in great condition compared to most I have seen.

Eric

Looking good, as Eric says very impressive turrets!
Always dodgy plugging a sunroof, can be quite easy to warp the roof (i've seen it happen), but looks pretty good from the pic. he must be pretty good to seam the outside, I think if I had my sunroof out i'd chicken out and seam weld from the inside and fill the outer.
Will the Hi-Spec calipers fit a 15" wheel?

Thanks Chaps
Yes only had 2 small plates to put in turrets.
The roof did warp a little in the end, hence the comments about filler.

The HiSpec ones I have are fitted to the HPE are with 15 inch alloys, but got 17s for this car.

Mark

Marcus

The Hi Spec build I am doing with the R132-4 Calliper (bigger and stiffer than the B4) will be going under my 15 inch Azev As. I might finally have the mounts next week for both the Beta and the Monte

Eric

I'll look forward to seeing the pics of the setups :)

Little update, things progressing, main body ready for paint, its been primed and flattened off aswell as can be. Interior painted but a few more coats required. Body prep being done by JC Auto Designs. He also doing rear wheel arch repairs on my S3 Berlina.

Well its been slow going, not had much time to work on car recently. JC has been working on car more than I,
I did purchase a rotisserie so we could work on underneath better, scrapping under seal and wax oi off the bottom , yuk!!!!!
Still finding areas we need to get the welder out for, under the sealant coatings.

One thing we have noticed that these later cars are not so well made, panel gaps are cavernous compared to my earlier cars Ive had.

Well its been a little time since i last posted some progress of this project.
Floor plan is now stripped of all underseal. Then stone chipped and painted gloss white.
Still have the engine bay to complete.
Rear suspension now fitted, it has a few little jobs to do , components to upgrade further.

Most components have been re-plated, or blasted and powder coated.