Lancia Beta Forum

Hello all,
Richard from Edinburgh here.

I run a media blasting and coating company, we do a faie amount of classic cars and parts. In December 2012 our car delivery company pulled into the yard with this on board:

(http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo75/scooters29/Beta1_zps3583cdf1.jpg) (http://s363.photobucket.com/user/scooters29/media/Beta1_zps3583cdf1.jpg.html)

(http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo75/scooters29/Beta2_zps261683a7.jpg) (http://s363.photobucket.com/user/scooters29/media/Beta2_zps261683a7.jpg.html)

(http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo75/scooters29/beta3_zpsc62088c3.jpg) (http://s363.photobucket.com/user/scooters29/media/beta3_zpsc62088c3.jpg.html)

It was destined for the scrap yard having been stripped of it's boot, lights, grill, wheel, bonnet and parcel shelf as well as some misc. parts. The owner had laid it up 5 years ago for restoration, work started but didn't get far. The car was last on the road in 2007 and has hardly been used with 35,000 on the clock. The missing parts are all in storage. I had a quick look in the dark snow storm and told the driver to unload it at our premesis - this one was not going to be scrapped!

It has sat in one of our units for the last 6 months but last week we started the slow job of gettin it back on the road. There is some welding to do but the rust was treated before the car was laid up. I have tried to start her but, the engine is not siezed and turned over but suspect the electrics are too badly corroded as no spark. Anyway, starting with the engine:
(http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo75/scooters29/beta4_zps86e43770.jpg) (http://s363.photobucket.com/user/scooters29/media/beta4_zps86e43770.jpg.html)

off with the air filter -

(http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo75/scooters29/beta8_zpsa42640a9.jpg) (http://s363.photobucket.com/user/scooters29/media/beta8_zpsa42640a9.jpg.html)

not too bad really, the turrets and tin in the engine bay is in remarkable condition.

(http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo75/scooters29/beta5_zps94bda3a7.jpg) (http://s363.photobucket.com/user/scooters29/media/beta5_zps94bda3a7.jpg.html)
(http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo75/scooters29/beta6_zps6db8d84a.jpg) (http://s363.photobucket.com/user/scooters29/media/beta6_zps6db8d84a.jpg.html)

Nothing like sorting out rocker covers to motivate a project. Luckily we can do this job inhouse - for aluminium you don;t want to go too abrasive
(http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo75/scooters29/beta9_zpsb5ebdf69.jpg) (http://s363.photobucket.com/user/scooters29/media/beta9_zpsb5ebdf69.jpg.html)

we used a blend of 60% Ecostrip soluable media (bicarbonate of soda) and 40% recycled glass grain, fine. This is an excellent combination  for using on Aluminium , blasted at 100psi it comes up rather well.

(http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo75/scooters29/beta11g_zps1122b346.jpg) (http://s363.photobucket.com/user/scooters29/media/beta11g_zps1122b346.jpg.html)

(http://i363.photobucket.com/albums/oo75/scooters29/beta12_zps00cdeacc.jpg) (http://s363.photobucket.com/user/scooters29/media/beta12_zps00cdeacc.jpg.html)

This is a 1.6 in 'jobby' brown (typical british car buyer of the period - buys a wonderful italian coupe and sptipulates 'poo brown like my wife's Allegro please!') the paint is in very good condition so we may keep it this colour although I am tempted to soda blast the whole car and have it painted white or yellow or green.

next job is carb rebuild - anyone know where I can get a kit from or have a good carb rebuilder?

we'll be doing the following:

engine:
replace cooling hoses
blast clean and rust proof steel cooling pipework
replace all hose clips
new: blugs, rotor, leads, dizzy arm, dizzy cap, etc...
coolant flush
new water pump and fuel pump
new brake discs and pads
replace brake hoses
complete welding
replace miising items and trim
straightenm blast and repaint front valence (bent during scrapping)
refit interior

use! ;D

Looks great!  The dark chocolate brown was called amaranth...

Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk 2

Hi

Not my favourite colour, having said that there is one on the forum which has just been refurbished, but it was a pre f/l/S1 with the green seats from memory and that actually works really well in my view.

As to the carb, depends which it is, but I bought a service kit from this guy on Ebay for my 1600 DATR carb

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360608560679 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360608560679)

He also has a website selling kits etc, best to check which you have of course..... (mine is a pre f/l 1600 so likely to be different).

Peter

Welcome Richard, you've had a wee bit o luck finding an old Beta like that with only 35k on the clock.  Lucky too that you can lay your hands on the missing parts.  

I'd start with new plugs & HT leads and clean the electrical connections at the coil, battery, starter motor and dizzy.  See if you get a spark and maybe even some coughing and spluttering.  The fuel will be stale so maybe a gallon of super unleaded?

As you say it's well handy being able to media blast the components, it truly makes all the difference!

Good luck and if you need any advice - someone on here will know the answer.

Cheers

Welcome Richard....you'll get all the advice you need on this forum, and if you need a hand I'm not too far away from you, ML2.

John.

Welcome from a fellow brown ( Marrone) Coupe owner.

I got my carb kit from same supplier and had it fitted and the carb cleaned by Aldon Automotive (http://www.aldonauto.co.uk/shop, (http://www.aldonauto.co.uk/shop,) 01384 572553)  in the West Midlands for £65 on top- a long way from but you could always ask if they will deal by post- I think London Carb co charge £200+ for their clean/service/ return service, so should easily be able to beat that.

Aldon can also supply the kit I expect.

Good luck.

Mark

Welcome Richard,

Where in Edinburgh are you? I have a Beta subframe and Thema cross member which I need to have powder coated soon.

Try this for the carb rebuild.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LANCIA-BETA-1-6-CARBURETOR-KIT-NEW-GENUINE-LANCIA-LANCIA-BETA-CARB-KIT-9938527-/300811133610?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4609bda2aa (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LANCIA-BETA-1-6-CARBURETOR-KIT-NEW-GENUINE-LANCIA-LANCIA-BETA-CARB-KIT-9938527-/300811133610?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4609bda2aa)

Thanks everyone.
I'm pretty sure we can get this car back on the road with a light resto/recomm.

Thanks also for the offers of advice and assistance, rest assured I will be in touch!

I took the upper water rail off today and am please to say it is in excellent condition. I have media blasted the corrosion and old paint off it and there are no holes etc only a bit of corrosion around the twin ends. I will be coating the inside and out with Vactan - for those of you interested, vactan can be bought on ebay. It is the raw ingredient of Kuurst and is about 50 times stronger, water based it kills the rust and coats the metal with a rustkilling basic primer.

#mtulloch
we're based in between Winchburgh and Kirkliston in just over the border into West Lothian. Be happy to take a look for you. I'm not sure I would recommend powder coating for a sub frame. One of the problems with powder coating is that at the end of the day it is just another coating and it will not protect the metal indefinately. I've seen powder coated suspension and other exposed components look ok on the outside of the powder coat but under the coat the rust has already taken a grip - difficult to spot because the powder coat tends not to bubble. I used to powder coat all these parts but these days I prefer to media blast, paint with a very high resistance naval grade zinc primer and then coat with a polyeurathane mid coat and a hard top coat. When dry a coat of waxoyl clear or similar for belt and braces. This is the specification that we use on oil refinery pipework and we give a 5 year guarantee with it. It has the advantage of not trapping moisture - if a stone chip happens it is easily identified and treated. I would expect a component coated in this way with moderate road use to last at least 10 years before needing another treatment. Powder coat can last as long but is more expensive to apply and can hide issues - see the Wheeler Dealer's TVR Cerebra episode - powder coated chassis in a terrible state. Anyway, feel free to drop me a line - here or at our site. I am not sure if I can post a link to our site as it might infringe on forum rules. We do offer a 15% discount to members of classic car clubs and forums but I have yet to contact the Betaboyz admin about this. My rule of thumb is if it is likely to suffer stone chips then don't powder coat...if not then coat away!

G'day scooters, good luck with the resto.
It's nice to see some pics of your Lancia after I heard you  mention it over on AS ;)