Lancia Beta Forum

Yesterday I trailered home a 78 HPE. Initially it was thought to be a parts car, but it turned out to be much better than feared. In fact remarkably good.  I had one of these as a young lad, so looking forward to drive it.

A couple of questions then:
There is some rust around the front screen. I have not found HPE seals on the net, only coupe. But is the coupe the same?
The interior is good except the LH door card (trim). Does anybody have, or know about a source for,  a door card with brown plastic and red cloth?

BTW, will post a few pics later.

Per

The Coupe and HPE screens are the same but later cars (so not yours) have a slightly smaller screen that is not bonded in. Be careful not to buy the later seal. Plenty of threads on here about removing the screen which is an awkward job.

Thanks, much as suspected. BTW, none of the threads I searched mentioned it, but Lancia described the use of a primer on glass and body when replacing the screen, with six rubber pieces to get the right distance between glass and body. And the use of a really hefty jig to hold the glass in place while the sealant cured. (I kept my factory workshop manual when I sold the HPE I had in the early 80'ies.)

Hi Per

I think you will find that modern stick in methods are pretty well established for a wired range of cars and that any competent installer will have no problem putting the windscreen back in. The original method using the wire heating system is long gone as far as I know.

Peter

I realise I was a bit skimpy in my reference. The WSM states that the curing happens due to the agent brushed on the glass and the body. So no heat and wire used during repairs. The manual is dated 1976. Thus even then only the factory used the heat set method.

This refers to the black coating on the edge of all modern screens. A windscreen fitter would apply this to the windscreen aperture on the car- the replacement screen would have this pre-applied at the factory during its manufacture. If for some reason you got a screen without this black coating around the edge then the fitter would apply that before he fitted the screen.
Looking forward to pics of your car!

Andrew.

(http://www.peie.no/car-images/hpe1.jpg)
(http://www.peie.no/car-images/hpe2.jpg)
(http://www.peie.no/car-images/hpe3.jpg)

Awful wheels, but I have the Cromodoras too  ;D

(http://www.peie.no/car-images/hpe4.jpg)

That looks very nice. I can't imagine anyone wanting to break that.

I think the PO got in over his head, very young. I tracked down the PPO and he could tell me quite a lot about it. Among the things done over the past few years were poly suspension bushes, new cam belt, head gasket ++. And he thought the 57.000km (ca 35.000 miles) was genuine!

Love that interior :)

Looks a great prospect if it is as good underneath as it looks up top- and I thought my interior was a bit bright!

Good luck!

Mark

Loving the interior. :)


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One jacking point (the protruding little structure) needs abit of welding, and at the rear of the the boot floor there is a rust hole. that is all I could find  :)

Dear Per,
have to agree with the others, I'm loving that interior, looks like a 70's Night Club! The colour goes really well with the silver exterior. Look forward to seeing your progress.
Best,
Chas and Anne. :)

It will be April before I will be able to do much. I have to complete putting the engine back into one car and do a 4 to 5 speed gearbox conversion on another before the HPE gets much attention. Watch this space though  ;)

Ok all, it is back on the road for a couple of months now. Still a lovely car to drive as remembered. I am amazed how smooth the engine is compared to e.g. a Lotus twin cam of any ilk. And the 1800 was even better than my 2000! Going on a multimarque rally tomorrow, weather forecast is nice and sunny, +20C. In other words a superb autumn day with sunroof open  ;D

I am sad to say I had to move it on, too many cars :-(

But it went to a good home, a truly enthusiastic new owner who uses it for what it does best: Weekend jaunts to the mountains and suchlike :-)

I told him about the forum so I hope he will register.

I will continue to lurk on the forum though. I have two smaller projects to complete, one major and one huge. But who knows what will happen in the meantime?

Regards to all
Per

What goes round comes round  :D

I have just bought back the HPE. Still in good condition so waiting for spring and salt-free roads.

Waiting in queue it has finally received some attention. The unit with lights/indicators/wipers has been replaced. A bit of coaxing to get it running. Now clutch and cambelt replacement is due. Still a lovely car  :D

Bravo! That is  a nice looking car. The only thing I would change is the wheels, but that's my preference.
Good luck with her

The wheels are long gone and replaced with original alloys. Cam belt and clutch replaced. New bushings in front A-arm due, and need to replace ball joints in the near future.

As I wrote in another older thread I replaced the bushings with OEM pattern items off ebay Italy.  All is well. Had to fabricate simple pullers to extract old and fit new bushings.

So this summer the trusty HPE has served as a workhorse as well as vacation toy. Doing some construction work on our cottage I re-installed the tow bar the first owner put on it that the previous owner had removed. He considered it unfitting for such a sporting vehicle. Absolute tosh IMHO, the dual personality is one of the great things about it. Fortunateley he had not binned the irreplacable parts, only the electrics. So I pulled trailer of 1973 vintage loaded with cement sacks  ;D

I got lots of positive comments about the combo being used for a real task, no sour grapes whatsoever on the tow bar.

Now the salty season can happen any day so it has gone into hibernation waiting for next spring.