Lancia Beta Forum

Hello everyone, does anyone fancy the 2016 Beta meet in the Peak District? The Alfa Romeo owners club is having its national Alfa day at Chatsworth park on Sunday the Tenth of July and I have spoken to them to see if they mind if they were joined by a few of us.
They are checking numbers etc over the next two weeks and will be back in touch as regards a yes or no. If they said no there is still plenty of good reasons for a drive/meet in the Peak district although I cant promise stunning roads as North Yorkshire provided last year.

I have a good pub on my doorstep and there is plenty of local accommodation around for those who fancy a drive/evening meal on the Saturday with a view to joining the Alfa club on the Sunday.

Anyone interested?

Tim and very orange coupe.

Tim, yes, I'd definitely be up for that.

Hi Tim

Rebuild should be well underway by then at last, but definitely not complete, so no Beta, but I would be up for coming along.

Peter

I could be up for that

Actually no - I will be at le mans classic that weekend (in the beta)

I could well be interested. Though turning up to a Lancia meet piggybacked onto an Alfa meet in an Alfa is going to look odd.

Not sure if I can make it, too many things going on at the moment but will try although it will be in the Crappler Delta if I do.

Did you finish rebadging that yet Alan?

Would it be OK if I turned up on a motorbike or (worse yet) a T4 Transporter van? I have a feeling the Spider won't be ready to return to the UK by July...

Done some, grille, rear badge, steering wheel, wheel centres, sill kick strips but  other details are too much hassle to do. The car looks better but unfortunately is still very pedestrian to drive no comparison with the driving experience of older more passionately engineered Lancias.

Do not see why not?

Peter

Trevi and I definitely up for this  ;) :D

Yep, I'd be up for that.

Last time I was at Chatsworth I was on bike course based in the Peaks so no objection to bikes from this quarter.

Mark

It would be red, Italian and begin with A (but Aprilia, not Alfa Romeo), so shouldn't be too out of place... :)

Hi everybody, sorry so long between posts, have been a little tied up putting the Beta back together!
I think Stuart may have a good point, joining the display with the Alfa's may look odd so how about this for a plan.

All meet at the Sir William hotel in Grindleford (where we live, could be a useful base if any running repairs required!) at say 11am on Saturday the 9th of July. We could have a drive out into the Peak District and find a cafe/pub for lunch, finish the route and head back to accommodation. (I will put links for accommodation at end of post.)
I will book the Grouse inn on Froggatt edge for the evening pub meal where taxis back to any accommodation are easily available. We can all leave our cars in the fairly spacious car park overnight and My wife and I will operate a shuttle service in the morning if required.

If we get to Chatsworth House at 9.30 in the morning we should all be able to park our Beta's(& other assorted machinery) in the normal car park, this way we can visit the various stands etc at the Alfa show and have a wander around Chatsworth in general.

If we get bored by the Alfa's some of the best driving roads are hidden just above and behind Chatsworth so we could explore more before making our various ways home.

The Peak District is quite scenic but does not have the epic roads of our North Yorkshire treat last June, should be fun all the same!

Accommodation sites as follows.

www.littlejohnhotel.co.uk (http://www.littlejohnhotel.co.uk)

www.millstoneinn.co.uk (http://www.millstoneinn.co.uk)

www.wheatsheafpubbaslow.co.uk (http://www.wheatsheafpubbaslow.co.uk)

Also The Fox House Longshaw (vintage inn) and the Highwayman inn, Baslow (premier inn)

At time of writing the Little John at Hathersage has July the 9th free, I think for all rooms. All pubs are very close and equally convenient.

Apologise for my poor computerisation skills etc, I'm more of a points and condenser person than fancy ecu!

I will sort out PM for my contact details etc.

Cheers, Tim.

Wow I'm really impressed, great idea because of current personal life complexities I'm not sure if I can make it but will try to get there on Sunday in my modern Delta.

That all sounds do- able from this distance - well done Tim.

Mark

Great!  :D  Is this settled and confirmed now? Should I be booking my accommodation?  ;) :D

Hi Theo,
Yes I would book accommodation as soon as possible, wish I had giant house/garages to accommodate everyone! Will do the lotto tonight just in case!
 

Hi All

Booked accomodation for the 9th July at The Scotsman Pack Inn, Hathersage via laterooms £55 for the night. The Little John seems to want min of 2 nights which did not suit me.

Peter

I'm at the Scotsman pack too for Saturday night.

Looks like quite a bit of pressure on rooms in the area.

Mark

Hi All,
Hope accommodation is available where needed, please feel free to contact me at : timweston@hotmail.co.uk and I will help with any further info as regards other places to stay and various phone numbers etc.
I have booked a table at the Grouse inn Longshaw (Froggatt edge) numbers are flexible and any of who wish to drive can leave our cars there overnight , the Beer is very good as is the steak pie! I will sort the taxi(s) to various accommodations.

It would be great to have as many cars as last year, so any of you battling with various "Beta gremlins" don't loose heart! As A.Body said, don't fiddle with them too much, just use them, they like it! Mine should be breaking the 200 thou M mark in the next couple of years, plenty of life left...(fingers crossed)

Tim.

I'm free that weekend  ;D and have just booked the last room at the Scotsman pack for the Saturday night.
Sadly I won't be in a Lancia, unless I manage to pick something up beforehand  ?

Tim thanks for putting this together, sounds like its going to be a cracking weekend

Tony

Looks like this is one I'll have to sit out, or perhaps turn up for the Saturday only. I'm told I have non-negotiable parenting duties for the Sunday.

You've put an impressive weekend plan together Tim and I'm sad that I'll not be able to join you. You've probably seen my Coupe on the For Sale page so you'll know what's going on. Still, if there are no takers through Betaboyz, at least I can say I tried (perhaps not very hard!).  I'm not letting him go cheap though, nor am I prepared to put up with the eBay nonsense.  I'll take a 'no sale' as a sign that we're destined to stay together and I'll dig him out of his sleep in Shropshire in a few years time.

Good luck with the weekend and I hope you find some uncluttered roads.

Chris

I left it too late and everything seems booked  :'(
My plan is (was?) to travel up on Friday 8th July and stay for 2 nights.
Best option for me now seems to be the Manor House Hotel in Dronfield. Not too far from the rest of you I think but does anyone know anything about it or has any other suggestions?

Hi Theo,
Dronfield is not far away , have you tried the Barrel inn at Bretton, The Yorkshire Bridge nr Bamford, Hope, Castleton, I think there is still a room at the Little John in Hathersage. Please feel free to mail me : timweston@hotmail.co.uk and I will try and come up with more ideas but Dronfield is good and a stones throw from the Grouse Inn.
Cheers, Tim.  (p.s Chris... DON'T SELL THE BETA!)

I've booked the Manor House in Dronfield http://www.manor-househotel.co.uk/ (http://www.manor-househotel.co.uk/) as it seems reasonably priced (£125 for 2 nights) and reasonably near. Plus I can cancel the booking if I find something better or closer but as I'm off to 3ma16 on Thursday morning http://www.131mirafiori.com/smf/index.php?topic=7939.msg66614#msg66614 (http://www.131mirafiori.com/smf/index.php?topic=7939.msg66614#msg66614) I thought I'd better book something now!  ;) :D

Sounds like a great plan. I'm planning to be there. Not sure if any of my Betas on the road, but still want to make. Cheers John

That's brilliant news John, hope nothing serious is preventing the use of Beta's/integrale. I'm hopefully dusting off my 77 spider for a good friend to use for the weekend and may have a spare Fiat N/A 16v coupe if anyone fancies borrowing something Italian?
Tim.

Somehow I missed this...just as I managed to miss Betameeta last year. Is there room for one more with a little black coupe? Howard

The more the merrier if you can find some accommodation.

Mark

It's not an invite or numbers thing as Mark says, all very informal. Just turn up with your car.

Thanks guys. I've sorted accommodation so Luci and I will be there. Looking forward to it... H.

Great stuff- well done on getting somewhere to stay.

Mark

Thats great news, looks like we are going to have a good selection of Beta's of all kinds :)
Hope everyone is having more success than me with their cars, my orange coupe has been "testing" me the last couple of weeks and the 77 spider refuses to allow its indicators/hazzards to work at all! Good job we have such an excellent forum with the right information. (Thanks Theo)

I did a test run of proposed Saturday run (Northern loop) which takes in the Winnats pass on the way back, I think we will all enjoy the views :)

Looking forward to the AGM,

See you Sunday, Tim.

Hi Tim

I know I said I could probably make this meeting, however on my return from the Hope show, the Hawk decided to get a little thirsty and in a 25

mile

trip home, consumed nearly 15 liters of fuel !!!! :o, I just managed to get home on fumes from the empty tanks, I pulled No 4 plug and its was

sooty,

but not wet so I guess its not an oil issue? My bud was following behind in his Tuscan and said it seemed to be smoking on deceleration mostly but

said the smoke didn't hang around like oil smoke and had a choking fuel odour, so bad was it, that he had to overtake on the Norton bypass to

avoid a headache !

I've noticed recently the fuel pump has changed in tone and the alternator charge light is on constantly since I swapped the Bosch alternator last

year for a lightweight Jap unit from my Mazda MX3 maybe this is the culprit??

Is there any one on here with injected 2 liters HPE's that could advise

and instruct?

Thanks Kev



     

It sounds like way too rich a mixture. So Maybe too much fuel pressure from either a failed fuel pressure regulator or maybe a blocked tank return pipe. Other possibilities are that the ECU thinks the engine is still cold so it is adding too much fuel i.e. a failed water temp sensor or a fault with the wiring to it. It must be fixed not just for the fuel cost but because it will wash the oil from the bores and kill the piston rings in time.

You may be wise to change the engine oil when you have fixed it as the extra fuel will attack the oil.

Good Luck

Eric

Hi Eric

Yeah thanks for reply, appreciate it  :D Today I pulled all other 3 plugs and they're all the same, Sooty! (NO surprise!).

I applied vacuum to the fuel rail regulator and it held vacuum for 4 hours so I guess the diaphragm is ok?.

I removed the Throttle valve and looked down into plenum to see if fuel had pooled from a dodgy cold start injector, but no, there was some oil in

there I guess (again!) it's from the PCV hose?.

The twin tank return lines are clear, I applied 12volts to the fuel pump and could clearly see what little fuel there was left falling into the tanks with

both filler caps removed ( alarmingly, with little fuel in the tanks the returning fuel falls about 500mm to the base of tank and foams really badly :o

not sure how the injectors deal with this frothy liquid ?????? or how it would affect fueling ? it would certainly explain the pumps change in tone if it's

pumping foam !).

I intend to check resistances of Injectors, cold start valve, bypass valve, CTS, and TTS this week, but have no figures for reference? I have found

conflicting figures online but nothing that correlates what I have recorded on previous tests  :-\.

I hope my choice of alternative alternator isn't the cause? The alternator charge light in the Hawk is within the Fiat 124 Speedometer gauge and

when the original Bosch unit failed the warning light came on along side a drop in the voltmeter (Fiat 124) then I swapped the alternator and used

the original Beta alternator pulley wheel (straight swap  ;)) so that rotational speed was the same, the warning light went out soon after fitting but

on a drive it illuminated once more but the voltmeter remained/remains at approx 14 volts ? (headlights on).

I hope I get to the drop the oil stage Eric I really do, very sound advice indeed  8) in the meantime I'll go through everything else I know and report

my findings for advice and perhaps direction?

Thank you again Eric for the swift reply

Kev.       

 

Hi Tim
Thanks to help from peteracs I hope to be there too; subject to mot next week.
I am a red spyder in sheffield, if you live out in the valley, I think we may have exchanged waves on occasions?
thanks for organising this,
Gerry

Hi Gerry,

Yep, seen you and your spider around, not enough of us on the road! I know I am biased but it brightens up your day when you see a Beta around :)

Good luck with the mot, let me know if you get stuck with anything, happy to lend a hand.

Tim.

Hi Tim

Is the plan still to meet at 11am at the Sir William hotel in Grindleford.
Also worth mentioning, anyone travelling up from the south, it's F1 at Silverstone this weekend, might be worth avoiding the M1 and M40 especially Sunday afternoon  ::)

Hi Tony,
Yes the plan is still to meet at the Sir William Hotel at eleven (S32 2HS) for sat navs etc, I have already opened a tab so teas, coffee's and cakes etc are on me :). I will be wandering around the car park from about ten to keep spaces clear for us but as long as we start our drive out to the Winnatts pass etc by one we will have plenty of time for a good drive around the peaks with some scenic picture stops if needs be.

The weather forecast does not fill me with confidence so bring umbrella's!

Safe journeys to all, see you soon.

Tim. 

Hi Tim

Looking forward to it, should be there for around 10:30 all being well.

Forecast for Sunday looks a bit better than Sat, but hopefully not too wet.....

Peter

I should be in Dronfield (Manor House http://www.manor-househotel.co.uk/ (http://www.manor-househotel.co.uk/)) from this evening so if anyone else is going today and would like to meet for dinner or a drink or coffee then email me or PM me or call me on O7 845 244 l3l  :D I'm told the Manor House has a pretty good restaurant  ;)  ;D Otherwise, see you all tomorrow....

Didn't think I was going to be free this weekend but possibility now of making Sunday.  Is plan to meet at Grouse Froggatt Edge on Sunday morning?

Hi Tim
Unfortunately Spyder off the road still but that is due to me being damaged rather than it!  I would love to pop along to the Sir William tomorrow and say Hi (face to face rather than through windscreens) and then perhaps catchup at chatsworth on sunday - will be in my 595 abarth - see you, Gerry

Hi All,

The plan for Sunday is to meet at Chatsworth "normal" car park, I think the one near the stables restaurant etc. Saturday 7.30pm is when we are booked in for good beer and pie (other foods available but pie fairly legendary at the Grouse)

If we arrive at Chatsworth for approx 9.30am +/- we should get all our Beta's together and then decide whether or not to spend a tenner looking at Alfa's!

Sorry to hear your spider cant make it Gerry, mine cant either, must be catching ???

Don't think I can make it over to Dronfield tonight Theo, depends what time she who occasionally should be obeyed gets in to take over child duties.
If not see you in the morning.

Cheers, Tim.

See you all at 11am at Grindleford. Look forward to it.

Back home ok, after more squalls on the return trip.

The Lime is in the garage with back and front doors up drying out, having had rather more wind (and rain ) under her skirt than she is used to.

Great weekend, thanks again to Tim and best wishes to all.

Mark

Hi All

Big thanks to Tim for organising, very pleasant area and quite surprised you managed to find such quiet roads for the drive. Most enjoyable evening on Saturday as well with an 'entertaining' return trip via the taxi........

Lastly, sure we still owe Tim for the lunch on Sat so will have to pick that up next year....

Peter

Fantastic weekend even if I missed out on the now legendary taxi drive on Saturday night  ;D
Thanks to Tim for all his hard work in organising a weekend which was perfect in every way.
My photos on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005908125525&sk=photos&collection_token=100005908125525%3A2305272732%3A69&set=a.579028045637461.1073741861.100005908125525&type=3&pnref=story (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005908125525&sk=photos&collection_token=100005908125525%3A2305272732%3A69&set=a.579028045637461.1073741861.100005908125525&type=3&pnref=story) It's a public album but you might need a Facebook account to see it. Let me know if you have problems seeing the photos and I'll post them somewhere else.

looks like you had a cracking weekend :)

Fantastic job Tim...well organised and thanks for hosting and making the weekend such a good time. Luci and I loved it. It is no longer Sunday so remote dipstick working again (!!). Great company and great cars! Can't wait for the next one... ;)

Thanks everyone for turning up and making a great weekend despite the dodgy weather, I think we held our own next to the sea of Alfa's at Chatsworth. The quality of our cars (mine not included!) is amazing considering how hard it is for us compared to Alfa's of any generation , guessing various panels/trim etc are a little easier to come by than for our vastly superior Beta's!

Roll on next year when various coupe's and spiders will be well on the way with their respective renovations ;)

Thanks again everyone, especially Theo for the brilliant pic's.

Tim.

Thanks Tim for the great organisation and hospitality, carrying on the Betameeta tradition.

Hi Everybody
Cracking weekend. It was great to see everybody. Thanks to Tim (and Jacob!) for organising.

Cheers
John

Apologies for the late reply  :-[
Brilliant weekend, thanks Tim.

Great company, great driving route, and great food on the Saturday night  :D
Topped off with a taxi ride back to our hotel from Stig’s Indian cousin  ;D  ;D

Hopefully next year I’ll be back in a Beta
Here's a selection of my pics from the weekend.
 
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8194/28063632254_d3bdecb42d_c.jpg)

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More can be found here:
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tonysphotos/albums/72157671726471496 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tonysphotos/albums/72157671726471496)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tony.harrison.9250595/media_set?set=a.10153838353297825.1073741881.576052824&type=3 (https://www.facebook.com/tony.harrison.9250595/media_set?set=a.10153838353297825.1073741881.576052824&type=3)

more than happy to email originals, just let me know you your email.
cheers Tony

There is a 2 page article on the event in this months Viva Lancia.