Lancia Beta Forum

Hello !!!

I recently bought my first Lancia as a project car. I am planning on rebuilding her over the next year or 2 unfortunately she has seen much better days. The damage is extensive nearly beyond repair I am sad to say. Both rear Spring Towers have rust corrosion around nearly the entire base. In fact at this point its nearly shot through. I am surprised its holding together. The floor plan has 3 large holes. The engine fires up but stops after a few second sounds like its only running on a few cylinders. The entire boot will need reconstruction. All windows need new seals and the doors will need a bit of fabrication done. And the list goes on and on and on.  Its properly the hardest task I have ever undertaken and I have been told that she is to far gone by many many people. I am really determined and hopeful that I can get her to pull through as it would a crime and a shame for anything else to happen. I will do my best to not let you and or her down   ;D . I am desecrate for support and ideas when it comes to restoring the car. So I may need your help at some stage :D.

Thanks for looking ps my names George.

Welcome George and good luck with your project, nice colour by the way.

Welcome George.

You will find plenty of advice and encouragement on here.

Good luck with it all.

Mark

Welcome George,
My car was a complete basket case (see members cars in gallery) and took almost six years to complete,partly as I was overseas. However I can assure you that it is well worth it as the car is so very rewarding to own and drive.
All the best
Sulo

Mine too, looked like it needed patching up cosmetically, 2 years later I'm almost ready to strip it to a bare shell for a full resto  ???


Good luck, gorgeous colour.


People here have been about 5000% more useful for info, parts and knowledge than my local Lancia group. There are two or three Lancia Beta groups on facebook that are also amazing for sourcing parts.

HELLO !

God feels like it has been some time since I made an update post! I promise I will actually update it from here on if you guys are interested!

So where did I get to !

Right well put it this way I started work on the coupe now 3 YEARS! ago which seems just mad really when you think about it.
I don't blame you if you thought i had just given in but no! Still going strong.
I have been quietly working away every weekend for the past 3 years trying to get the old girl to a point where she might one day go again.
SADLY no its not finished YET! But the structure and metal work in finally complete and I will soon be onto the engine at long long last!
If you are interested here is big long list of stuff I have done.
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- Wheel arches both rear left and right completely rotted, The entire structure was just gone and held together with some kind of sealant xD .. welded with fresh stainless steel all the way around top to bottom with new external arches from betaboyz, sprayed and painted then with fibre glass inner and out layers for extra protection from the elements.
This was months in the work as I had to cut both rear quarter panels off in order to gain access to the rot on the tower.

- Fuel tank  ( mounting points ) had gone so welded new sections of steel along with now mounting bolts ( along with restoring the fuel tank itself )
 
- Fuel tank fuel feed pipe entire bottom section had rusted to nothing so spent a long time welding a what was quite a complicated shape and installing

- Bumper mounting points had so much rust eaten away at it i cut the entire panel out and remade it on both sides.

- THE WORST NIGHTMARE ! By far the biggest challenge i have had so far is the nightmare that was the rotted boot / windscreen connection area.
What i hadn't thought about was the complexity of the shape that was that section. It bends and curves in so many directions it just wasn't possibly to completely remake without it warping during welding and fabrication process.
I had countless months of making it only to fail to then retry and retry, in the end on my 4th attempt i got it as close as i possibly could, its not amazing by any stretch of the imagination but its functional and doesn't look horrible and that works for me.

- Both under body factory mounting points had gone and with it had allowed water to get into the main chassis which then rotted.. this was about 20 inches of pure rust enough to put your hand through with ease.
Was painful but again completed on both sides. decided to go with a much thicker stainless steel grade to hopefully to stop that happening again, but more of a big F**K u to the rust xD.

-Whats next .. AHHH yes the windscreen how much fun that was .. I had learnt from before that you cant make everything from scratch so this time I enlisted the forums help in finding me a replacement surrounding for the windscreen and some replacement glass. By some luck that came through so cut out the old one welded the replacement in.
( I make that sound easy but for god  it wasn't xD )
Lots of work went into the structure making sure it was strong and had good support before any welding happened, but yes eventually she was in !

- Had some awful rot at the front right of the car by the wing.. again new steel welded etc etc.

- Done lots of work on the rear suspension ( new shock inserts, shortened springs, all the assembly cleaned up resprayed etc )

- cleaned up both the Anti roll bar and the main control arms and Chassis at the back.

- Rear Brakes Cleaned up along with new seals and pads

SOOOOO Much more has happened but i could go on forever those are just some highlights ! lol

Be interested to hear from everyone let me know what you think so far!
So do let me know if you want to keep updated on progress on here !
  

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I have taken over 1000 photos so this is just a very very small selection .. i would be here all day otherwise xD

Cheers George

Hi George

Please keep it coming on the forum, always good to see someone else's restore especially from such an extreme starting point.

Glad you are still enthusiastic after this time spent. I think the mechanical bits will just be a walk in the park in comparison...

Peter

Hi George,

What fantastic news that you have persevered with a car that was so far gone. The work you have done is impressive and I would be keen to see regular updates on here with your continued progress. Congratulations on saving another Beta Coupe!

Carl.

Keep the updates coming I love seeing the work others put into their cars -well done

I am getting very close now to finally starting on the engine bay which has been a long time coming.

Here is a sneak peek at one of the parts I have for it.

This is a Lotus x180 turbo esprit Carb.




 

Hi Guys !

Another update..

So the engine is finally out at long last!

Would really appreciate advice regarding what mods people think I should be making to it.. Any advice would be great.

Essentially the plan is to do the following

(  1  Ether clean the exterior block and head myself or send away to be walnut blasted )
( 2 Repair the oil pan hear lots of people mentioning fitting the Betaboyz sump modification kit which intended to do.. if I do that should I do anything to the oil pickup or leave that alone ? )
( 3 send the block away to be rebored not done this before so advice regarding sizing etc would be useful!, and good places to source oversized replacement pistons would be nice also ! )
( 4 send the head away to be repaired where necessary I.E reseating the valves etc and again walnut blasted..  If I do this should I replace the valve springs and the valves themselves? planning on keeping the cams at this stage.)
( 5 New bearing etc all round, + new gaskets)

 Regarding engine reassembly whats everyone opinion on doing it yourself or should I hand it over to a "specialists"?

As you can see I am at the basic planning stage... essentially that's as far as I have thought so far so any more advice would be great!

On a side note since working on the engine bay I have started restoration work on the subframe and the remaining chassis parts that need rust removal.

Let me know your thoughts!

Cheers George

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On building your engine it depends what you want to achieve of course. I have built 200BHP 2000TCs with modern ECUs and Fuel injection and a Volumetrico Supercharger powered 300BHP Montecarlo.

Engines are all about precision cleanliness and component choice. Get a copy of Guy Croft's first book what ever it costs you it will be cheap compared to the mistakes you will avoid. Have Stanwood engineering clean the head and block and maybe fit the new valve guides you should be fitting. Buy new pistons before sending the block for re-bore. Buy a full engine gasket and bolt set from Guy Croft his gaskets are mostly custom made and do not leak like most others!

Keep the exhaust cam standard and ask Guy what you can fit inlet side for max power/torque with revs below 7500 which is the limit for cast pistons. A pair of Vernier cam wheels will really help setting up cam timing.

I would replace the rods with Integrale forged ones from Tanc Barratt. Old OE rods are high risk items in any tuned engine. The pistons would be 84.4 or 84.6 high compression from Vick Autosport and will be cast. You should get a lighter flywheel and have it balanced to the crank. Look for a 228mm Integrale 8V flywheel and use an 8V Integrale clutch. The Beta one will NOT take the extra power.

Remember to cut down and plug the Aux Drive shaft so the lobe cannot hit number 2 conrod and use and electric fuel pump.

I would base the build on a 2000 engine with 45DCOEs or DHLAs.

I hope this helps. The power is in the head but the bottom gives you the strengths and the means to survive the revs. My 2000 engine with GC supplied forged pistons and rods will rev to 9000 RPM but it is not cheap and was scary to build.

Eric             

Hi George,
If you’re looking to keep costs down on your engine rebuild, I still have a set of virtually new 84.6mm pistons for sale for a 2 litre engine. See my Beta Parts for Sale.
Chris

But well done with the work so far! You've fixed some fairly scary looking bodywork problems, so I'm sure you can manage the engine side of things. Another vote for Stanwood Engineering by the way, they really are top people and very reasonable for the quality of work they produce.

If you take it steady and carefully no reason not to reassemble the engine yourself. I've done it and I'm mechanically inept ,especially hands on, and the engine does run! It has been traumatic to a degree though and I'm not convinced that it is right , if you are good with your hands though I'd say go for it!
Oh and measure the bores first before you rebore it might still be in tolerance in which case unless you want fancy pistons your existing ones wth new rings might be ok. Others will disagree as there is always some risk of piston or rod failure but does depend how it is going to be driven. GC will always recommend new parts as he precision builds to race standards, if its just a sunny day normal road car you can possibly compromise a bit.
I had to compromise on my build as I don't have much money has to be done on a budget, I may regret it but only time will tell.

So much rust, omg, you are a brave man

Fred I believe your beta had some rust to ;)

Hi All!

Nice to meet some of you at NEC this year! Sorry I didn't hang around for long!

Thought I would post a quick update.
While I slowly gather all the necessary parts to rebuild the engine I decided I would go ahead & spray the engine bay.

Started by painstakingly removing all the original paint which has taken a number of weeks as I only work on the beta at the weekend.

Once all the paint was stripped cleaned down all the panels with panel wipe, then sprayed 2k Epoxy primer followed a few days later with 2k base coat and 2k clear.
This was my first time spraying anything, so sorry if it's a bit crude.

Think I am fairly happy with the results though :)




 

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Admiring this project, keep at it!
Rich

Some more progress over the Christmas Period.

Happy New Year all.

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Hi George,
Your recent post reminded me of your project.
It's been a while since you updated.
How's it going?

Best regards
Nigel

Hi Nigel,

Appreciate you remembering my project.
Unbelievably it's been 7 years 2 months and 1 day since I started work on the Beta, Since my last post I have been working my fingers to the bone to finally finish.
Been taking lots of inspiration from everyone on here and it's been great taking advice from older posts.

Since my last post, I have sorted out the following

Engine - purchased a 2L Beta Engine -  Replaced Core plugs - installed Baffled sump - Changed Bearings - Replaced Gaskets etc - Valve shims - new Starter - newly refurbished distributor - blocked off mechanical fuel port - Replaced Clutch, Made full Stainless exhaust - Installed Dellorto Twin 45 Carbs with Crofts manifold - Oil cooler - Engine Catch Can - new belts etc and much more.

Cooling - New Aluminum radiator - New hoes all round -  Engine Stainless inlet & Outlets tubing - Aluminum expansion tank - Inline Thermostat - refurbished heater core

Brakes - Refurbished Calipers - New Discs & pads all around - Replaced all steel lines with copper - Braided Hoses all around -  New brake Master

Electrical  - Had mice eat lots of wiring  - repaired wiring - replaced alternator - relocated battery - new fuse box in addition to original - installed speakers and new modern radio.

Fueling - New Aluminum Fuel cell - Fuel filter system, New Copper tubing, Fuel pressure regulator & new electrical fuel pump

Suspension - Installed new bushings virtually everywhere - New Struts, shortened Springs & pads, and of course new wheels.

Bodywork - All welding is now complete and god was there a lot of that!  I have spent countless hours sanding crying & more sanding I will never envy anyone who works at a body shop its dead boring.
Nevertheless, all panels were sanded back and I reprimed the entire car inside and out, safe to say I have learned an awful lot.

Loads of stuff I haven't mentioned as I would go on forever

Not sure if I ever said what I was planning but effectively I wanted the Coupe to look like the old Hifi model Crossed with the old rally cars..
Might not be to everyone's taste but hopefully, you all like it when it's done.

The car has finally gone for its respray this week then it's just down to final assembly!

You can see the final design at the end of the post!



Cheers George

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George,
That's some great work there, and a comprehensive write up.

Interesting brace mounting, not seen it done like that.
Great fuel tank, capacity greater than original I'm sure!

One point to note: The inertia switch needs to be mounted vertically,
push button at the top, otherwise it'll trigger at the first bump in the road.

I'm looking forward to seeing this sometime.

All the best, Nigel

Hi George

That is a pretty comprehensive amount of work, artists impression looks great, the wheels and wing extensions look to work well.

I was curious if you are intending to baffle the radiator hot air to keep away from the air filters, something others have done?

Peter

Good spot there Nigel with the switch wasn't aware of that.
At the time think I thought it wouldn't trigger at all if it faced up but I shall swap it around.

Cheers George

Hi Peter,

Yes, you are probably right, haven't put much thought into it yet but will likely will need to happen.
Was sort of interested to see as the air filters have plates on the end if that would help prevent hot air from getting in the carbs..


Cheers George

Hi All,

After an incredible 8-year journey, my car project is finally done & hitting the roads! Well, when I say "done," I mean it's reached a point where I can enjoy it, though there are still a few odds and ends to tidy up.
Truly has been one crazy ride full of highs and lows, I started this car when I was just 18 and I obviously had never done anything like this before.
Originally, I aimed for a tidy two-year rolling restoration, but as I delved deeper into the the issues mounted drastically, Truth be told this car should never have been saved it was far to gone by the time I got it rot had infested every place imaginable.
They say you've "rescued a car from the scrapyard," but in my case, I actually plucked mine from its resting place in one! Little to me knowledge at the time.

Nevertheless, it's been an adventure like no other. And who knows? Maybe one day you'll spot me at one these car meetups.

Thank you to everyone who has shared their wisdom on the forums. Even if you didn't directly respond to my queries, your contributions have undoubtedly helped others, myself included.

Specials thanks to
squiglyzigly ( Ian ) For all his advise along the way.
Mark @betaboyz for all the endless parts.

Cheers George

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Great work George. Amazing to see the transition.

I recommend a curved air deflector from top of rad going under the carbs. If you also leave off the radiator box top section cold air will head for the filters. Ideally your curved alloy deflector has heat insulation fitted to it. This is to get more power and avoid in traffic shunt as the hot air messes up the carb set up.

Eric
PS I did all of this stuff 20 years ago with a full spec GC engine.