Lancia Beta Forum

Finally - after 18 months of dismantling and then rebuilding, and help from the people here on this forum - I got my Spider started.
I've had her since the 90's, and kept her in a carcoon for many years - and fortunately, it seems to have kept the rust down to a minimum. The 'restoration' was initially just going to be a new head gasket, timing belt and water pump - possibly the clutch as well, as it seemed to slip when I drove it onto the trailer on moving day. I really shouldn't have started it up to move it, but it had been started fairly regularly over the years it was off the road.

Anyway - after getting the engine out - I thought it would be a shame not to do a few more things while the engine bay was clear. About £5k later - and I've pretty much done all I wanted to:

Wheels powdered and new Pirelli tyres;
Brake calipers refurbished;
New copper brake pipes;
New Hel hoses;
New discs and pads;
Subframe powdered;
Swing arms powdered - new rubber bushes, new arb bushes;
New steering arm bushes and fragile internal spacer replaced;
Engine bay cleaned, de-rusted and resprayed;
New fuse box;
NOS radiator - still in Lancia box - almost a shame to use it.
New hoses;
New pistons - Guy Croft fitted them to the con rods for me and cleaned up the rods;
New big-end bearings;
Water pump;
Belt tensioner bearing from GC;
Valve stem seals - head work and block skimmed;
Light porting on the inlet manifold and head;
Engine painted up and all new gaskets, seals and core plugs fitted;
New clutch, bearing and pressure plate;
New gear linkage bushes;
Got rid of fuel pump lobe from auxiliary shaft;
Electric fuel pump and FilterKing;
Refurbed carb;
Fuel tank removed and de-rusted - sender renovated. It still had about 40 litres of 4* petrol in - that looked like orange juice;
New front suspension units;
New back suspension inserts;
Renovated front and back hubs;
New bearing for dummy drive shaft;
Back suspension and frame powdered;
As much de-rusting as I could do with it on jacks - lots of cleaning of everything else;
Hood frame powdered;
New handbrake cable;
New wiper arms (difficult things to source);
Dashboard bulbs all checked and replaced;
New speedo cable;
Magnecor leads;
New dizzy cap, rotor arm and plugs;
Stereo refubished;

Like I said - I was fairly lucky. Many of the bolts that I removed from underneath looked like new, and were still yellow. What I did have though was the effect of condensation rusting - so, bits that don't normally rust had gone. Like the indicator and light stalks, the heater outlet on top of the dash under the windscreen - those kind of things.

Nearly got round to trying it a few weeks ago, but the radiator leaked, and rather than get a renovated one, I managed to fin a brand new one on ebay.it - which was really nice to find.

It took me a couple of hours this last Sunday (after failing on Saturday) to get her started. The timing was proving difficult, and I tried various combinations of dizzy orientations versus timing marks on the crank pulley. I'd forgotten that the crank goes round twice for a full cycle, and I think that I was unlucky to have got it 180 degrees wrong several times. I had vapour and sometimes exhaust fumes firing out of the carb like a steam train. However, when I got it right, it started straight up, and ran fine. Amazed and relieved at the same time. So nice to hear it again.

Worst job - removing all of that black stuff from the bulkhead. Took about 26 hours.
Most satisfying job - fitting the big end bearings and crank, and then seeing the crank rotate so easily.
Best tool - the impact wrench. How have I done without this tool up to now?
Failed job - tried to get to the heater motor to free it up (battery light comes on when activated). I won't be driving it during the time of year when it's needed anyway.
Still to do - a few bits of trim and radiator cowling, the bonnet and catches need to be fitted - and then it's off to the MOT station - and then straight to the wheel alignment centre after.

Oh - the horn has stopped working again - since I finally got it going several weeks ago - which was after many hours of tracing wires, and earthing of the steering column.

Now - the running in procedure. Anyone got any tips?

A few random pics:

That's an impressive list and result- it must be a very well deserved good feeling. Great stuff.

Look forward to seeing the car at some point.

Mark

That's a really good job. Well done.

Hi

Looks very nice indeed, any chance of a full car photo?

Peter

Hi Peter. Yes - I'll take some pics when I go back to it. It's still sat in my old garage, as we moved house since I started it. The new house doesn't have a garage (yet - but it will), so I had to leave her there.

This pic was taken an hour or so before the engine was shoe-horned back in on 11th March - which is why it looks like it's sitting a bit high at the front:

I'm looking forward to finishing her and getting at least some driving time this year. Really hoping to offer her up for the NEC stand in November if cars are needed.

I suspect John will snap your hand off.....

Peter

Absolute stonking job...Enjoy.

Very nice job.

Well Done

Eric

Very nice! Looks great

Sent from my HTC 2PS6200 using Tapatalk

Very nice indeed. One for the stand at the NEC in November  :)

Excellent job and at a good pace too ! Wish I could work that swiftly.