1600 Coupe Restoration.

[MattNoVAT]

The N/S, the roof & all A and C pillars are now bare.  Only the rear quarter panel, the drivers door shuts and the front scuttle panel to strip now.

Got some funny looks from my neighbours as I drove a car with no boot, bonnet or door out my garage, turned it round and then back in again. 

My 4 year old daughter thought it was a great hoot as she sat in the passenger seat   

[MattNoVAT]

Drum roll and fanfare !!!  

Today the car left my garage and is now in the body shop.  It's pretty much naked now, with no paint and no interior.

All new repair panels are with the car and the doors, boot and bonnet have been shot blasted.  The repairs needed to the doors, boot and bonnet are minuscule, the guy who blasted it even checked to see if these were the parts from a Beta as they were so solid.  The repairs that do need doing are being dealt with next week by my fabricator and he'll drop them round to the body shop once thats completed.

It's been hard graft getting to this point but well worth it, especially as now I my blood, sweat and tears element has finished and I hand over to the professionals.  All I have to do now is pay those professionals.... then I get the car back for the big refit :-)

Now I start the cleaning process of all the parts that have been taken off the Series 1, plus I will also be sorting through the remaining parts in boxes that were donated to BetaBoyz.

I also have a few wee jobs to sort out but should hopefully have some good news for forum members.... so watch this space!!

[MattNoVAT]

So I went to see my car today as work has started.

The good news is that there are only two minor rust holes in the front screen aperture and none in the rear. The profiles repair sections from my S2/FL will be used to repair these so that saves making repair sections again. The inner sills are in good shape and have only suffered a little bit at the ends and a straight forward repair.

Repairs have already started and fingers crossed progress will be steady now.

[MattNoVAT]

A quiet weekend this one.  I've pulled a muscle in my back so that rules out any heavy work :-( all I managed to do was service my Espace before its sold.

On the Beta front its mainly been cleaning everything, I'm working from the back to the front, rear lights, bumper, side grilles, chromes brightwork etc, its slow and rather dull but worth it in the end I reckon.  Anything that is missing a screw, nut or a fixing of any kind has had me in the garage going through the boxes of odd bits that are now proving incredibly useful.

The sample of material has arrived so everything will be sent to the dying company tomorrow - fingers crossed they can turn oatmeal into orange!

More cleaning to do but have unpacked a few new items that have arrived like new wheel bolts, new period number plates from Framptons and new centre caps or the wheels.

[betaboy2.0]

It's all looking and sounding great Matt. I'm really enjoying reading this thread, and looking forward to seeing the finished atricle in the metal!

Cheers

Andy

[MattNoVAT]

Its coming together slowly, I am expecting one of the two types of material back from the dyeworks this week.  The second type of material is in the labs being tested this week and should be back with me for final decision next week.  If all goes well then I can order the full 20 metres of each and get it all dyed and returned to the trimmer.

More component cleaning this weekend which is tedious but I will be pleased with it when it goes back on the car and all that cleaning will be a distant memory.

[MattNoVAT]

Time for an update:

The interior should be ready end of next week so I'm looking forward to picking that up.

The bodywork is coming along slower than expected but thats mainly because people who are far richer than I am have turned up with three exotic cars and demanded they be done in a very short time frame, so I was pushed back.  It's not too much of a problem for me and I'm pleased with the results of what has been completed.

The inner sill has been repaired, the bottom front corner now has strength back into it now, and the front N/S suspension turret has had all the rust cut out and its been rebuilt.  The new N/S inner wing is about to be welded back in and I've made the decision to use the brand new front upper crossmember instead of trying to repair the rusted ends of the original one.

The main thing for me is the the nearside has finished having the rust chopped out and is now being put back together 

   

[f1fascination]

It's coming along great Matt, and I thought my Beta was rotten! It's funny you know, every time I look on this forum, I see Beta's with rust in different places! They really did just rot everywhere, but the most common out of all is the sills and floor.
Keep up the good work!

[MattNoVAT]

Yes the S1 and early S2 coupe cars had particular weak areas that the S2/FL and S3 cars didn't have and the S2/FL and S3 cars (because of the sunroof) had other locations that were prone.  Then the HPE's had their own weaknesses, as do the spiders so it all depends on what car you look at and what series.

This is why I think each car should be judged on its actual condition rather than just what a book or magazine say.

[MattNoVAT]

So its been a while since I've updated the progress on the 1600, she is still in the body shop - I am replacing the rear inner and outer arches and was asked if I wanted a 2000ie if I stripped a few bits off it for the owner and then I could have the rest.... this took much longer than anticipated for them to make the final decision.  I ended up threatening to just go have the arches made up by LanciaBetaParts.co.uk and that was enough for them to say "yes, take the car".

With the 2000ie collected then I had to dismantle it and finally get the big disc cutter on it to remove the arches and the inner wing (plus the scuttle panel for Mark W)  That done the sections of panel were dropped off at the bodyshop and things can get back underway again.

The interior should be ready for collection on 28th of this month so looking forward to seeing that.

All this has taken place with a number of events, a gearbox change in my red Beta, my daytime job/commute and spending time with the family.

A well earned holiday is due at the end of this month 

[MattNoVAT]

Another visit to the bodyshop and another bit of disappointment, progress has been very slow and pretty much nothing has been done since before I went on holiday.

This has now posed an even bigger headache as there are major changes afoot - see the other thread in the "General Discussion" section.

At least the interior is completed and finished so its just welding, painting and screens being installed that are reliant on others, after that it's all down to me :-)
 

[MattNoVAT]

Work has finally restarted on the car (delay was nothing to do with me),  as there is now a very specific non-moveable deadline to meet. I did have to suspend my diplomatic skills for a short period to get my point across   and this seems to have worked.

The bottom of the bulkhead/sill section has been repaired and has proper strength back in it, the new NS inner wing is in place and now the NS rear arch is being dealt with.  Thankfully the insides of the rear chassis are still strong and have only a little surface rust.  Everything gets waxolyed, including the insides of the chassis once the welding is completed.  Once the nearside is done the car will be rotated round for the work to start on the OS, which thankfully is not as bad.

    

[HFStuart]

Matt,

If you can get your man to repalce the two mounting studs for the rear crossmember while they are exposed.

You would not believe what a pain it is if the threads strip (OK so you probably would but anyway....)

BTW I have a pile of chrome bits for you in my garage  - I'll pm you about them over the weekend.

[MattNoVAT]

When I was doing the undersealing and the cross member was off for stripping and renovation I took to all the studs and captive nuts etc with the thread cutters to recut any rusty threads.  I don't recall any being weakened by rust.  I'll have him check them from the inside prior to it all being welded up again.

Good tip !!

[rossocorsa]

impressive stuff, should be fantastic when it's done.

[MattNoVAT]

The N/S front and the majority of the sill is now finished so my bodyshop man is now working on the N/S rear arch section.  Sadly, this is far worse condition and effecctively needs to be completely rebuilt.  The mastic used to seal the joints had aged, shrunk and partially detached from one side, thus allowing water ingress.  IMHO the only way to deal with this is to cut out all the affected bits a completely rebuild.....which is in progress.  

The protruding metal lip/seam will be removed as its a poor design, (water trap) and in Picture 5 (last image in this post) you can see the new metal welded into place for strengthening purposes without the seam, this will be carried through on all welding repairs right up on the underside of the rear suspension turret.

Several "previous bodges" on the sills have been removed - the usual wire mesh, newspaper and filler lash ups  

I can only hope that the O/S will have fared better but my instincts tell me to expect much of the same.

[MattNoVAT]

More gruesome images.... Picture 8 shows where the mastic suffered shrinkage on the rear arch inner seam, due most likely to old age and allowed water to get at the edge of the seam, then the inevitable happened...

I think that by the time the welding is done and these minor modifications have been made the car will be less likely to be a ticking time bomb from a rust perspective.  (Well I can hope!)

The chassis is definately stronger now thats for certain....

[rossocorsa]

remarkable work! It is probably no consolation but my volumex was pretty much the same the more you dug the deeper the corrosion got the offside sill and wheelarch was a particular horror story. I think you are to be congratulated on such a thorough and dedicated job, it will make a truly fabulous and rare example when finished

[MattNoVAT]

Santa will be bringing me a borescope this year to save me borrowing my mates, I forgot to ask him when I went to see this and another car (Pete's S2 blue 1600).  Borescopes are very useful at investigating the interior chassis sections so the extent of the rot can be seen before any potential purchase.  The inner sills were thought to be OK on this car but it turns out they were shot, as were the front inner wings and rear suspension turrets.  The rear turrets were thought to only need work at the bases but the tops of the turrets are shot too, well at least on the N/S... I'm yet to get to the O/S.   The borescope would have help identify that the rot was significantly more advanced than what was thought and that would have helped make a more fact/financial based decision.

I'm committed to the project now and hence probably should be "Committed" !!  

[credders]

its goin to be a proper car when finished . wish i had had a borescope over the years after some of the horrors ive bought in the past