beta coupe restoration

[raz1966]

this is my 1980 beta coupe 2000
just over 60000 miles and not used for about 15 years
brakes siezed up
sump full of fuel
bit of rust on bottom of passenger door, otherwise pretty good
i will keep you up to date with the restoration, hope to have it on the road by the summer

[raz1966]

er...photo is in gallery
i tried to post the photo but it did not work

[MattNoVAT]

It's probably due to the size of the photo, try adjusting the size to be less than 384 kb


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.298854,-0.792957

[raz1966]

do i need the front and rear fog lights on my car? i just think they are ugly, will it pass the mot if i take them off?

[MattNoVAT]

Rear fog light is required for an MOT. Front fogs are not, they were either fitted as an extra by the dealership that sold the car originally or they were fitted by a previous owner.

[Neil-yaj396]

Won't the rear fog requirement depend on the year of the car? My 78 Coupe doesn't have one but my 83 ie did.

[MattNoVAT]

Raz's car is 1980 so it will require rear fog for MOT.

[rossocorsa]

Raz's car is 1980 so it will require rear fog for MOT.

unless it was reg before April



This inspection applies to the one rear fog lamp which is required to be fitted to the centre or offside of vehicles first used on or after 1 April 1980.


forget that I see it's a W reg so it is definitely required to have them I did ponder modifying the rear light clusters  combine rear light and brake and use outer light for rear fogs but the distance between the two lamps is just too short to meet the regs could put a shield in the outer light though to cover the edge and meet the regs decided it was probably a bit over complicated. On pre FL2 Lancia did a bumper with cut out for a central rear fog  but I've never seen one except in the parts book

[thecolonel]

I modified the offside reversing lamp,
Installed a red bulb and switched the
feed over. Never had any problems.
But always best to check with your mot
tester before hand.

[rossocorsa]

I modified the offside reversing lamp,
Installed a red bulb and switched the
feed over. Never had any problems.
But always best to check with your mot
tester before hand.

there should be 10cm distance between edge of brake light and closest edge of rear fog

[thecolonel]

Fortunately my mot tester has a brain and an understanding of old cars

[rossocorsa]

Fortunately my mot tester has a brain and an understanding of old cars

I think we all have one of those 

[raz1966]

i dont mind the rear fog lights its the the fronts that are ugly...

[thecolonel]

Take them off then,
Mot rules only state that front fogs, If fitted, must work

[raz1966]

so far i have stripped the engine bay, i was going to clean the underseal off the inner wings but have decided to leave it on, the rad needs a good clean as its full of crud, carb needs a rebuilt, i will probably change all the fuel/vacum pipes whilst i am there, still looking for a cam belt as my local autofactor had never heard of lancia. all the wiring in the engine bay looks fine, still not found any rot which is a miracle. plan is to get the engine running properly and then start on the rest of it. how hard is it to do the shims?

[rossocorsa]

shims not to difficult easier with the hold down tool for the buckets though (not easy to find try Guy Croft if you want to buy one) Motor factor must be pretty dumb belt is same as 2 litre fiat such as 124 spider, argenta, 131. The tensioner is different though. The beta tensioner has a replaceable bearing held in place by a large circlip you can get replacement bearings from a local bearing supplier whatever you do don't replace just the belt unless you know the tensioner is almost new as if it seizes result will be a lot of bent engine bits. 1300/1600 belt tensioners can still be bought complete quite easily but the 2 litre is bigger so replacing the bearing is often the only way.    

[raz1966]

thanks for that, the car hasnot been used for 15 years so its a new belt and new tensioner bearing