Steel coolant pipes

[droptop]

Has anyone here had the steel coolant pipes made for a Beta and if so, at what cost?
I'm going to see a man tomorrow to find out if he can make stainless ones and I'd like to know roughly what to expect to pay for them.
The flanges seem to be the most labour intensive parts and I'm wondering about reusing the originals and getting the new pipes welded onto them, or is there an issue with welding mild and stainless steel together?

[Tony B]

Hi there,

Is this the one that runs from the flange (4 x 10mm bolts) up and between the cams - then feeds the stat, etc, etc?

I had one which was weeping into the plug recesses and had a sort of repair done but then got one which I refurbed. Would not recommend a 'hybrid' weld.

Tony B.

[droptop]

Yes that's one of them along with the one at the back of the block from the water pump which had split on mine in a 100mm gash when I bought the car and I had it repaired. I'm looking at getting both made as no one seems to actually stock them and this guy I'm visiting today comes very highly recommended by an engineering shop which does very high quality work at reasonable rates.
I jus need a benchmark for pricing beforehand as I hate going in blind to these projects.
Still waiting for a reply from the carpet suppliers by the way.

[Gerhard]

Hi, I had the ones on my son's coupe replaced with stainless steel one's. Took the old one's and had the s/s one's made to their measurements. Even with that they had to be adjusted before fitting perfect. I would not recommend that s/s and mild steel are welded, as that will never be a happy mix. I can not remember what the specific cost was of them as they were also replacing damaged parts in the motor cause by the cam belt going on strike. That said, I would strongly recommend that you change them to s/s.

[Tony B]

Hi again,

I've one I'd refurbished and then realised it was wrong for my ie. I can send you a picture if you wish. There was also a guy (I have the link somewhere) in California who had them and he'd ship to the UK. Let me know if I can assist.

Regards,

Tony.

[droptop]

Thanks Tony.
The ones off the Calafornia-spec cars are different from the UK cars as they have a second pipe just after the flange where it attaches to the head and not at the thermostat end.
If you want to sell yours, let me know and also I'm after a good back one from the water pump as like I said, mine has a repaired split in it and I'm not over-confident about it desoite clocking up almost 3k miles since it was repaired.
I always feel it's just going to go somewhere else sooner or later and its location doesn't make for a handy get-you-home type of repair.

[Tony B]

Hi again, I'll take a couple of pictures over the weekend - the US seller's item was the same as my ie. but I think the one I have is for a VX / carbv model?. Anyways, I'll put some pics on for your perusal.

Regards,

Tony.

[droptop]

Thanks Tony.

[Tony B]

Hi,

I spent a good part of the day removing the fuel feed pipe to the injector rail (weeping from the crimp before the nut / union) so it prompted me to grab the pipe I mentioned - took some snaps anyway.

It might be the right one....?

Tony.

[droptop]

I'll look at mine in the morning and see as I'm too lazy to go out to the garage now, but there seems to be a couple of "extra" pipes on your one.

[rossocorsa]

looks like a volumex pipe I believe that the extra pipes were added for a bypass that relieves pressure at the head gasket and is a possible modification for earlier cars, Eric Weston is the man needed to confirm/ask about this

the red sticker refers to the stretch type head bolts fitted to volumex cars by the way, presumably applied by Lancia to remind mechanics that it wasn't the same as on ordinary betas?

[MattNoVAT]

Correct, late VX cars had the bypass pipes to stop head gasket failure at No.4 cylinder and that's what you have there in the pictures.

Credit goes to Eric for that bit of info!

[droptop]

So obviously that's agood thing then.
What mods need to be done to my pre-facelift car to allow this to work? Anything that would prolong the life of my engine seems worthwhile.

[WestonE]

The mods on your car are a cut and shut of the pipe to the heater matrix so you will need 2 extra clips i.e. pipe from head outlet at number 4 to water rail and then heater outlet pipe on the other 16mm ID pipe on the other side of the water rail. It is very easy stuff and a great mod to protect the car from blowing the head gasket as the older design leaves limited flow near number 4 with the heater turned off which most of us do in the summer!

Good Luck

Eric 

PS I have a similar mod on my 190 BHP GC Montecarlo engine

[droptop]

I'm halfway there already then!
Since I still haven't changed the heater matrix in my car, it's bypassed as the heater inlet and outlet hoses are joined at the back of the block via the body of a 2 "AA" cell mini Mag-Light.