Lancia Beta Coupe 1979 1.6

[George-S]

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    . I am desecrate for support and ideas when it comes to restoring the car. So I may need your help at some stage .

Thanks for looking ps my names George.

[Kevo]

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

[smithymc]

Welcome George.

You will find plenty of advice and encouragement on here.

Good luck with it all.

Mark

[betasulo]

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

[anotherdeadhero]

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.

[George-S]

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.
a
- 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 !
  

[George-S]

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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

[peteracs]

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

[carl59862]

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.