Lancia Beta Coupe 1979 1.6

[vancouver]

Keep the updates coming I love seeing the work others put into their cars -well done

[George-S]

I am getting very close now to finally starting on the engine bay which has been a long time coming.

Here is a sneak peek at one of the parts I have for it.

This is a Lotus x180 turbo esprit Carb.




 

[George-S]

Hi Guys !

Another update..

So the engine is finally out at long last!

Would really appreciate advice regarding what mods people think I should be making to it.. Any advice would be great.

Essentially the plan is to do the following

(  1  Ether clean the exterior block and head myself or send away to be walnut blasted )
( 2 Repair the oil pan hear lots of people mentioning fitting the Betaboyz sump modification kit which intended to do.. if I do that should I do anything to the oil pickup or leave that alone ? )
( 3 send the block away to be rebored not done this before so advice regarding sizing etc would be useful!, and good places to source oversized replacement pistons would be nice also ! )
( 4 send the head away to be repaired where necessary I.E reseating the valves etc and again walnut blasted..  If I do this should I replace the valve springs and the valves themselves? planning on keeping the cams at this stage.)
( 5 New bearing etc all round, + new gaskets)

 Regarding engine reassembly whats everyone opinion on doing it yourself or should I hand it over to a "specialists"?

As you can see I am at the basic planning stage... essentially that's as far as I have thought so far so any more advice would be great!

On a side note since working on the engine bay I have started restoration work on the subframe and the remaining chassis parts that need rust removal.

Let me know your thoughts!

Cheers George

[George-S]

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[WestonE]

On building your engine it depends what you want to achieve of course. I have built 200BHP 2000TCs with modern ECUs and Fuel injection and a Volumetrico Supercharger powered 300BHP Montecarlo.

Engines are all about precision cleanliness and component choice. Get a copy of Guy Croft's first book what ever it costs you it will be cheap compared to the mistakes you will avoid. Have Stanwood engineering clean the head and block and maybe fit the new valve guides you should be fitting. Buy new pistons before sending the block for re-bore. Buy a full engine gasket and bolt set from Guy Croft his gaskets are mostly custom made and do not leak like most others!

Keep the exhaust cam standard and ask Guy what you can fit inlet side for max power/torque with revs below 7500 which is the limit for cast pistons. A pair of Vernier cam wheels will really help setting up cam timing.

I would replace the rods with Integrale forged ones from Tanc Barratt. Old OE rods are high risk items in any tuned engine. The pistons would be 84.4 or 84.6 high compression from Vick Autosport and will be cast. You should get a lighter flywheel and have it balanced to the crank. Look for a 228mm Integrale 8V flywheel and use an 8V Integrale clutch. The Beta one will NOT take the extra power.

Remember to cut down and plug the Aux Drive shaft so the lobe cannot hit number 2 conrod and use and electric fuel pump.

I would base the build on a 2000 engine with 45DCOEs or DHLAs.

I hope this helps. The power is in the head but the bottom gives you the strengths and the means to survive the revs. My 2000 engine with GC supplied forged pistons and rods will rev to 9000 RPM but it is not cheap and was scary to build.

Eric             

[betabuoy]

Hi George,
If you’re looking to keep costs down on your engine rebuild, I still have a set of virtually new 84.6mm pistons for sale for a 2 litre engine. See my Beta Parts for Sale.
Chris

[mangocrazy]

But well done with the work so far! You've fixed some fairly scary looking bodywork problems, so I'm sure you can manage the engine side of things. Another vote for Stanwood Engineering by the way, they really are top people and very reasonable for the quality of work they produce.

[rossocorsa]

If you take it steady and carefully no reason not to reassemble the engine yourself. I've done it and I'm mechanically inept ,especially hands on, and the engine does run! It has been traumatic to a degree though and I'm not convinced that it is right , if you are good with your hands though I'd say go for it!
Oh and measure the bores first before you rebore it might still be in tolerance in which case unless you want fancy pistons your existing ones wth new rings might be ok. Others will disagree as there is always some risk of piston or rod failure but does depend how it is going to be driven. GC will always recommend new parts as he precision builds to race standards, if its just a sunny day normal road car you can possibly compromise a bit.
I had to compromise on my build as I don't have much money has to be done on a budget, I may regret it but only time will tell.

[fred2660]

So much rust, omg, you are a brave man

[George-S]

Fred I believe your beta had some rust to

[George-S]

Hi All!

Nice to meet some of you at NEC this year! Sorry I didn't hang around for long!

Thought I would post a quick update.
While I slowly gather all the necessary parts to rebuild the engine I decided I would go ahead & spray the engine bay.

Started by painstakingly removing all the original paint which has taken a number of weeks as I only work on the beta at the weekend.

Once all the paint was stripped cleaned down all the panels with panel wipe, then sprayed 2k Epoxy primer followed a few days later with 2k base coat and 2k clear.
This was my first time spraying anything, so sorry if it's a bit crude.

Think I am fairly happy with the results though




 

[George-S]

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[RichB]

Admiring this project, keep at it!
Rich