My 1.6 coupe restoration (formerly back in red + rust)

[peteracs]

On the subject of the lock picking lawyer, one of my favourite YouTube channels, particularly liked him using a coat hanger to open one of the hotel room type of safes. He is well worth a watch just to see how insecure most locks actually are. I used to think where they could pick locks easily on the films was just a bit of artistic licence, but there are folk who can actually do it and quickly.

Peter

[GerardJPC]

I have just found one headlamp ring in my shed.  Shall I take a photo?

[chrisc]

I have just found one headlamp ring in my shed.  Shall I take a photo?

No thanks I have a complete set, all fitted to the car with the new lights.

Replacement bootlid arrived yesterday.. that's it for the bolt on panel replacements collecting

[GerardJPC]

Fab!

[chrisc]

A tiny morale update today.

I'd whipped out the battery tray a while back to give it a refurb and cut a new aperture in it to allow me to use a windscreen washer pump that is actually obtainable.

Today I finally got round to putting it back in - new earthing straps + negative battery lead (positive will follow when it's a bit more accessible), replaced the brittle windscreen washer tubing and fitted the new battery. Nice to see the first bits of shiny hardware back on the car.. I won't mention the broken battery tray bolt I still need to drill out (oops).

That meant I could finally test some of the other minor bits, so new ignition switch.. turn key, and presto! no more screwdriver required. The wipers sprung to life as did the indicators because i'd managed to knock the switches to on previously. Next up was testing the new lights. My beta history had me fully expecting none of the new ones to work straightaway.. but no! all of them work exactly as they were supposed to. A major surprise, maybe my mechanical skills have matured since 15 years ago..

I've also been talking to some bodyshops and think I've got a winner there. The chap came out, looked round the exterior and immediately poked the worst area on the car - below the rear windscreen. Always nervous watching someone checking for extra rust but he didn't find anything I didn't already know about.

So yes, all in all basically I've done a tiny amount of actual work, but it all counts!

[WestonE]

Well done Chris It makes me want my car back from the paint shop to actually do something!

[peteracs]

Hi Chris

Keep going, it amazing how the little bits add up and you realise how much you have both accomplished and learnt along the way.

Peter

[chrisc]

Things are happening!

With a baby on the way it became apparent I wasn't going to manage my original plan of work at it in slow time in my garage attached to the house.

A few bonuses at work meant I had a little more money to throw at the problem, so.. off it goes to get stripped, repaired + painted!

Out of the garage for the first time since november


It really liked that garage.. you can see how it dug in and tried to stay behind


And onto the recovery truck for the short trip across to the bodyshop


I followed and dropped off the first few bits to help them along - a replacement bootlid, and a front valance, reconditioned brake calipers, new discs + pads.

Parts on order via Beta Boyz - full windscreen scuttle, stainless exhaust and braided brake hoses.

Now we'll start seeing what is really wrong, rather than what was obviously wrong

[chrisc]

With the car off I thought I'd keep myself entertaining with touching up some duplicate trim pieces I had.

The front grille had loads of areas that were greying almost like mould, so sanded + painted with plastic primer than satin black.

I'd got a better badge than was on the car originally. The one on the car is nearly as bad as this -


The replacement one was a lot better


I went for a 'sympathetic' resto, rather than trying to take it back to bare plastic, I got some chrome spray paint, sprayed a bit into the lid and carefully touched it up with a brush


End result is a 100 times better than what's on the car


I'm also trying to redo the boot badges. That has so far been an unmitigated disaster, time to break out the paint stripper and go again..

[GerardJPC]

I'm impressed!   I should try to do something similar, but I know that I'll bodge it up!

[frankxhv773t]

With a bay on the way you'll have to hurry up and enjoy the Coupe before you have to trade up to a HPE. I'm impressed with the chrome touch up on the grille badge.

[chrisc]

Well, with preparing for, and now the arrival of the baby I haven't kept an eye on the car... I pass the bodyshop on the way to the hospital and noticed panels coming off... called them today.

Windscreen cracked on removal, and extra rot has been found in the inner wings and floors. Stopping by tomorrow to get some photos, fingers crossed!

I'm going to find out how much a new screen costs from pilkingtons, if any readers have a decent one, let me know!

[chrisc]

Gulp! I knew the chassis legs would be shot, but perhaps not quite how far gone they are.. that said, other areas of the car better than I expected so swings and roundabouts...

New post in the parts wanted thread in case anyone has a scrap shell to cut repair sections from






Front crossmember better than expected along with the panels behind the grille


Windscreen scuttle rust opened up.. repair panel is a bit of a bitsa but hey ho, better than not having it

[chrisc]

Well.. after months of no progress I finally had a productive conversation with the bodyshop, they lost their fabrication guru and then their new hire wasn't up to scratch, so that's left the project in limbo for a while. With no clear timeline for recruitment of a new fabricator I'm now looking for a new place to take on the bodywork and mechanical recommissioning

As tempting as it is to try and do it myself, a 4 month old in the house will mean me making just as little progress as the professionals

[chrisc]

Poor thing looking a bit sorry for itself!

All packaged up, picked up by Brian Cates of trimming fame to carry it on -






Also this morning I dropped off the interior at the trimmers, so in 2 weeks or so should have the VX interior all done in the new cloth

[chrisc]

Rather than me posting it twice - at last, something is finished from the car!

http://www.betaboyz.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4393.msg32477#msg32477

[chrisc]

So.. the restoration has really gathered pace.

I feel moderately guilty being a chequebook restorer here, but not that guilty because fundamentally it's a Beta saved, and when it's next time for some bodywork tlc I'll be starting from a much more manageable place. Undoubtedly I'll have a chance to do more than enough fettling in the meantime.

So last time we saw the car it was off to wimborne for attention, with none of the rot addressed

Brian has cracked on with it. All the photos are of varying degrees of primed / finishing, so they don't quite show the metalwork fine detail


After tackling the worst of the rot elsewhere we got to talking about the horrible aftermarket sunroof I wanted gone



and poof! it's gone


So somehow we have gone from disastrous rot to it being in paint!



At some point we'll have to move on to the mechanicals but I do feel like the odds of getting to the 50th anniversary are looking much more hopeful

[peteracs]

Hi Chris

A big step forward, well done. No shame in getting someone to do the bodywork. I happily admit to not being any good at it and the HPE will go to the same guy who did my Spider bodywork.

Peter

[WestonE]

Fantastic. I wish my bodywork guy had shown that speed of progress. You now have the what standard of mechanical restoration is good enough dilemma. I kept finding things I thought were fine when they went into crates were far below the standard of the rest of the car and needed major work. Time to find your friendly plater (Gold Passivate), vapour blaster (Aluminium) and Epoxy Powder coater. I use Chingford Technical Coatings in Maidenhead.

Just remember there is a lead time so getting the bits into the process quickly matters.

I will make progress suddenly when the wiring is finally done! Another decision for you on whether the OE loom is fit to use?

Eric   

[squiglyzigly]

Hi Chris,
Really good to see another Beta being properly sorted.
Regardless of wether its an open cheque book or personally worked. It’s great to see a nice job.

And the 1.6 (1585) engine is my favourite. It’s not much slower than the 2.0L in standard trim and it’s just about indestructible. I tried for years to kill my 1585cc coupe with far too many revs for over 70k miles (it already had 60k on the clock) and it just laughed me off.

Looking forward to the finished article.

Ian