Beta Volumex HPE restoration

[WestonE]

Hi Ian

Beautifully executed. I was expecting a box section added under the floor between the turrets so your approach is an interesting alternative. I am fascinated to see the storage solution.

Keep up the good work.

Eric 

[SanRemo78]

Equally impressed! I'd forgotten the issue at the base of the offside tower where the fuel lines and sender cables make modifications there a little more complex.
Guy

[squiglyzigly]

It feels like progress has been a bit slow but I guess the strengthening work to the interior and making a pair of non Lancia Recaro front seats fit was never going to be a 5 minute job.
I removed more seam sealer where the rear inner panels meet the sills to find more panels barely joined from the factory much the same as the rear turrets were. Once I found this, I decided to seam weld the whole interior.

Then the Recaro seats were 1.5cm narrower that the Lancia mounts so I thought it was an opportunity to take a problem and make it an upgrade by effectively making a brace across the car under the front seats.

[Nigel]

Great work Ian.
That rear support is going to stiffen it up well.

Are there any downsides to seam welding?

Nigel

[squiglyzigly]

Thanks Nigel
I’m not aware of any real downsides apart from back ache and sore knees!
The weld probably adds around a kilo to the weight of the car. And there’s the obvious risk of heat damage and fire to components whilst doing the work, but to my knowledge it’s pretty much all positives.
Handling is better with reduced chassis flex which is effectively uncontrolled damping, a bit like worn out shock absorbers, sound damping should be better for much the same reason, ride quality and crash protection.
My next area to work on is from the bulkhead to front front turrets. I’m sure there’s a lot of improvements to be had there. But I don’t intend to do any strengthening forward of the front turrets. This will keep the crumple area at the front of the car untouched and improve everything else behind the front suspension.

I’ve not put this amount of work or detail in a chassis before as a roll-cage was the simple answer. This project is not for the track, I just want a nice road car.

Cheers
Ian

[Nigel]

Ian,
One observation from my car: when jacking up the front end on
the subframe, the doors droop 5mm showing huge body flex!

Somewhere, I've seen 25mm steel tubing being welded inside the sills
front to back along with 2/3 internal support brackets, all invisible.
Can't find the pics these days, but I don't know where I saw them.

Nigel

[squiglyzigly]

Hi Nigel
Yes I think your door droop when jacked up on the subframe is normal if not ideal.
This is why I’m going to so much trouble to add strength wherever I can without too many externally visible changes.
When I replaced the outer sills I added internal cross bracing to both inner and outer sill boxes. There were also a number of metal pieces below the front door pillar that weren’t joined inside the sill. So I joined and boxed these whilst I was in there.
The work I’ve already done means the door alignment doesn’t move when I jack it up but the car interior is currently empty, so I don’t know if his will change when the interior weight is added.

My next project is to add significant bracing around the bulkhead and down to the subframe mounting rear bolt points.

Ian

[squiglyzigly]

I have been busy with various chassis improvements which I will post soon when they are complete. But this week I decided it was time to investigate the radiator upgrade seeing as the new radiator box has gathered a sufficient amount of dust to sprout potatoes.

The radiator is for a Fiat Punto GT and is nearly the perfect size. ‘Nearly’.
I knew from the measurements that a little work would be required to fit it neatly and I thought is was worth a try because the triple core Punto rads a readily available for less than £150. That was a good reason to try.

[squiglyzigly]

First of all it was obvious and expected that a small cut and shut would be needed in the front panel to gain the extra 20mm of width needed to install the radiator in the same position as the original late design radiator. There is plenty of space to fit the rad at an angle towards the gearbox if you don’t want to modify the front panel. But seeing as I have to do a full restoration on the engine bay I chose to make a cleaner install.

The area marked in blue is where the cut and shut needs to be, the yellow is the original radiator mounts and the green is where I need to make new mounts to accomodate the Punto rad.

Please excuse the state of the engine bay but all will be restored in time when I’ve finished chopping about and moving things.

[squiglyzigly]

Again from inside the engine bay, the blue is the area that fouls and the red is to be cut and shut.

[squiglyzigly]

Offending metalwork cut

[squiglyzigly]

Obstruction moved over 20mm and re welded back in position. Then a couple of new brackets for the Punto rad to sit on and she’s in.

[squiglyzigly]

The rad is now so close to the original size and position that the original top radiator hose still fits.
A new position for the lower radiator hose means that some off the shelf silicon pipes will need to be used.
The original plastic and rubber ducting pieces around the radiator should fit with minimal trimming and a new piece to close the gap between the bottom of the rad and the lower crossmember are on the list of things to do along with aftermarket radiator fan. The rad fan switch is also in the original position and takes the original beta fan switch.

The original brackets and fitment of the oil cooler are still standard.

[mangocrazy]

Fantastic work Ian - it appears that your spidey-sense guess regarding the Punto rad fitting was spot on. That really is quite a small amount of cutting and shutting to make it work. Is the rad in question a standard one for the Punto GT or an uprated item? I notice the Punto GT has a quoted power output of 131-133 bhp. I'm seriously thinking of using that radiator with the refurbished motor in my Spider which I hope will produce around 155-160 bhp. Would the radiator you have be capable of cooling an engine with 25-30bhp more than a standard Punto GT?

Either way, it's an excellent piece of work and well done for seeking out an alternative to the standard Beta fitment.

[squiglyzigly]

Yes I’m sure this rad is capable of cooling 150+ bhp. It isn’t a standard Punto rad which I believe is 2 core. It’s an aftermarket upgrade jobbie with a triple core weighing in at 40mm thick. (A std VX rad is also only 2 core). Also bearing in mind the Punto is a turbo, and a modified car will produce more torque/heat than an n/a Beta. (try saying that after a couple of glasses of vino). I have no doubt it will be more than capable.  

There was one small mod to the rad (nearly forgot) which involved tapping and fitting a small take-off for the feed back to the header tank. I wasn’t going to bother with this as I might fit one of my in-line thermostats which already has a small return. But just in case I choose to go with a standard type thermostat for a little more originality, I have the option now.

Cheers Ian

[mangocrazy]

Thanks Ian, much appreciated. Would you be prepared to reveal your source for the rad (happy for this to be by PM if you prefer) ?

[squiglyzigly]

No secret, they’re readily available on eBay and such places. Can’t remember how much I paid as I got one of those 20% off deals. Think it cost around £120-130 but they are still available around £150-160.

If you buy one and need the 6mm take off for the header tank, let me know as I have a free supply that just need re-threading to m8. A 5 minute job for me and I’ll get it posted to you. You’ll have to tap the spigot on the rad from m6 to m8. Easy peasy in alloy.

Cheers
Ian

[mangocrazy]

Excellent stuff - thanks Ian!

[squiglyzigly]

A small but very important modification ticked off. I re-run the sunroof front drain pipes. For anyone with a factory sunroof, I think this is an important job (unless your cars are different to mine). Both my VX coupe and this HPE have front drain pipes from the sunroof draining into the sills. By draining I mean filling the sills with water because the pipes do not have an exit under the car. So the sills are filled with water every time it rains or you wash the car. I thought my coupe had been messed about with when I restored it but this HPE has the exact same cock-up.
There is no factory drain under the car for the front sunroof drain pipes.
So some simple food grade plastic pipes of the same dimensions, only longer, now exit under the car through a newly drilled hole and rubber grommet.

I shall sleep better now.

[peteracs]

Hi Ian

Nice mod, no idea on the thinking.

‘Food Grade’ eh? Thinking of drinking the water…?

Peter