Early HPE restoration

[peteracs]

A bit more achieved today, steering column out and dash removed. Also deleted the extra crap wiring previously installed so I can see where the original is. My aim is to replace the loom with modern wire and provided a bulkhead connector which will allow me to wire up the engine bay and importantly change it as I will probably update the engine at a later time.

Should get some time on Monday, so next up is finish stripping the left hand door, just the circlip on the pull handle to take off and remove the heater unit. After that the pedals and should be ready to remove the carpet and see how the floor is.

Peter

[WestonE]

A rare picture of what lies behind the dash. I struggled to find one for my later car when I came to re-building. This early car if significantly different including the large Oval holes to the scuttle.

Eric   

[peteracs]

Hi

A couple of days on the car. Windscreen and surround out and finished stripping the main cabin interior except the wiring as leaving for now. Headlining removal revealed mouse nest, no surprise and no damage. On the rear seat backrest mounts only one bolt had to be drilled out which was a surprise as most were mangled and rusty.

Carpet now removed and floor looks in good condition. Major issue us the drivers side base of the A pillar where it is all corroded behind where the little bin is located. Photo also shows some patching up from before with the lighter blue paint.

Peter

[SanRemo78]

Looking very good for such an early car! I've seen the removal of the soundproofing done by pouring dry ice over it to freeze it and then hitting with a rubber mallet to smash it. Might need some research and I have no idea where you source dry ice!

Guy

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

The internal soundproofing for the rear seats is as new and just lifts up, the rest is pretty much a mishmash, but hoping when it is blasted it will all come up ok.

I know underseal responds well to freezing to remove it, but again, hoping what there is will be taken care of by the body guy.

Peter

[peteracs]

Guy, I think you meant the thin bituminous material which is stuck down underneath the padded material. In the rear wells it is in good condition and depending on the body guy, may well be left. however the front wells do need cleaning out.

Had a few hours on the car today and managed to get the fuel tank out. As I suspected it has surface rust on the outside, but more seriously has a lot of rust above where the petrol was sitting, so looks only good enough as a pattern for getting a new one made which is a shame, but not unexpected given the general state of the car and how long it has been left standing.

Finding a genuine replacement will be pretty impossible I think, so will investigate the one discussed here on the forum a while ago and see if that is still and option. Given my aim is to go Injection with the car, it makes sense to have a tank which includes the necessary swirl pot etc I think, rather than use and external one which Eric gave me a pointer to a while ago if using standard tank.

The panels on the body around the tank are however in good condition and I only have two of the four tank mounting studs to replace.

Peter

[peteracs]

Hi

A quick hopefully simple pair of questions.

I am aiming to remove the engine and leave the subframe in for the time being until we establish how secure the front is without it at the bodywork shop.

The questions are, should the battery tray be removable and does it need to be removed to get the engine out from the top?

My tray is welded to the support and possibly to the inner wing, but I seem to remember on the later cars it may be removable?

Thanks

Peter

[mangocrazy]

Hi Peter,

It's obviously better to remove the battery tray, as it's one less thing for the gearbox to snag on, but if the earlier cars did not have removable battery trays (my S2FL battery tray is bolted on to two arms) then I would say it has to be doable. I can't imagine Lancia would knowingly add that kind of gotcha to the design (having said that...)

The S2FL has 4 bolts securing the tray into two arms that project from the LH inner wing. If yours is welded I'd be inclined to try and convert to later spec (if it's possible). But of course that would be much easier to accomplish with the engine and gearbox absent from the engine bay. Bit of a Catch-22, really.

But the answer is a qualified yes. It has to be possible to remove the engine/gearbox with the battery tray in situ. When the engine/gearbox assembly is lifted out, the gearbox is always 'low' and can be manoeuvred fore and aft once  clear of mountings. You'd probably want 2 people, one to gently winch and the other to guide the engine/gearbox past all the snagging points, but I'd definitely say it's possible.

[peteracs]

Hi Graham

Glad I had not imagined it being bolted. On the Spider I cannot remember if was originally and it came back from the bodyshop welded, but for some reason I had to change it so is now a bolted version.

Peter

[mangocrazy]

Hi Graham

Glad I had not imagined it being bolted. On the Spider I cannot remember if was originally and it came back from the bodystockings welded, but for some reason I had to change it so is now a bolted version.

Peter

I presume autocomplete had a hand in this? Or is there something you want to tell us?  

[peteracs]

Hi Graham

Glad I had not imagined it being bolted. On the Spider I cannot remember if was originally and it came back from the bodystockings welded, but for some reason I had to change it so is now a bolted version.

Peter

I presume autocomplete had a hand in this? Or is there something you want to tell us?  

You never know..... Yep iPad to blame, updated now!

Thanks

Peter

[peteracs]

After sorting out family issues for the last month, I am now back on the HPE strip down, had a day and half. Managed to remove

Exhaust, now in the scrap pile
The clutch and brake mechanism which is used on RHD cars
Servo and master cylinder
Passenger door and outer wing, oddly the passenger inner wing is nowhere near as bad as the drivers one, still looking for donor car, anyone?
Engine mounting bolts
Front baffles for radiator
Front skirt
Front bumper

Also drained fluid from engine and gearbox, oddly the gearbox oil was quite clear, the engine oil very black.

Soon be engine out time once the drive shaft bolts have been removed.

Target is end of Feb to finish, will be close.

One last thing is I managed to buy a pair of rear inserts (NOS) via the Beta Facebook page. These appear to be uber rare now and very expensive, so hoping although old stock they are good, fingers crossed. I think the front ones will be a whole lot simpler to find.

Peter

[Nigel]

Good to hear of your progress Peter.

If your rear shocks are showing any signs of rust at the bottom, I have a clean pair
that you can have.
They are the sealed type, so would need converting though.

Cheers, Nigel

[WestonE]

Hi Peter

The gearbox oil drained cold can fail to collect the crud inside the gearbox so expect to sacrifice some oil to drain it again hot when the car runs. NB I had this with a 24k Monte Gearbox I re-built for Chris Clarke. The old oil came out golden but left crud and had etched syncros and bearings. Largely the internals were scrap. Take the diff case and 5th gear cover off off and have a really good look.

Eric   

[peteracs]

Hi Eric

Thanks, I am aiming to use an IE gearbox/diff, so this with the engine will go in the ‘spares’ pile with the other ones I have.

Good point about the crud, there probably is some given the age/mileage and the magnet was none too clean.

Peter

[peteracs]

Good to hear of your progress Peter.

If your rear shocks are showing any signs of rust at the bottom, I have a clean pair
that you can have.
They are the sealed type, so would need converting though.

Cheers, Nigel

Hi Nigel

Thanks, not had a good look yet, but I believe the ones I have are the original replaceable ones after ‘feeling’ the top for the nut.

Fingers crossed…

Peter

[peteracs]

Another morning on the car and have the two driveshafts disconnected from the diff/intermediate shaft. Also removed the front headlight levelling ‘thing’ which is attached to the offside lower suspension arm.

So here is the question, as all the headlight levelling parts need replacing, do I just do a delete on the whole thing and live with static headlights like on the Coupe/Spider. It will make my life a whole lot simpler and save me a bunch of money as I imagine these parts are a pain to find in good working condition?

Note I do not imagine carrying that much which is heavy in the back, so I cannot see a situation where the rear will be overloaded. Also this will not be restored as per original, so that is not an issue for me. This is being built for me, no one else!

Let me know your thoughts……

Peter

[Nigel]

Hi Peter,
It's a factory-sealed system, you can't refill it in any way.

I found that, on mine, the system wasn't working.
I removed everything, but retained the [seized] front actuators in position as the
outboard headlights adjust from there.

If your actuators move, i'm sure there will be a way to fix that with something creative.

Regards, Nigel

[peteracs]

Hi Nigel

Makes me even less inclined to keep it, so consigned to the scrap pile it is. Pretty sure the actuators are seized or they look like it. I may just replace the backing plates with Spider ones as I think I have some spare ones.

Peter

[peteracs]

Back on colours, currently liking this Toyota colour called Hot Lava code 4R8

Peter