Early HPE restoration

[peteracs]

Hi

Back on to colours for the car……

My burnt orange period has passed and now back to ordinary colours. My current leaning is a minty green metallic finish, but interestingly I have not seen any original Betas with anything like that. The metallic ones I have seen are silver/champagne etc, no greens other than solid colours. Anyone know different?

Photo is of the kind of colour, though not necessarily this particular one.

Peter

[Neil-yaj396]

it gets my vote......

[peteracs]

Hi Neil

Thanks.

Also have contacted a local trimmer to get started on the interior which on the HPE is a way bigger job than the Spider, so expect it to take some time. Still have to finalise the leather colour and feel with him. On the HPE seats originally there are sections of vinyl, but decided to have the whole of the original material and vinyl replaced with leather. There was a post recently on Facebook from someone in Europe I think with the vinyl sides, but possibly leather face and think full leather would be better, the colour is also not my choice. See photos.

Peter

[Nigel]

Hi Peter,
I like that pale green idea. It's got the period-look about it.

On the rear seats, it's critical to get all
the horizontal stitching and seams lined up. Luckily, it's the only area where it matters.
Your example photo shows otherwise.

Best regards
Nigel

[peteracs]

Hi Nigel

Good point which will be passed on!

Peter

[peteracs]

With going for the power steering rack I wanted to refurb it with new seals before using it. From what I have managed to find the kit I need is AS18285. The complication is that ZF sold off its rack business years ago and suppliers of kits are few and far between. There is a guy in the US offering on Ebay at a price, but eventually I tracked down a manufacturer Corteco. They only wholesale so I needed to go through one of their distis, Jpat 01934 852772, who were very helpful and one is now on order. The bad news is that delivery is sometime next year as one of the seals is not in stock. Not a big issue at present but hope that it arrives in a reasonable timeframe. Quoted cost was around £85 for the kit.

If anyone knows of a n other source I would be interested.

Peter

[mangocrazy]

Hi

Back on to colours for the car……

My burnt orange period has passed and now back to ordinary colours. My current leaning is a minty green metallic finish, but interestingly I have not seen any original Betas with anything like that. The metallic ones I have seen are silver/champagne etc, no greens other than solid colours. Anyone know different?

Photo is of the kind of colour, though not necessarily this particular one.

Peter

Definitely like that. Both thumbs up from me.

[peteracs]

Thanks Graham, pretty sure I am going for it now having thought about it for a little while now, just need to finalise the exact colour.

[Nigel]

Greetings again Peter,

On the subject of sound deadening and insulation, I watched an
episode of ' Home Built by Jeff' on YouTube tonight. He discusses
this topic in reasonable detail and points to a few no no's
and some go to's.
Principally, he's using Foam-backed Mass Loaded Vinyl. In large flat
areas, Silent Coat or similar underneath.

I don't recall reading about this stuff up until now.
Hindsight is under-rated.

Nigel

[carl59862]

Peter,

I would urge you to consider originality with your superb restoration. Even if you can't bring yourself to paint the car in the original colour, I think you should prioritise using a correct period paint code. The same protocol for the interior - fabric facings and vinyl sides, or leather facings with vinyl sides were the original fitment, so why not go with that?

Carl

[peteracs]

Hi Carl

If this was a wholly original car I would be approaching it more like I did with the Spider, ie keeping it mainly original. The fact is that the car will a long way from original so a lot more freedom to experiment. The car will end up with a later complete front end from IE Coupe and have a modern injection system installed. Outwardly it will probably look original from 10 feet away, but not to anyone who knows.

This is very much my voyage down a what can I do which makes sense to update and make comfy one of these without spending silly amounts.

Hope that answers the logic I have!

Peter

[peteracs]

Bit of an aside, but been debating about buying an electric impact gun for a while now. I have an old air one which I have used with mixed success, and given it is one of the few uses I have for the compressor, it is a right faff digging it out just to use the gun. Also I had a totally fruitless time removing the bolt from the oil drive shaft on an engine with it. So I finally bit the bullet and placed an order for one. I wanted to buy a major brand one rather than an unknown Chinese one. Also I really wanted as powerful as possible within sensible cost. I do not mind heavy as it is for removing problem nuts, not as a general use item where weight in the hand is an issue. I much prefer a manual ratchet for normal jobs. So which brand/model? We recently had a new kitchen and the installers used Dewalt tools and were obviously well used, appeared robust etc and they were obviously happy with them. The market leader if you view any YouTube restorers etc is Milwaukee, but their tools tend to be much more expensive. So looking at the Dewalt range the DCF899N looked to offer good torque and not silly expensive. Order placed as well as a 5.0A battery and charger. It arrived yesterday and I had a quick play today (I bought an impact socket set the other week) and it effortlessly undid the oil drive shaft and crank pulley nut on the Coupes engine I have to strip. Full result

As I mentioned this is way too heavy for use all the time, but for stubborn nuts will save me a bunch of time. Next task will be a pair of CV hub nuts….

Note there are two versions of this wrench, the DCF899N and DCF899HN, the H stands for Hog ring whereas the one I bought has the detent pin, it makes not difference to me, so just went for the cheaper one.

Peter

[TonyLanciaBeta]

Bought the same one for work a year ago, use it all the time, your arms get used to extra weigh after time since then I've replaced all my air tools to DeWalt/Mac (both made by DeWalt)

 

[WestonE]

Hi Peter

I do have a Milwaukee and it is amazing and still good after a few years now. From memory 700NM which should be easier to buy cheaply these days. It completely outperforms both of my Air Impact which I will eventually just sell.

Eric
PS I have a cordless Milwaukee SDS Impact drill that out performs my Bosch Professional Corded item   

[HFStuart]

Just to add to the mix my Makita cordless impact won't unfold wheel if they're more than about 80 lb/ft but did spin the crank pulley nut off without trouble and that was WAY tighter. Go figure. Stiction from the conical seat perhaps?

[peteracs]

Back to the subject. In anticipation of the power steering being installed, and the original pump looking its age, I had the possibly silly idea of using an electric hydraulic pump instead of the engine driven one. Why you may ask, well I thought it would be interesting to try one and having it independent of the engine (except the alternator will need to be beefed up to drive it) seemed the way to go. I also was unsure how available new original pumps were, though I suspect the Gamma pump is much the same as the rack appears to be the same ZF family.

So to that end after a bit of Googling and Ebay search I ended up with a Peugeot 307 unit as a ‘try out for £30’. According to info I have found the original Beta/Gamma pump is rated at 100bar and the 307 one at 80bar, so will be interesting to see how that impacts the feel. One reason for picking the 307 unit was it can be made to work stand alone even though there are additional inputs which appear to moderate the pressure put out. These inputs can be left unused, but maybe scope for more investigation once convinced the unit will work. If it does prove successful then I would go for a new unit on the final build.

My backup plan is to revert to the original pump type.

Photo of unit I bought.

[Nigel]

That's a hugely interesting idea Peter.

It offers the scope to reduce the length of hoses and an almost anywhere
fitment location. Somewhere above the gearbox comes to mind.

Initial observations are that the cable sizes are not huge, suggesting that
it won't need too many amps.
A pore over the 307 wiring diagram should show you the original fuse rating. 

Also, I wonder if the 307 fitment include a remote
reservoir, as it's not showing much spare fluid capacity. Maybe doesn't matter.

Really easy to bench-test as well. Knowing your refurbished rack is leak-free, bonus.

Good thinking
Regards, N.

[peteracs]

Hi Nigel

I think the fuse rating is around 60A, which is high, but will test the actual current. As to integrated reservoir, one reason I wanted it. Keeps it simple. Most of these type have integrated.

Yes, being able to test on the bench was a big plus for me.

Peter

[Neil-yaj396]

Take it that you view this as easier than fitting the more modern electric motor driven column described elsewhere on the Forum Peter?

[peteracs]

Hi Neil

On the HPE/Coupe/Spyder I cannot see the space available for the motor. Also the main reason is that the HPE will be having a power steering bulkhead, so a manual rack will not fit, hence motor driven is not an option.

Peter