Lancia Beta HPE 2.0 IE Track Car Blog

[HFStuart]

results not at all bad though considering that measurement will not be directly comparable anyway

Absoluteley. There's no doubt that you've good a good engine there. The torque figure isn't so far off modern cars (eg Ford 2.0 Zetec 16V - 137lb/ft) that have got massively higher CR and 30 years more development !

[lanciamad]

I don't think any of us beta owners or general car fans arn't aware of how brilliant and ahead of there time the fiat/lancia twin cam is Every general person thats ever commented about the car has always said, those had one hell of an engine shame about the rust though, and everyone seems to say that At least they remember the performance just before the R word.
I'll be on delta turbo duty all next week as well as shed building when i've got spare time, so something to keep you upto date and a blast from the past...
Collected the intake manifold base today, nice job for a tenner

Intake gasket on top, holes bang on...

and most importantly it fits the head...

While I had 5 mins I tapped all the holes on the spare head to take the intake manifold, then swiftly stopped myself getting too carried away, i've got enough other things needing attention

Some blast from the past...
What she was looking like after the 1st MOT with me...

Oh its me

I bought a set of series 1 wheels as track wheels a year or two ago, did them up and sprayed them Gold, but didn't suit the car very well so sold them on, there out there somewhere...

[rossocorsa]

those early wheels are interesting,a few years back I was given 4 and fitted them to a berlina, what was really interesting was that, upon close inspection, two were very slightly different to the other two, as the design of the wheel centre was not quite identical. Big deal! you might say but one pair of them weighed about as much as a feather and were probably magnesium based alloy. It would be well worth finding a set of those to reduce your unsprung weight, if I remember right the very light ones didn't have 'originale lancia' cast on them    

[lanciamad]

Interesting to know, I did weigh one against the more common type and they weighed the same, should of weighed each one now

[lbcoupe76]

awsome build, will be interesting to see how the bike throttle bodys go, i'm thinking of going for twin 45mm dcoe pattern throttle bodies on mine with a Haltech computer, however you might just change my mind and i'm sure my wallet will thank you for it.

[lanciamad]

Yeh with purpose built throttle bodies costing £800+ this is hopefully going to produce the same or similar result for a considerably cheaper cost, well thats the idea.
With work on the delta turbo, other cars and a shed to build, the HPE has just sat on the drive waiting to have work done over the last couple of weeks. Items that needed attention was get to the bottom of this poor running at cruising speeds, and the "R" word!!!!
I started off taking all the induction hoses off, as I thought it might be related to the vacuum pipe from manifold to fuel regulator being blocked or partially, funnily enough when I checked the pipe was clear but on the manifold and regulator the ends were partially clogged with dirt somehow...

Put everything back together, started it up and no difference I could hear at idle, still running a little rough. It wasn't until I looked again and no.3 looked like this...

Turned it off, got the spark plug socket on it and it was loose! I havn't really touched them since doing the head a good 2 years ago now so may have been slightly looser than the rest when put in and with various track days and the rolling road might have worked itself loose.
Not only this, this is a normal plug...

Check the top of the same loose spark plug out...

I can only describe it as a tiny bit of stone that somehow made its way onto the top of the plug. Obviously while I was at it, I checked all the HT connections and found that 3 of the 4 tops of the spark plugs were lose, so they were done up hand tight and then with pliers, hopefully this has solved the problem but as I decided to get the welder out i've not had a chance to test drive it.
With MOT time coming up very soon, its about time I sorted out the hole thats been in my floor too long, its also the hole which was produced by a MOT station I don't normally use last year, and didn't even put an advisory down about it 
After poking it around this was the beauty...

Wire wheel and grinder came out...

[lanciamad]

Luckily all the rust under the pedals was only surface, so that was cleaned up and sprayed with underseal...

New bit of metal to go in...

and in...

Considering I havn't done any serious welding for a good two years now and only have use of a gasless welder, i'm reasonably happy with the weld considering the old thin metal the floor has, what do people think of it?

[lanciamad]

Sprayed up...

This left me with some more holes to attend to..

Another plate...

Welded in...

I'm always getting the odd bit of surface rust on the floor as its only primered with a top coat, so i've undersealed the floor this time and then will spray it over in silver hence why it's not all masked off, you get the idea...

[rossocorsa]

nice welding! if you are clever enough to compensate for the heat distortion (I'm not) I think gas weld is the bees knees much nicer than mig and gives a strong neat and long lasting result

[lanciamad]

With very little practice, using a gasless MIG on high volts was a bit of a challenge, basically always on the border line of a useless weld or too much heat blowing holes everywhere on the thin metal I think I did OK in the end. I prefer the point and do a straight line weld that looks neat and tidy, but I found it impossible to do with such thin metal, and thought having it on low volts wouldn't produce a good enough weld.
Some better pics. of the floor...


I absolutely hate watching paint dry so while I did, I found my front replaceable type bodies, got the wire wheel on them and sprayed them up with zinc primer and some gloss black, turned out well in the end...

Plan is, to cut the spax units out of my current sealed type, I re-welded, and fit them into these; Mark W assures me they will fit with a bit of force. As well as this i'm fitting and believe testing front polyurethane top mounts at the same time as the whole lot will be out, and as well as that i'm fitting some eccentric bushes in the top holes of the bodies to achieve negative camber and hopefully a lot more grip when on the limit I think this will be a slight improvement on the safety aspect as well as fine tune adjustment than clamping the bolt tight using big washers.

[hongkongphooey]

Welcome to my world!

That welding looks good sound,well done.

Have you slapped some seam sealer underneath to stop any water ingress?

[lanciamad]

I gave a generous spray of the same black underseal underneath until it literally was dripping from the floor, is there any specific type or make you can recommend? You are the expert

[hongkongphooey]

I'm currently using one supplied by Halfords made by Upol. It's a big tin though,you won't want that much. I guess it should be ok if you've bathed it in underseal......Although i prefer waxoil for rust prevention 

[lanciamad]

Well i've not solved the poor running problem at the moment which is annoying as I was planning on using the car this weekend! see... http://www.betaboyz.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=597.msg2340#msg2340
These are the plugs that have been in there a couple of years...

I fitted a spare distributor, but had to swap a few things over from the old one and finish off fitting a new pick up...

While everything was loose and out from that inner wing I decided to go painting.
It was like this...

Sprayed...

Now looking like this...

Even things that aren't seen got a spray ...

[lbcoupe76]

Looks good, have you checked for any vacum leaks? i once had an intermitant rough running problem turned out to be the smallest of pinholes on a vacum line from the manifold it only seemed to open when it got hot.

[lanciamad]

I'll give it ago and strip all the pipe work off and have a look, I initially thought it maybe vacuum related too. I've got a spare air flow meter I can play around with the CO2 adjuster to see how it effects it if I don't find anything, other than that I cant think of anything else to try.
With the new distributor fitted, I need the local garage to check and adjust the timing so might have to leave it with him and see if he's got any ideas. I spent the best of 9 hours standing on the drive yesterday spraying and problem solving, so i'll give it another few hours before I go out again

[Martiniracing]

Realy nice project!
Do you know this one:

[lanciamad]

No i havn't seen that one before, looks awesome but the big wheels and spoiler ruin it for me.

[lanciamad]

Well the update is I still havn't found the problem as pictured i've taken all the hoses and manifold off and found nothing. Only things I can think left to do/check is the timing adjusting so it's bang on, and the exhaust manifold has become loose (doesn't sound it), so that'll be what i'll be doing tomorrow. After putting everything back together, it is as if its running on three cylinders until 3k rpm then runs and pulls fine after that, i've managed to get rid of the back firing by adjusting the idle down and the throttle linkage up which seems to let more air flow.
I'm reluctant to spend money on a garage fixing it, if they can, as the throttle bodies set up is something i'm looking to work on and complete asap really, ready for some fun for this year, which is going to be new everything, but with the MOT due very soon, I need to get this done for another year before the fun can begin.
Some more bodies pics...

I got my tubes cut and angled ready to be welded onto the base, I hope to have this done by the end of the week...

Started dismantling bits not needed...

Choke flaps removed, i'll be plugging the holes left. Starting to look like some jenveys, well I can wish ...

It's guna be tight but I hope there's enough movement in the hoses to make the difference up of the offset of the bodies to the manifold.

[lanciamad]

Today I decided to replace the manky pipe that's been on the car since i've had it to see if this improved the running, which it didn't. Manifold off...

This left me with loads of space in the engine bay, only issue with the bodies is the fouling on the dipstick so this might have to be engineered around...

Manky pipe, and a better second hand one I generously taped up any signs of cracks...

While the manifold was off, I moved the starter motor cables to point as far down as possible, all taped up and replaced the connector with new, how they didn't short onto the manifold I don't know. Unlike me I didn't take a pic of that nor the whole lot being put back together

One of the latest purchases from Mark (lanciabetaparts), some more bushes for another pair of adjustable transverse arms for the rear suspension...

Old removed with brute force...

Next update will be these fitted, what i've bought, what i've got planned, and hopefully the car running like it should.