Mark Wast HPE

[markwast]

Thought it about time I posted something on here about my HPE.
It was orginally a 1600, hence no sunroof  , a previous owner converted to a 2000.
I ran it last year with twin 45s until late into the year, the clutch release bearing was on its way out.
Over the winter, it finally decided to fail, engine out job to replace.

So since then I have slowly been working on various little projects, ok some rather large in an attempt to get it on the road again this summer. At the moment the engine is out to get the bay looking a little tidier. A replacement engine assembly is waiting to go in.

As I complete various stages over the coming weeks, I will reveal things as I get them fitted.

Mark

[markwast]

What a week, or it seems like it.

Engine bay nice, clean and tidy. On inspection of the steering rack, the gaiter needed replacing, so i decided to rebuild to pop in a coupe rack. It needed cleaning, new gaiter and bush.

Replaced the master cylinder, fitted new brake pipes, got the wiring back in.

In between other jobs, like fixing a rattle in the drivers door, i got the wire brush out and started to clean up the d/s sill. Wish I hadnt now, I ended up having to replace the rear section of the sil. Repair inner and outer sections.  I tried for the first time Wayside copper weld through primer. http://www.waysideadhesives.com i must say it works far better than the zinc product i used before.

Hopefully today the engine will be back in, yesterday I replaced the water pump as there was some play in the old one eventhough it only had done about a 1000 miles or so.

Coming jobs this week, collect and fit recored VX rad, fit oil coller on it. Hopefully my new middle exhaust section will be ready too.
I will prob end up doing the other rear sill too.
Will get the car's ass in the air and sort that out too. Clean and sort out rear brakes. New pipes all round.

Ill let you know how i get on.

[markwast]

Engine out B4

[markwast]

Engine bay after

[markwast]

As for the sill, before and after ish........

[markwast]

The latest....
I did the sill the other side, needed doing but ended up being more difficult as there was about 4mm of filler iver the top plus a little spontaneous combustion, panic panic.

With the engine back in situ, all the little bits and bobs were added like carbs etc. With the starter on, we decided to see if it would turn over, well the starter clicked like made, we checked all the wiring was in right, yep no cock ups there, changed the starter not once, twice but three times, still nothing. It turned out the main thick wire from the starter to the battery was shot, changed it and over she turned.

Got the VX rad back from being recorded, god that broke my wallet, 160 quid later, fitted an oil cooler and slimline fan with a new fan switch, on at 85 degrees off at 80 if my memory is right.

[markwast]

And the brakes.................................
With help from Marcus aka lanciamad, new copper nickel brake pipes were fitted, a few little adjustments made, rear discs cleaned up as virtually new, proper fitting EDC pads and handbrake cable fitted.
Front brakes fitted, but a few little adjustments left to do over the next few days, which Im sure might be of interest to some people.

Can you spot a few other little mods in the background?

[markwast]

Undecided which of the three gear shift options i have to go for, prob not the standard one, i have a spare prototype of the very short shift but most proberly go for the medium shift so i can test that, measure the throw etc. I fitted new bushes, and short rod along with brass bushes in the pivot mounted on the subframe, Am thinking of getting a batch made along the the pivot rod itself especially as the one in my berlina is well worn, gearstick moves side to side in gear as if it was in neutral. Need to find another engineering company as my local one a tad busy right now. Suggestions on a postard please .......

[markwast]

Pic of linkage in place, I could only find two decent ball studs and had to fit the best of the rest , and would you believe it, my delivery of new ones arrived friday, will be on the site next week.

[markwast]

Engine bay pic......

[Neil-yaj396]

Great to see parts of a Beta looking 'brand new'!

[markwast]

Thanks Neil, lots of time taken and over the winter it will be resprayed to match the parts.

[markwast]

Fitted the exhaust today, car will be fired up tomorrow if i get a chance.  If any interest I will offer this centre section on the parts website.

[redvxcoupe]

Great looking exhaust

Can you please explain about the front brakes.....

Looking forward seeing you and the car next year

[Thotos]

So is that a single silencer exhaust system? Looks lovely... 

[WestonE]

Mark

A quality job you deserve the huge grin you will have when driving it! As you might expect I am very interested in how you find the front brakes. Did you bypass the rear load balance set up as I suggested?

Cheers

Eric
PS still no progress on whether the VX rears will work.

[markwast]

Great looking exhaust

Can you please explain about the front brakes.....

Looking forward seeing you and the car next year

Thanks, well the brakes are HiSpec 4 pot calipers with 284mm HF Integrale vented discs. I had to get mounting brackets, spacers made up and Goodridge braided hoses. Yet to see how they work yet.

Mark

[markwast]

So is that a single silencer exhaust system? Looks lovely... 

Yet to here what it sounds like, loud i expect.

[markwast]

Mark

A quality job you deserve the huge grin you will have when driving it! As you might expect I am very interested in how you find the front brakes. Did you bypass the rear load balance set up as I suggested?

Cheers

Eric
PS still no progress on whether the VX rears will work.

Thanks Eric, yes i by passed the compensater infact took it all out.

[thecolonel]

Do you have a brake bias fitted ? or are the rear brakes working as hard as the fronts ?
(always thought that rears only partially worked unless you were carry a lot of rear weight)

Geoff