maybe some progress......

[rossocorsa]

the sill is nearly ready to fit good job I bought this OE one off Eric Weston last year as the corrosion was way way worse than it looked indeed most of the car has been a bit like that    tbh it was probably really only fit for scrap so the intensive care will have saved a Beta (if we ever get it finished). i have been stripping down parts from the engine in the car the inlet manifold is well and truly stuck on so I'm having bother getting it and the supercharger off I think I might have to take it off along with the head and separate them on a bench.

   

[MattNoVAT]

Keep up the good work, at least you are now starting to offer up new bits and the "reconstruction" is starting.  The stripping down can get a bit disheartening but fingers crossed your through the worst of it now.

[WestonE]

It is great to see that panel getting used where it should. I will try to bring the other side to the LMC AGM, but not sure how it will fit in my Montecarlo!!

Eric 

[rossocorsa]

It is great to see that panel getting used where it should. I will try to bring the other side to the LMC AGM, but not sure how it will fit in my Montecarlo!!

Eric 

for someone with a rusty nearside sill it will be a bargain those complex curvy bits are not easy to replicate!

[rossocorsa]

a few random pics will post more tomorrow when I've been to take some more snaps. Progress is still as and when but we've tried the new door in the aperture and it fits!!  still lots to do engine to sort out, parts to source etc.... but it's looking good for a 2012 finish

[rossocorsa]

I know this doesn't LOOK like progress but getting to the stage where the sill is 100% right and can be welded is a real milestone






disorganised chaos!!! ... junk all over due to lack of space and the constant need to repair the day to day cars doesn't help with progressing the Beta though

[rossocorsa]

Would appreciate the specs of that tool very much.

Holidays are for spending time with the family - It can't all be fun and motor cars!

I haven't forgotten about this just got side tracked with other things will really try to do it this week


update....failed AGAIN more jobs in the home instead damn and blast!

[rossocorsa]

some repairs inside to the strut turrets/wheelarch and I've started dismantling the engine prior to removing the rest on its subframe. Intend to mix 'n' match parts from my parts stash, the spare engine (which will be going in) and this engine etc. to make the best assembly possible without breaking the bank. there is some welding to be done on the front cross-member then engine bay needs prepping for paint, it will be a non standrad colour as the whole household find the grey very drab.




It's at that turning point stage at the moment looks a bit of a mess but hopefully the junk will come together and it will start to look like a real car

[rossocorsa]

engine out........

[raz1966]

you need a bigger garage mate

[MattNoVAT]

We all need bigger garages!!

[rossocorsa]

you need a bigger garage mate

Don't we all although it's not all that small (about 28ft long) but could do with being wider. It's partly an optical illusion due to the amount of Lancia junk crushed in there the tool cabinet and various shelves of oils, polish etc can't go at the back of the garage because of all the spares off the car that live there. It used to be much worse than it is now, when I still had a 2000HF it was really crammed full of spare parts off several cars  that I had broken for spares I'm still not sure how I fitted it all in.

[rossocorsa]

checked my credit card balances and I think I'm going to put off much further progress at the moment, it's amazing how all the bits n bobs that just must be changed add up and there's no way it could be finished for the 40th. Steve has promised me a loan of his spider for that event so at least alls well on that front and that way he'll have both his Betas there. I'm going to do a bit of work on the engine before summer using the bits I already have but that's all for now folks!

[rossocorsa]

well I have tidied the back of the garage up vacuumed up as much dust and muck as posible and put up a polythene sheet screen to seal it off from the rest of the garage and keep the heat from my little electric heater in. So now I have a relatively clean and toasty area to work on the engine  . Slow progress but I've got as far as dismantling the oil pump, this appears in fine order with clearances within tolerance although it is maybe slightly slack where the gears mesh together.











  

[ZAGATOVX]

Nice to see a VX Coupe beeing restord.I have restord a Beta Spider so I know the amount of work.
i do have a RHD VX dashbord from a GB car I dont need.Free if you need it,only shipping cost.

[rossocorsa]

thanks for the offer but I think I'm well stocked on spares at the moment!! Yesterday I cut some pieces of wood and fixed them to the bench to make a rest for the cylinder head more cleaning and dismantling to do, i have a pair of (what I hope are....only the sellers word for it!) 130TC cams that I've had waiting for a few years can't decide whether to fit only the inlet or to try both, also some head scratching with cam pulleys as the cams came without them and the VX ones have the timing hole in the wrong place, I think I have some 2.0 i.e. ones somewhere though that might do funds are tight so can't afford to buy adjustable ones

[rossocorsa]

spent today drawing circles and looking confused definitely can't afford to go with adjustable cam pulleys which leaves me with the standard issue items, I've studied the pulleys off a couple of VX heads that I have lying around plus some more off spurious cam carriers and all have the same spacing for the timing mark guide hole (the hole that you line up with the notch on the cam carrier) however the inlet one on this actual head has the guide hole one tooth further from the hole for the camshaft locating pin I know that this cam and possibly pulley was from a normally aspirated beta cam probably off an IE. If lined up using this hole this would give about 8.5 degrees difference are all 2 litre non-vx betas like that? It would help me interpreting the standard data if I knew, unfortunately I am fairly incompetent at engineering  so I go slowly and somehow struggle through stuff.

[WestonE]

Rossa

It took me ages to get my head arround cam timing and I finally understood the vital information on setting it using the full lift position a dial test indicator and protractor. Guy Croft shows this step by step in both of his books I personally found the first books explanation easier. Less engineering than basic maths and we all love that!!

If you follow the steps and mark the cam to the cam box you will not be fooled by the cam wheel holes and if you are ever flush later you can bolt adjustable wheels on with the timing marks done inside the cam box.

Keep going and get some crates with lids for the clean engine parts to live in until you are ready to build. This obsessive cleaning and storing is vital to success in my now long experience!!

Eric (well beyond a 40th anniversary)     

[rossocorsa]

well I did draw everything out on paper using the original Fiat specs for vx/ie and 130tc cams and amazingly except for one slight glitch in my arithmetic came to the same figures for full lift point as quoted by Guy Croft so I must be getting there (sort of!!) haven't looked at it again today as I had enough brain work yesterday but hopefully I'll get the timing right both in my head and on the head (!?). I'm not going to have to store parts for too long as it will soon be a quick assembly job as I have all the parts I need already it's just a case of clean, tidy and paint as required. Also I am not doing any other work in the garage whilst the engine is in bits to avoid unnecessary dust generation plus my polythene screen does help keep the grot from the front of the garage out.

Alan

[rossocorsa]

not a lot of progress as I had an horrendous tooth abscess just after new year face like a cross between a hamster and a puffa fish! Anyway got the cam carriers off today and have taken the cams out not much but at least something