1976 Beta Coupe - Track Car Project

[ontrack2]

Myself and my wife have wanted a track car, so we found a 1976 Beta Coupe for next to nothing. The previous owner actually delivered it to us last night on the back of his flat-bed tow truck.

From our initial inspections it did not look too bad rust wise with most of the rust being confined to the guards...or so we though.

So Day one - We spent half the day starting the strip out of the car. Finding all sorts of odds-and-ends in the boot that did not belong to ther car. Some things included old Chrysler-Mopar Quarter Windows, Chevy Fisher Body sill plates and some things we wish we never had to touch ;)

Pretty much all the bolts and screws came out without trouble, only 2 needed the angle grinder.

Windscreen..well that cracked when i removed the trim :mad:

Connected up a battery and ALL the electrics worked and the motor turned over - not started though.

Engine wise it appears to have had an oil change about 1000 KM before it finally came to rest according to the service sticker on the windscreen Versus the Oddmeter. Trans and Engine oils both look clean and the levels are good.

Radiator is full of nice green coolant and there are no leaks (oil or coolant) anywhere.

Brakes definately a rebuild there.

Apart from that..there was a lot of hidden rust, parts that looked perfect until you accidentally punch a hole through it with a screw driver,as well as some rather ingenious fibre glass repairs in the floor.

At this time we have to decide whether the body is viable. The saving grace is that as a track car, it does give us some leeway in repairs as we dont necessarily need to have hidden pannels look original.

So rust repairs would be :

Replace floor
Front Passengers a-Pillar
Lower Rear windscreen lip and parcel tray
Boot Floor
Passengers front Inner Guard needs some repairs.
Sills have seen better days

The floors of the car and boot I am thinking will be easy as they could effectively be flat-reinforced sheets as i dont need them shaped as I would if it was road going.

Same with the boot

Its the A-pillar and rear Window/parcel tray that will be the hardest.

At this time we have withheld judgement untill get the cutt-off wheel out and have a good look. So for now all the offending areas have been spayed liberally with Rust-Killer and awaiting further investigation. But before that the dash has to come out so we can weld in a few temporary braces before we cut the bad metal out.

Does anyone have images of before/after nasty rust patches on their lancia restorations? We think we need some motivation LOL

Or any helpfull advice/comments on rust in betas and repair options

Pics will be coming soon

[ontrack2]

I thought i would start some rust repairs today. I figured its good practice even if we decide the body is too far gone as I have not done anything like this before.

So firstly while stripping back some areas there was a skim coat of Bondo over it all..on further examination this skim coat seems to consisten over the entire body :scratch: :eek:

This is an example of the sort of rust that is prevalent throughout.
http://tempmort.com/d/5900-2/DSCF2684.JPG

Rust cut out and plate tacked in.
http://tempmort.com/d/5911-2/DSCF2686.JPG

At this stage i realised I did not get another gas bottle on the weekend so it got a quite coat of weld through primer to protect it as i wont get a chance to get gas for a few days. I did have afew issues geting the mig low enough initially so burnt through in a couple of spots.

As i said I have never done anything like this before so its all a learning process.

[Dave Simons]

Welcome to the forum! Beta coupes make very good club track cars - light, torquey easily tweaked engine, sensible gear ratios, great handling (with tweaks) and "good enough to start with" brakes. Don't track it without a baffled sump though!

There have been a few around Sydney, so there is some knowledge - my son has done club rallies in his Beta. And, there is a club for competition Lancias, mostly Fulvias, but a Beta will be very welcome!

What sort of events are you considering?

[Will]

The "Bondo skim coat" you are referring to- if it the same as the coating that was applied to my cars, it will be a thin layer of stuff that looks almost like paper pulp, I believe it was originally intended as a sound deadening. The first time I attacked it with a cup brush all I tcould think was "Gee, I hope that's not asbestos!" :)

General welding tip for those very thin bits- I can't weld them with my wire feed welder either unless I use a 16ga copper backer behind- keeps from "blowing holes" in it. I have a relatively cheap welder with only four voltage settings and no waveform control. The copper helps a lot. I also don't tack all the way around like you did, only enough for the next weld bit- but that may be a personal preference.

[ontrack2]

The Bondo Skim coat is on the outside of the carf and is definately bondo so has me wondering now.

I will try that copper plate trick, pretty sure I have a plate laying around in the shed somewhere.

As for what events we will do in it..to be honest i suspect just track days. It was the wifes idea to build a track car (how could I say no) as she reallly wants to get out and have some fun in it. My background in rally and would have liked another rally car, but she does not like the car moving under he as much as I do lol

As an update though...I will be looking for another body as this one is pretty much beyond help unless we want to spend big $$ on it. I will use it for some rust removal practice so its all bad news.

Mind you, I am selling my Unimog now and have spotted a couple of Deltas for sale that have my eye on which the Unimog could fund ;)

If that happens the the track car will be a Delta and I guess I will part out the Beta Coupe.

[KeppelmanJ]

Glad to see you have come to your senses about using this car as a track car. Sills and pillars need to be stout and a rusty example will give you loads of grief. I don't know what the factory did to rallying Fulvias to make them competitive, but even very solid stock Fulvias and Betas flex too much at the front of the sill. The other thing is that front wheel drive is a major disadvantage in a mixed grid. You will spend pots of money and time on a Beta and in the end wish you and used a BMW 2002 or some such with rear wheel drive and an engine which has had lots more after market development and racing parts availabilty.

[ontrack2]

If the body was better I would still use it as I am owed a big favor, they were going to Fabricate a full cage which would extend into teh engine bay and into the boot to provide more structural rigidity.
That and seam welding would make it a very solid body.

It was only going to be a 'club' car and not really a serious race car, But I have to say..always wanted a delta ;)


Glad to see you have come to your senses about using this car as a track car. Sills and pillars need to be stout and a rusty example will give you loads of grief. I don't know what the factory did to rallying Fulvias to make them competitive, but even very solid stock Fulvias and Betas flex too much at the front of the sill. The other thing is that front wheel drive is a major disadvantage in a mixed grid. You will spend pots of money and time on a Beta and in the end wish you and used a BMW 2002 or some such with rear wheel drive and an engine which has had lots more after market development and racing parts availabilty.

[KeppelmanJ]

The Delta may be a great choice. I've never driven any competitive Lancia later than the 037, but the auto press of the day revered it for sure. And you are right that on club days your focus is on learning the course and taking pleasure in your own car and progress, especially if you're the wrench! In any case, it's great fun.