beta coupe 1979 - 1600 from belgium

[fred2660]

hello

my name is fred and live in belgium, antwerp. I bought myself a coupe from 1979, original dutch car. i am new to lancia's . i restored a toyota celica ta23 in the past and have also a mazda 929 coupe from 1976.

being new to the beta's i didn't know where to look when i bought it. I trusted the cardealer but that was a mistake (never trust a cardealer  ) At first glance theres little rust, but the more i digged into the car i found more and more. thats not a real problem because i wanted to learn to do a real restoration, welding included. So I started the restoration about a month ago. I found rust on the 'usual places':  back turrets, sills,

here some pictures from when i bought it

IMG_2061 (1) by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_2062 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_2065 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_2066 by frederikleyers, on Flickr


i will try to share my restoration on this forum

[smithymc]

Welcome Fred. What a nice looking car, such a shame it hides some problems.

You will find plenty of help and advice here.

Mark

[betaveloce]

Hi Fred,
I also live in Antwerp and I have had Betas for over twenty years now.
If you need parts or want to compare stuff with my cars, just let me know ;-)

[RichB]

Is that a later grill? Are these interchangeable, I wonder as i like the look of the earlier S1 and 2 cars?

[fred2660]

this is the current condition of the car. I am trying to remove all the rust and repair the bad spots. this is my first big restoration so i make mistakes. I dont have all the proper equipment so i have to improvise a lot and work in very uncomfortable possitions. I dont have repair panels so I cut out the rusty spots and make patches out of new sheet metal (1mm).  i am not aming for perfection

IMG_1900 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1899 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1827 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1826 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1825 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1901 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

[fred2660]

more pics

IMG_1923 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1922 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1921 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1920 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1918 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1917 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1916 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1915 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1912 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1911 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1909 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1907 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1906 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1904 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1902 by frederikleyers, on Flickr


the welding is a learning process. I am already redoing welds that I done a month ago    tips are welcome

[George-S]

Nice work man !


I am equally as new to this as you are.  My car which is the same model and year as yours has much worse rust then what you got here.. Some places that I found rusted extremely bad were locations where you would put the car jack under. Mainly the rear left and right sides just in front of the outer wheel arch might be worth looking into that's all. 
Your welding is pretty good probs better then mine   
Please keep the photos coming be really interested to see how she comes along ..

[Ammy]

Do not worry.similar welds to mine  25 years ago,  and still performing perfectly.

[fred2660]

@ orbital: all the places to put the jack are all rusted out on my car also. I am repairing thse spots. I will post photos later on

[rossocorsa]

Fairly typical rust does for a beta, nice work. By the jack places do you mean the square brackets with round holes? If so they are rust traps but are not meant for jacking the car they were used to carry the body shell in the factory.

[fred2660]

Fairly typical rust does for a beta, nice work. By the jack places do you mean the square brackets with round holes? If so they are rust traps but are not meant for jacking the car they were used to carry the body shell in the factory.

yes, i meant those. haha i jacked my car on those things and the surrounding steel collapsed totally. rust traps indeed
now i am hesitating of replacing them , however it ads to the originality

[fred2660]

i removed the gastank and removed the rust in search for possible holes. I found a little hole on the topside but its shape make me believe that its a factory made hole. Is this correct?
thanks

[Neil-yaj396]

I think we would need to see a picture. Do you mean on the tank itself?

[fred2660]

yes, a hole in the tank itself

IMG_1936 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1932 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1931 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1932 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

[peteracs]

Hi

There should only be the main hole for the combined in/out/level sensor. There was also a small pipe at the top for venting, some tanks may have extra pipes I guess, but no extra holes.

Peter

[fred2660]

thanks peter

I ran into the next problem. I removed one of the back struts( ?) and find some...rust

IMG_1943 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1944 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1945 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1946 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1953 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1954 by frederikleyers, on Flickr



dont know if i am gonna fix this or search for other (better) ones. its quite a vital part of the car. dont know if i am able to fix it


one of my favourite tools

IMG_1948 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

[George-S]

what on earth is that tool ? ... AND as I said before mine and your car are the same in every way .. same rust on mine .. I just ordered new ones from here ...
http://353652584127257704.weebly.com/store/c17/Shock_Absorbers.html

[fred2660]

what on earth is that tool ? ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBEJrtSYEl4

[fred2660]

I checked the other strut ... and the same story

IMG_1967 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

I looked at the front struts and they seem to be ok.

i am actually kinda shocked by the poor quality of this part. I have done other restorations of rusty cars but the struts were always in a decent condition.

anyway... continued my battle with the rust and removed some (typical?) panels

IMG_1955 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1963 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1956 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1957 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1958 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1959 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1960 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1964 by frederikleyers, on Flickr


i also removed the insolation of the floorpanels. no major rust over there

IMG_1965 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

IMG_1966 by frederikleyers, on Flickr

[George-S]

Thanks for that ...  I AM SO GOING TO BUY ONE ! .. I have been using angle grinder for must rust removal this shall help !

And yeah same damage to my car my friend. I removed the panel made a template cut the sections out that could be saved like where the fuel pump goes etc.  And welded it onto fresh steel .. Simple welded it back in make it fully sealed .,.. then used fiber glass + body filler to 100 % seal it and make it look smooth...