And So It Begins....

[SanRemo78]

And another ask - the trims that clip over the doors, inside and out, have a cloth liner (early) or a plastic liner (late) to reduce the chances of scratches happening. I've got 3 plastic ones but could do with a better passenger side outer one and one inner one if anyone has any spares waiting for a purpose!

Thanks
Guy

[Ferrit]

Love looking at your build into a lovely bare shell.  What state is the interior, do you have Recaro's?  I was looking at Delta Intergrale Recaro's and they do look similar and come up a lot more often I am sure

[SanRemo78]

Hi Mark, thanks for the comments! The interior is from a Beta Volumex Coupe, already re-trimmed in the correct material and ready to bolt into the car when I get to that stage! The carpets in the car are the originals and have cleaned up nicely, the only evident wear is in the rubber mat for the drivers heel pad. Thanks for reminding me, I've been meaning to slide a thin piece of rubber in there through the split, manoeuvre it about and secure it with the Sikaflex that's open/curing now having been used to repair the window scrapers on the door cappings!

[SanRemo78]

All door cappings fitted now so pending sorting some glass to match everything I've probably done as much of the door build up as I can for now. Handles and latches next to be overhauled I think.

Today was a lovely day so I finished off the exhaust heatshield. It wasn't a pretty sight when I started, a little bent out of shape and covered in crap from years of abuse.... A bit like the spare one I have only worse bar the tears in the spare! A little work soon had it twisted back into shape and a lot of work to remove the crud and clean it up before a light polish. There is one area that I couldn't fix where the exhaust clamp has battered it. That I'll leave as is, I think welding it might be asking too much! Let's call that a little patina!

There were three mounting threads in the floorpan for these when it went back for final dipping, one survived but was so loose it came out as soon as I saw it rattling away! New Rivnuts are needed to secure this I think.

Guy

[SanRemo78]

I also looked at the rubbers I have for the drop glass channels in the doors. Considering I have sets from at least three cars I'm a little disappointed that none of them are really serviceable. So I've ordered 5 meters of the 13mm wide channel which should do both doors!

https://sealextrusions.com/products/flocked-window-channel

Guy

[WestonE]

I cheated on the exhaust heat shield and made it from modern twin layer formable heat shield sheet. This is very easy to form and is a better heat shield. Pictures on members cars. I did notice the unusual oblong fitting washers which got a sand blast and paint. Keep up the amazing work Guy.

[SanRemo78]

Oblong fitting washers? Oh bugger. None on the car when I dismantled it so it'll be going together with a sandwich of standard round ones top and bottom with rivnuts through the floorpan into washers above the floorpan. I can see that needing a few pairs of hands to hold everything in place whilst I crush the rivnut. Or the judicious use of masking tape.

[WestonE]

Oblong at each end round in the middle, but in reality you are clamping a light weight item in place. Some large stainless washers and an angle grinder will do nicely.

[SanRemo78]

Window channel arrived in the post today and it is a perfect fit for the Beta. Hopefully I'll find the 2 door glasses I need in the next few weeks so I can complete the install as report on how good or bad they are but a drop glass slides very smoothly in the felt.

Please se my parts wanted thread!

New felt on the left and original on the right.

Guy

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

Where did you get the window channel from?

Peter

[SanRemo78]

https://sealextrusions.com/products/flocked-window-channel

Pick the 13mm wide one Peter. I might have to pull out the lift motors and see if they work as I move forward with building up the doors ever so slowly! I hope to find the missing glass at Marks in June unless they turn up here first but I'm hopeful the new felt in the channels will result in less friction to be overcome.

Cheers
Guy

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

Thanks. I know the ones I have are not the best.

Peter

[SanRemo78]

After all this time and a soft wearing surface I'd be amazed if any were in good condition Peter. Hopefully this may be a partial solution to slow windows?

Slight rest day today and this morning was spend degreasing bits ready for another batch of plating. Or so I thought. I started with the bonnet catches which are particularly cruddy. But underneath all that caked on 40 year old grease they came up really nicely. I may clean up a couple more and pick the best ones, I think the cables will need replacing to the pull handles though. After that I pulled the handbrake mechanism apart and gave the lever a polish as best I could. It's got rust pitting but it'll have to do. The base plate is repainted and the underfloor cover powder coated so that just left the rubber seal to clean (it's great!) and the pulley linkage. The link arm was quite badly bent, no idea why but it's straight enough now and a tap rand down it's length cleanly. It'll go for plating I think. The wheel itself came apart easily enough but was really caked in grease/mud and is heavily corroded. It was only when I got it down to a cleaner state than something started ringing bells. A quick search in the tool draw turned up an identical one in perfect condition, doesn't need plating. I have no idea, absolutely none, where it came from or when but it's been in there forever. Complete mystery but it's going on the car in the next week or three!

[SanRemo78]

Couple more days and a little progress. Finished off the last of the Dynaxing so that's going off over the next few days, a few parts put to one side to get plated and another pile for powder coating. I fitted the bonnet release mechanism, adjusted it, removed it and put it back in but whatever I did I ended up with the left lever working but not the right one. In the end it all came out and went back in with a couple of additional cable clamps to stop any chance of them slipping. I think it's okay but the grille is going to be the last thing back in and I may rig another pull handle to lift the bonnet when the latch mechs don't release fully... Probably just needs a bit of greasing.

Then it was the wiper assembly. What a pig of a job to get it back in, there must be a knack. I ended up with a small scratch in the scuttle. Hey ho. Won't be the last one. Washer jets went back in too. I will replace the tubing in the coming weeks. Tomorrow we're having roofing work done so I doubt I'll get much done! Next task is to disassemble the heater box and give it a good clean and refurb. The matrix will be taken for checking and recoring (along with the radiator) but the heater box can go back in. I've got multiple fixings plated but only two of them had the rubber cushioning inserts so I'll need to cobble something else together for the other two.

[Nigel]

Guy, a tip,
I'd wait and put the completed heater box in. It's surrounded with clips,
some of which you can't get to at the front.

Nigel

[SanRemo78]

Thanks for the tip Nigel, I'll have a look at that but the first install is a dry run, I need it in place so I can think about routes for a wiring loom, that means the dash needs to go in too plus a few other minor bits. I intend to talk to a company called Simtek at the Malvern Kit Car Show in a couple of weeks with a view to getting a special loom made.  I do have a memory of replacing a heater matrix on my '78 HPE (brown dash) and doing it by separating the housing upper and lower halves. With the interior out of the car I suspect it's possible to get to the clips between the housing and the bulkhead. Time will tell!