41
Members Cars / Re: Spyder restoration - long time coming
« Last post by lancialulu on August 22, 2026, 05:52:49 PM »While I said perhaps piston slap, in my experience this is also noticeable at tickover.
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42
Members Cars / Re: Spyder restoration - long time coming
« Last post by betabuoy on August 22, 2026, 05:07:52 PM »Apologies if I missed this in an earlier post, but how many miles has this engine covered? And BTW, I do admire the composure you appear to have retained throughout despite the recent engine knocking diagnostics. Impressive!
43
Members Cars / Re: My HPE....now a rolling recommission
« Last post by Nigel on August 22, 2026, 03:43:19 PM »Just back from a 25 mile drive, mostly country roads, and the gearbox
oil change has vastly improved the operation of the 2nd gear synchro. The box
is still slightly noisy, but I put that down to the primary shaft rear bearing which I had
to re-use during the rebuild.
And the new-to-me rear shocks have also improved the ride and
reduced the clattering over rough road surfaces.
Nigel
oil change has vastly improved the operation of the 2nd gear synchro. The box
is still slightly noisy, but I put that down to the primary shaft rear bearing which I had
to re-use during the rebuild.
And the new-to-me rear shocks have also improved the ride and
reduced the clattering over rough road surfaces.
Nigel
44
Members Cars / Re: Spyder restoration - long time coming
« Last post by peteracs on August 22, 2026, 02:11:51 PM »I am posting here so there is a link to the current issue posted in the engine section.
https://lanciabeta.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5823.0
Problem was knocking noise between 1500 and 2500 rpm. End conclusion was piston slap which reduces significantly when engine warm. There probably was this noise for a while, but is somewhat louder now on cold start than before. At this time I am not going to do anything about it as time is limited and the HPE build is more important. The car does appear to drive quite well despite the problem. One positive is that the weeping of the sump gasket should now be sorted.
Peter
https://lanciabeta.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5823.0
Problem was knocking noise between 1500 and 2500 rpm. End conclusion was piston slap which reduces significantly when engine warm. There probably was this noise for a while, but is somewhat louder now on cold start than before. At this time I am not going to do anything about it as time is limited and the HPE build is more important. The car does appear to drive quite well despite the problem. One positive is that the weeping of the sump gasket should now be sorted.
Peter
45
Members Cars / Re: My HPE....now a rolling recommission
« Last post by lancialulu on August 21, 2026, 10:13:33 PM »I had a dead spot on one rear damper on my Gamma coupe (same suspension layout). It caused a flutter of the rear wheel which was annoying on motorway journeys. I put a kyb insert in and immediately cured it…
46
Members Cars / Re: My HPE....now a rolling recommission
« Last post by Nigel on August 21, 2026, 09:00:17 PM »I'm in the process of fitting a pair of rear struts kindly
supplied by Mark, that came off his Coupe. They were wrong for his car and
turned out to be HPE items.
The inserts, Monroe MR946, are not available except in South Africa, and I can't even find
a supplier there willing to respond to emails.
I got a second opinion on the inserts from my local MOT garage, he recons they will be
ok, despite there being a 'dead gap' in both. They are worth a try as the current fitments
seem very soft, and loose dampening overnight, i.e. I have to bounce the car to prime them.
As done on my front inserts, I've lock-wired the collar rings, as I had one on the front come
loose.
supplied by Mark, that came off his Coupe. They were wrong for his car and
turned out to be HPE items.
The inserts, Monroe MR946, are not available except in South Africa, and I can't even find
a supplier there willing to respond to emails.
I got a second opinion on the inserts from my local MOT garage, he recons they will be
ok, despite there being a 'dead gap' in both. They are worth a try as the current fitments
seem very soft, and loose dampening overnight, i.e. I have to bounce the car to prime them.
As done on my front inserts, I've lock-wired the collar rings, as I had one on the front come
loose.
47
Members Cars / Re: Beta Coupe GCRE upgrade
« Last post by betabuoy on August 21, 2026, 07:24:28 PM »The first link found by Peter was good. It was a chap called Guy from an eBay site called bluemooncarparts. Advertised as for collection, he went out of his way to package, source a courier and post this to me and I'm pleased with the purchase. A bit of cleaning and removing some rust blistered rubber trim, has left me with something very workable. The rubber trims came away nicely from my old (bent) bumper, but I struggled with some rusted bolts on the indicator housings. It'll come together tomorrow I'm sure. But I do rather like the bumperless look!
48
Engine / Re: Should I be worried???
« Last post by peteracs on August 21, 2026, 02:51:30 PM »Hi Tim
Thanks, gives me confidence to do nothing, car has never really used any noticeable amount of oil, though this noise is recent.
I should add although a bit deflated at spending several days doing the big ends, they did prove to be worn, albeit not badly and I really needed to renew the sump gasket which had been leaking for a while, so not a complete waste of time.
Peter
Thanks, gives me confidence to do nothing, car has never really used any noticeable amount of oil, though this noise is recent.
I should add although a bit deflated at spending several days doing the big ends, they did prove to be worn, albeit not badly and I really needed to renew the sump gasket which had been leaking for a while, so not a complete waste of time.
Peter
49
Engine / Re: Should I be worried???
« Last post by lancialulu on August 21, 2026, 02:45:34 PM »IMHO piston slap is nothing to worry about if you are not burning oil. It is just annoying when the engine is cold.
I am running standard pistons in my 230,000 mile old Fulvia 1600 engine (new rings were fitted at the last rebuilt but the the piston ring grooves were unworn). When warm sounds like any other engine.
I am running standard pistons in my 230,000 mile old Fulvia 1600 engine (new rings were fitted at the last rebuilt but the the piston ring grooves were unworn). When warm sounds like any other engine.
50
Engine / Re: Should I be worried???
« Last post by peteracs on August 21, 2026, 02:20:05 PM »So this morning the forecast was good (sunny all morning), so decided to crack on and get the rest of the subframe, driveshaft etc all put back together. New oil and filter, removed the plugs and disconnected the coil. Turned over the engine with the starter until I had oil pressure reading. Then installed the plugs and reconnected the coil and went for a start. Sadly no change at all in the noise which was really loud on startup. Interestingly it did quite down when the engine had been running for a few minutes, so as per Tim's suggestion, I a going to put this down to piston slap, which is a bit of a pain as that probably means rebuilt engine with overbore I would guess. Not what I really wanted to hear as really keen to get on with the HPE especially as time currently tends to be limited.
So I am going to get the car off the lift, give it a good run to check everything else is ok and put it away for now and ignore the problem unless it gets to the point of being unusable.
I would appreciate comments on if it will be a problem using the car and what to look out for if I need to stop using it.
Thanks
Peter
So I am going to get the car off the lift, give it a good run to check everything else is ok and put it away for now and ignore the problem unless it gets to the point of being unusable.
I would appreciate comments on if it will be a problem using the car and what to look out for if I need to stop using it.
Thanks
Peter