My 1.6 coupe restoration (formerly back in red + rust)

[chrisc]

Went to deal with the grille + headlight surrounds poor fitment today and unfortunately the fixings have gone from not great but usable to 'totally destroyed' whilst it was away. Fuming.

So I now need the unobtanium of a pair of headlight surrounds.

To make my search less impossible, what's the significance of the different depths available? do all grilles match all surrounds or not?

Mine look to be a bit over 50mm deep in total, about 27mm in the actual surround, the remained in the top brackets reaching back to the car body. Hard to get an exact measurement as the top bracket is a bit bent.




e.g. this one looks like it has shallower surrounds
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304810034921

Can anyone tell me what I need?

[SanRemo78]

Not what you need but maybe what you can get?

[SanRemo78]

The middle, complete one, looks like a left side. The others with a broken tab look like a right and left. You may be able to make a pattern bracket for the missing part?

Yours if you need them. Just make a donation to BetaBoyz?

Cheers
Guy

[chrisc]

I think that there's different styles between the s2 and the s2fl cars, and therefore I am limiting myself to looking at the s2fl ones. I think those ones are s2 non facelift.

The part numbers help -
82349261 is the right
82349262 is the left

Mark's website says hes a left one, so that's that sorted

The search for the right one has led me to a used one on ebay in the US, and one for sale at a shop in the netherlands.. we shall see how I go.

I have also discovered that my pristine new old stock grille badge is for a different grille.. maybe an s1 one? it's a push in fitment with tabs rather than two bolts. In the meantime, I have the one I pictured on this thread after tidying it up. I put it somewhere safe.. very safe. so safe I can't find it yet

Rain has stopped play so after securing the rear windows properly (ie screwing in the latches), that's it for today.

My search for where water is getting into the cabin remains fruitless. Tops of the wings look fine, but I've not given it a more concerted effort.

Also, I said the wipers weren't in .. based off me having a complete linkage and motor in the garage that came back with the car. Nope.. there's one in the car too. To be resolved...

Last bit, car is now not starting. could just be the battery getting tired, but the new fuel filter looks dry as a bone. I probably put it in the wrong way round or something daft.

[peteracs]

Hi Chris

You are correct they are off the S1/S2 pre f/l 1600 with the silver coloured grill.

On the Coupe from what I understand, the f/l had the same surrounds but in black and the only other surrounds are for the later grill which the f/l 2 have.

So, I should have at least one pair of the black f/l and the f/l 2 in my shed if you still need any of them.

Peter

[WestonE]

Hi Chris

Search for Mark Milne and call him. He probably has some of these in good usable condition in his Garage/workshop unit. He does not do mail order but is a great guy to meet on a day out.

Eric

[peteracs]

After looking for a surround for Chris, the f/l ones may very well be different, though not seen a pre f/l black one so far. As Chris mentioned to me, the f/l ones have a fairly large lip around the outside but no lip aro7nd the light surround. The pre f/l silver have small lips around both the outside and the light surround.

Peter

[chrisc]

Minor activity today.

Cleaning up the carpet I picked up from Mark's. This is after I'd already given it a going over with a regular vacuum.. not the house one of course, the wife would be most upset 

Mini rug doctor machine shampoo + vac slurping out brown grossness


Vacuumed out after shampooing..


This left it basically clean but with lots of little bits in still, so next step was to deploy one of those lint rollers with peel off sticky bits


Leaving it in a more than acceptable condition to go in the car when it's ready!

[peteracs]

Hi Chris

On the rubber panels, you can give it a good scrub with soapy water or similar, then when dry use Autoglym rubber restorer which I found brings it up quite well. I used it on various parts on the Spider.

Peter

[SanRemo78]

You'll get a very long thin parcel later this week from Evri - it'll fit through the letterbox Chris! A set of door rods from a passenger door!

Cheers
Guy

[WestonE]

The Carpet Shampoo thing I did on 3 Beta carpets with a Numatic George that I own. The original 25 year old George decided to die after the first one but an eBay bargain later my replacement George did the other 2 easily. Owning one of these of course makes me a target for shampoo cleaning the stair carpet which I have so far ducked.

Eric

[chrisc]

You'll get a very long thin parcel later this week from Evri - it'll fit through the letterbox Chris! A set of door rods from a passenger door!

Cheers
Guy

After this arrived earlier this week I finally ventured outside to fit them. I have now wandered back inside none the wiser. Hopefully I'm just tired! Rod roughly in position, can't see how to get the angle to hook it at the rear of the door, and can't seem to get the door handle to slot in either.

I suspect I'm just getting daft at the handle end but the rear end of the door has me wondering if the method is to unbolt the mechanism, get it to a better access point and try again.

Hints and tips appreciated!

Other activity - grille back on and one light surround. Discovered the grille on top of the bonnet was barely attached, most fixings snapped off and all the receptacles missing. Drilled holes in it instead and fitted nuts and bolts. Need to replace them with black coloured ones for it to be truly subtle but it's good enough for now.

Not sure where the bars that the windscreen washers are mounted to screw into at the err windscreen end, possibly the drainage channel and it's been welded up?

Half hearted attempts to find the leaks have a slight trickle coming down right behind the center of the dashboard, and mystery dampness on the passenger side. Conclusion : I need to take the dashboard out. Think I'll finish the exterior first!

[VXMan]

Any chance of some photos please Chris?

Back in the day I had my doors apart several times and also removed and replaced those washer bars but those days were about 20 years ago now. If I see some photos it may jog my memory (what's left of it).
C

[SanRemo78]

Hi Chris - glad the parcel arrived! To remove the rods, without bending them I simply undid the four bolts holding the door latch on. There was a rubber strip with 2 holes that went to this end, I'm not sure if there should be a similar arrangement at the handle? I think the whole lot should be assembled on the bench and then slotted into the door?

Guy

[chrisc]

Very limited progress recently due to a combination of illness and work pressures.

The exterior is now virtually complete, barring these boot trim steps, Nigel I may take you up on your spares as mine are.. somewhere in the restorers lock up or loft apparently.. Among with the expensive but unused scuttle panel.

New grille badge, and replacement headlight surrounds on, wipers refitted.




The combination of a missing wiper arm cap, and the need for adapters to go from the wiper connected to the arm via a pin arrangement has me looking at options for replacement arms. I've seen adapters available but I don't quite understand what exactly I need. Research is called for.

On the door lock rod, as you said guy, undoing the 4 bolts allowed the access to hook it up there, ran out of time to hook up the handle end.

Slow and steady!

[peteracs]

Hi Chris

I probably have wiper arms in black, will have a look.

Peter

[chrisc]

Little jobs squeezed in during lunch breaks.. telescoping antenna was beyond saving, took a punt on one that looked right, and it was nearly perfect, base is a smidge smaller but a bit of a washer and reused the old black base and it looks right.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252541078616?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=TeHjBWWORBm&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=O_WXgjjtSZS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Wipers.. I think my old betas must have had j hook arms! I don't remember this side pin business at all. Old ones off, seems like I either need a different type of lock for the new blades, or possibly I just change the fitting on the end of the arms.. silly little things that shouldn't be difficult eh

[chrisc]

Wiper blade adapter might be what I need, remove the old pin fitting end and fit these?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Suuonee-Universal-Windshield-Mounting-3392390298/dp/B07WMQ5KZ7

[chrisc]

Things you don't want to see when removing old speakers!

Thankfully the areas behind them had already been repaired, but just shows how far the rot had reached.

Success with the door handle and rod once I realised the handle is fitted from the inside of the door, not the outside.

[WestonE]

A scary image but at least you need not worry about keeping to the original speakers. A modern amplifier would just have them making farting noises as the cones collapse. Watch out for the wing securing bolt behind which will need to be cut down to fit new speakers.

Eric

PS on the Beta Spyder I had to do real metal work to get good rear speakers fitted and put the 4 x50w amp behind the spare wheel in the boot.