Beta Volumex HPE restoration

[squiglyzigly]

Work on the HPE has taken a back seat whilst the other 3 roadworthy cars deserved maintenance and repairs. But things have still been ticking over with external machining jobs and small detail jobs that I would rather do before finally painting the shell.
One such job that was niggling me was replacing the two window washer reservoirs. I’m not a fan of the fragile front windscreen washer bottle mounted under the windscreen scuttle panel and I wanted to combine both bottles into one.
Initially I would have preferred a washer bottle under the n/s wing like most modern cars but the filler neck would have needed to be where I intend putting a secondary fuse box for fuel injection power and relays.
So my second idea was to put a single bottle with two pumps where the original rear washer bottle lives. Some hours later on eBay and for the grand sum of a tenner I had myself a Suzuki Alto two pump reservoir to experiment with.

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In less time than it took me to find a suitable reservoir, I knocked up some stainless bracketry and mounted it in the location of the original rear bottle. Once the shell is painted I will run the feed pipe to the front of the car in hard nylon pipe. Then once the car is refitted with carpets and trims I shall see if I need to protect the filler neck from knocks and bangs.

[Paul Kindermann]

Hello Peter - huge restoration you're doing - be great to see how it's going.

As an aside - what have you done with the hard full lines from tank to firewall? Have you used the old ones, renewed them and run them inside the cabin or run something else? I've got a split line in mine (in Australia) and wondering if running a new line under the floor might be an option, and I'm therefore curious to see if others have.

If you get the  chance - would love to hear how you tackled this. All the best

thanks
 

[squiglyzigly]

Hi Paul,

I haven’t run the new fuel lines yet as the shell is still in primer.  I removed the original hard lines that are routed inside the car and have made plans to replace them in 8mm copper in more or less the original positioning. The only real change will be the start and end points will be different as I am intending to go fuel injection, therefore flares and fittings will differ from original.
One change I have made is where the hard lines pass through the bulkhead. Instead of the lines squeezing past the throttle pedal, into the engine bay, and then squeezing past the end of the steering rack and up along the chassis rail I have chosen to go through the wheel arch near the bonnet release handle and along the space behind the front wing. Then the lines enter the engine bay through the inner wing to more or less the original position for the fuel pressure regulator next to the power steering reservoir.

Hope this makes sense. I’ll post some pictures when I get back in the garage. Busy decorating the house at the moment.

Cheers
Ian

[squiglyzigly]

I’ve finally finished one of the many pieces of the jigsaw that I’ve been simultaneously working on. It took longer than I’d hoped but these things always do.  I’ve got 2 original spoilers, neither that I’m happy with, so I decided to make a fiberglass replica. I done this in a very amateur way by laying fiberglass matting over one of the originals, and the same on the tailgate for the base, then bonding the two halves together. A skim of filler and finished in 2k Matt lacquer over solid black base then adorned with a couple of new old stock badges from Italy that I’ve been lucky to find. I’ve got a nice condition used Lancia shield for the centre.
Fitting a less than perfect old rubber spoiler was losing me sleep on this project.
Very happy with the outcome.

Cheers
Ian

[Nigel]

Looks great Ian, and probably not as heavy.
Did you put fixings into the base before joining the halves?

Nice work,

N

[lancialulu]

Thats perfect!

[squiglyzigly]

Thanks Nigel
No I didn’t put fixings in the base. After lots of head scratching and considering various options from rubber nuts used in motorcycle fairings to captive stainless studs like the original, I settled on re-enforcing the fixing areas and going with self tapping stainless cap screws. When I finally fix it to the tailgate I will use flexible non setting seam sealer like the stuff found along the front wings. I’ve got a pack of it. Terostat VII.
It will allow spoiler removal without cutting should needs be.

Ezee

[squiglyzigly]

Thanks Lulu
Something I chose to do was make the spoiler a couple of millimetres larger. It now sits edge to edge on the tailgate unlike the foam originals. My thinking is that the originals have all shrank and don’t look very nice having a piece of exposed tailgate at each end. I think it will look tidier.

Ezee

[peteracs]

Hi

Nice solution to what is now a common problem with the rear spoilers.

Peter

[squiglyzigly]

I had an hour to kill so I thought I’d do a little tidying up. Found the front ARB laying around and noticed the ends had significant corrosion where the outer rubber bush holds water. Subsequently it was undersized by about a millimetre. So I decided to have a go at repairing it in my own way. No idea if it’s been done before but I couldnt see a reason not to try this. I ran a line of weld then dressed it with a flap disc on the angle grinder. Rotated and repeated. Final dressing with emery cloth strip and I think I’ve got a serviceable roll bar out of it.

Cheers
Ezee

[Nigel]

That's a very tidy outcome Ian.

N

[Ferrit]

Thats a good use of a couple hours.  I bet your chuffed with that

M

[squiglyzigly]

Next up, the subframe. Almost every subframe I’ve dropped out has had fatigue fractures around the captive nuts or worse. Normally I just weld them up and hope that’s the end of it. I decided to take a different approach this time by cutting out the whole lot and remaking with thicker guage sheet.

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Whist general cleaning and a few extra welds here and there I also decided to add a purpose made jacking point as the original point on the front cross member isn’t the sturdiest of designs.
I got this bmw mount for 6 quid on eBay and made a support for it to fit on the subframe. I tweeked the design from the supplied plastic dowel to hold it in place, to a couple of bolts. I imagine they fall off BMW’s quite regularly with the plastic pegs judging by the price and availability.
Then a 2k Matt laqueur over black base to finish.