And So It Begins....

[SanRemo78]

I’ve been digging through the smaller stuff I collected from Kev, bits I couldn’t look at as I put them away. Lots of nuts, bolts, washers and seat fixings plus plastic fittings. There was only one piece of trim that goes under the sill covers and, miraculously, it was the side I was missing! Another small part ticked off the list!

I’ll add a new thread on the spares area for bits I collected but don’t need next.

Guy

[Clifford]

Hi Guy.
You haven't got a spare silver escutcheon which fits on the door card around the lock button on the inside have you by any chance?
Thanks
C

[SanRemo78]

Probably Clifford! Let me check later today and get back to you!

Guy

[peteracs]

There were two different types, the pre facelift have bright silver finish, the facelift have a satin finish.

You will find that a lot have one or more fingers missing due to difficulty removing/installing

Peter

[SanRemo78]

Clifford, I've got two spare ones with the retaining clip, both are the later satin finish. Unfortunately they are both 3 legged ones. You're welcome to them if it helps? Drop me a PM with your address and I'll pop them in the post to you.
Guy

[Clifford]

That's excellent Guy. Thank you. I will send you a pm.
C

[SanRemo78]

Well that’s the fuel tank out without any stripped fixings. It’s been drained of 20 litres of fuel. The first 10 came out looking pretty clean, the last 10 not so much. A mixture of water and crud. Then an hour being vented with diesel fumes from the 159. The outside of the tank looks okay but the inside….. might need to get a camera in there to see what it’s like. Probably going to be usable once treated by a specialist. Does anyone have one to recommend?

[SanRemo78]

And here’s the cause of the engine failure that led to a teardown by the last owner. There’s one bent valve at least. One day soon I’ll get the block onto a stand and see if it’s seized….

Do you think I could reuse the belt if I stapled the teeth back down and ran it in the other direction?? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Nigel]

Guy,
Your repair plan, incredible , but use stainless clips and some silicon for good measure.
Running it backwards will give you amazing performance with 5 reverse gears, so
make sure your mirrors reflect properly.
Hope this helps.

I spent a week attempting to clean my tank. Shaking it with nuts and bolts inside
brought out so much rust I gave up. I figured the base would be rather thin.

Nigel

[SanRemo78]

Thanks for the thoughts Nigel - the plan wasn't to run the engine backwards, just to take the belt on so that it runs in the other direction to it's original installation. I think Sikaflex would be a better option than silicon......

I'm looking at a POR15 solution to seal the inside of the tank, there's a rust treatment first followed by the sealant but it's a one time attempt to fix I think. So long as it's reasonably solid metal without any holes I think it ought to work. Provided the sealant, once cured, doesn't block the inlet and outlet pipes.

Got the dash out this afternoon, the only fixing I forgot about was the bolt under the dash in the passenger footwell. Soon fixed.

And the bulkhead is rock solid too. Happy days! Heater box next and then the wiring loom next I think.

[SanRemo78]

A lovely sunny day today when I could push the car onto the driveway. The wiring loom is out and labelled up. Mostly… just the two wires in each door for the windows to come out when I strip them down next week.

Also got the pedal box out. And the brake servo. And the cross bulkhead linkages. The shaped (soggy) soundproofing came out in one piece too and may well go back in once dried out.

Rust. Found a patch on the offside inner arch including a pinhole. Looks like it’ll clean up and can be welded up easily enough.

Steering and suspension, headlining and sunroof, fuel and brake lines and door furniture to go. Plus all the remaining plastic fixing blocks to trace and remove. Getting there!

[SanRemo78]

ooh -  another wanted - has anyone got a heater box top flap - the plastic one spare? Mine appears to have been worn through a little!

Guy

[WestonTB]

That all looks pretty damn good. . . aren't these cars meant to have rusted away? . . . still waiting for mine to do that

[SanRemo78]

Come up and see it sometime soon Tim!

The plan to use dry ice and isopropyl alcohol to remove the bitumen floor covering didn't work out. I started to use a scraper tool as my curiosity got the better of me. So far the front footwells are done and half the rears. There are a few other pads to remove underneath the rear seats, on the rear suspension towers and front wheel arches.

So far it's looking not too bad. There is one patch where it's been plated over a split in the floorpan next to the sill. My guess is some muppet jacked the car there and damaged it enough to allow the rot to start. I'm struggling a little for time at the moment - the removal of the pads needs to be done outside the garage on dry days. The shelves appear to be full of parts and trim such that I'm now storing things inside the car itself. Hey ho.

Photos to follow next week if it stays dry and I finish building the bike shed and changing the stereo on the Panda!

Guy

[smithymc]

Guy

I did the POR 15 system on mine so its do-able. Tips- grease or silicone the sender mounting ring and studs to make sure it still 'floats' and you can get the nuts on. (I didn't make a great job of that bit)

Do - wear gloves.

Don't - wear anything you might want to wear again.

Have fun

Mark

[SanRemo78]

Thanks Mark  - I need to look at the tank again once the shell is away. For the time being it's no longer a bomb waiting to go off! i suspect POR15 will be the way to go with it. I have a new sender unit on the way for the car so the old gasket can be sacrificed with a temporary cover. My concern is not blocking up the return and breather pipes..... I may need to ask the POR15 peeps about that nearer the time! There must be something that can be done to stop this.

I have a tarpaulin (actually half a hang glider wing) and a big sheet of plastic ready for the day!

Guy

[SanRemo78]

It’s a 44 year old Lancia Beta. I kept telling myself that this last week or so as the pads came off the floorpan, boot floor and suspension turrets. There’s going to be corrosion I kept telling myself. We’ll at least I’m not disappointed, there is. The boot floor and rear seat area came up as perfect. Well pleased! The four footwells are surface corroded but sound but for a patch that’ll need surgery on the left front outer. I don’t think that’s a huge issue. Front inner arches and front bulkhead aren’t perforated anywhere but will need taking back to solid surfaces to make sure. Rear turrets. There’s rust in the lower seams where they join the boot floor and a patch on either side next to the side bracketry and another lower down on the offside inner side about 6 inches up. All looks repairable for now. Overall I’m chuffed to bits with the floorpan!

[SanRemo78]

Task for the rest of this week (if I can get to it) are removal of the plastic inner trim around the rear window aperture which will allow me to get the headlining and sunroof out for a better look at the state of the tinwork around the perimeter of the roof. Maybe a day or so for removing various plastic trims/plugs etc - especially the under car ones for fuel and brake lines. I suspect the heads I can see poking into the cabin have a centre pin that pushes out which will allow them to be washed and re-used? And with them out the fuel and brake lines can come out after I've made some notes (or taken pictures) for which pipe goes where. Steering, suspension, door furniture and subframes plus arch liners and it'll be time to remove the wings and front valence to see what it's like under there.  

Then book it in to be taken away for paint stripping prior to tinwork. Six week wait I think for the strippers! By then I may have more components to refurb! And hopefully some bits to work with following the open day at Marks!

Guy

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

You should be pleased with the floor pan.

As to the plastic clips, yes, they have a centre pin which you can knock out.

Peter

[SanRemo78]

Nice day today so got to spend it on the driveway whilst keeping an eye on contractors digging up our garden, lifting flags and block paving to install a new gas supply…. Long story 😳

So I got the opportunity to look at the headliner. After a couple of hours work the A,B and C pillar trims were carefully removed without damaging them. The headlining was detached along the sides which allowed me to see how it’s secured front and back and around the sunroof. It’s out now.

Haynes manual for the sunroof itself. No mention. Luckily there’s one on here (thanks Matt) so I’ll know what to expect if I tackle it tomorrow. Oddly it’s not something I’ve removed before. Sadly there is some corrosion up there that will need dealing with one way or the other.