And So It Begins....

[SanRemo78]

So, Monday 16th January 2023, and I've started the teardown. And added some more parts to the wanted list! Hey ho.

It's been on the driveway since I brought it home waiting for space in the garage and it's going to need some seals. It leaks somewhere. Maybe everywhere. Condensation on the inside of the glass was the clue, maybe it got in there on the long drive home from Norwich or maybe it's just the crap weather or I didn't notice it when picking it up..... Anyhooo. It was a swimming pool in there which, oddly, was a little encouraging. Colanders don't hold water....

Got home today about 11ish after a run to the vets with the cat. Repeat trip tomorrow. Don't ask. And it's the first dry day since I got the car. Well, outside the car anyway. So, time to strip out the interior, dug out the toolkit and started around 12. With this:

[SanRemo78]

Of course I was concerned about corroded fixings in a 40 year old Beta but how bad could it be? Only way to find out was to start! So, passenger seat, four allen bolts and the first issue, the seat tilt mechanisms are frozen or loose. The seats slide though so forward enough to get at the rear ones and back to get the front ones out. All tight but free! Repeat for the drivers seat. Happy days. Then the carpet edging, pulled the rubber infill out and 5 Phillips screws per side. Out of the 10 all came out without fuss! Put them back in their holes, infill back in place and onto the shelf. Door bins, 4 screws on the passenger side and 3 on the drivers. One totally AWOL but all just popped out. Then the seatbelts, left and right in the sills and either side of the centre tunnel. Tight to start but all came undone without fuss! Rear seats just lifted out. Side trims, two screws in each armrest, one Phillips in the trim at shoulder height, two in each stainless trim behind the belts and the plastic clips just pop out. I think one broke. Both cards are damp. Bugger. Two bolts on each seatbelt bracket and one each keeping the reels in place. No complaints from them either. That gave me a first look at tinwork on the inside of the rear wings. There's rustproofing fluid sprayed everywhere.
Next it's the centre tunnel. Two screws and two plastic fir tree types fix the middle to the bottom, simple job and out it comes once cables are undone. Two screws at the front on each side of the console and two midway on the floor. Gearlever trim off, gearlever knob off and the first breakage, the rubber is perished and it pretty much disintegrates. I need another or something aftermarket now. Hey ho. Then the centre tunnel comes out and we're making progress. Footwell kick panel under the dash drops out and straight on the shelf! Two screws holding down the bridge over the gear mechanism for the centre tunnel just undo easily and then lever the back of the tunnel over the seatbelt bracket and the centre tunnel is out.
Two nuts to remove the seatbelt bracket from the floor, three nuts from the gear change mechanism and I can slide the carpet towards the back of the car, over the handbrake and gear-lever and it's out too. Now hanging up in the garage drip drying. I'll need to shampoo it properly in the summer but it looks good despite all the ingrained crud with just a minor split in the drivers footwell mat.

And I'm left with this...

[SanRemo78]

Then a little work with a scoop and a sponge and the carpet is coming out and it's moment of truth, what's the floorpan like underneath?

A bit like this actually!

[SanRemo78]

More work with the sponge and rip out the underfelt to get at the floor underneath and see what the metal is like. Well, you're going to have wait for a photo as this muppet forgot to take one as it was getting dark and I needed to tidy up and put a cover over the car. Suffice it to say there are no holes in the floor that I can see that shouldn't be there. There is a fair bit of surface corrosion and one area, about 12 inches by 3 inches that's not pretty but looks strong. I'll find out next time I look at it. Next task is to hoover out the remains of the underfelt that turned to dust when I lifted it out (only the drivers footwell - the others were soaking and fell apart) as well as the loose crap that's lying on the floorpan. I'll treat the surface rust with a converter and red oxide primer as soon as I can.

I'll post a picture of the floorpan once I've hoovered it out if I remember!

So, what's left inside the car now? It's the rear seat backs - I think they undo from inside the boot?
The door cards - they're next once I've identified which way to push the door handle trims off so I don't break the locating lugs!
The trim above the drivers footwell (never seen one of those before - but never gone looking!)
The dashboard which can wait a while as well as the headliner and sunroof. It'll need to be under cover before I can strip out the glass to deal with that.

Next on the list is to fit a set of inflated tyres Tim gave me so I can move it more easily and then get it into the garage to remove the block and gearbox and assess the other mechanical bits!

Loving it so far!

Guy

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

Looking good so far, especially if those rear inner wings are in good shape.

Peter

[SanRemo78]

Hi Peter, I think the rear inner wings are solid, both sides, front and back. I need to remove the seat backs to be able to see all around them and maybe the mastic pads on the inside of the boot as well as the floorpan but judging by the state of the inside surfaces of the outer wings visible now the trims are out it's just caked with rustproofing fluid.

The original plan was to dip the shell and I will probably do that but it's going to remove what's saved the car's body until now and may open up seams that are then hard to fully dry out, prime, paint and rustproof again. I'll be needing advice from specialists before I take that step. It may be better just to remove paint in suspect areas and/or check with a magnet. There are issues with the front screen surround and the roof by the sunroof.... I wonder how easy it is to find a pristine roof/scuttle panel from a 1600 and do a sunroof delete?

Obviously I'll be letting experts see the state of the shell before much is done to it. Tim and Jacob are planning a visit once it's safely tucked away in the garage!

Guy

[WestonE]

Great work Guy

On the Shell strip / dip both Stuart and I used Envirostrip because there is no acid dip that can be left in seams. You do need to make sure ALL box sections have large enough drain holes. I had a bit of residual carbonized paint in the inner roof box and the seat cross boxes. It was easy to get rid of and not like the Sand Blast experience where sand appears for 10 years after!

Enjoy

Eric

[SanRemo78]

Are they in Tamworth? I'll have a look at their website and have a think! I guess it's an expensive process, there seems to be quite a lot involved?

Guy

[SanRemo78]

Well here's the floorpan without the soundproofing felt.. Some corrosion but no perforations that I've found yet. Some areas to be treated at the weekend with rust converter and primer.

[SanRemo78]

And here's the crossmember under the rear seats - was this the potentially problematic one Peter referred to?

[SanRemo78]

And here are the rear suspension towers, I need to remove the bitumen pads covering them but I see no signs of corrosion or rust staining yet. Hopefully it'll stay that way.
Left tower inside the boot, left tower down into the inside of the wheel arch and right tower inside the boot.
Apologies if anything isn't clear enough - I have tried to brighten the exposures a little!
Guy

[peteracs]

And here's the crossmember under the rear seats - was this the potentially problematic one Peter referred to?

Hi Guy

Yes it is underneath this crossmember which can be unpainted and often rots, but your floor looks pretty amazingly good…..

Peter

[SanRemo78]

This is the worst patch I've found so far Peter, it's passenger side footwell next to the inner sill. The white spots aren't perforations but flakes of white paint. It does need urgent treatment and possibly cutting out and plating properly. That's not a huge issue in the scheme of things!

I suspect there is metalwork to be done on the front inner wings on the upper box section, the windscreen surround/scuttle and sunroof. Fortunately there are repair panels available and others aren't complex shapes.

Guy

[HFStuart]

If you want to be 100% sure you'll need to remove that bitumen type sound deadening and get someone to shine an inspection lamp from underneath while you look for pinholes - but it does look surprisingly good.  How are the U section channels that run along the edges of the floors?

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

I assume this car had the front wing liners?

If so then they usually save you a lot of grief compared to the earlier cars where the inner and outer wings rotted out all along the top part of them.

Peter

[SanRemo78]

I plan to have some fun removing the bitumen pads from the floor and suspension towers once it's under cover in the garage. It might spook the neighbours a little though Stuart!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMMddYg1Zxw

And yes Peter, it has the plastic inner arch liners, all look to be intact, hopefully the fixing screws will come out as easily as every single one in the interior did! No chance, this stuff will have been exposed for longer!

I'm hoping it will be good underneath too!

Guy

[WestonE]

Hi Guy

Yes they are in Tamworth and a HUGE timesaver for a full restoration including getting those bitumen pads off. Be aware of course it will show the absolute truth about the shell i.e. holes you did not know about, previous dodgy repairs, accident damage hidden behind filler etc. I thought I had given them a fully re-metaled shell but still found pin holes in the floor under the seat support cross member.

Do not send them Petrol tanks to strip because the process melts the solder holding the pipes in place and you get a petrol tank kit back as I did!

As always time vs money and how much do you like stripping paint and sound proofing.

Take lots of pictures now of everything. When it comes to re-doing the sound proofing and wiring you will be glad you did.

Eric 

[HFStuart]

Guy  - also I haven't forgotten about the spit  / tilter. I just keep running our of hours in the day.

[SanRemo78]

Thanks both!

No rush on the pictures Stuart, the car isn't in the garage yet to be stripped. It still isn't on wheels that hold air yet. But that might change this weekend! Once in the garage I'm hoping teardown will take a few weeks/a month if I can get to it daily for a few hours. It's the bagging, labelling etc that will take the time. A chassis tilter/rotisserie would be nice, I'm not looking forward to trying to remove fuel lines and suspension bits whilst underneath the car.

I'm not looking forward to removal of the front and rear screens although I think it'll need a new front one, I spotted some delamination yesterday. Hey ho.

Guy

[Nigel]

Greetings Guy,

It looks like you've found a really good shell, and most of the bits appear sound.
If you have a heat gun, warming the bitumen slightly make removal
relatively easy.

On the windscreen, there's quite a long lead time at Pilkingtons so it's worth
ordering early on. There's an abrasive screen-cutting wire which makes removal easier.

You commented on the power windows early on: The motors will probably be ok, it's
the spiral cables that may be worn at one end, a reversal cures that. Fiddly, but do-able.
The window tracks/felt guides also gum up.

Watching, and you've my renewed enthusiasm for mine which has been waning a bit
recently!

Nigel