And So It Begins....

[SanRemo78]

In the meantime, the observant will have noted the car is on the wrong side of the garage. That's because the Stratos replica is demanding a little love and attention in the form of a new Wosp starter motor which will require the removal of the back end (done), the anti roll bar, the left exhaust pipe, the manifold and heat shield before I can get to the starter itself. If this Wosp starter fixes the hot start issue I think I might invest in one for the Beta and maybe a Wosp alternator too. It'll have to cope with the electric aircon compressor and fans... Radiator and compressor ordered today, I think my credit card company are getting nervous....

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

Sounds painful.....

I will be interested in the alternator end result as hoping to fit electric PS pump and will therefore need uprated alternator for that.

Peter

[kbetas]

Those wheels / tyres and the exhaust pipes are ridiculous!

[WestonE]

With Electric AC and a High Amp WOSP 175amp Alternator I have been plagued by V Belt slip when the AC is at maximum. I have used an idler to get more belt wrap and now a slightly larger alternator pulley. Use a Poly V belt or tooth drive if you can. Note I have a tooth belt drive set up from Croatia on my bench to work out how I make it work. The crank pulley is 28 tooth not 29 like a VX crank pulley toothed pulley so I will have to have a toothed crank pulley drive made to run the alternator WP and Volumetrico SC. Alan Young Engineering for this. If you are not using a VX or Volumetrico and have no need for an ECU trigger disc mount it is a great solution. I have some engineering drawings to do!

Eric   

[SanRemo78]

Those wheels / tyres and the exhaust pipes are ridiculous!

Thank you!

Well I stood back and admired the installation of the new Wosp starter this afternoon and then noticed the heat shield was still lying on the floor.... It has a couple of holes in not, corrosion, so I need to dig a spare one out IF I can remember where it is and strip the manifold off again. Hey ho.

The air con radiator also arrived today and the measurements on the website were for the core. The dryer on one end and the hose pipe block mean it won't fit where I thought it would but it's still workable with an iE or VX radiator I think. £75 not wasted just yet! Compressor will arrive tomorrow but I need to swap the cars back over as I can't open the bonnet where it is at the moment - there's a big Lancia illuminated sign preventing that!

Guy

[SanRemo78]

Heat shield back in place to protect the (expensive) Wosp starter motor... It took a bit of persuading to fit as the new one has a different shape but it's amazing what you can achieve with a lump hammer and a bit of directed violence.....

The compressor also arrived today and looks good, wiring instructions simple enough even for me but I don't like the design/quality of the connector block that came with it. It's a universal one so you can connect a self made loom direct to the battery. contacts are too exposed and it just looks amateurish. I will find another way.

Tomorrows task will be to clean the chassis of the Stratos before I put the rear clip back on and then swap the cars around so I can get back to the Beta and start CAD work to fabricate brackets for the compressor and look at mounting the radiators. I suspect I'm going to have to go bespoke for the water radiator now. Can't design that until the engine is installed. And that needs checking over before I attempt installation!

Guy

[SanRemo78]

Today was an expensive one. All heating and cooling related with an awful lot of searching interwebs.

Andrea left me alone today and went for a walk, she hates being in the house when there are workmen in and today it was the boiler being changed. There is more noise to come as the cupboard needs surgery before it will go back in place and can I find the bloody jigsaw.....

So, internet research and the use of a measuring stick in the last couple of days in the interests of filling the void that is the hole where the radiator lives. Measured at 660mm wide and 350mm tall from the top surface of the crossmember to the underside of the engine steady bracket plus a little wiggle room and a day searching for something suitable that should keep the engine cool, oil temperatures low and the interior nice and cold when needed and I've ended up with the following solutions, now winging their way to the front door ready for further modification!

First off is the radiator itself, I went for a ready made custom one that's got a core that't 360*300*70 (four rows) with overall dimensions of 465*310*70. The original Beta core is 470*320*40 so the extra rows should give more cooling area. Time will tell! It'll have mounting lugs for fans, inlet and outlet on the left side and a vent pipe for the expansion tank already built in. It should also have fan mounting lugs on the front.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/405423437366?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11400.m144671.l197929&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=72ff2ad4b886493ab36373c2fbd8d4ae&bu=43153383004&exe=0&ext=0&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20251015063729&segname=11400

Next is the oil cooler, I went with a Setrab one, not the cheapest option but the engine deserves it! It's 330 tall and 146 wide (installed vertically) with a set of mounting bobbins adding about 30mm to it's width makes a radiator pack width of (465+146+30) 641mm and by the time I've got ducting at the sides sorted and mounts top and bottom made I think that will fill the hole nicely.

https://www.t7design.co.uk/setrab-series-6-235mm-19-row-oil-cooler-black-50-619-7612.html

Lastly there is the air conditioning radiator and I've gone with one from T7 Designs (one stop shop for most of the installation except the compressor and evaporator I hope) that measures 593*350 and looks to be a perfect fit. Again, Time will tell. I think I'll be able to use the front fan mounting lugs on the radiator to secure one side and the bracketry I need to fabricate for the oil cooler for the other side.

https://www.t7design.co.uk/ac-condenser-radiator-593-x-350mm-30311346cp.html

As for mounting this radiator pack I may be able to suspend it from the underside or back face of the top slam panel and support it using two existing brackets on the front of the  crossmember which would be ideal as it would give more space behind to utilise for the carburetors and air box (to be designed) and also an Accusump.

Needless to say there are still more components bought (driers/trinary switch and brackets plus oil cooler unions and bulkhead adaptors) and much more to buy (pipework, unions and fill valves) but it all needed to be sorted now to allow me to more other parts along!

Guy

[SanRemo78]

And with all that done I now realise that the powder coated fan surround is sitting there looking forlorn and that the radiator should probably be put somewhere out of the way. And the new old stock radiator surround/ducting I've bought are now surplus to requirements. Open to offers!

Guy

[SanRemo78]

Waiting for the DHL driver to pitch up today and wondering how to make some progress - I decided to assemble the gear linkage. I'll have to be partially dismantled to install it but most will go in when the engine is fitted onto the subframe. I ended up buying a set of ball joint sockets from Fortunata Valenza and they're a tight fit - once the powder coating had been removed they pretty much slipped in. The ball joints need modification to drop the thread through but that's no biggie, I just want to Loctite the three of them next. There is a short shift kit to fit from Mark yet. I'm probably going to leave that until the linkage is in and adjusted to my satisfaction, changing that out later shouldn't be too much of an issue. Famous last words.
Guy

[SanRemo78]

So, at lunchtime the DHL driver rocked up with a parcel from Coolex containing the new radiator. Comparing it to the original one you can see the matrix is slightly smaller. Similar number of fins but the new one is at least twice the thickness so there's more capacity in the radiator itself and more surface area to get temperatures down.

[SanRemo78]

And just resting in place where I hope it'll live with the oil cooler next to it. There's clearance all round the perimeter and the intention is to weld a could of mountings on the bottom of the radiator for rubber bobbins to locate it and couple of brackets on the top, to a couple of rubber bobbins mounted on the vertical face of the front slam panel. The oil cooler will be mounted to it's own dedicated vertical brackets and any gaps sorted to force airflow through both cores.

[SanRemo78]

And from the front. The aircon radiator I've got is too big, I'm contemplating modifying it by cutting a row off and shortening the side tanks to suit which would probably work but any warranty goes out the window.. It might be easier to return the one I got and swap it for the smaller (but more expensive!) one from T7.

Guy

[SanRemo78]

Next headache is the air con installation itself. I haven't worked out where everything is going to live yet. The obvious place for the compressor is on the right inner wing and that's going to require minor surgery to fit in the form of four holes being drilled. I need to get that absolutely right. The issue is routing the refrigerant pipework. I haven't worked out where Lancia put it yet but suspect it's somewhere on the left side of the bulkhead which is going to mean longer pipes than I'd like...

The option that I'm looking at first is taking them through the bulkhead near the steering column mount, underneath the scuttle and boy, has that turned the air blue this afternoon. I needed to find and install the clutch pedal actuation rod that comes through the bulkhead to the pull lever and realized that it was something that is best installed before the pedal box goes in. Best is great but I managed it without removing everything somehow. I then attached the clutch cable to see what clearances are like and it looks possible maybe. Until I get a pipe union onto the bulkhead fitting I got from T7 Designs I won't know if the clutch cable installation fouls it. Or if it's possible to tighten the locknut inside the car as well as the inner unions. The shape of the underside of the dashboard there complex and this may require removal of the pedal box first.

[SanRemo78]

Having slept on it overnight the potential positioning of the bulkhead fittings have been ruled out. I think I'll need them for the wiring loom...

Plan B. I dragged out all the components that I acquired from Nigel and did a dry assembly of it off the car and this was the only way I could make the components fit together. I think that the lower pipe must have been attached to the to the subframe. The dryer looks like it sits on the left side inner chassis rail infront of the battery, there are a couple of holes that line up there just above the gearbox damper mount but the solid output pipe looks like it wants to be routed where the battery tray lives...

Has anyone got a diagram showing the installation? The only clues from the pipes I have is a rubber grommet around one but I can't see any obvious holes in the bulkhead for it. Of course, a UK supplied car might not have had an air con option?

Guy

[JASPER_40]

In you pic there is no Vacuum reservoir / tank shown.....

[Ferrit]

Waiting for the DHL driver to pitch up today and wondering how to make some progress - I decided to assemble the gear linkage. I'll have to be partially dismantled to install it but most will go in when the engine is fitted onto the subframe. I ended up buying a set of ball joint sockets from Fortunata Valenza and they're a tight fit - once the powder coating had been removed they pretty much slipped in. The ball joints need modification to drop the thread through but that's no biggie, I just want to Loctite the three of them next. There is a short shift kit to fit from Mark yet. I'm probably going to leave that until the linkage is in and adjusted to my satisfaction, changing that out later shouldn't be too much of an issue. Famous last words.
Guy

I hope your gear changes are silky smooth with linkage looking like that.  I have a rebuild kit and was thinking its lasted years so hopefully will do the same again.  I might take a look at the ones you mention now... [slippery slope]

[SanRemo78]

The new air con system won't be using the vacuum controls so the reservoir (whatever it looks like or lives) won't be needed. I'm planning on installing linear actuators to open and close the heater valve, redirect the airflow and the recirculation.

For anyone interested so far I've noted:
1. There's a condenser in it with a valve poking out the side 
2. The heater matrix is the same on both types.
3. The vacuum controls are mounted on bosses that also appear on the standard one.
4. The inlet flap, visible in the scuttle, is different to the non aircon box. When it's shut there's a flap that opens on the back of the box to recirculate airflow inside the car.
5. Dash controls are completely different save for the heater slider and flap opener.

I won't be using the original controls either, I'm still working on that aspect of the installation but the space it's occupying is likely where a bunch of switches is going to live below a double din radio aperture with a clock and ashtray delete. That's the next job once I'm happy the aircon and radiators installation is finalized.
Guy

[SanRemo78]

Gearchanges being silky smooth? I think that's down to the driver's ability to match engine revs to the speed when changing gears. Selection is another matter and, having played with the Stratos one over the years it's a matter of setup I hope! Elimination of anything that's causing slop will improve it and that's the tightness of various bolts and ball joints in the linkage and wear in the five sockets (three large and two small) plus the bushing at the front gearbox mount. The one area I haven't looked at yet is the gear lever mount in the cabin, it's held in by two studs at the front and one at the rear with bushed rubber grommets in the mounting. They give a little and, if I'm not happy with the change I'll look at making them a little more solid. Other areas to consider are the state of the front and (especially) the rear gearbox mounts and the state of the gearbox damper. Any unwanted movements there will affect the gear change too.

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

I found some play in the 'swivel' part which is located on the bolt highlighted in red. I found you need to shim it just enough so it is not tight, but not loose....

Peter

[SanRemo78]

Thanks for the heads up Peter! I'll check that when I drop the subframe to install it!