SA Import Beta 2000 Coupe

[Ferrit]

what did you use to sort it Peter?  I should have some new TCA bushes coming also so maybe I should just get on with it whilst the heads out of the way

Mark

[peteracs]

I had a couple of spare pins and various washers and used the best fitting parts to reduce both up and down movement and play in the shaft and swivel. Assuming the bearings and shaft are good then just the up/down movement can be adjusted by using shim washers etc. The problem is too tight and no movement, too loose and you get up/down movement, so small changes make a difference.

Peter

[JASPER_40]

Hi Peter,

The gear change was always noisy on all my Betas and I have always thought that this spindle spacer was a major contributor.

Did you find this job worth doing in terms of making the gear change quieter ?

Cheers

Steve

[Ferrit]

Needs to be added to the "Things that Mark (Betaboyz) should sell" list 

For me I want to strip it and repair and back together as fast as possible.  Now I need to strip it, but before remove the rack mountings, measure said item and go look for a replacement for x days/weeks.  If anyone has one out a measurement would be groovy 

[peteracs]

Hi Peter,

The gear change was always noisy on all my Betas and I have always thought that this spindle spacer was a major contributor.

Did you find this job worth doing in terms of making the gear change quieter ?

Cheers

Steve

Noisy? Never really thought of it as noisy really. My big issue was when I returned from France last year getting 5th became increasingly difficult, eventually almost impossible. The main culprit was one of the nuts from that small link rod had become loose and hence an amount of play, but whilst investigating that I noticed the upward movement of the swivel arm (slight but noticeable) so a 'whilst I was in there moment', I decided to improve that at the same time which took a significant amount of time due to the rack being in the way.

The end result has been a very improved gear change, though will be interesting to see how much of an improvement the short change kit goes when I install on the HPE.

Peter

[Ferrit]

Four tins of Bart Hamber wax in the rear panels and back end of the sills, In fact any home I could find.  I will stick a camera up it at some point again.

Refitted my rear interior light but it seems to be dead, I will check it with a meter tomorrow.

Lower water rail back onto the new pump, anyone know the torque for the two nuts holding it on and compressing the o-ring?  I couldnt find a setting so went with Oooo pressure.

Tomorrow some new hoses and stainless jubilee clips to go on.  Waiting for an order from BB/Mark to get the gear change rods back in.

M

[Ferrit]

so the gear change rods with new bearings and new little rod fitted.  The little rod was horrible to fit on a gravel drive with not much room from below.  One last nut to go and the new bush on the rod on the gearbox.

I now have replacement bushes for the tcr's inner connections.  It has something home made fitted currently so these should be relatively easy.  There cant be any more bushes for me to replace 

Tonight I fitted the Betaboyz Quick Shift Kit to the GC.  All easy enough.  I have not mig welded for 35 years when I was given a good very used unit winter 2023/4, I practised for a for a few weeks and then the Beta purchase stopped me, and I was scared in setting my shed alight...

So actually quite happy I was able to do this tonight.  Anyways its all covered up in the car when fitted

Head should be back Monday, one set of guides were the wrong size so he had to order more.  Plan this weekend is get everything ready as I can.  I have a selection of cams from Peter (thank you again) and a pair I found on eBay.  Alan thinks they are off a Fiat 130TC so not sure if they should be used.  I will take all to the engineer to look at and then if still a concern I can get more from someone on the Twin-Cam FB page. 

Happy weekend to everyone :-)

[peteracs]

Hi Mark

Well done on the gearshift, for one minute on viewing the photos I thought you had forgotten to remove the original collar!

I still have that job to do.

Peter

[Ferrit]

After finishing I had a horrible feeling I did it wrong and had to check my photo's :-)  What on earth did we do before cameras on our phones?

[Ferrit]

Interior almost fully back in on the weekend.

Collected the cylinder head and assorted bits and bobs.  Looking good.  He said the face was excellent and didn’t need a skim.

Question: one of the cyl head dowels is mashed a little.  Any thoughts where I can some?  Are they all the same, ie Early Fiats and LMC?

Cams were checked out.  130’s are almost perfect.

I will start building and mock it up tonight hopefully.

Mark

[WestonE]

You can get close to final shims by using on cam box at a time, a greased base gasket 4 x 4.00 shims and letting it settle for at least 2 hours. Oiled cam bearings and lobes rotate 2 cycles and check/record the shim clearances. Depending on the valve setup height you might need 2 cam box base gaskets stacked to get to a sensible shim range. In rare cases no cam box base gasket only carefully sparingly applied RTV sealant. Easier to find this stuff out one cam box at a time with the head off. Read that GC manual it is your friend now! I see cam timing discs and Magnetic DTI gauges in your future as you get the cams timed in each cam box and marked.     

[Ics19]

Question: one of the cyl head dowels is mashed a little.  Any thoughts where I can some?  Are they all the same, ie Early Fiats and LMC?

Not sure about later models but same as montes:

https://www.eurosport-uk.net/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=51_66&products_id=816

[Ferrit]

Right ordered some from AECar, along with some cam carried gsks.

Thanks for the advice again

[WestonE]

While I remember get some 8x1.25 plugs to Loctite into the unused VX Stud holes to avoid annoying leaks later. Also ensure the exhaust studs that go into the oil bath have loctite sealant on them to stop oil weeping onto your exhaust.
The cam base gaskets you want will have a red sealant band on them. Anything else will need a smear of RTV on both sides or they will leak! When they stopped being asbestos based they became hopeless. This was why GC commissioned a better design.   

[Ferrit]

Tah-dah!  Little dots mark the spot.

Had some fun last night.  Bought some spare gaskets and did as I was told.  I have a list of shims to get now.  I will then recheck before trying a dry run on the engine, manifolds off.

It was quite hard to measure clearances as the shims I have were very close to the buckets.  So I will get some spares so I can do this a second time.  How long should I run the engine before I re-check again?

Other fun I had was worried about the cam dizzy drive and the end caps.  I dont really want to machine this off, but when fully tightened the end cap is hard against the drive.  Long story short two gaskets seems to fine, but then the edges are no longer there as a support for possible end float.  I think I am going to try cutting a drive size hole through a donor end cap and then use another on top to seal.  Hope that makes sense

[SanRemo78]

If you've got two gaskets I'd be tempted to make a spacer rather than drill a hole in a cover that you'll then struggle to seal by placing another cap over it. Or, if you've got a spare cover, just remove the raised section to create the spacer?

[Ferrit]

I was thinking similar.  I will check with the other cover in a mo. 

Other gaskets, do I use Wellseal on items such as Inlet Manifold for example?  Any recommendations for other items such as the temp senders?

Mark

[lancialulu]

I use wellseal on everything other than head gasket, rocker gaskets and exhaust manifold......

[WestonE]

With 2 end caps cut a hole in one large enough to clear the peg drive. In the second use a hole saw to cut out a round blank which you then weld over the first one. If you drill holes around the edge of the round bland you can neatly plug weld it in place and dress the welds. Add some sealant to the join inside and out then paint the outside. 

The IE cam end plates have a different design to match the IE cam boxes FYI.

[Ferrit]

Hi Eric, I am sort of there now.  I have a spare one coming to modify.  It took me a while to get there but I had the eureka moment.. :-). Interestingly I didn’t realise the cap is a sort of cam end float check plate.  You can see a tiny amount of wear on the edges.  So Guy you need the edges of the plate in place, but a hole to clear the peg drive only.

Question, where do you source cam carrier base gaskets as you describe?  I can’t find them.