maybe some progress......

[rossocorsa]

thanks to our good friend Steve Thompson some progress being made on the VX another 8 years and it might be finished!! Here is the special tool for anti roll bar installation in action.....




just the offside sill, front offside suspension, front crossmember, engine recommissioning and a full bare metal respray oh and put everything that was taken off 8 years ago back on (now where did I put ...and how on earth did that fit....) and it's finished.......

[Neil-yaj396]

Once again, nice to see some clean suspension. Hope you can crack on now. The sill you passed to me is hopefully going on in the next cuople of weeks, then the MOT.

[rossocorsa]

first time pushed out the garage in years looks too high at the back hoping that's just suspension needing to settle! lots more to do off side sill front crossmember etc etc.....and then we need to get it running.....

[RickyJ]

Looking good, Nice wheels BTW - Are they Alleycats?

[rossocorsa]

Looking good, Nice wheels BTW - Are they Alleycats?

not entirely sure I think they are German made Intra-Exip however the KBA approval number doesn't seem to be Exip but they are very very similar, whatever they have a nice deep dish the most important attribute on both Beta alloys and apple pies!! They do need a rim refurb but I'm hoping they'll look the biz. 

[WestonE]

Fantastic to see a VX coming together keep it going guys.

It is amazing to see my old wheels alive and well! They are not Alley Cats they are K&N 7x15 and were rare years ago, but they are really light compared to most options.

Eric 

[Harpo]

Keep the photos coming please!
Great inspiration for us all.
I have plans for my VX, but summer seems to be gone (too busy out on the bike!) and the colder weather isn't far away now. I'm looking for a way to keep an area of the garage heated so that work can carry on over the darker months. Let's get these cracking cars back on the road!

[rossocorsa]

no pictures but at the moment the offside hub and wishbone is off fitting new wishbone wheel bearing refurbished brake calliper various bushes track rod end etc I built up a small pile of spares over the years the idea being that we would renew as much as possible on the car with regard to suspension/brakes and so on. Oh and the engine mount on the cambelt side has had it too luckily i have a new one lurking in a box somewhere

[rossocorsa]

couple of pictures not that they really explain much


 

[rossocorsa]

progress still slow other jobs taking priority such as gardening, repairing the cars that usually do work when they are not etc..... the offside sill is cut off inner sill is not too bad aside from bottom edge and both extremities, the horizontal section that meets the floor is a mess of rough rusty repairs and also needs chopping out. This side is a lot worse than the nearside which in my experience is typical of Lancias. I have separated the spare engine from its subframe and gearbox whilst the engine in the car was (is??) OK i might opt for the spare as it has had a refurbed head, bottom end bearings and so on fitted not long before the car was scrapped so may be a better bet although I don't know the quality of the work. Subframe appears better than the one in the car at least in that the dents are not so big!! Anyone ever seen a beta subframe that doesn't have dents?? So maybe I will build up the spare engine and subframe and then swap them over. As usual thanks to Steve Thompson for help with welding, mechanical bits and his encyclopaedic knowledge of Beta repair technique trivia.     

[MattNoVAT]

Great progress so far, keep at it and she'll start to come together very quickly!

Nice to see others getting motivated.... hopefully a good turnout of high quality Betas for the 40th Anniversary?

[rossocorsa]

Great progress so far, keep at it and she'll start to come together very quickly!

Nice to see others getting motivated.... hopefully a good turnout of high quality Betas for the 40th Anniversary?

cutting all this stuff off is quite scary but at least it kind of looks like it is getting somewhere, as soon as the sill is done it's subframe and engine gearbox out ...to think it all started with some minor welding for the rear turrets..........I am really hoping it'll be done for next year but there are a lot of conflicting demand from the wife and a lack of funds to contend with as well. It needs to be done though getting to be an embarrassment.

[rossocorsa]

Steve is doing a truly magnificent job with the offside sill and floor, it is 2000% worse than the other side and has needed some rather involved and complex repairs










meanwhile I have made zero real progress on the spare engine....... 

[MattNoVAT]

I'm jealous ! 

Everyone seems to be working hard on their cars and I can't

Still I made myself feel better by going to Sears and buying some tools.

A great moment wheeling the car out the garage..... I bet you had a smile on you face.

I've seem the special tool in the Lancia dealer manual - any chance you can post up the details like length and post pics of the ends. I may make my own.

Keep up the good work - it'll be on the road in no time

[rossocorsa]

sorry for late reply been on hols, I'll see what i can do to measure the tool, it works a treat making a **** of a job into easy peasy. no progress with car for nearly 4 weeks now though 

[MattNoVAT]

Would appreciate the specs of that tool very much.

Holidays are for spending time with the family - It can't all be fun and motor cars!

[rossocorsa]

not had time to check that tool but haven't forgotten, I've made little progress lately the wife thought it was better to visit IKEA on sunday and buy new wardrobes that we don't really need    Steve has done a lot more welding on the os sill and floor all I've done is took the head off the spare engine which I am pleased to say looks as tip top condition as I'd hoped so it'll be going into the car. Standard vx heads used stretch bolts and astradur gaskets I have a spesso racing gasket for it that I acquired off eBay some time ago (just looked at the current price on those over £150 I'm rather glad I bought when I did!) anyone know with this gasket if stretch bolts are applicable or not and what torquing procedure should be used if not?

[rossocorsa]

sill blasted and painted ready to go on! looks quite posh the panel will be cut down to fit we are not ambitious enough to fit the whole piece!

 

[WestonE]

RossaCorsa

Yes the VX used an Astradur polymer head gasket, but it used conventional head bolts not the later Integrale/ Tipo diesel Torx stetch type. First it is essential to clean the head bolt threads in the block with a Tap (or an old head bolt with 4 tidy vertical slots cuts). This is so corrosion from the water jacket does not mess up the torque figures and result in some bolts to tight and some lose. If you do not do this you are at serious risk of one snapping in service (I have had this happen). I recommend buying NEW head bolts as old ones have a very high failure rate and it is not a job to do twice if you can avoid it.

Eric
PLease see the attached advice sheet from GC 

[rossocorsa]

actually I have an official workshop manual that shows the torquing sequence of an argenta vx and that is stretch style sequence so I think VX used stretch bolts but with hex heads, the engine I have has been rebuilt and has later style ribe headed bolts fitted I'm fairly sure they've only been used once but I may well splash out on 12.9 ones from GC. Funds are very tight and I can't really afford to do a proper job on it just the best with limited resources. Lucky me though my wife, step daughter and mother have pooled resources and bought me the latest GC book for my birthday so I will soon be well informed will start reading it today    

Alan