Greetings from Hungary

[AndrewJ]

no promises but I'll try to check my spare rear lights I may well have a better frame than that, I do have one brand new one but don't want to part with it at the moment but might do later on (my car is a VX so needs painted frame anyway)

Thank you - I also got a new idea - maybe I should fill the holes and spray it with a professional 2K chrome paint. But I don't know if it would be hardy enough..

[AndrewJ]

I have another question .. I don't think that it is enough interesting to open a new topic, so I would rather ask here:

I have found a deeply rusted small area on the plate front right - that can be seen on this photo. I must patch it with a welded small plate. Does anyone know, where I can find the other side of this plate part? Inside the car behind the cockpit, or outside behind the front wing?

[rossocorsa]

I have my front wings off (and a lot more) will take some pictures to try to help I'm not sure if that goes to the outside or interior will know more when I've looked. With that level of rot i think you need to take the wings off and have a really good inspection

[rossocorsa]

Early Betas had washer bags, there are maybe three different designs that I know of.

Later cars changed to hard plastic.

Thank you for the information  - then I leave it in the car. After the cleaning it seems to be in very good condition. I don't thing that mine is still the original, butit  can be a spare part for beta and maybe other old italian cars.

I think on a 1981 it should be a hard plastic bottle

[rossocorsa]

appears to be in a double skinned  area (?? not 100% sure feel around the dash board end and you'll see what I mean) behind the dashboard, that corrosion is quite surprising for a car with wheel arch liners and I am guessing as it's a 1300 that it has no sunroof. I suspect you might find that the square reinforcing section that runs under the top of the front wing is rotten this is typical of the early coupés that had no plastic inner arch liners but rare on later cars. I'd be inclined to remove the wing and investigate further it'll be safer that way anyway as otherwise you will not be able to see any areas that are getting overheated whilst welding

[AndrewJ]

appears to be in a double skinned  area (?? not 100% sure feel around the dash board end and you'll see what I mean) behind the dashboard, that corrosion is quite surprising for a car with wheel arch liners and I am guessing as it's a 1300 that it has no sunroof. I suspect you might find that the square reinforcing section that runs under the top of the front wing is rotten this is typical of the early coupés that had no plastic inner arch liners but rare on later cars. I'd be inclined to remove the wing and investigate further it'll be safer that way anyway as otherwise you will not be able to see any areas that are getting overheated whilst welding

Hi,

Thank you for the photos ;-)! Today I analysed it closer. The rust is on the top plate of a hollow section - that runs inside the car, not behind the front wing ( I looked behind the front wing and it seems to be in very good condition without any rust).

I broked through the rust and looked inside the hollow section with mirror and lamp. Fortunately it seems to be only a local problem. My car has a sunroof anyway and also plastic inner arch liners. I think that the problem was caused by the top plate under the windscreen. I can see handpainting and rough handfilling on it. Maybe it was rusted and the water reached through the rusty hole this hollow section and because of leaves and dust the water couldn't flow away.

It will be a very hard work to weld and repair without taking the car apart  ..

[rossocorsa]

I noticed that there is no gap between wing and the panel under the windscreen so yes there is heavy filler in this area, have you felt underneath this panel? I suspect you have heavy corrosion on the corner of the windscreen surround this is a typical area of corrosion especially on cars with sunroof (blocked sunroof drain tubes etc. )  with a sunroof it is important to keep the tubes clear, you are also likely to find corrosion at the front of the sill behind the front wing this is caused by water exiting the drain tube directly into the sill, a good modification is to pull the drain tube through a convenient hole that you will find at the front of the sill and passing it behind the plastic liner so that it drains directly onto the ground, it's a pity Lancia didn't do that!! If you are serious about renovating the car to the standard you have talked about I'm afraid there is probably no option but to remove the wing and investigate fully.

Current state of my right hand sill




one of these days it might be ready.....

[AndrewJ]

I noticed that there is no gap between wing and the panel under the windscreen so yes there is heavy filler in this area, have you felt underneath this panel? I suspect you have heavy corrosion on the corner of the windscreen surround this is a typical area of corrosion especially on cars with sunroof (blocked sunroof drain tubes etc. )  with a sunroof it is important to keep the tubes clear, you are also likely to find corrosion at the front of the sill behind the front wing this is caused by water exiting the drain tube directly into the sill, a good modification is to pull the drain tube through a convenient hole that you will find at the front of the sill and passing it behind the plastic liner so that it drains directly onto the ground, it's a pity Lancia didn't do that!! If you are serious about renovating the car to the standard you have talked about I'm afraid there is probably no option but to remove the wing and investigate fully.

Yes there can be corrosion there, but I cannot see it yet, because it is repainted and first I must remove the paintig. It's a new information for me, that the sunroof has draintubes here, but I will check it, because I had also many problem with my Autobianchi A112 caused by closed drain tubes (f.e. this was caused by that: http://blog.lanciak.hu/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/CB6.JPG )

The right front wing is already partially unset.  My original plan was to restore everything in the engine bay in the first round, but I already can see that I must restore everything in one round in the front of the car if I want to do a nice job. I think that with unset front wings it is much easier to remove and respray the undercoating there.

[rossocorsa]

the drain tube goes down the front pillar then directly down to the front of the sill where it drains into the sill as i mentioned this is not ideal as it causes corrosion of the sill end

[cheeky monkey]

Hi Andrew

i have a new rear light surround for the right hand side. At the weekend i may get a cheap one for the other side. i will let you know and you can have them if they are of any good for your restoration project

regards
Graham

[AndrewJ]

Hi Andrew

i have a new rear light surround for the right hand side. At the weekend i may get a cheap one for the other side. i will let you know and you can have them if they are of any good for your restoration project

regards
Graham

Hi

Sorry for the late answer ! I've bought my wife's favourite car for her (Chrysler PT Cruiser). It was very cheap - but with engine failure. I rebuilt another engine and now I'm making an aut. transaxle overhaul. I have been working on that car day and night, so I must have a break at the Beta  project for a few month.

If the light surround is still available, then I am interested in the old pair 

Anyway here are the latest photos from my Beta project:
https://picasaweb.google.com/103220166446302840291/LanciaBetaCoupe1300RestorationPhotos

- and the reason for the break  ..
https://picasaweb.google.com/103220166446302840291/ChryslerPTCruiserProjekt?authkey=Gv1sRgCL-5guOV6f6bTw
https://picasaweb.google.com/103220166446302840291/41TEAutomaticTransmissionOverhaul?authkey=Gv1sRgCLjq0JqTk7yN2AE

[cheeky monkey]

Wow .you really are busy !.  Good luck with the Chrysler engine.

G