Lancia Beta Forum

After being tucked up for the winter my red coupe came out of the garage at the start of April, had a wash and a quick drive once the tax disc had turned up.  During the first drive I noticed that the gearbox was making an unpleasant noise (the noise is what me and my friends refer to as "Rotating Knives").

While I was visiting Auto Integrale I had them take the car out and test drive it and confirm the suspicions that something was on its way out and after a quick drive they confirmed that the differential was on its last legs plus the found excessive wear & play in the metal collar that links the differential to the horizontal transfer shaft that runs across the back of the engine.

After a quick hunt I found a VX gearbox, this was chosen because of its better final drive ratio and better bearings, bought new gearbox seals from LanciaBetaParts and took the day off and spent it at Auto Integrale who checked the box over first and I helped swap it over.  Thankfully all is now pretty much silent when it comes to the gearbox  ;D   The drive home from Reading was a joy and I got the thumbs up from a couple of motorists on the road.

I fit the new gearbox side engine damper after drilling out the centre bush to M10 from M8, added a few extra washers to get the new unit to line up correctly and it now fits perfectly.  I plan to fit the cam belt side engine damper tonight if I get the time.

While doing all this I found that the rubber steering column bulkhead had been poorly fitted and had been hacked about and wasn't really doing much in the way on noise reduction so I have to replace that with a spare one I have in the garage.

With this being the year of the 40th anniversary I did not want the gearbox letting me down at any of the high profile events!