Lancia Beta Forum

Has anyone got any experience with installing a 16 valve head on a 2L Beta Coupe.  I understand that the Beta's raced in the mid 70's were 1800 16 valve abarth engines, but can something similar be done on the 2L beta engine?  All comments and suggestions welcome.

not economically those abarth heads are worth a fortune and the ports on later (completely different) 16 valves are reversed (exhaust at the front)

If you want to do something like that you're probably better off getting a complete 2.0 16V and putting it in though you'd still need the custom exhaust and induction. TBH an 8V turbo might be a better bet all round.

you'd still have the problem that the beta engine is canted backwards and later designs forwards also 16v engine is a bit of  a pain all manner of belt problems 8v is more durable although I think the only turbo engine in similar orientation to a beta may be the original delta turbo with carb??????

Yeh i believe the mk1 turbo delta was the same, standard performance was 130 bhp and where can you find one ??? It would be alot easier to get 130bhp out of the beta lump :-\

Thankyou all, great replies.  This is a great forum.  Yes its back to the Guy Croft manual and start enlarging the valves before I think of more valves.  In the mean time I like the idea of finding a complete 16V 2.0L.  For those interested a fair bit has already been done on the bottom end of the motor + brakes (suspension is coming), but there are still options at the top (i.e. larger valves, springs and improved cams).  Thanks again and keep the comments coming if people have other thoughts.

 you might be able to use a vx head to get the larger valves and maybe fiat strada 130tc cams I am not sure about putting a modern(ish) 16valve in a beta as they are canted forward rather than back I'd be concerned that it might spoil the handling a little remember the Beta is undoubtedly the best handling of all the 'Fiat'-lancias 

That's true of course but being a turbo it's relativeley simple to extract more if you want to - mine ran 160bhp without I'll effects - getting that from the standard engine starts getting expensive. Getting hold of one could be a long process though !

The later reversed head engines would be more of a challenge to fit but not ridiculously so, the Beta engine bay is relatively roomy after all. I think the N/A 16V would suit the car well but the 8V is a shorter engine (the 16V required the hump in the delta bonnet) so it's more likely to fit. It would shift the weight distribtuion forwards but that could be compensated for  - a lightweight bonnet and battery in the boot would most likely do the trick.

Either option would make for an interesting car.

About 3 years ago I looked at the possibilty of fitting a Thema sourced 16 valve head on to one of my 2 lt coupes, more on that later. If you've read the Guy Croft tuning manual and been on his excellent web site there's lots of good stuff and hints at other routes to take as he states that the gearbox is good for 2x thru-put. Shafts are no problem as you may well know. My principal concern was keeping the engine canted back at the 20 degree angle it's at currently at in standard cars (lancia knew what they were doing were handling is concerned), so in theory if you wanted to use turbo charging you could use a volumex block and head (with the sodium cooled valves as standard!) on standard mounting posistions and with a little (only a little) ingenuity you could mount the an 8v Thema/integrale/HF 4WD turbo manifold on the head. This allows you to take the exhaust out through the normal route. It's tight to get in but completely doable. You will have to use a heat shield between bulkhead and turbo and move the fuse box/relay bed away from the heat as there directly above the exhaust. This then gives you acres of room at the front to place a modified (aluminium welding required to move throttle body to other side of engine) plenum plus wiring, pipng etc etc. The front of the Beta lends itself well to mounting larger radiator, oil cooler and intercooler. I think 160 to 180 and wadges of torque will be more that enough in a car a light as a Beta. As I said I looked at fitting a 16v head but because of the proximity of the engine to the bulk head it would have meant placing the fuelling at the front of the engine which meant investigating turning the head through 180 degrees and then the cams through another 180 degrees to get the pulleys on the right side. Parts a easy enough to come by and with a little machining it is possible but I have yet to travel further down this road. As ever time and funds are the killer. Let us know how you get on.

Just came across this, http://www.daham.org/16vt/projects/beta_HPE/ (http://www.daham.org/16vt/projects/beta_HPE/)
How cool would this be, if it's working and out there somewhere.