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I have spoken to Graham O`Connor (Lambda Motors, Australia) today who is 85 years young by the way and still in the Lancia and other Italian car parts business. Lambda Motors were the Australian importers and main distributors of Lancia cars in Australia for many years during their halcyon days. Graham reckons he has sold a heap of these oil filter housings over the years because of damage caused by heavy air con compressors fitted to heavy custom made brackets by local Australian Fiat Lancia dealers. So many that he can`t find one for me!

He reckons that all Lancia Beta oil filter housing versions fit any Beta engine block regardless with the proviso that they need to be correctly matched to one of the two gasket versions. Which was surprising news to me.

That said Felix Furtak, the South African Lancia parts guy reckons there is a different Lancia part number quoted for the two litre beta engine WITHOUT power steering (his emphasis) to the oil filter housing for sale on Italian ebay.

I am waiting on advice from another local Fiat/Lancia parts specialist re oil filter housing required type and availability. Definitely Beta`eeeeeeeeeeed out at the moment!

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Hi

Decision made not go the Coupe rear wheel arch donor route, so if anyone wants a Coupe body for parts, mainly rear end looks to be good, get in touch.

Had some photos through of the work done, so thought I would post here. These show repair to subframe, right hand side lower sill repair, right side upper sill below door repair and left side inner sill which was also the same as the repair to the right side. The inner and upper sills were made in house, the lower outer sills were supplied by Mark.

Peter

Bear with me on this one...
I have a Coupe with a filler flap behind which resides a cap that sits on a threaded filler pipe. There's no need for a locking filler cap as the lock is on the flap. Simples.

Is the thread on the early filler pipe the same as later Coupe's (exposed cap on the upper wing) and all HPE's? ie Will a non locking cap fit a late Coupe or HPE?

Why's he asking I hear all the readers who haven't switched off by now!

Well I just bought a Lada ignition lock/key (because it's the same as I use on the Stratos - 124 Coupe/Spider) and it came with a locking petrol cap. The cap has a threaded part that fits my Beta and looks like it's secured with a pin/screw, the actual cap comes off this threaded part so it may be of use to someone who wants a locking petrol cap. I only have one key for it though. First to shout can have it for a few beer tokens & postage!

Guy

Hi Neil

You are correct, often on software for pre release where it is suitable for folk to play with and find any serious last minute bugs before release.

The thing that interested me here is that this was not a pre release car, but a specially built version and just called Beta from what I have read on it.

Peter

Isn't 'Beta' a fairly common term now for a prototype or an early iteration of something in a development stage, particularly in the software industry?

Hi

Just catching up on an old Classic Cars mag and came across this ‘Beta’.

https://www.revingtontr.com/the-tr-series/tr-derivatives/beta-prototype

Peter

Nigel/Peter,

Many thanks for responding so promptly.

The oil filter housing is for a vertical mounted oil filter, (underneath the housing), as per the #8.8 photo in Chapter 1 on p33 of the Haynes Beta manual.

There is a photo of the engine block mating surface of what I take to be the earlier casting version of the oil filter housing in this listing:

https://www.ebay.it/itm/370741420160

Re Nigel`s comments concerning the two oil filter housing gasket types, the two different gaskets have almost the same external and internal dimensions including around the mounting bolt holes, but what I assume to be the filtered oil return hole is nearly double the size in the later version gasket and a different more rectangular shape, without the U shaped cut out next to the upper left mounting bolt. They are quite different in this critical area. The point is that I think I need the later type of oil filter housing casting to match what I assume is the later larger and wider oil return hole at both the oil filter housing mating surface and corresponding engine block mating surface of post 1978 2 litre Beta engines.

I note that Mark Wastnidge also specifies two different oil filter housing gaskets on his Lancia Beta parts website, characterising them as "small hole" and "long hole" versions to suit the two different housing casting versions:

[/url]https://353652584127257704.weebly.com/store/p257/Oil_Filter_Housing_Gasket..html[/url]

Peter do you have any housings that match the mating surface profile of the later (long hole) gasket type? As per this listing:

https://www.midwest-bayless.com/p-25425-4337093-7625510-oil-filter-housing-gasket-dohc-20l-fiat-pininfarina-124-spider-131-brava-lancia-1978-on-new.aspx

Another American Italian car parts seller lists the same two gaskets and says: "Oil Housing to DOHC Block GASKET. Verify footprint against existing housing."

Again, they say that this long hole gasket "Fits: Fiat 124 Spider, Spider 2000 and Pininfarina 1979-1985".

https://www.vickauto.com/parts/oil-filter-housing-gasket-fiat-1242000-1979-85-sku-40-2379/

Re alternator brackets,  I really just want the original factory supplied alternator bracket arm with the long adjustment slot as the original bracket arm was cut short and a different piece welded on to accept the new alternator location further away from the engine above the air compressor. I was also hoping to reinstate the lower alternator original long bolt and bushing pivot attachment arrangement to the oil filter housing. The original bottom mounting bolt and bushing was again cut and rewelded to accomodate the bigger combined compressor and alternator bottom mounting bracket. It is now useless and can`t be reused, not to mention badly worn. So I need a new bolt and bushing, preferably factory original bushing for ease of fitment. Happy to play around with other bolts/spacers/washers to get the belt alignment right but I need the right bracket to start with. Custom fabricating brackets is far too expensive labour wise unless you do it yourself.

Hi

Is your housing for a vertical mounted filter or a horizontal mounted?

As to loading photos, the usual problem is that modern cameras create large images and you need to scale them down, ideally use image sizes of around 100-200k bytes which gives a decent image without being over large. Each post on yhe forum is limited to 1500k bytes per post over up to 8 images.

I do have some spare housings here in the U.K., should you not find any locally

Peter

Hi Andrew,

I think that either 'block to housing' gasket would suffice. The difference
is negligible. Once you have that replacement housing fitted:...

Alternator bracketry is a fluid experience. Whatever washers and spacers you use,
all that's required is to mount it securely, and in line with the crank and water pump pulleys
giving enough 'throw' to achieve good belt adjustability.

Your existing 'top' mounting bracket could be modified to suit the new alt position, if necessary.

As for belt size, take a piece of rope around 8mm thick, and cut to size, butting the ends. Your ultra-friendly local
parts store will have a belt or 2 near that size, and you'll be able to return the unused one.

I hope my thoughts, which are from personal experience with my HPE, are useful!

Cheers
Nigel