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Hello, Tried to reply to an older thread but it suggested to start a new one.

I have 1800 beta coupe motor.

Looking for the sizes (lengths mostly) of the exhaust studs. I have heard that there are Allen head ones that people have used to make the task less laborious?

Are they all different lengths? And which position is the different lengths? (Drivers to passengers would be great, Australia RH Drive)

Could anyone please kindly help here?  Maybe someone knows where to locate in Australia? Or OS is ok too?

Many thanks!

Guy,
Just after you've used the tank sealer, I suggest that you blow
through all the pipework, especially the small vent tube/s,
for obvious reasons!

Good luck, excellent progress,

Cheers
Nigel

I did the MB museum last year. They don't shy away from Germany's past!

Looking good you should be well on this year with getting it back together

Peter

Well done!

Next week I might be able to spend some time working on the top surface. Which doesn't have any underseal or much rustproofing fluid on it and isn't nearly as pretty... I'm pretty sure that it'll be sound though, there are no pinholes in it. Yet. But it's possible that some wire brushing and paint removal may identify any areas of concern.. The welded flange around the middle of the tank is sound so I'm reasonably confident it's okay. The inside of the tank is showing surface corrosion unsurprisingly. There's a lot of dust coming out of it at the moment so that'll get hoovered out. Next test will be to block the inlet pipe and all the fuel lines and pressurise the tank to see if there's any evidence of leaks, find them and fix them before treating the inside of the tank with POR15 tank sealer to effectively put an internal surface in the tank onto a rust free surface. And then POR15 semi gloss black paint to the outside surfaces, fit the new sender and seal and put it on the shelf ready to be refitted.

Progress continues!

And after a lot of scraping with a body filler spreader and treatment of the remaining paint with Nitromors to soften it up, more scraping and then a few hours with a wire brush this was the result...

Nearside done now bar filling in the aerial hole! The rear suspension turret and box sections are as good as new, the outer inner arch has been cut out and the corrosion underneath removed and all rebuild with repairs to the lip of the arch as necessary. The sill on that side is back to full strength and the floorpan corrosion dealt with, jacking point straightened and the two lift points cut out, strengthen and reinstated. A small dent in the sill has also been fixed. Work has started on the offside rear arch and turret. Now Geoff knows the issues I'm hoping the repairs will be easier for him. Once that's done it's the sill on that side, stitch in the new rear panel and flip it back over so the roof can be worked on. And that will be the shell done. Minor bonnet repairs plus doors and botlid and it'll be ready to be dipped again ready for .... paint!

So I thought I'd better get on with some bits... The steering rack is now done except for the new bracket for the shock absorber and oil. That ought to be finished in the next couple of weeks once the bracket is welded, plated and painted.

The fuel tank has been in the garden shed since last Summer. It was drained of 20 litres of stale fuel and force vented for 30 minutes by attaching the filler pipe to the exhaust of the Alfa 159. Nothing left in there. So, dragged it out of the shed to assess what it needs. The bottom of the tank was covered in underseal and rust proofing spray. It had suffered a bit over the years and failed where it had been scraped so needed looking at. It started looking like this...

Hi

We are in France for our regular 4 weeks in Spring, sadly still thinks it is winter. We had also arranged to visit one of our old neighbours from France who now live in Stuttgart. This is a 7 hour trip from our house in France so not so far to go. Both Porsche and Mercedes have museums there and having only the chance to visit one, I went for Mercedes. We passed the Porsche museum on our way to the Mercedes one and that looks just as impressive externally as the Mercedes one. I can recommend visiting if you are interested in the history of Mercedes which does a good job up to the 60s. All displays have both German and English write ups and there is plenty of staff on hand. 

https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/art-and-culture/museum/

A bit of drama on the leaving Stuttgart on our return on Sunday morning around 8:30 we were held up ina tunnel due to a Ferrari F40 crashing in the tunnel about half an hour before we got there. This is a German website report, but the photos show the result.

ttps://www.ludwigsburg24.com/seltenes-juwel-verunglueckt-supersportwagen-ferrari-f40-im-engelbergtunnel-verwickelt-fahrer-verletzt/

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!