Recent Posts

Hi Mark,
Much appreciated.
I have a set of various O rings and hoping one of those will do the job. dismantling tomorrow and if stuck will pm you.
Thank you
Si

Or pm me - I've got some (could only buy a bag of rings from the engineering supplies place) from when I did mine.

Happy to pop a couple in the post.

Mark

Hi

Never understood Haynes on the rear calipers saying do not touch. I stripped mine completely and rebuilt and they have worked faultlessly, even using the original pistons. As to the front ones they are pretty easy, the real pain is getting the retaining spring out which sits halfway down the bore. I found poking one of my dental tools through one of the two drilling’s from yhe outside helps to lift it out of its groove, then using another dental tool to gently encourage it out the rest of the way, being careful not to make a mess of the bore.

The real pain is reassembling the handbrake mechanism on the rear ones, that was a challenge which I seem to remember using the hydraulic press to hold part of it down whilst I aligned everything. I have that joy to revisit when I rebuild mine which are all cleaned ready to go back together.

Peter

Hi Peter, I really didn't want to use the rattle gun on something so small, if they hadn't given up with penetrating fluid the next resort was going to be a mixture of ATF and acetone and then some heat but at the end of the day it wasn't necessary.

One of the rear callipers is ready for reassembly tomorrow, I read the Haynes manual and it said don't attempt the disassembly of the return mechanism inside the piston but given that the new piston in the rebuild kit didn't have the internals there was no choice. In the end it all disassembled easily and, more importantly, went back inside the new piston very easily. I polished up the inside of the housing with Autoglym Metal Polish and there is one small mark in it half way down. I don't think it will cause any issues down the line though so it will all go back together tomorrow. Hopefully it's twin will be as good.

I've never dismantled a front calliper but the Haynes manual doesn't say don't do it so I'll have a go over the weekend. Unfortunately I don't have access to a compressor to shift them but I've got enough old hydraulic lines to jury rig something to shift both pistons. Geoff wants to see the disassmbled components, he's never seen anything like it and wants to get his head around how it works!

Amazingly none of the roll pins are damaged either so the standard Beta lines will locate properly. The only slight concern I've got is that all the locking pins are impacted into the bodies, I'm hoping I can lever them out to get them working again. If that fails I'll be employing a stainless long grub screw and tapping the calliper carrier.

Guy

Indeed there is an O ring. I did mine some 4 years ago and I think the pump
I bought had the ring included.

I suggest you get a box of assorted rings. You'll more than likely find
a match.
Or disassemble first and measure.

Nigel

Hi Guy

Good result, I needed to use a rattle gun on my bleed screws. On the pistons you can use compressed air without too much issue rather than rigging up any hydraulic setup.

Peter

It was a great shame, but after some very insightful conversations and then a further look at the distances and routes involved in April... I decided it was necessary to listen to my wife and instead we chose, on this occasion, to fly to Sicily.  The Alps still beckon but a better time of the year would have given some more picturesque options, and some better car parks would have improved security.  Anyhow, we still enjoyed a great Sicilian wedding, and I get to keep my car!

So instead... my dear wife has warmed to idea of using the Beta for some continental travel and we're off to France for a short break next month.  Just going through the tunnel then routing towards the west coast to Nantes via Rouen and Le Mans.  We'll only be over there for a couple of days then up to Caen for the 'cruise' to Portsmouth then back to Yorkshire.  Hopefully, this will all be without incident!

Chris   

Hi Nigel

Apologies for highjacking your resto post with ulez stuff.

My tax refund arrived by cheque two weeks after end of month.......

I checked the tfl website and the HPE is still showing as due to pay ulez charges. Website suggests i need to apply to them if i think it should be exempt. Got a surprise when i checked the 1976 Al Italia Beta rally car and it shows up as liable to pay ulez charges!. Very odd as it's been driving around London for the last three months and no sign of any charges. We have an account and just assumed it was exempt. Now i'm wondering if the cameras can't read the old black / silver number plates?.  Could that be why i'm seeing anumber of post 1980 cars driving around London with the old black plates?.

I've also got a 2003 Alfa Spider which is Euro 3 and i assumed that would be liable but it's exempt becuase its NOx number is low enough to be equivalent of Euro 4....  What a can of worms.

Cheers

Today was part something or other of the brake overhaul whilst the carriers are away being plated. They've been marinating in release fluid for 4 days or so. I took them over to Geoff's workshop to use his aqua blaster to clean them up and that worked a treat! Got home and noticed the offside arch on the Alfa had been scraped but no note left so that put me in a foul mood until I got at it with a rag and some TCut and was left with the faintest of scratches in the paint. So, thinking I might be having a lucky day after all I put all four callipers on the bench, dug out a decent 8mm socket and 1/4 inch drive for the bleed nipples. The first five gave it up without any effort and the sixth needed a little tap and a bit more force before it popped out too! Proper result! The rebuild kits are there so now all I have to do is extract the pistons. I may need to rig up something to push them out hydraulically!

Happy days!

It's described in the Haynes manual on pages 270 onwards. But basically, remove the centre console, undo a couple of the control cables and the hoses you can get to. The bottom half of the assembly holding the heater matrix is held in place by 2 spring clips either side and should drop out when these are released. You ought to be able to remove the assembly and replace it fairly easily.

Guy