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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!

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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?