The continuing saga of my Lancia Beta Spider

[Rockburner]

It was all going so well, right up until the time it went to shit...

Before fitting the head and as part of the block prep and cleaning I ran an M10 x 1.25 tap down the threads in the block to clean out any crud and make them ready to accept the head bolts. Nine of the threads cleaned up very nicely, but one gave serious cause for concern - the one between cyls 3 and 4 on the inlet side. When I ran the tap down it there was consistent resistance to the tap, nearly all the way down. This reminded me that when undoing the head bolts back in May one bolt had been particularly difficult to remove and had needed me to use quite serious force to unwind it. After tapping it I tried a head bolt in the thread and discovered a worrying amount of slop. It only started to straighten up and fly right towards the end of the thread.

We decided to carry on and torque the head up in stages (as per instructions) and all bolts passed muster at 20 lb/ft. When we upped the torque to 40 lb/ft Nigel (who was wielding the torque wrench) came to the iffy bolt, tightened it up until nearly at torque, at which point it just went floppier than a floppy thing. Many imprecations and bad language followed, as you can imagine. We didn't even get to the point of torquing the bolts up fully (60 lb/ft).

So now we need to try and track down a supplier of an M10 x 1.25 helicoil kit in a part of France where engineering suppliers are few and far between. I've enlisted the services of a Brit ex-pat I know who runs a number of old cars and he wiil try and track down a source for a Helicoil kit, but as of Tuesday afternoon I've heard nothing back. As a back stop I've ordered the kit I need off eBay, but it probably won't arrive until next week.

So not the best of news to report. Both of us want to get this thing buttoned up and finished before Nigel flies home on Thursday, but that is looking increasingly unlikely with each passing minute. It also means I will need to find another helper, as lowering the head down in a controlled manner is much easier and safer as a two man job.

No-one ever said it would be easy...

I hate it when that happens. For me it's always the frigging 'last' bolt/nut that I'm torqueing up: just as I'm beginning to get that self-satisfied feeling of a job well done!

[mangocrazy]

Roughly whereabout in France are you by the way?

I'm in Herault/Occitanie, about 10-15kms away from Beziers.

[mangocrazy]

I hate it when that happens. For me it's always the frigging 'last' bolt/nut that I'm torqueing up: just as I'm beginning to get that self-satisfied feeling of a job well done!

Yes, it's a real pisser. Both of us felt completely deflated, especially as all the other prep had gone so well.

[DefTrap]

I'm in Herault/Occitanie, about 10-15kms away from Beziers.

Ah - I was going to offer to pop over but realistically that's probably a bit too far for me to just pretend I'm in the shed.

[Rockburner]

I'm in Herault/Occitanie, about 10-15kms away from Beziers.

Ah - I was going to offer to pop over but realistically that's probably a bit too far for me to just pretend I'm in the shed.

yeeeah - not quite a distance I can do in "a quick spin".

[mangocrazy]

My forum mate Nigel left on the 10:00 plane out of Montpellier this morning. At 10:30 the helicoil kit arrived at my front door.

So I'd better take my bravery pills and man the fuck up, I suppose...

[Count Steer]

My forum mate Nigel left on the 10:00 plane out of Montpellier this morning. At 10:30 the helicoil kit arrived at my front door.

So I'd better take my bravery pills and man the fuck up, I suppose...

A couple of small sacrifices, a sprinkling of holy water should appease the thread gods.

Fingers (not threads) crossed.

[mangocrazy]

Progress report...

Pretty much as soon as I realised I'd need a Helicoil kit I found one on French eBay and ordered it, knowing it would take several days to arrive. In the meantime I trawled all the engineering/hardware stores in Pezenas and Beziers to see if I could pick one up before Nigel was due to fly back to the UK. I failed miserably in that - most people could order one in, but none had what I wanted off the shelf.

Thursday morning I drove Nigel back to Montpellier for his flight, and hadn't been home much more than an hour when the doorbell rang, and there was my Helicoil kit. So I couldn't even blame someone else if I cocked it up...

To maximise my chnces of success, I needed to make up a jig to improve my drilling accuracy, and for that I'd need someone with a pillar drill. So I rang up Andy (an ex-pat who has been living in France for around 20 years) to ask if anyone he knows has a pillar drill. He replied to my delight that he had a small pedestal drill but wasn't sure it would be man enough for the job. I assured him that it would be, as I was only drilling into timber and simply wanted to make a rudimentary jig that would give me a more accurate 90 degree/perpendicularity than I could manage by hand.

So long story short, I now have a jig that I can bolt to the block and which will give me as close to 90 degrees as possible, and more importantly will allow the drill to self centre. Initially I was going to run multiple strips of masking tape over the block face to stop any swarf going where I didn't want it to, but eventually decided to use a sheet of cardboard with holes cut in for the two locating studs, the thread I was drilling and tapping, and the dowel that sits very close to one of the locating studs. I wasn't keen on leaving any residue on the block face, and masking tape isn't the strongest of stuff. Hopefully the picture below explains better than I can.

DSCF3824.JPG (1.18 MiB) Viewed 873 times

I'm now just trying to find my big Billy boy bravery boots before I start...

[Count Steer]

It's all gone quiet.....

[mangocrazy]

It's all gone quiet.....

Ha! It's cos I 'as been workin', innit?

Anyway...

No-one ever said it would go without incident and it certainly didn't, but I think I have enough thread of sufficient holding power in the block to at least get the car back to the UK (after some reliability testing in France). The jig worked really well and I cannot begin to imagine how I could have done the job witthout it (or something similar). The drilling out process was nervy - no matter what combination of drill speed and pressure I used the drill bit would find ways to grab, but in the end the hole got drilled and it looked and felt perpendicular to the block. I also used the jig to guide the tap in (having drilled out the jig hole to accommodate the tap) and this made the all-important first few threads easy to cut. I was having to use a fair amount of force to cut the thread, but not so much that it threatened to snap the tap. Cast iron feels 'grainy' when tapping, not like mild steel.

Then we came to the business of inserting the Helicoil. The first one I tried, I can only assume I used too much initial pressure on the tool, as the insert went in at what looked like every other thread - i.e. a very coarse pitch thread when it should be a fine 1.25mm pitch. Once I realised this the only way out was to drill out the helicoil and start again. Thankfully I was able to do this (with the aid of the jig), leaving behind the thread to accept the helicoil, which I then ran the supplied tap down 2 or 3 times. The thread didn't seem any the worse for wear and so with much trepidation I put a second helicoil on to the tool and very carefully started the insert into the thread. Thankfully this time the internal thread was a genuine M10 x 1.25, which I verified by carefully running a head bolt down it.

I now had a bit of a dilemma. The inserts are only 10mm deep, which is a long way short of the 20-22mm of thread depth the standard head bolts occupy. So I decided to try and use 2 inserts, one above the other. The first one went in until there was 12-13mm of free thread above it, which I was happy with. So I broke off the tang, and put another insert on to the tool and threaded that in, until it bottomed out against the lower insert. The top of the insert was about 1-2mm below the block deck, so that was ideal. When I tried a head bolt down the newly Helicoiled thread the first part (on the top insert) felt very good - minimal pressure needed, but no slop or wobble. But then when I came to the lower insert it went very stiff, to the point that I wasn't prepared to continue.

I had assumed that the thread would continue without any real separation between the lower and upper inserts, but it appears that when threading the insert in, the coil of thread is actually stretched. albeit not by much. This means that the threads of the two inserts are out of step, as I found out. So I suspect I will need to take some careful measurements aind shorten one of the head bolts so it only tightens against the upper insert and doesn't impinge on the lower insert, as that would throw the torque figures right out. I am told that a Helicoil repair is actually stronger than the original thread, and it looks like I will have the chance to test this out...

So we have progress, but I don't feel that I'm out of the woods just yet. The head will have to be successfully torqued down on all bolts and the engine running properly before I can feel confident.

[mangocrazy]

Just to throw another spanner in the works my mate Andy, who lives in the same village, has excused himself from helping me remove the bonnet and assist in fitting the head with the excuse that he took a fall at work and is currently in A&E getting staples in his head.

I mean, how inconsiderate is that?

[David]

You can't depend on people nowadays....

[mangocrazy]

Progress on the Beta up till now has been completely lacking, as Andy has been hors de combat since his fall, but today Jackie arrived at Beziers airport. Within a few hours of her arrival I'd press-ganged her into action. We removed the bonnet, transported it to a safe place and (glory be) fitted the head and inlet manifold to the block (it's an awkward, heavy fucker and definitely needs 2 people to fit). We even managed to wangle the exhaust manifold onto the head studs (with the gasket in place) and secure the manifold to the head with a couple of nuts, ready for later full tightening.

I was tempted to call that a day and leave the main event (tightening down the head bolts) to another time. But as that would only be postponing the day of reckoning I decided on the Macbeth approach - 'if it were done, then t'were well it were done quickly'...

So out with the torque wrench and find GC's instructions for torquing the head down. The first pass at 20 lbs/ft was uneventful - even the suspect No. 4 bolt felt the same as all the others. Next was 40 lbs/ft and trepidation definitely creeping in, but No. 4 bolt passed without incident. Then for the big one - 60 lbs/ft... I have to confess I was absolutely bricking it on pretty much all of the bolts (especially No. 4), but they all torqued up fine and nobody died. So while it was belated, it was definitely a moment of success. Here's the head, suitably clamped in place:

DSCF3882.JPG (615.88 KiB) Viewed 773 times

Time to open a celebration bottle of 'Arrogant Frog', I think...

[the_priest]

Keep it up, I am really enjoying this rebuild thread, all the stories and contributions!

[MingtheMerciless]

Murphy and FUBAR were like looking the other way!

[mangocrazy]

Murphy and FUBAR were like looking the other way!

I've seen those bastids sniffing around the garage. They'll be back, I'm sure...

[mangocrazy]

The Beta is finally back on its wheels and (as far as I can see) I just need to re-fit the battery tray and battery and I can attempt its first start in years. The only real reason I've turned my attention to the car is that the garage is one of (if not the) coolest places in the house. Today I've been doing battle with 12 x allen bolts that hold the two halves of the inner CV joints together. They're a bastard to get at and I had to employ an assortment of 1/2", 3/8" and 1/4" socketry to get at the damn things. And a torque wrench.

The temptation is to try and fire it up, but to do that I'd need to open the garage doors and let the heat of a thousand suns in. So perhaps I'll wait till later in the day. Or September...

[DefTrap]

I cleaned the car, outside in the street last night after 6pm, and the heat and exertion was strong enough to force me back inside for a bit of a lie down.

[mangocrazy]

I cleaned the car, outside in the street last night after 6pm, and the heat and exertion was strong enough to force me back inside for a bit of a lie down.

I can fully understand that. Anytime after 10 a.m. the attic (my work area) is a no-go area, and tomorrow it's forecast to hit 39 deg C. My short stay will finish on Friday when I fly back to Blighty and for once I can see a positive in that...

[Sadlonelygit]

It's been hitting 100 here (in the shade) by 2pm all week!
Up at 7 today, grinding on the dot of 8, sun on me by 930, coiling up the extension lead by 945.
Then swmbo decided I looked bored so could do with using the sabre saw on some 200mm sq oak beams that we're repurposing.
Beziers you say........