Practically Classics Forum

I have been considering putting a modern engine into a Lancia Beta with a knackered engine.

This is not anything I have embarked on before but I have worked on engine / gearbox swaps so not completely incapable!!!!

I quite fancy a FWD V6 (maybe Ford, Vauxhall or Alfa) and can pick up a complete donor car for less than £1k. The benefit of a complete car is mainly that I will be able to use the existing engine management (and that I will have all the parts I need to make it run).

The Beta engine bay is a good size and I don't imagine that any serious mods will be required to fit another engine but the question I have is in relation to the drive shafts / hubs and the gearbox. My simple mind says use the donor vehicle engine, gearbox and drive shafts and to mate these to the Beta hubs?

Is that right or am I completely missing the point?

Interesting.

Given that surely most Betas died of rust rather than mechanical failure I'm surprised this opportunity has arisen,a nd leads me to think that surely there must be some spare good Beta engines around, even if they're currently housed in rotten shells?

Or perhaps there simply aren't many betas left in any shape or form nowadays?

Just a thought.

This may be over simplifying things but wouldn't the 2.0 Fiat twin spark just fit? It may not be a v6 but it is a fantastic engine.

Hawk wrote: My simple mind says use the donor vehicle engine, gearbox and drive shafts and to mate these to the Beta hubs?

Is that right or am I completely missing the point?

The drive shafts may be the wrong length or may not line up. You may also have trouble with the gear linkage. My advice with engine swaps is don't. You will destroy any value in the car and will be forever fiddling with it.

The beta engine twincam design has been around since jesus was alive and the same set up although in many different styles was used right up to the tipo so there must be a million engines laying around.
Its a cheap and generaly reliable engine and as far as i know the gearbox bolt pattern is the same on all fiat/lancia non 16v engines so getting one should be easy.
Fix it dont f**k it.

suffolkpete wrote:My advice with engine swaps is don't. You will destroy any value in the car and will be forever fiddling with it.

My experience is that neither of those is necessarily the case.

jimmyybob wrote:The beta engine twincam design has been around since jesus was alive and the same set up although in many different styles was used right up to the tipo so there must be a million engines laying around.
Its a cheap and generaly reliable engine and as far as i know the gearbox bolt pattern is the same on all fiat/lancia non 16v engines so getting one should be easy.
Fix it dont f**k it.

sounds sensible to me...

Stick a Hayabusa motor in it. Oops, wrong forum, sorry.

I can't help wondering whether fixing the original engine (Assuming it's not hole in the block knackered) will be less work and cheaper than the extra work involved with a swap. You have to watch insurance companies; I recall mine (At the time) being funny over a 1.8 engine in a Mk1 VW Scirocco Storm, even though the engine found it's way into the last of the Mk1 Golfs, which was more or less the same thing. If it's not on their flow chart they can't cope, initiative being obselete.

jimmyybob wrote:The beta engine twincam design has been around since jesus was alive and the same set up although in many different styles was used right up to the tipo so there must be a million engines laying around.
Its a cheap and generaly reliable engine and as far as i know the gearbox bolt pattern is the same on all fiat/lancia non 16v engines so getting one should be easy.
Fix it dont f**k it.

This would be my suggestion, too - unless you can find an easy swap (such as when I put a Dolomite Sprint engine into a TR7 - just a weekend's work).