fiatfactory
Steve Cecchele
Head is the Croma style head, reversed port...so basically tilting engine forward the same as the Croma / Thema. The Fiat Croma / Lancia Thema gearbox would be the one I would use if I was going to turbo charge etc, as it shifts the stater motor to the "rear" side of the engine...away from the hot exhaust / turbo in the Croma application...not many manual Fiat Croma's in Australia and I don't feel like importing a heavy transmission of unknown provenance from overseas...I have plenty of Beta transmissions...internally Beta/Croma/Thema are very similar.
The cam drive end is supported using the Croma/Regata style water pump, the front engine mount bolts to the water pump which is bolted to the block with M8 bolts (not M6 bolts like your 124 etc)...I tilted the engine forward and remade the front mount...top engine stay bar looks just like an X19 one but with a small S bend to the bar and I lengthened it slightly....lower cross member mounts to the bodywork just like stock...I remade this so the mount support allowed the lower mount (an industrial rubber isolation mount) to sit with a slight forward tilt instead of the slight rearward tilt it initially had... went from 10 degrees rear tilt to 10 degrees forward tilt so a 20 degree shift in total. Three engine mounts fit up just like the standard component, rear trans mount on the beta lines up quite nicely with the rear transverse chassis rail so there's a simple mount welded to the body which the stock beta mount bolts to.
130TC trans is harder to find again and a bt of a unique beast...Ritmo 105tc / Regata 100s trans is simple to find, but not as robust...again beta trans are virtually bullet proof whereas the 105tc trans is basically an x19 five speed trans with the same forks/hubs/synchro rings ...so a no brainer to use the lancia beta trans.
You could stand the engine straight up and use a 105TC trans... looking at the bellhousing the internal shift rod bore could possibly be bored all the way thru to allow the linkage rod to exit at the front and not the rear...could possibly allow the stock X19 rod shifter mechanism to be used so there would be no need for shifter mods / pattern reversal / cables etc... but given the 105TC and X19 five speed transmissions inherent differential weakness I don't think it would last well with the power (and especially the torque) that my 2 litre engine makes...so I opted for the heavier and bullet proof beta trans.
Sump is an alloy 130TC aftermarket Alquati sump... oil pump is early Croma / Ritmo 130tc in sump type (later engines used a crank nose driven pump) that has a detachable snout pickup which sits pretty well dead middle of the sump...sump is baffled and pickup modified...no oiling problems when it was tilting rearwards...haven't driven the vehicle yet with the re engineered pickup and 10 degree forward tilt (waiting to find the time to paint the car)
I use a 1978 beta engine block, licensing laws in Western Australia require that with engine swaps the emissions requirements for the vehicle need to match the engine used...i.e. if I used a 1986 Croma block/engine complete I would need to meet 1986 emissions requirements (unleaded filler and cat conv) but if I use an engine bock from the same year of manufacture as the car, then the emissions requirements don't change... hence the late head on an early block build.
SteveC
The cam drive end is supported using the Croma/Regata style water pump, the front engine mount bolts to the water pump which is bolted to the block with M8 bolts (not M6 bolts like your 124 etc)...I tilted the engine forward and remade the front mount...top engine stay bar looks just like an X19 one but with a small S bend to the bar and I lengthened it slightly....lower cross member mounts to the bodywork just like stock...I remade this so the mount support allowed the lower mount (an industrial rubber isolation mount) to sit with a slight forward tilt instead of the slight rearward tilt it initially had... went from 10 degrees rear tilt to 10 degrees forward tilt so a 20 degree shift in total. Three engine mounts fit up just like the standard component, rear trans mount on the beta lines up quite nicely with the rear transverse chassis rail so there's a simple mount welded to the body which the stock beta mount bolts to.
130TC trans is harder to find again and a bt of a unique beast...Ritmo 105tc / Regata 100s trans is simple to find, but not as robust...again beta trans are virtually bullet proof whereas the 105tc trans is basically an x19 five speed trans with the same forks/hubs/synchro rings ...so a no brainer to use the lancia beta trans.
You could stand the engine straight up and use a 105TC trans... looking at the bellhousing the internal shift rod bore could possibly be bored all the way thru to allow the linkage rod to exit at the front and not the rear...could possibly allow the stock X19 rod shifter mechanism to be used so there would be no need for shifter mods / pattern reversal / cables etc... but given the 105TC and X19 five speed transmissions inherent differential weakness I don't think it would last well with the power (and especially the torque) that my 2 litre engine makes...so I opted for the heavier and bullet proof beta trans.
Sump is an alloy 130TC aftermarket Alquati sump... oil pump is early Croma / Ritmo 130tc in sump type (later engines used a crank nose driven pump) that has a detachable snout pickup which sits pretty well dead middle of the sump...sump is baffled and pickup modified...no oiling problems when it was tilting rearwards...haven't driven the vehicle yet with the re engineered pickup and 10 degree forward tilt (waiting to find the time to paint the car)
I use a 1978 beta engine block, licensing laws in Western Australia require that with engine swaps the emissions requirements for the vehicle need to match the engine used...i.e. if I used a 1986 Croma block/engine complete I would need to meet 1986 emissions requirements (unleaded filler and cat conv) but if I use an engine bock from the same year of manufacture as the car, then the emissions requirements don't change... hence the late head on an early block build.
SteveC
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