Living with a Trevi

[Thotos]

I've already posted this on the Betaboyz forum so I hope you don't mind the duplication. I thought some of you guys might not be visiting the 'other' forum and as I am trying to bore as many people as possible with my Trevi experience, here it all is:

Have you written any sort of blog on this car elsewhere?  Seeing the 131mirafiori.com page showing the sill work got me thinking.

No, I am not good at doing that sort of thing. I do things on the car and then forget about them and move onto the next bit...  

I am getting both very impressed with the Trevi and quite attached to it   so I thought I'd have a go at boring everyone with my Trevi experience and trials and tribulations.

Some work and repairs on the car have been reported elsewhere on this forum (and some other forums). The latest job (last night in fact) was changing the exhaust middle section and you can read about that at http://www.lancia.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2124.msg15428#msg15428.

One of the things that annoyed me with the car when I got it were the smoked rear lenses, so having managed to get a very good nearside light unit and a brand new offside unit from Chris (ex-Betacar) the rear lenses are now as Lancia intended them to be.

Before:



After:



You should have also noticed that in the "Before" photo the sun visor is at a strange angle and that's because the little clips that hold it in place had lost their shape and hence their holding ability. With a bit of heat and a lot of patience they have been given their original shape so in the "After" photo the sun visor is held in it's correct position.

The front lights were also refurbished by taking several sets of lights apart and selecting the best combinations of bowls and glass and reassembling two headlamps which while not as good as new they are good enough (for now at least).



At least the car no longer has the strange "mascara style" headlamp with black borders on the bowls of the offside headlamp only  

Another annoying "feature" of the car was the boot lid giving me a headache every time I opened it as the gas struts lost their strength. But I found a company in the Midlands that re-gas the struts back up to full pressure and the boot lid can now stay open!  

Before (simulated):



After:



I'll try and keep this thread updated with details of any major or interesting work carried out on the Trevi.

[m tulloch]

What are the details of the gas strut company? I need to get the ones from my HPE re-gassed.

[Thotos]

They are:

SGS Engineering (UK) Limited
Unit A6
Cranmer Road
West Meadows Industrial Estate
Derby
DE21 6JL
Telephone: +44  (0)1332 298 126
Fax:            +44  (0)1332 366 232
Email:   andy@sgs-engineering.com                     
Web Address: www.sgs-engineering.com


You can buy new ones off the shelf or have your old one regassed. At just £8.50 each to regass the Trevi ones I thought it was an absolute bargain 

[Lindsay]

Lovely to see a Trevi - and you are so right to ditch the smoked rear lenses. Looks 100 times better with the originals. Well done for taking it on.

I see there is one on ebay just now, starting price of £1500.

[fay66]

Hi Lindsay,
Do you have the link or the item number please.

Brian
8227

[m tulloch]

They are:

SGS Engineering (UK) Limited
Unit A6
Cranmer Road
West Meadows Industrial Estate
Derby
DE21 6JL
Telephone: +44  (0)1332 298 126
Fax:            +44  (0)1332 366 232
Email:   andy@sgs-engineering.com                     
Web Address: www.sgs-engineering.com

Many thanks for that.
You can buy new ones off the shelf or have your old one regassed. At just £8.50 each to regass the Trevi ones I thought it was an absolute bargain 

[Thotos]

Do you have the link or the item number please.

Here it is http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/lancia-trevi-2ltr-twin-cam_W0QQitemZ260457428955QQcmdZViewItem

It's just been relisted as it didn't sell last time.

[fay66]

In the 2000 Register it's listed as belonging to a member Mr C J Wilde who at the time lived near Sheffield.
Looks like a good one to buy.

Brian
8227

[Betaboy2.0]

That Trevi on e-bay does look interesting.... but...

Have you noticed that it is fitted with Beta series 2 saloon doors (Probably fitted when it was "restored". So therefore it has the wrong handles (correct Trevi ones can't be fitted to S2 saloon doors without changing the door skins) and also because of the wrong doors it therefore has the wrong mirror on the drivers door ( again an S2 saloon mirror, as the correct Trevi remote ones won't fit S2 saloon doors). It seems to be very low at the back, and the sills should be black, not body colour. Shame too that there aren't any interior pics. He is asking strong money for a Trevi, so it really would be nice if it was more original, like Theo's. Just doesn't sit quite right to me.

Andy

[Thotos]

Have you noticed that it is fitted with Beta series 2 saloon doors...  So therefore it has the wrong handles

Yes, I too noticed the door handles were different to mine but don't know enough about Betas to realise they are S2 saloon doors and handles. Are the alloy wheels original Beta ones? They look like Fiat 132 Bellini wheels to me... 

[Betaboy2.0]

Yes - the alloys are the original Beta S3 saloon and early Trevi style. Later Trevi's went over to the Coupe / HPE style alloy.

[DavidLaver]

Firstly thankyou for posting it here - am impressed with the sunvisor clip resto as I recently spent fourteen quid to get a sunvisor clip, in the wrong colour I may add, for our 1985 Merc 300 TE.  Little bits like that are such a battle, but make ALL the difference to the car.

Secondly I didn't realise a Trevi and Beta were so closely related that a door would fit.  Just HOW closely related are they?

David

[Thotos]

A Trevi is a Beta with a boot. In fact in all countries other than the UK it was known as the Lancia Beta Trevi. In the UK, because of the bad publicity that the Betas had, it was decided to introduce the Trevi as a model in its own right. But essentially the Trevi is a Series 3 Beta Berlina with a boot. The two cars are the same up to the C-pillar. In fact the famous "Trevi Dash" was first used in the Series 3 Beta Berlina. If you look carefully at the rear of my Trevi you'll see it actually says "Lancia ß" and that's because the boot lid and badge strip was replaced with one from Holland.

[DavidLaver]

Well the UK marketing department had ME fooled...   

Was there much change with the interiors or the suspension setup?

David

PS - you've made me notice pictures can be inline as well as attached, I'd never given the tool bar above the text window ^much of _{a look} before.

[Thotos]

Was there much change with the interiors or the suspension setup?

I believe no change at all with the interiors and suspension. As far as I know, the only difference is in the rear of the cars but as I keep saying I am not a Beta expert (yet  ). Internally, underneath and from the front end up to the C-pillars the Trevi and S3 Berlina are identical. After the C-pillar the Trevi has a boot while the Berlina slopes down like a hatchback.