Hello folks.
i had to get rid of my clio williams, wouldnt pass the strict swiss MOT, and at 300,000km was sort of worn out anyway, pity because the car was still goin strong and quite tight.
anyway, my garage had a 1996 B with only 57,000km on the clock, really good condition and the right color too. so i bought it. i always heard of the good handling and driveability of this car.

i have done a few km and i have to say it drives very nice. 6.9lt/1ookm so far, which is good, only thing i see a quite low coolant temp which could slightly affect fuel consumption so ill look into changing the thermostatic valve if required. also a bit noisy, so i will look for a hard top.
the only thing i dont really like is the excessive brake pedal travel before the brakes start biting. much more than my williams, and more than my summer car, a delta integrale.
does anybody know if this pedal travel can be adjusted or where to look to reduce it?

here my new banger
ciao

Hello and welcome to the forum!

You have made the best colour choice for sure, all of the other colours look dull when parked next to a red one!!



The b's are always hot under the bonnet yet the temperature gauge rarely moves above 1/2 way even on the hottest of days! At this time of year in the UK mine barely moves above the 1/4 mark, I would imagine it will be the same for you so I would not bother with a new thermostat.

You should not have excessive brake pedal travel, all of the b's I have driven are very sharp and responsive when braking. I would suggest checking the obvious, discs/pads, if they are OK check that the callipers are moving freely and the seals are not leaking. If all of the above are OK the b does have a tendency to rot the rubber brake hoses from the inside out, a set of stainless steel braided hoses are about £70 from an eBay supplier.

welcome gianmarko... hey LRB you've played with photoshop didn't you? great color.

Nope, that is actually as I took the photo!!

Hi and welcome......a 1996........wow! appart from a couple of light chips it looks excellent.

Please excuse Lee he has a fettish with pink

Re the brakes there are a couple of things as Lee has stated...the hoses could be expanding but very much doubt they will be blocked/corroded as if this happens it normally firms up the pedal.

If not the hoses I would fear the master cylinder, what's the quality of the fluid like (dirty)? if not good moisture can badly affect the seals.

thanks everybody for the answers

temp gauge in fact stays around a quarter of the istrument, is pretty cold here, subzero normally, and a lot of snow recently.

re the brakes.

i have checked, pads and discs are in good shape, couldnt find any play or something wrong looking in either front or rear brakes.

the pedal is very hard when the powerbrake is off, when i start the engine and depression builds up the pedal gets soft and gains the travel i was talking about. another thing i noticed is that when braking on slippery (VERY slippery lately here) i can feel the ABS kicking but the pedal tends to go down quite a lot, in fact too much for my taste.
i will try changing the fluid with fresh one, DOT 4 will be enough as i dont plan to drive the car in anger (swiss police dont like that anyway...), will see if that improves things

another thing i noticed is that the fuel reserve light goes on with still 15 lt in the tank (filled up with 35lt)
fuel consumption is pretty good, around 7.8lt per 100km

one thing i dont like too much is the steering feedback. steering is really direct, and thats nice, but the feedback is nowhere near that of the clio williams, and wont even mention the 'grale steering which is inimitable.

ok maybe im a little spoiled

ciao and thanks

gianmarko said:

Hello folks.
i had to get rid of my clio williams, wouldnt pass the strict swiss MOT, and at 300,000km was sort of worn out anyway, pity because the car was still goin strong and quite tight.
anyway, my garage had a 1996 B with only 57,000km on the clock, really good condition and the right color too. so i bought it. i always heard of the good handling and driveability of this car.

i have done a few km and i have to say it drives very nice. 6.9lt/1ookm so far, which is good, only thing i see a quite low coolant temp which could slightly affect fuel consumption so ill look into changing the thermostatic valve if required. also a bit noisy, so i will look for a hard top.
the only thing i dont really like is the excessive brake pedal travel before the brakes start biting. much more than my williams, and more than my summer car, a delta integrale.
does anybody know if this pedal travel can be adjusted or where to look to reduce it?

here my new banger
ciao

Click to expand...

Nice car mate

As much as I love the b if I owned and integrale you would have to force me not to drive it everyday. Been one of my top ten cars for as long as I remember.:slayer:

fuel consumption would put me off driving one everyday. here's a pic of my mates and his old bosses one. driven both, and wow, they were quick 350 odd bhp +

i drove an integrale every day for one year. fuel consumption is high, but worth every cent of it. it was an EVO1, maybe 270bhp.

however in suisse non kat cars are not allowed. had to sell it and bought a MINT EVO2. and when i say mint i mean it. one of the cleanest you will ever see. 32k km now, and still the original plastic on doors and carpets.

i dont want to put miles on it, so i need some other decent drive for everyday use, or i couldnt resist

here a shot of my delta

simonmac said:

fuel consumption would put me off driving one everyday. here's a pic of my mates and his old bosses one. driven both, and wow, they were quick 350 odd bhp +

Click to expand...

OOhhhh, I have always had an Intergrale in my fantasy garage, tried to get my Mum to buy an HF Turbo back in the early 90's but she was having none of it!!

i have another barchetta question.i just noticed the doors are different from the interior side. the handle is different and left one has a pocket.

is it normal like that?

gm

mine is like that think they all are

but not mine... i have pockets on both sides.

Yup, its normal in most b's apart from F4usT who has modified his with the soft lining of his girlfriends favourite mink coat!

LittleRedB said:

Yup, its normal in most b's apart from F4usT who has modified his with the soft lining of his girlfriends favourite mink coat!

Click to expand...

Oh, I thought is was her mink knickers.
Lee, we missed that coffee, now going away until the New Year so will catch up on my return. Seasons Greeting and all that stuff.

Richpea said:

Oh, I thought is was her mink knickers.
Lee, we missed that coffee, now going away until the New Year so will catch up on my return. Seasons Greeting and all that stuff.

Click to expand...

Rich, no worries - same as but we can catch up in the New Year...........re the mail you sent, I will check the plans with the missus and let you know!

gianmarko said:

i have another barchetta question.i just noticed the doors are different from the interior side. the handle is different and left one has a pocket.

is it normal like that?

gm

Click to expand...

Mine has a pocket on each door

Nice Integrale by the way

OK as it's xmas i'll share another Lancia with you all

Tell me that's your other car..................?

unfortunatly not, but i have had a go in either that one or a similar one, as my mates garage had them for sale occaisonally.