My (not so) Delphin 318i

[wworm]

First off:


I've had this car since mid decmber, and have been meaning to make a thread about it but haven't felt like I've done enough work to justify posting, but works slow right now so I'm gonna get this started. This is my new (to me) 11/83 318i. Originally Delphin, resprayed halfway and somewhat poorly color matched with a greenish tint that I actually really like.


(Needs chrome kidney grills again)

I'd like to eventually get it repainted in a factory greenish grey color, but that will probably never happen unless I get a tech job or a rich wife, lol

Untitled
here's it parked in its new spot.

First, I swapped in the steering wheel from my last car and took it for a drive on christmas with my dad
Untitled

Then I messed with the idle to try and get it to go down. It idled perfectly when I bought it, and after the hour long drive home and ever since, it wont idle below 12-1300 rpm. I've since narrowed it down to a sticky ICV, since it'll idle well before I touch the gas pedal. I cleaned it once, quickly, but will def have to take it back out and really try and get it to work right.

Then I gave it a bath:
Untitled

Then after looking around I figured I should replace a few things.
Untitled
This was what was left of the exhaust manifold/heat shield.

Untitled
I was missing a few studs so I went and replaced all of em while I was in there.

Untitled
Motor mounts were pretty tired, old versus new

Untitled
Took it on another drive....

Untitled
Found a car that makes e30s look big. Owner didn't want to talk to me though lol.

Then I took a break and went on a snow wheeling trip with my friend and the Nor Cal Land Rover club
Untitled

Current plans are 6 cylinder brakes/struts swap, which I have been cleaning up and will post progress photos of in my next post. Nothing you all haven't seen before, but who doesn't like seeing stuff being cleaned up?

[kronus]

i love seeing stuff be cleaned up

good looking car, great base to start with.

[wworm]

i love seeing stuff be cleaned up

good looking car, great base to start with.

thanks man! It's nice having a car thats not missing 50% of its clear coat lol.

So on to more idle issues:

I replaced the "green box" thinking it was the cruise control module, but according to Pelican Parts its actually a fuel pump relay. I removed it all together and the car revved up to 3k and stayed there as soon as I turned it on. (I don't want cruise control anyways since I'd like to simplify things- if anyone has tips on removal thatd be great). So I installed one I pulled from a junkyard car a while ago, and it idled properly until I started driving around, and then it idled high again. It comes and goes and I havent been ale to connect it to any other symptoms, hence my hypothesis that it's just a sticky ICV. I've replaced most vacuum lines and the distributor cap and rotor as well. I finally bought a bentley manual and will check timing and other things this weekend and report back my findings.

this is where it usually sits.

[kronus]

timing and vac leaks are the things that do that. you may also want to check the throttle body - someone may have cracked it way open to fix something else.

also when you time it make sure to distinguish the O|T mark and the advance mark, and follow instructions for disabling vac advance (which IIRC you need to do while timing, but don't quote me on that). It's easy to use the wrong one to time to.

[KIRIEIW]

We all knew you'd get another :D

[kronus]

what this car needs is euro bumpers

[wworm]

what this car needs is euro bumpers

in due time in due time

We all knew you'd get another :D

:)

[wworm]

:)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kronus]

nice

you'll want some more beef around those sway bar tabs though probs

edit: shortened too?

[2mAn]

Nice

[freeride53]

Oh hell yeah, love this. The difference in steering feel & handling with the E30 M3 style sway-bar tabs is nuts - by far one of the best mods I've done to my under-powered 318.

[wworm]

My (not so) Delphin 318i

nice

you'll want some more beef around those sway bar tabs though probs

edit: shortened too?

Yeah after looking at it more I'm gonna do another pass on the sides. Its 1/8" thick so its got some beef but I'll be running a vert bar also. I shortened these by 1.25" iirc. Don't wanna go tooo much lower than h&r sports would put it.

Oh hell yeah, love this. The difference in steering feel & handling with the E30 M3 style sway-bar tabs is nuts - by far one of the best mods I've done to my under-powered 318.

Yea! I'm looking forward to it. I was looking for info about placement for the mounts and saw a post you made about how much you preferred the switch to m3 style mount and it got me super stoked to weld these on.

Also:

[2mAn]

are those the seats I told you about?

[wworm]

^ theyre not. I found these like 5 minutes from my work and went and scooped em up with my coworkers truck

[ZEKTI]

Great looking Delphin, I'm in the process of finishing one too. Great color