The Dirty E30: My new 84 318i project on a budget

[GnarShark]

looking good man!!

[irish44j]

Spray dyed the old ugly faded yellow/black racing seats. They looks almost brand new now!

interested to see how that holds up - have you gotten any staining on clothes or stuff like that? My sparcos look just like yours did - greenish and faded - and I wouldn't mind making them look nice again.

What kind of dye did you use?

[ZomBAR15]

I used the flat black duplicolor vinyl/fabric spray. Not sure if its really concidered a "dye" or not. But the results came out pretty well. Will see how it holds up to DD abuse. Havent moticed any stains or anything on clothes yet.

[ZomBAR15]

Swapped out the plugs yesterday. Went with ngk bp6es's and so far have made a pretty noticeable difference. Pulls a little stronger in the mid-range. still struggles with higger rpms though. Power drops off around 5000-5500rpm. Have a slight ticking and chatter in the valveterain, could adjusting the valve lash solve that

[jeenyus]

Swapped out the plugs yesterday. Went with ngk bp6es's and so far have made a pretty noticeable difference. Pulls a little stronger in the mid-range. still struggles with higger rpms though. Power drops off around 5000-5500rpm. Have a slight ticking and chatter in the valveterain, could adjusting the valve lash solve that

What did you gap the new ones at? If the gap is too small it could suffer up top.

[ZomBAR15]

I gapped them at .035" is that too small if a gap?

[Good & Tight]

For the valve adjustment, use a .008 feeler gauge when the engine is warm. If it's out of whack you'll feel a big improvement.
Those NGK's are stock heat range, you can run 7's which are one step colder.
Check your timing also, run as much advance with out it pinging.
I have a bone stock 84 M10 car and it is fun as hell to drive.

[ZomBAR15]

Thanks for the info! Ill have to look into the timing and stuff. Need to get me a timing light

[E30_Pare]

For the valve adjustment, use a .008 feeler gauge when the engine is warm. If it's out of whack you'll feel a big improvement.
Those NGK's are stock heat range, you can run 7's which are one step colder.
Check your timing also, run as much advance with out it pinging.
I have a bone stock 84 M10 car and it is fun as hell to drive.

Pretty much everything i came to say. haha. Throw a 45 degree elbow on that cone filter and you'll feel a real difference. Couldn't hurt to pop off the dist cap and clean off the contacts. When you get to changing your wires, the thicker the better.

[ZomBAR15]

Cap and rotor are new. Why does adding a 45 degree elbow make such a difference?

[matiasz]

Cap and rotor are new. Why does adding a 45 degree elbow make such a difference?

I think he means it will pick up more colder air? Maybe.
Nice work youre doing!

[ZomBAR15]

Had a bit of an issue with the car this week. Was driving up to denver and hit a pothole and somehow it ate up the distributor cap and rotor. Was able to limp it to the only parts store within 15 miles that had a cap and rotor in stock. Slapped them on real quick and got back on the road. About 10 miles down the road I start getting a real bad clunking from under the hood on a part of the interstate with no where to pull off. A couple minutes later the car sputters backfires and dies. Coast to a stop pop the hood and the distributor cap was hanging off. And the new Rotor was trashed. I also noticed while driving down the interstate that the shifter was bouncing alot. I look under the car amd the trans mount dropped, was dragimg and in turn when I was hitting bumps, the motor was tilting back and the dist cap was hitting the firewall tearing it up. Got it towed home. And was messing with it all day got everything fixed and it still wouldnt run right. Was having a real choppy idle and backfiring like a mofo. I was stumped for hours tryong to figure it out. Pulled the dist, set everythng to tdc and had the firing order all right. Still ran the same. On the verge of losing it and about to throw in the towel I pinch off the vac advance on the dist, and the idle mellows out and car starts running smoothly, so I un plug the vac advance and cap off the hose. Tighten everything up and it all ran great. I dont get it. Car feels like it has double the power and pulls hard all the way to redline now.

[ZomBAR15]

Still getting a slight miss or something at idle though. But its not affecting anything at all. Anybody know what could be causing it? Could it just be the distributor off a tooth or something? Other than that car is running in beast mode right now. The little dirty e30 wants to leave its signature on the pavement everywhere it goes lol

[GnarShark]

looking good so far:popcorn::popcorn:

[YoNorm]

I'm doing a budget build on my new '85 M10 as well. Awesome progress!