The Dirty Dolphin build thread
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Alright guys, she's back on her feet! Partial car photos only at this time:) I'm saving full vehicle pics for after I finish the IS lip, shadowline, and give her a bath:) More importantly, the test drive revealed that I have some wicked auto-steer AKA anti-return to center, meaning, if I steer a direction, the car tends to steer HARDER in that direction as opposed tending to self center. Now, this doesn't happen right off center, but I dont have to get near steering lock for it to happen either. Its not uncontrollable, but it is definitely NOT RIGHT. I replaced a whole ton of stuff on the front end (iv'e unbolted and reinstalled every component related to the front suspension, including removing the front subframe), and haven't had an alignment yet, so that may be part of it. What type of misalignment would cause this "auto-steer"? Eyeballing it, It looks like i have lot of toe in... Could i have reinstalled something wrong to cause this?
On a positive note, the front end feels really solid and responsive; no more crashing over bumps!!!!!!!!!! No creaking when steering! The majority of this was the ball joints, they were realllly bad. The solid motor mounts affected shifting precision more positively than i ever expected; very cool. I think my passenger side motor mount was broken before, which would explain the clunkiness between shifts. The solid motor mounts definitely increase vibration though. My new diff seems to have fixed the major grinding/whining that I had, but there is still something rubbing back there, likely parking brake shoes...
And a pic... Also, these tires pick up road grit like crazy. They are sandblasting my wheel wells something serious.
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This project still lives! It moves at a glacial pace i know. I'm pleased with this next modification...
I put this (cardinal red vinyl upholstery kt from zoomzoomzoom-ing on ebay)...
On this...
And got this!
The drivers seat is the last piece to the cardinal red puzzle Hopefully done next weekend. These are not fun to put on by the way...
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Looks great! Any chance the old vinyl is salvageable? I could use some for repairs although I still wanna try one of these kits someday.
I didn't destroy the old vinyl during deconstruction, so i think you can use it. The original upholstery looked really good on the outside, but man, the 25 years of shit you cant see... I can send you pics of the pieces of interest.
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Great work Andrew! Marcus showed me a pic and I thought it was professionally done! Looks much better than a lot of the reupholstery jobs ive seen
Thank you! It's kind of a pain, since the replacement upholstery isn't a perfect fit and is missing some holes, but it went back together better than I expected... though I kind of fear one of these moments happening after hitting a bump.
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Very nice
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This car is awesome. I saw it at Road America last year during the Hawk vintage races. It was the day after I bought my E30 project and only boosted my ambition to get moving. Great work!
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A little update on a major operation. Lot's of parts have been removed...
TO FIND THIS!!! I've had a tank that leaks when more than half full or when I corner hard right for a long time.
Not for long:)
The diff is out because I also bought a low mile 4.10 LSD to replace my noisy 4.10 open diff:)
Also, my driveshaft U-joints are pretty notchy. Anyone know of a good place that can rebuild them?
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Nice tank! Also wondering where you got that specimen from?
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