Derby days

This is about a nice Evo1 we have for sale at present. It's a rare Derby green car

in good condition, I've owned the car for a few years, and now it's time to sell it.

I bought the car on Ebay and went down to Peterborough to collect and pay, it was owned by a car detailer who kept the Evo in lovely condition. He gave me a file of documents that I'll talk of later.

I was due to collect my lad from a Midlands airport that evening and get him and the Lancia home again up north. This the car did, and did it very well, it was the fastest and smoothest Delta I'd ever driven

I parked the car at home and covered it up, it was too good to use much, so the car didn't get taxed and was never out on the road. This year I decided to sell the car to someone who could use it more, or display it better.

To recommission this Evo1's engine I needed to start the car. I replaced the engine oil and removed the spark plug cover, blowing any dirt out of the spark plug holes before removing the plugs. I bought and fitted a new battery, then I squirted a little engine oil down each cylinder bore and turned the engine over until oil pressure showed on the gauge.

I put 2 gallons of fresh fuel in the tank, put the spark plugs back and turned the engine over again and it started well, job done, let's get it on Ebay.

With only garage pictures available for the Ebay listing, I wanted to drive the car to the local golf course and take some nice pics. Would it start? of course not!

Generally an engine needs 2 things to work, fuel and a spark. If the engine turns over but won't start, check spark and fuel. I did this, and there was a spark but no smell of fuel in the cylinders. This is a common problem with our Lancias, first I checked the fuel pump fuse, ok. Then I lifted the back seat and removed the fuel pump's metal cover, I attached a test light to the red wire on the pump wiring socket and turned the engine over, it lit up. So the fault must lie with the fuel pump or after the pump.

I replaced the fuel pump with a new one from AECar, the old pump and swirl pot were quite dirty with old slime which I cleaned off. Because the new pump is smaller than the original, and the terminals are different and the pipes are a bit different, compromises are made. With these done I squeezed the pump back in the tank with some difficulty.

I tried the starter, no joy.

The injectors and fuel rail can be removed without disturbing the inlet manifold, I did this. Each injector has a fine mesh filter on its top which can block up if the car isn't used, so considering the muck already found I took the injectors to be cleaned. With these items cleaned and refitted the car still wouldn't start, there was no fuel pressure at the filter inlet, so there must be an electrical fault.

I started again, test light worked etc, so I pulled out the pump again. The swirl pot and pump hang from the pump top mounting with 2 spring clips, these clip into 2 of 4 slots on the outside of the plastic swirl pot, one of these slots had been broken before I owned this car, so the pump mounts were rotated 45o out of line to find a good slot. With the outlet pipe not being happily lined up, wiggling the unit back into the tank had pulled the pipe off the top of the new pump. So the car wasn't getting any fuel, I put the spring clips in the proper place and put the pump back. Because the swirl pot rests on the bottom of the tank, the spring locating clips don't really support it much, so the pump was much happier with one broken clip but being in the right rotational position.

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Cover over fuel pump assembly, secured with 8mm nuts.

Always remove battery terminals before working in this area.

With everything safely secured I reattached the battery and started the car, it fired up as soon as the fuel reached the injectors. Excellent, let's get down to the golf club and take those pictures.

I only use our nearby golf club for taking pictures of Lancia Deltas! Although golf is a mystery to me, I can appreciate the beautiful scenery.

Click on the picture to visit Royal Birkdale site

With the photos taken and the car listed, I'll tell a bit about this Delta.

The Derby verde Evo1 was specified and named for its appeal to the UK market, it wasn't a popular colour, most UK buyers

preferring a full blooded Italian red coloured car, but it is an attractive colour showing the Evo1's lines well. This car was sold by

John Whalleys in 1997 to a customer in London, when the car had reached 130000km the architect owner traded the Evo in at Walkers for a '92 Verde York car with 57000km on it, he was concerned about the Derby green car's reliability.

At Walkers in June 2000, a black 8v delta was part exchanged for our Derby car, and the car went back down south to Twickenham. When it was sold the car had an Alcantara interior, before collection from Walkers it had cross drilled discs,

racing pads, braided hoses and racing brake fluid fitted, which hint of the new owner's intentions for the car.

After 6 months, in January 2001, the Delta was booked into Racing Technologies in Twickenham, it was at 136k km. Tests were carried out which resulted in a decision to replace the engine and gearbox with new units. Something bad must have happened!

The list of parts fitted is astonishing, new engine, new gearbox, new flywheel, new turbo, the list is long. A new leather interior was fitted, F40 calipers and pads, with the original brake discs refitted.

The standard boost system was refitted, new clutch, new diff cradle, intercooler welded(?!), with new hoses, belts and mounting bushes fitted throughout, the invoice total was £17367.69, which is quite a bill! So all the racing gear was removed and the car returned to standard, further invoices refer to subsequent work on the car to check it was all ok.

When I bought this Lancia in 2016 it had 172k kms on it, so most of the car was 36000kms old. When driving it home I was impressed with the tightness and speed of the car, it wasn't until I checked the paperwork that I realised why! Most Lancia Deltas have a story to tell, I would love to know what happened to this one. It has resulted in a special little car which a new owner will

enjoy for many years.

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