State Of The Car

Well as expected I've been extremely busy as I tend to get this time of year. I've been traveling on and off over the past 3 weeks so needless to say I haven't accomplished anything on the car. It's still in the same place it was after we pushed it back in the garage at the end of September (post-fire).

This weekend with my dad's help I plan to verify my list and make sure I've got what I need to start replacing the fuel system components along with a few other items. I should have more details on that over the next week or two. I hope to get the big order for all these parts in near the end of the month.

In the mean time I wanted to share a couple of pictures of Patrick Swayze's DeLorean from back in the day. For those of you who don't know, he purchased a DeLorean back when he hit it big and was a true fan of the car. If I've already posted these before, please ignore.

Enjoy!

Back to the Future/Knight Rider Intro Mashup

Close Call Saturday

Saturday morning I needed to pull the car out of the garage to open up some space in the garage for an unrelated project. I started the car and immediately noticed it was running rough and missing. It also was hunting for an idle but in a much larger range then it's ever done before. I thought I'd let it warm up and see if the miss would disappear and the engine clear up. I pulled the car out on the driveway and let it run. It was still running rough. I went back to the engine compartment to see if I could notice anything obvious. Within 10-15 seconds I saw a spark and a flame ignite on the top of the left cylinder head (driver-side) right above cylinder #4.

The first thing I did was shut the car off. Then I panicked and grabbed a bowl that I had in the garage and ran into the house to fill it with water. I splashed most of it out trying to get it to the car. I threw what water was left in the bowl onto the flame but it didn't extinguish. At this point the flame was not any larger but was in an area where ignition wires and other fuel injector rubber lines would be compromised at any second. I knew I didn't have much more time. I quickly remember I had a Dr. Pepper in the garage and ran to my work bench. Fortunately it was still 3/4 full so I poured/splashed Dr. Pepper all over the area where the flames were. This did the trick and the fire was out. My heart rate was probably close to 170 BPM.

At this point I started to soak in what had just happened. #1, My damn car caught on fire!!. That's a first for me believe it or not. #2, With the exception of a few spark plug wires bubbling on the sheath, I don't see any noticeable damage. #3, This could have been so much worse. Had I been driving the car when this happened, I likely would have been looking at an insurance check and a lost project. #4, How in the hell did this happen?

First of all, here's a shot of where the fire occurred. If you look between the control pressure valve and the low idle speed regulator, there are 3 plug wires running to the left bank of cylinders. It was directly under these where the fire started and fortunately stayed.

Here's another picture from a different angle. It's a close up of the area. If you look closely, you can see the spark plug wires bubbled up on the bottom.

The flames were present for maybe 30 seconds tops. Even though I ran into the house and unsuccessfully tried to use a bowl and water first, the total distance traveled was maybe 25 feet at full sprint.

With the help of some neighbors and my mailman (Thanks USPS!) I pushed the car back into the garage, averting the need to start it back up to back it in and create another dangerous situation.

I spent the rest of the weekend researching, and discussing via the online forums a replacement process for the Bosch K-Jet fuel injection lines, injector seals, copper gaskets, etc. The best I can tell, this appears to be a small fuel leak at or around the #4 cylinder. It could be the injector seal itself, a banjo bolt, or a fuel line. Additionally, the best I can tell, all the current lines, seals, and so on appear to be original parts.

I updated my parts list spreadsheet and came up with approximately $440 before tax and shipping. Believe it or not, I ordered a brand new carpet set from DMC last week, so these repairs my have to wait a few weeks before I can pick up the parts. I'll certainly post an update when I get the replacement fuel injection parts and take some before and after pictures.

Price is Right DeLorean

Long time; no post. Apologies. The dog days of summer kept me away from making much progress on the car. It's been too darned hot in that garage. We're heading towards nicer weather though so stay tuned. I've got big plans for the car this fall/winter.

In the meantime, enjoy this relic from December of 1981.

My Wife's 30th B-Day Party

My wife's 30th birthday party was Saturday night July 27th. We had a live band, a catered fajita buffet, a swimming pool, and my DeLorean all involved.

Here are the car pics from the weekend. This one is driving over to my mother-in-law's house where we had the party.

Just arrived

Parked and ready for decorating

Decorated

And finally back in the garage the next day after a fun night

Yea I still don't have the rear louvre finished. I'm just not happy with the way it's progressed so far. One of these days I'll get pissed enough and finish it myself or have someone with a local body shop do it for me at a good price.

The party was a hit (80's themed of course)! Happy birthday to my awesome wife!

LED Clock

When I received my car almost a year ago now, the original LED digital clock was dead. I removed it and tried to revive it but could not with my parts and tools on hand. I read somewhere around that time that the original clocks were filled w/ gas and when the seal breaks, it dies.

The first thing I did was try and source a replacement reproduction clock. I quickly found out that none of the DMC vendors had any such thing. Then I looked around for a used working replacement. This turned up nothing, as these original clocks command a premium and are rarely removed and sold if they are still working. Then I was told that the original clocks were the same units from the S2 Lotus Esprits slightly modified to fit the DMC. I looked for one of those as well but came up empty handed.

At this point I considered what it would take to build my own. I researched a few paths and came up with a plan that would require approx $70 in parts. Around that time I found a guy in England who was building a small handful of replacement clocks for the DMC-12. His price shipped to the U.S. was $105. I quickly ordered his last one less than a week ago.

It arrived yesterday believe it or not and I installed it last night. I am extremely happy with the end result. It looks fantastic and was a perfect fit. The original clocks required a constant 12v (+) from the car's battery to hold the memory for the clock. This one uses a small Lithium Ion "coin" type battery that should last for years. All I had to connect was a ground (-) and a 12v (+) from the keyed ignition (so the clock displays when you turn on the key).

 

And if you're wondering about the 24 HR functionality, currently this is the only way it works. BUT seeing as I set all my clocks (iPhone, daily driver, etc.) to 24 HR setting anyways, this worked out perfect for me. There is a colon that blinks in between the HH and MM. It just wasn't captured in the 2 photographs above. 

First Shipment of DeLoreans to Dealers

This VHS footage is of the first shipment of DeLoreans from the Quality Assurance Centers (QACs) to the dealers. This footage is from May or June of 1981 and was brought to my attention by the good folks over at dmctalk.org and DeLoreanPOGs.com.

There is no sound in this video. It's 10+ mins but the true DeLorean folks appreciate it.

Brake System Rebuild Part II

The picture should sum it up. I finished bleeding the brakes today. I ended up having to enlist the help of my lovely wife. I had been using a vacuum pump to try and bleed all the air out myself but that didn't get 100% of the air out.

Overall the pedal feels much better. I don't feel the pedal pumping up as I did before. The car still doesn't stop like a new car, even though it has 4 wheel disc brakes. There is no ABS and I'm not certain that the booster is doing its job; however, from a driving standpoint I think this is a big improvement. It's no doubt after examining the calipers and flexible hoses, the parts and seals needed to be replaced or rebuilt. Couple that with the fact that I replaced the original pads, I'm very pleased with where it is now.

I did take it for a short spin around the block. I got on the brakes fairly hard at about 30 MPH. The car stopped straight and didn't pull to one side, which is another plus.

Brake System Rebuild Part I

Since I've owned the car the brakes have been squeaky and the pedal has been spongy. Now typically on a daily driver I would replace the master cylinder and brake pads; however, I noticed the master cylinder looked brand new and I was able to confirm with the help of DMCH that this was true.

So I put together a list of parts needed and decided I would rebuild all the brake calipers (4 wheel disc brakes), replace the flexible hoses at each corner, and put on new pads all the way around.

I decided to start on this project Saturday. I centered the car a little more in the garage so I could have more room to work and put it up on jack stands. Then I started to take off the wheels. This is where my first problem arose.

The front wheels came off without issue. The rear wheels were a different story. The LR had a seized lug nut that required me use a 5 foot piece of galvanized conduit pipe as a "cheater bar" in conjunction with my 1/2 inch drive ratchet. After some bouncing and sweat I was able to break it loose. The RR had a "boogered-up" nut that stuck in my 3/4 deep socket. In fact that nut is still in there. I tried to use my propane torch and vice to get it out but nothing yet. Luckily I have extra sockets so this didn't stop progress.

The front calipers were easy to remove and rebuild. The front hoses were easy to replace as well. Here's a picture of the LF caliper before I rebuilt it but after I split it on my work bench.

You can see in the second picture the condition of the pistons and bore. There was some light surface rust but nothing too deep or bad. The dust jackets and seals were pretty much perished and the pads looked to be the originals. I don't think this car has ever had a brake job.

I knocked out the front 2 wheels with little to no issue. Now onto the rear. Why is it that rear brakes always seem to be a pain in the ass? First the rears each have an additional mechanism attached to the caliper, the emergency brake assembly. So I had to deal with that. Next, the flexible hoses are between 2 metal brake lines, one that runs to the caliper and the other that runs back inside the frame eventually to the master cylinder. Needless to say replacing the flexible lines required me to actually get under the car to remove the back side of the flex line (fortunately just one nut and lock washer after you remove the metal compression fitting).

I started on the RR and this is as far as I got. After I rebuilt the caliper, replaced the flex line, and reinstalled the caliper, I found the metal line between the flex hose and the caliper had stripped the threads on the caliper side. I checked my tap and die set but I didn't have anything metric nor anything with threads that fine. So I called it a night and got on the interweb to order parts.

Here's a picture of one of the calipers after I rebuilt it.

That's why the title of this post is Part I. Hopefully Part II will be posted later this week. I'm hoping to have my parts by tomorrow or Wednesday. Here's another angle of the car on the stands.

Driver-side Upper Door Trim

Before:

 

After: 

Transmission Selector Trim

Back to the fun stuff... I picked up this kit from DMOCO. I really like the way it turned out. It came with a new emblem for the shifter itself and a stainless trim piece with an etched logo at the bottom. Installation was 15 minutes tops.

Restoration Calculation

If you've been following this restoration blog, you'll know that my car is a rolling restoration project. This is NOT a frame-off, complete engine & transmission rebuild type of project (and fingers crossed it stays that way!).

That said, I've been working on a spreadsheet essentially as long as I've owned the car. On this sheet I've been adding to an ever-growing list of parts as I identify things needed. Since this sheet is dynamic in nature, the calculations aren't the gospel but should give a good idea as to where I am at least in terms of purchasing the parts needed to get this car where I want it.

Now a couple of things to mention before I proceed... First, I have not included any dash repair costs, mostly because I don't know how I will proceed (this includes the binnacle that houses the instrument cluster). Second, I don't have any AC repair costs included. I haven't yet determined what, if anything needs to be replaced. I've only found 1 disconnected vacuum hose thus far. More testing will have to be done at a later time.

My running total on estimated parts costs for the entire project is: $4,373.09. To date, I've invested $952.75. These costs do not include shipping or taxes where applicable. That means as the car sits today, it should be approximately 21.79% restored. This to be more precise:





I'm getting ready to drop another $350 in rebuilding the brake system this month. The car already has a relatively new master cylinder so I'm not planning on doing anything with that, yet.

The brake work will put me at 29.79%.

I've owned the car for roughly 297 days. 

At my current pace, the car will take another 701 days to complete (provided I don't add to the list, which I likely will).

Overall, the entire project will take 998 days.  (Legend: 3 years = 1095 days)

Overall I'm really pleased with these numbers. I had always held a 5 year vision on getting this car where I wanted it. Who knows, this list may grow and turn out to be much more. And those who work on cars understand that there's always some maintenance or repair to be made. It will never be truly "finished".



Now typically I wouldn't disclose these types of financials as I hold these matters private; however, I'd like to share this so that anyone with genuine interest knows what it takes to "spiff" up one of these cars, at least in general. There are certainly cheaper, faster, and more modern cars to restore out there, but I challenge any of those against the attention that a DeLorean generally attracts.

Also please take into account that this only shows the progress of PARTS PURCHASED. I still have to do the actual work, which takes considerable time and effort. Almost 1 year into this ownership and project and I'm not burned out and I'm pacing myself with the project.