Rear trim panels & fuel system status

I purchased some replacement rear grey trim panels for the car a couple of months ago. I decided to take the old ones out because I was sick of looking at the cracked vinyl and worn + broken bolsters. After removing the old ones, I noticed one of the POs had installed some crappy 90s era Pioneer speakers. I trashed these and ordered some of the Infinity 529Is. According to the DeLorean gurus, these should be a straight swap with the original brackets, which appear to be in good shape and unmolested.

Once the new speakers come in, I'll wire up some leads, mount the new speakers, and install the replacement panels.

I've also gone ahead and installed the injectors and routed everything in the engine compartment (for now). I was going to do another fuel flow test but I'm sick of it and ready to bolt everything up to see where I am. I'm going to complete the following prior to test starting.

• Drain the oil
• Change the oil filter
• Replace the oil gauge sender
• Replace the oil light sender
• Fill with new oil
• Fill the gas tank w/ 5 gallons of gas and appropriate ethanol stabilizer 
• Check all connections
• Make sure POA has gasket and won't be a vacuum leak issue
• Have a fire extinguisher handy!

Now that deer season is over for me, I should have more time to work on this! Here's a picture of the engine bay a couple of days ago.

New Steering Wheel

Merry Christmas everyone!

While still waiting on return of the rear louvre from the local body shop (dropped it off in early November), and trying to find time to take care of a few preparation steps ahead of firing up the engine after a long nap, I came across another owner online who was selling some parts. One of the parts was a steering wheel in very good shape.

My old steering wheel had the leather wrap badly deteriorated so I had pulled it off with plans to get a local upholstery shop to recover at some point.

I decided I would instead swap it out with a good unit and sell my old one to someone who wants to get it recovered on their terms.

Here is the new wheel installed. It took me 5 minutes to swap out. This was possibly one of the easiest jobs I've ever tackled on this car. I had read where others had had tough times getting them off the tapered spine shaft.

You'll notice I still have some interior parts torn down for future/in-progress jobs.

And finally, here is a picture of the old wheel on my workbench.

Rear Louvre Give-up

Whilst in the middle of this never-ending fuel system rebuild/refurb, I decided to make progress somewhere else on the car. I took the troublesome rear louvre to a local body shop who I trust and have had do other work on different cars in the past.

If you recall, I worked many hours on this along with the help from family, one cousin in particular. After over a year of just sitting in my garage I was sick of looking at it.

We'll see how it turns out. More to come soon.

Cleaning the Fuel Tank and Components Part III

Today I completed the fuel tank cleaning and component reassembly. I was able to get everything reconnected and buttoned-up. Over the next couple of days I plan on filling the tank up approximately half full and doing a (hopefully) final fuel flow test at the injectors, again.

I feel like we're close here. More to come...

Cleaning the Fuel Tank and Components Part II

I was able to use the siphon pump to get out the remaining old fuel Friday night. I also used an old turkey baster to get the final little bit out. 

I picked up some acetone, shop towels, and a $1 grill brush at the hardware store today. I was able to make some headway on the fuel tank cleaning. Here's the last video I shot from inside the tank. I still plan on scrubbing it out one more time and getting the shop towel remnants out of the tank.

Over the weekend I also put together the cleaned fuel pump, hoses, replacement rubber boot (DMCH made it right and sent me a replacement within a couple of days), and so on. I also installed new wire leads for the pump as the old ones were in poor shape.

Finally I cleaned the baffle assembly and fuel basket. I realized it would behoove me to go ahead and replace the fuel pickup line (connects to the bottom of the pump), seeing as this is the only rubber line I haven't replaced on the fuel system since I bought the car! If I recall it's $18 at DMCH.

At this point it looks like a Part III to this part of the project is inevitable. I plan on having this wrapped-up in the next 2-3 weeks. 

Cleaning the Fuel Tank and Components Part I

This is going to be a brief post followed by a more lengthy post in Part II. Hopefully there will be no Part III.

As of now, I have started my initial attempts to drain the tank. I couldn't get a good vacuum to pull the fuel out of the tank so today I ordered a siphon pump, a new 5 gallon gas can, and a box of rubber gloves. I'll pick up some acetone this weekend.

Once the old gas comes out I'll scrub the tank several times over and take a few pics along the way. My goal is to get some internal pics as well. The tank is synthetic so hopefully it will scrub up nicely without any surprises.

Here is a pic of the original pickup screen that sits in the bottom of the baffle at the bottom of the tank. Next to it is a new replacement part from DMCH. I think this speaks for itself.

Replacement parts arrived

I ordered replacement parts for the fuel pump/tank area. The new fuel pump boot arrived with a large crack in the ring. I'll be sending this back for an exchange this week.

Yesterday was also the Italian Car Fest in Grapevine. I had the 308 GTSi at the house this weekend and snapped a pic of it in the garage next to the DeLorean.

Fuel Pump Surprise

I decided to drain the fuel tank of the old gas by jumping the RPM relay (like I did during my previous fuel flow tests). I took loose the rubber lines from the metal barbs on the metal lines next to the pump. The return line was a real pain justifying the need to get out the razor knife to get it free.

Before jumping the relay I decided to inspect the fuel pump inner rubber boot, knowing I had a faint fuel smell in this area prior. This is the little surprise I found.

 

 

What fun! The return line rubber hose in the tank ripped like a piece of bread when I tried to pull it off. The main line at the bottom of the pump seemed OK though. I am now in the process of putting together a parts list for these rubber parts that have become perished. 

I put the rubber external boot back over the tank lid with a piece of duct tape over the two hose inlets to keep the fumes from escaping. 

One step forward, two steps back. That first drive since the engine fire seems a little more distant after this find. We'll get there though. 

Status Update

I still have 2 fuel injectors that are failing flow tests. Today I used my air compressor to blow them out. The two problematic injectors look to have some rust/oil/crud build-up inside them. I decided to soak them in the bath for a few more days as one last resort. If they still don't work at that point, I'll replace them.

I also inspected the fuel tank area where the pump and sender unit reside. There was a decent raw gasoline smell in this area so something isn't sealed-up properly. I'm going to rig-up a long fuel line and a bucket and jump the RPM relay to empty the gas tank of the old gasoline. I'm also going to replace the rubber fuel line sections and see if I can locate the source of the smell and fix that.

The sender unit says "delorean.com" so this has been replaced at least once since new.

A previous owner at some point installed a speaker in the storage compartment behind the driver seat. I took out the custom fabrication and put the factory door back on there. Looks much better!

Cleaning the Fuel Injectors Part II

The first attempt was too weak and I didn't notice enough improvement via physical inspection to warrant reconnecting everything just to have the same results prior.

That said I broke down and ordered the heavy duty cleaner in the gallon bucket with the little plastic bucket that sits inside the "bath". I put the injectors in and let them soak from Wednesday through yesterday afternoon (4-ish days).

I removed the injectors from the bath last night and they look better than they ever have before, probably since they were new. In the spirit of the holiday weekend, I included a festive element to the photos.

Cleaning the Fuel Injectors

After further testing, I've been able to determine that I have 1 stuck injector and 1 partially stuck injector. I took the injector from 1 and swapped it with 3. Then I jumped the RPM relay to run the fuel pump with the air plate fully depressed. Now the #3 line isn't flowing but the #1 line is.This is good news because it means the fuel distributor is good.

I decided I would take all the injectors and put them in a carb+brake cleaner bath for a day or two fully submerged. Then I'll test them again to determine if they need to be replaced.

Fuel Flow Testing Part II

With a new battery installed, I've resumed working on this. I also ordered and connected a Battery Tender brand trickle charger/maintainer. Having a fully charged battery makes all the difference in the world (imagine that).

The flow test seems to have indicated one failed injector and possibly a second. The injector @ the #1 cylinder isn't flowing at all. It drips a little and that's about it. The injector at cylinder #2 is sporadic. It kinda sounds like a faucet with air in the system needing to be purged. I know this isn't the case though as the system is air-tight and there are no leaks anywhere. If any air was trapped in the system, it would be expelled within the first second or two of operating the system.

I'm going to research and see if I can soak these 2 injectors in some sort of a chemical/cleaning bath. If that doesn't correct the issue, I'll have to replace them @ $60 each. It's probably worth a few bucks to try cleaning them first.

Here is a video I took last night illustrating the problem: