The story of VIN 573 or yet another restoration thread

[Don Camillo]

Hi folks,

I started a little report on the old “dmctalk.com”. As we all lost our threads there I start now a new one here.

First of all, a few words about me. I am an engineer in the high-tech environment (hard- and software development). I am married and I have two daughters who love to work with me on my cars. Together we are living in Munich, Germany.

My passion about cars started when I was a kid. One of my favorite cars at my early days was a 69-Corvette, the other one was the DeLorean.
I spent about 1 hour at the BTTF Display at the Universal Studios in California back in 1988 to be near the DeLorean time machine. Awesome, when I touched the stainless for the first time.

In 2002 I bought a 69-Corvette, which I restored to its original specification.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/IMG_2594.JPG

Here you see me with my first classic beauty.

Of course this is a DeLorean forum, but if you want to have a glance at the corvette feeling, you can check out an older video I did.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkOFu5-wHzA&list=UUcZgQoNIvMzTvlGzaehK1

BTW: Did you know that JZD drove a 69-corvette as well? Check this out…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Delorean_driving_stingray.jpg

After 7 years I sold the corvette to someone just a few blocks away from me. This was not planned - it was plain luck for me. This way I get to see the car from time to time and I can even drive with it now and then.
After one year of “classic car abstinence”, I was missing this special spirit - driving my old corvette twice a year simply wasn’t enough. So once again I started again to look for a classic car.

As you may guess, it was now a DeLorean I was looking for. I read a lot of stuff on the web and I talked to Wolfgang Hank (http://www.deloman.de) who is a real expert and a great guy.

I was considering to buy a DeLorean in very good condition, where no (or nearly no) work was necessary. But my wife knew me better. She suggested to buy a project car, and put a fixed amount of money for the restoration aside – restoration really is part of the fun for me.

So I searched for a special project car and in April 2010 I found VIN 573 on ebay.com

Here you can see the original ebay sales text from April 2010:

This is an original 1981 Delorean with only 13,600 miles, and is #73 car produced by Delorean. The car has the gas tank door in the hood, which I believe was only produced for the first 100 cars understand that the first 100 cars were all slated as prototypes, but were later sold as the company's financial situation worsened. This car had been stored in a shed for 15 years following a deat the owners family. The car is in very good overall condition; the stainless body is original with only minor blemishes. The interior is original and what I would call decent. The seat covers are presentable but have some leather cracking that makes them too good to replace but not good enough to show. The carpet is decent also, but original, and the main headliner is good but the headliners in the doors have the fabric separating from the backing. I have replaced allot of parts and performed many updates to this car to make it very drivable and as dependable as a DeLorean can be. The updates include, but are not limited to; New clutch hydraulics, reconditioned brake system, new battery, alternator {110 amp}, tires, coolant hoses, window switches, complete tune up, fuel pump boot, filters, fuses, relays, heat shields, rebuilt HVAC control, and more. I took the car to DMC in Crystal Lake IL for some adjustments to the door latches, engine fine tuning a general inspected. The A/C was recharged last year and still works fine. The factory radio has been replaced with an aftermarket AM/FM/CD which works good. The frame and undercarriage is clean and solid {I can furnish pictures upon request}. It runs and drives well, all of the lights, gauges and accessories work except the power door locks, which I disconnected. This is a nice looking, good running car that draws more attention than any collector car I have ever owned. I will have the car offered for sale at a local car show 4/23-25 and reserve the right to remove it from ebay. If the bids are acceptable, I will remove it from the show. I am a motivated seller, as I need room for another purchase. Wisconsin residents will be responsible for sales tax, title and license.

As the serial numbers started at 500 the car is actually number 74 not 73; and the gas flap hood was produced several thousand times, not for the first 100 cars only. But the rest of the ad proved to be accurate and true. Bob, the seller, was very supportive during and after the sale. He sent me a lot of pictures. Here are some of them:

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/collection4web1.jpg


Bob had an impressive collection of classic cars. He got the DeLorean together with a 69-Chevy as a package deal. He then fixed up the car after it had been sitting for 15 years in a shed. From the gas tank to the brakes, everything was done properly. I had contact with Dave from DMC Midwest, who confirmed the condition of the car as he did some work on the car himself. He sent me some pictures from the VIN573 as it had been in his shop 2009.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/collection4web2.jpg


Few days after I had clicked the “Buy it now” button, I started to make the arrangements for the shipment to Germany.

Bob helped me a lot and took pictures before VIN 573 went on the truck to drive the last time (at least for a while) on a US street.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/collection4web3.jpg


The DeLorean was driven on a truck from Wisconsin to NewYork. It was then loaded on a cargo-ship in a two-car-container. After 4 weeks on the sea it arrived at Hannover. From Hannover to Munich my VIN 573 was carried on a truck again.

On June 10. 2010, the DeLorean arrived at our home. My family welcomed the car, and some neighbors had a look as well.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/collection4web4.jpg


After my own first examination of VIN 573 the car presented itself exactly as described. Technically the car was absolutely drivable, stainless panels were OK, the interior was at least complete, the engine was running fine; but because of the 15 years in the shed, the smell in the car was really, really weird - I had known about this beforehand, however.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/collection4web5.jpg

During that inspection a friend visited me with his 72 Corvette. My first impression was that the VIN 573 was well described and that there was plenty of work to do, especially in the interior of the car. But for the moment, the car just went for it‘s first night rest in my garage.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/collection4web6.jpg


Some days later I decided to drive the car a couple of times, in order to get to know it better before taking anything apart. One of our first trips was to Wolfgang (deloman.de) in Augsburg for a first professional examination.

We established a laundry list of necessary things, and I handed the car to Wolfgang for some mechanical issues.

Here you can see a short video from those days with VIN 573 on a German highway. As you can see, I didn’t pushed it over 88mph as the flux capacitor wasn’t installed yet :wink:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi5A6GMOT2k&feature

To be continued soon with the disassembling of the interior….

Best wishes
Don

[BTTF-1]

Loved the corvette and corvette video. Your princess sure had a great time making the video. Looks like the next generation of car enthusiast is on her way.

Can't wait to see more.
If your Delorean turns out half as nice as your corvette, It will surely be a masterpiece.


Wunderbar. Sie ist sehr shon.

Ed:popcorn::goatee:

[Domi]

I'm glad to see you started another thread about your car :)
Can't wait to see more about it.

[Don Camillo]

Washing, small mechanical upgrade and first steps of disassembling:

@Ed and Domi: Thanx for the feedback :smile:

Before I disassembled anything on the car, I cleaned it as good as I could to really see what was under the dust and dirt.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/collection4web7.jpg

To make it more convenient I drove on my ramps and started with the washing. My two little daughters helped me wherever possible.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/collection4web8.jpg

Especially the wheels were not as easy and small hands can help a lot :smile:

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/collection4web9.jpg

... better now ….

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/collection4web10.jpg

…. clean and shiny again, at least from the outside.


http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Amelie_in_VIN573.jpg

After all the cleaning work Amelie decided to chill in the rear compartment.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Both_girls_in_VIN573.jpg
Shortly after both girls checked out how much space the DeLorean has to offer.

Before I was going on the first rides, I decided to upgrade the coolant overflow tank. Normally I am a sucker for originality - but in that case security came first.


http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/coolant_overflow_tank1.jpg
The original coolant overflow tank from VIN 573

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/coolant_overflow_tank2.jpg
In this close up you can see what 30 years did to the plastic

To avoid a mess of coolant water all over the flow, I decided to go another route to remove the water of the old tank

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/coolant_overflow_tank3.jpg
This syringe helped to remove the coolant fluid from the old tank

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/coolant_overflow_tank4.jpg
Old vs. the new stainless version

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/coolant_overflow_tank5.jpg
The stainless version inside. This was really a basic mechanical task and it felt good after I was done; the new tank will live for 100 years now….

That is always the problem. As soon as you start to replace one item, you get the feeling you have to upgrade all the rest as well…

But right now it was time to inspect the interior and look out for the source for the weird smell.
The interesting thing on VIN 573 was, that it survived the time with only a little more than 12000 original miles on it. There were only tiny modifications on the car, like the wrong radio. Almost everything was original and never taken off the car.
The 15 years in the shed helped to prevent the car to get more miles on and more modifications; but on the other hand, it provided a cozy environment for generations of mice.
Bob, the previous owner, cleaned up a lot and tried to fix things were it made sense for him.
Now, the ball was in my hands to decide which road VIN 573 should go restoration-wise.

The following pictures give you an idea of the condition of VIN 573 in June 2010.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/interior_in_the_beginning_1.jpg
Interior overview

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/interior_in_the_beginning_2.jpg
That once was nice leather

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/interior_in_the_beginning_3.jpg
Storage door without the lock

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/interior_in_the_beginning_4.jpg
Maybe the mice were able to crack the lock and build up a nest inside the compartment. That was one of the sources of the smell

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/interior_in_the_beginning_5.jpg
Relay compartment was also once a mice highway. The white stuff wasn’t Cocaine actually it was backing soda from the PO (previous owner)

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/interior_in_the_beginning_6.jpg
Scary cable

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/interior_in_the_beginning_7.jpg
The fuse terminal was already done by the PO

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/interior_in_the_beginning_8.jpg
Even the lock module was done by the PO

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/interior_in_the_beginning_9.jpg
The battery compartment showed a new battery from the PO

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/interior_in_the_beginning_10.jpg
The section for the Bosch electronic was also used as a mice toilette once


http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/interior_in_the_beginning_11.jpg
Scary close up of the compartment

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/interior_in_the_beginning_12.jpg
This was food (and else....) left over behind the rear bumper. We are lucky that currently digital pictures aren’t able to store the smell of the image. It was now clear to me that I had to rip off everything from the car to clean it properly.

More will follow soon….

Best wishes
Don

[Jimmyvonviggle]

I don't know what it is about mice and this car. I also pulled out tons of rat nests and other rat debris when I got my car. I mean if your going to make a home out of a car "why not do it with some style"?

[DeLorean]

Mice!!! I am going to go put some Decon baits all around my basement after seeing this. My DeLo is mouse free... but I have a horse barn within about 1/4 mile of my house and my cats are constantly catching mice outside. Maybe I just need a dedicated basement cat to catch the mice.

[Doogie]

Dude, exact same thing on my car. Mice nests in the cubby hole, (although I still have a key in my door), and the relay area was used for the toilet. I have some smells, but after a good vacuuming, and removing as much of the nests I could find, it's seems to be disapating...check behind the grill too...

Mine too is a 25 year sleep rescue, with 12,888 miles on it. (vin 3589).. Good luck!

Doogie

[BTTF-1]

I can see you have a team of little helpers. My daughter isn't so motivated to help her Daddy.

Wow! The close-ups are incredible. I can see you have a lot of major work ahead of you.


Personally I don’t think my heart could take it.

Ed:hmm::mallet:

[Don Camillo]

... I mean if your going to make a home out of a car "why not do it with some style"?

Never thought it from that perspective. LOL

I think every classic car that was forgotten for a long time can have the same problem. But the DeLoreans have a lot of small access holes to enter the inner compartment, so this makes it extremely easy to make a new home.

And as mice can make themselves really small I found evidence of them in every little corner of the car, e.g. inside on top of the instrument cluster or behind the RH rear view mirror.

There is only one way to get rid of all the mice-stuff -> Disassemble everything and then clean, disinfect and then refurbish everything or exchange with NOS parts. At least that was my approach.

To be continued....

Don 8)

[Domi]

I see your daughters are happy to help you clean the car.
And now, that's the time you're sad that the DeLorean doesn't have two rear seats to give them a ride!
I feel exactly the same with my kids!

[Don Camillo]

Hi again,

Didn’t have time to post more during the last week.

Now is the time to continue the thread. Today I have around 100 pictures of the disassembly of the car. I really underestimated the impact a shed could do to a car in 15 years.
The more I dismantled the more I came to the conclusion to remove everything and make the car really clean and nice again.

Originally I thought to just vacuum-clean it and put new seat covers on the seats but I wanted a healthy environment inside so there was now other way than to remove everything and clean it as good as possible.

During the first steps of disassembling I was lucky to have my former corvette for some days. I took it for a ride with my daughters and I made some pictures with VIN 573 next to it.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/Stingray_and_Delo.jpg
After that I was motivated enough to continue with the disassembly.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_29.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_30.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_10.JPG
Now was the time to remove the carpet. It looked still good and the smell wasn’t that bad. But it wasn’t good enough for me, so it had to go out of the car.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_1.JPG
The seat guides left some surface rust on the carpet…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_32.JPG
To remove the seat really only takes 5 minutes…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_35.JPG
Before it was possible to remove the carpet I had to use a heat gun to carefully remove the vinyl (which is attached on the carpet) from the epoxy parts.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_13.JPG
After approximately 10 minutes the vinyl section was lose….


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_12.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_31.JPG
Wow, there was still beach sand from California under the carpet inside the car :smile:


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_2.JPG
The padding of the carpet absorbed a lot of mice debris over time…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_4.JPG
As mentioned, mice debris was in several corners. Notice the quarter a previous owner lost in the car…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_7.JPG
Here you see the storage compartment without the carpet inside. Mostly glue is remaining on the surfaces.

BTW: I decided to use a dedicated vacuum cleaner for the cleaning job which I will throw away after the cleaning of all the mice debris is done. For health reasons I think that is a good investment and my wife was happy to get the latest high tech vacuum cleaner in exchange of our older one which is now the “D-cleaner”.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_3.JPG
A mice meal behind a knee pad…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_5.JPG
This speaker saw better times in the past. No wonder there was no sound from the rear section when I did the sound check…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_6.JPG
Somehow I got scared a little what I put myself into. Notice the 500 series binnacle is still in place. You see that it is a slightly different design. I will come to that issue later more in detail.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_8.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_9.JPG
More removal…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_11.JPG
Me at work…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_14.JPG
I cleaned all parts with the vacuum cleaner and spread a disinfecting fluid over every part just to store them I my garage. I took the parts for later restoration and cleaning more in detail.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_16.JPG
Of course the screws of the sunshades made a lot of trouble. It took me a long time before I was able to remove the roof section.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_17.JPG
This was a great find for me as my nickname is Don. Some worker engraved his name in the middle tunnel section of the car DON B. Awesome :smile:


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_28.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_37.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_36.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_39.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_70.JPG
Now was the time to think it would be best somebody would come along and make you a reasonable offer for your car. Ahhhh, the car looked now like a pile of trash. Those pictures were made around Summer 2010.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_56.JPG
As the sound padding beneath the relay-section locked terrible….

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_41.JPG
…I decided to make an exact replica out of new rubber with the same height. As I was frustrated about the actual status of the car I had to make something new to see were I wanted to go with the project.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_40.JPG
I peeked inside the ventilation openings and found of course evidence of the previous inhabitants. Now it was clear that I had to disassemble the ventilation section as well to remove every trace of the little fellows…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_65.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_52.JPG
Believe me, if you had mice in your car for quite a while I bet your ventilation system would look similar inside. Forget about just putting some freshening-spray inside. The only way to make it clean, fresh smelling and healthy again is to disassemble it and clean it from the ground up. At least this was my way to go.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_58.JPG
Also the fan motor held some mice nut-dessert….


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_49.JPG
This is the top view on the steering column bracket. The mice had a pantry at this location as well.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_51.JPG
After picking off the interior from the left door the inside looked quite good.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_50.JPG
The right hand side door was a different story. Mice built a “special swinging apartment” with a lot of mice-furniture inside….


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_43.JPG
To clean out this mess I had to modify the “D-cleaner” by attaching a garden hose and put some gaffer tape to make a good connection.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_45.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_46.JPG
The vacuum cleaning was step one. Step two was to get out more hardened debris with a long brush and then use the “D-cleaner” again.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_73.JPG
Now it was time for the putty knife. As all DeLorean restoration dudes know, you use a lot of blood during work inside the doors…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_78.JPG
After using the putty knife and my “D-cleaner” for a while the surface looked much better. Imagine the doors were be made out of normal steel; they would never have survived the mice attack. At the end I used sanding paper and disinfecting spray to finish the inside of the door. Now it looks like new and smells great. Forgot to take a final picture. The work inside the door took me around 2 days.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_57.JPG
Some of the wiring inside the door had also suffered from the former inhabitants. Now it was clear why the door lights didn’t work at the arrival of VIN 573 at my home.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_60.JPG
There were a lot of parts where I just decided to go for the NOS replacement. Obviously you can see the mice debris on the old rubber pads. That is my favorite thing on a DeLorean, that you can get your hands on so many NOS parts that easy :smile:

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_64.JPG
Those ventilation parts for the front glass section had a factory modification with some duct tape put on. I think it should channel the air in the middle section to the side. With this method they saved the cost on an extra plastic tool.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_74.JPG
Some of the handling brackets on the right hand side door were badly used as a mice urinal…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_76.JPG
It was time again for disinfecting, cleaning, sanding and then painting. A hot air oven helped me a lot to dry things faster…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_75.JPG
Now it looks much better. Even if it is hidden inside the door and nobody will see it ever again I prefer to have the parts in a nice shape.

Did I mention that I found a little mice nest behind the passenger side rear view mirror? Check this out…

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_77.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_53.JPG
Those handles can only be used as a core.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_54.JPG
When the mice got bored in VIN 573 they sometimes started to eat the plastic inside the car…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_55.JPG
No inch without traces of the little fellows…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_44.JPG
As I smelled something inside a pocked in the roof section of the door I stared to use the “D-cleaner” again. There was a lot of stuff inside.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_62.JPG
On the driver side door I found something, which didn’t come from the mice. This actually was a package of mints left from one of the employee back in Dunmurry Ireland.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_63.JPG
For 12 pence you could buy a pack of mint in 1981.

I couldn’t believe how long it took to disassemble the interior to the ground.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_61.JPG
I decided to make sure the electric in the car stayed in function, especial the electronic for the engine.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_66.JPG
As it was clear that all the brackets had to be removed and redone even in this state I was able to drive the car in this state; of course only some meters inside the garage but still with it’s own engine.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_42.JPG
The wooden parts behind the seats weren’t that nice anymore. I was considering to clean them and repaint them but after reconsidering I thought that still the shed smell would come out in the future as wood is a kind of living thing.
I ended up ripping the wood out of the car.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_69.JPG
Here one piece of the old wood. Unfortunately those aren’t available as a NOS part anymore. It was time to activate Plan B on that issue.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_71.JPG
I found a carpenter with an eye for details. He made an exact replica with the same wood of every piece, which belongs in the car. After I received the parts I painted them the same way the factory did 30 years ago for the final finishing…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_79.JPG
Every detail is there and now I am happy with the color.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_80.JPG
Even while the battery cover isn’t cleaned properly you get a feeling of the final result. Even the two Phillips screws that hold the lower bracket are NOS parts. I love to have NOS screws :smile:

For me a difficult thing was to find the correct screw anchor which was used in the factory when VIN 573 was assembled. The old ones were so bad there was no way to reuse them.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_81.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_82.JPG
Finally I got them in the correct size as DMCH had only a larger version and I didn’t want to go bigger when it is not original/correct.

I saw other DeLoreans with other fastening methods in the wood area, I think they changed that during the production time. Anyhow I found the correct solution for my car :smile:

The carpet

From the looks of it the carpet was in good shape.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_27.JPG
Behind the surface you can see that the little fellows had time to eat there way through the foam

After I removed all the carpet parts, I tried to clean it as good as possible.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_25.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_26.JPG
For that I used soap, disinfection agent and my high pressure cleaner.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_38.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_33.JPG
I dried all the carpet parts in the sun….


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_34.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_19.JPG
… and put laundry detergent to absorb the old smell.

At the end I was able to get my hands on a complete NOS carpet set that I will use in the future for my restoration efforts. I come back to the carpet in time.

The seats

With the seats I had a lot of work as well. It was clear that the old covers couldn’t stay, so I removed them. I was able to get a very good set of NOS covers, more on that in the near future.
First I had to remove the old covers and clean everything as good as possible.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_23.JPG
Here you see that the rubber underneath the seat is still in great shape…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_24.JPG
Interesting markings found during a more detailed inspection…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_20.JPG
One cover removed, one to go…

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_21.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_22.JPG
Check out the production date of the foam.

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_67.JPG
All the small parts were carefully cleaned and stored properly for the steps to come.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_68.JPG
Bottom side cleaned and repainted…

To clean the foam, I used a lot of stuff.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_18.JPG
I borrowed a wet vacuum cleaner, which was a great thing.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_17.JPG
Here you see the impact of the wet vacuum cleaner. Top side only after normal washing. At the lower section on the picture you see the effect after using the wet vacuum cleaner.

I putt the foams out in the garden for several weeks used my ozone generator and after a certain time any old smell was gone and the foams smelled neutral again :smile:


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_72.JPG
During my restoration efforts I had visitors from time to time. In this case a DeLorean owner from Munich visited me. This was a great afternoon…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_59.JPG
After I removed a side marker light I discovered more evidence of the small fellows. So everybody can imagine what was necessary next -> Remove all stainless panels and look behind it to clean everything properly.

As a lucky father I had additional helping hands on this job.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down1.JPG
Amelie on the rear fender…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down4.JPG
Alina checking the side section…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down11.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down12.JPG
There was literally a fight between my daughters which one of them was allowed to remove more screws. So I decided they had to hand over the tool after every removed screw to the sister. That worked great and we made good progress that afternoon.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down6.JPG
Amelie on the front left fender…


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down17.JPG
Suddenly during the afternoon the postman handed Alina a box over. It was a shipment from the UK with NOS rear covers for the seats :smile:

But now back to the disassembly of the stainless parts.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down5.JPG
Now it was Alinas part to go on with the front left fender…


If you like you can check out this video (sorry it is in German)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZs2hmELZ74&list



http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down15.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down16.JPG
One of the worst source for bad smell was behind the front bumber. So it had to go as well.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down13.JPG
During that day all the exterior parts came down….


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down18.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down10.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down9.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down8.JPG
Interesting markings…

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down22.JPG
Final steps…

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down19.JPG
More markings…

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down18.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down7.JPG
The only dead mouse mummy I found behind the right front fender.


http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down2.JPG

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down3.JPG
So we had a “black car” again and could start with the cleaning and refurbishing process.


More will follow….

Best wishes
Don

[Mike C.]

FANTASTIC thread! :rock_on:

You're doing a great job! I hope you kept the candy wrapper in your scrap book! I love those kind of details when buying a car!

[john 05141]

No that is what I call a report on interiour restoration. That car was seriously mice infected, wow.
She's comming along very nicely.
I see you're cleaning your carpets... I bought a complete new set at John Hervey for 500$, making her showroom new, smelling April fresh.


John

[The_Reverend]

Great Thread! Glad to see another deLorean in good hands :rock_on:

[dvonk]

awesome photos, i love threads like this! :biggrin:

[Chris Burns]

Great work man! You are going to have an awesome Delorean when you are done with it. Love the flap hood and the black interiors on the early cars.

[sean]

Great pics and update! Keep them coming. Way to put those kids to work too:tongue2:. Keep those Irish mints away from them ;-).

[jawn101]

Really amazing thread so far! You're doing so much nicer of a job than many of us (myself included) have the time or stomach for. Keep up the great documentation!

[Domi]

Wow, amazing job done so far!
Thank you for sharing all your pictures, that's great!!

[chris williams]

Love the pictures of the empty pack of mints shoved in by a 'tidy' worker!
Chris

[BTTF-1]

You are my Hero!

Ed::yoda::jawdrop:

[Domi]

Hi, any update on your car?

[Don Camillo]

Hi Domi,

Unfortunately I did a lot to the car, but it is still not finished. I had a lot of work stuff going on as well, so there was no time for an update on the forum. But right now I am on vacation with a nice internet line. Try to give an update in the next couple of days :D

Best wishes
Don

[Domi]

Thanks for the news, have a great vacation :thumbup2:

[john 05141]

It is truely awesome the way you are restoring the car. As you say you've done a lot of work on the car since, I can't wait to see more; (Honestly I hope again in such detailed manner with pictures as you dis previously)

John

[Morpheus]

Very nice work so far, Don! Having removed all the panels on my first D, I know firsthand how challenging this restoration can be.

[Don Camillo]

Hi folks,

as mentioned before, right now I am on holiday and have some time to post more pictures.

First of all, I have to correct one picture I posted previously wrong.

Here we go:

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/disassembly_15.JPG
This was a great find for me as my nickname is Don. Some worker engraved his name in the middle tunnel section of the car DON B. Awesome :-)

After I disassembled much more on VIN 573 than I originally had planed to do a proper “demiceing”, there were plenty of opportunities to upgrade items in several spots.
For example it was quite easy to change the steering bushing after I got some very good tips from Wolfgang from the deloman team.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/steering1.jpg
Here you see the missing steering bushing, which caused a lot of ugly noise during driving. You can access this spot from the trunk side of the car quite easily.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/steering2.jpg
Old and broken bushing vs. new one….

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/steering5.jpg
Not much left in the passenger compartment…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/steering6.jpg
Bracket with the hole for the bushing after removing the steering column.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/steering4.jpg
I decided to remove the steering column including the steering wheel and the mounting brackets. For me it was easier that way.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/steering3.jpg
This little 15$ piece made all the trouble.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/steering7.jpg
It is always wise to have a helping hand nearby ;-)

After I changed the bushing the steering felt a lot better and the rattling noises were gone.

In 2010 and 2011 I was for several times in the USA on business trips, so I took the opportunity to buy some specific NOS parts at DMCH and some parts at DMC Northwest. The rest of the parts I ordered directly in Germany via deloman.de.
As I owned a corvette in the past, getting hands on NOS parts was always difficult. But with the DeLorean it is like paradise, as there are still so many NOS parts available.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/DMCHItems.jpg
Here is a fraction of the items I ordered to restore VIN 573.

As nice as it is to get the hands on so many different NOS parts I was sometimes a little disappointed about the quality of some parts. As the parts are 30 years old now and had a lot of “storage history”, some of theme didn’t have the “new” look anymore.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/enginestayass.jpg
This is for example NOS part 106363 (Engine Cover Stay Assy). I ended up giving the part to a plating shop to do the metal plating again. Pictures of the final result will follow.

As for most of us my budget was limited and I tried to refurbish as many items as possible. In addition it was very important for me to keep as many 500 series parts as possible to keep the car original.
First rule was to “demice” the items (get rid of all debris and smell) then to refurbish the parts to its original appearance.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/ licenselamp1.jpg
This was for example the license lamp assembly as I got it out of the car.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/licenselamp2.jpg
After a lot of cleaning and polishing of the plastic it looked much nicer. Left still uncleaned, right one ready to go back onto VIN 573 again.

A lot of the interior parts were covered with the original vinyl fabric. The surface was quite OK, of course there was the smell and the bad feeling about germs. So I cleaned the vinyl with disinfection fluid and soap. After that I upholstered the parts with proper new foam as the old one was vaporized in most cases.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/upholstering3.jpg
After more than 30 years the original foam on the backside of the vinyl was just dust.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/upholstering1.jpg
First I cleaned the vinyl, then I used the vacuum cleaner to get rid of the old foam dust. After that I placed a new piece of foam in the proper shape in the pocked of the vinyl/cotton fabric.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/upholstering2.jpg
Clothespins come handy when reskinning the parts. For an item like this inner door top cover it took me around 8 hours to refurbish one side.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/upholstering4.jpg
Before and after look: Left side still old with the “dust foam” on the back, right side the part after I was done with it. If you look close you might see the padding. Either you have the money to buy everything new, or you must take your time to refinish the items.

The instrument cluster suffered as well over the last 30 years. First of all the trip-reset was broken like all of them did.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/instrumentcluster1.jpg
The plastic cover of the instrument cluster was badly scratched…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/instrumentcluster9.jpg
Houston we have a problem! Luckily there is a replacement available. Thanx Houston :-)

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/instrumentcluster2.jpg
The mice of VIN 573 even got there way up to the cluster. There was a lot of mice debris on the cover and circuit board. A lot of cleaning was necessary.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/instrumentcluster10.jpg
Speedometer, I decided to keep the original scale….

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/instrumentcluster11.jpg
Behind the speedometer…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/instrumentcluster8.jpg[/IMG]
The puzzle of the instrument cluster inner components…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/instrumentcluster6.jpg
Nice surface after a little cleaning.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/instrumentcluster7.jpg
Vintage electronics, I like it :-)

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/instrumentcluster5.jpg
After I assembled everything back together, I changed all the bulbs to new ones and checked them before returning the cluster back into the binnacle. Clean again and without any “mice evidence” ;-)

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/instrumentcluster12.jpg
This was the instrument cluster and the binnacle before I removed it from VIN 573. As you can see the cover of the binnacle is slightly different than the production binnacles.
The prototype DeLoreans and the first 100 cars of the 500 series cars got a different binnacle then all the other cars.
As this is a very rare piece on the car I tried to be as accurate as possible on it.

The surface and the stiches were slightly damaged as you might see on the picture above, so there was the need to redo the vinyl skin.

It was time for an other trip to Augsburg to meet the deloman experts. First there were skeptics, that the binnacle of VIN 573 wasn’t authentic. But after a closer look, the deloman team found a prototype binnacle in there own stock, which was made exactly the same like the one found in VIN 573.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/instrumentcluster13.jpg
So it was actually authentic. To keep it that way, the deloman team made an exact replica. Left you see the prototype binnacle with the prototype instrument cluster on the right side you see the binnacle of VIN 573. The result was amazing. Every stich is now exactly were it was 30 years ago.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/instrumentcluster3.jpg
Binnacle and instrument cluster together again.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing/instrumentcluster4.jpg
I polished approximately 4 hours on the plastic window to get the scratches out.


More will follow.

Best wishes
Don

[Domi]

I really like thread like your with plenty of informations and pictures!
I'm really impressed of what you did on the plastic, no scratches anymore, amazing!
Can't wait to see what's next?

[OverlandMan]

I like how you reskinned the top section of the door cards. I've got that on my list.

[Shep]

Wow, that tach looks brand new! Must age gracefully. Maybe I've just met a few too many sleazy car salesmen, but I couldn't help looking at the odometer before disassembly and after assembly. It's untouched! Always good to see that :thumbup: (even though it should be expected).


So what's the difference between the 500 series binnacles and the production binnacles? I didn't know there was a difference, and looking at it, I can't figure out what it is. :hmm:


Great progress! Can't wait to see VIN 573 finished! :biggrin:

[D Knight]

The very early ones were leather wrapped, the others were padded vinyl.

[Shep]

The very early ones were leather wrapped, the others were padded vinyl.Really? I was not aware of this. I'll have to check mine when I get a chance. Learn something new every day!

[john 05141]

Excellent work. Amazing how into detail you're going. I hope I will have the chance to see the result in person one day. Do you know we're planning a new European Delorean event next year? It wil be near Göteborg in Sweden, taking the ferry from Kiel in North Germany.

That Engine cover stay assy does not look new at all, it is a used part if you ask me. Happened to me several times I bought a new part to replace an old looking part, and I got the same old thing:mecry:
Deloman recoverd my steering wheel last winter. I understand that recovering steering wheels is very difficult and his upholstery dit a fantastic job. The steering wheel hart comes from Welmoed and is not original.
John

[Domi]

I like the way Wolfang put the DMC logo into the steering wheels, this is really great :thumbup2:

[Rich W]

The very early ones were leather wrapped, the others were padded vinyl.

For complete originality, the early binnacles (all were black) were leather wrapped and white thread was used.

Many of the early binnacles have been re-dyed since and in the process, the white thread detail has been lost.

[Rich W]

The very early ones were leather wrapped, the others were padded vinyl.

Ironically, the exact opposite material switch was made for the steering wheel on the production DeLoreans.

Very early DeLoreans (mostly 500 series cars through 700 series cars) have a vinyl padded steering wheel.

All later model DeLoreans (and replaced on many of the early cars) have the leather wrapped steering wheel.

[Don Camillo]

Hi again,

Thank you for all the feedback. Great that you like the thread.
I am not sure what events in the future I will be at, but I am looking forward to meet with some of you in the future.

Regarding the binnacle. As mentioned before, the first 100 and most of the prototypes were covered with vinyl (not leather!) and stitched together around the front and where the two vinyl sections hit and at the lower middle section of the binnacle.
PJ Grady has mentioned this scheme on his website as well: http://www.pjgrady.co.uk//GenericContent.aspx?PageType=Rare_Items&ShowContent=Pilot_Binnacle.html

Just as an info, most of the interior items used in the DeLorean (or other cars) are actually made of vinyl and not made of leather because vinyl is more durable than leather.
Inside a DeLorean only the cover of the steering wheel and the top section of the seat covers are actually made of real leather. All the rest just looks like leather but it is actually vinyl.

Another 500 series abnormality as Rich W already noted in his previous post: These cars didn’t receive leather covering over the steering wheel. I don’t know why, but it is a fact.

Maybe some of you have the “Stainless steel illusion” book around; on page 103 you see a very early DeLorean with the special vinyl covered and stitched binnacle and the steering wheel without leather around it.

But now back to the restoration. Remember the status of my front light assembly when I saw it for the first time.

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down15.JPG
Here a picture to recall what was behind the surface. I am sure that a bigger animal lived in a corner of this section of the car for quite a while. The smell alone was able to strike down a grown man.

I bought myself the NOS assemblies as a new start. These parts suffered from the long storage time as well. Some of the rust protection paint was chipped of already. So I decided to repaint the parts where needed with epoxy paint. The rear bracket was also treated with rust protection paint, without affecting the look of the part.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/Frontlight1.jpg
Dust and scratches from the long storage time. The item is still called a NOS part.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/Frontlight2.jpg
After some work all the parts looked like this. This should prevent the parts from getting any rust in the future.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/Frontlight3.jpg
I had to change from sealed beam to H4 and H1 to be street legal in the future on German roads. The stainless frames around the headlights are actually the original ones from VIN 573. It took me around 5 hours to clean and polish all of them before I took them back into the assembly.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/Frontlight4.jpg
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/Frontlight5.jpg
Now we are talking about a nice front light assembly back in the car. I had refurbished the cabling isolation and the fasteners in the front as well to give it a thorough finish.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/Black_inside.jpg
Inside the car I cleaned everything and used a lot of disinfection fluid. After that I used semi black paint to treat the surface. Any mice evidence was gone now. Now the additional work can be done from a clean ground up.

In my next post I will tell a little bit about how I used dry ice blasting to clean the special pontoons of VIN573.

Best wishes
Don

[john 05141]

Very good job. Never seen someone painting the inner part of the tub before. That mouse infestation must have been pretty severe.

Question one. Below your headlights is the foam based inner-bumper. Most Deloreans I know (including mine) this is somewhat deteriorating, peeling off,... in a poor condition. Yours looks new. Dit you replace this or refurbished this somehow?
Dry ice... You have my full attention now!!!!!!!!

My Delorean is in a very good condition, ahardly any rust. But when I wanted to replace the headlights last winter I was shocked to see the condition of the light brackets and buckets. They take a lot water when it rains (I hardly drive in rain) but I bought new ones at Deloman. They were certainly new but I see what you say, I painted mine again too.

John

[David T]

I have never seen a car with that much mouse damage. I would expect they also got into the frame and under the intake manifold. They probably ate the bag for the jack too! They really seem to like that little compartment in the front.
David Teitelbaum

[Rich W]

I have never seen a car with that much mouse damage. I would expect they also got into the frame and under the intake manifold. They probably ate the bag for the jack too! They really seem to like that little compartment in the front.
David Teitelbaum

I will try to locate some photos of VIN...573 from about six years ago, when I first looked at the car, in the barn where it was stored for over a decade.
The barn itself was located nearly a 1/4 mile from the house and the barn was basically in a farm field, with only a dirt road access to the the barn.
The barn was located in Wisconsin and it was the middle of Winter when I went to view the car, with a 1/4 mile walk in at least a foot of snow.
Since it was also well below freezing when I viewed the car, I did not see any "mouse activity" and any mouse odors were likely "frozen" as well.

The location of the barn itself was probably the leading factor in the abundant mouse population. The barn also housed several other rare cars.

Later,
Rich W.

[David T]

That would explain the extent of the mouse problem. If the barn has no floor (most don't) I would expect a lot of frame rust too. So besides having to "wake" a sleeping Delorean (rebuilding the brakes, clutch, fuel system, cooling system) dealing with the extensive rodent infestation, and the probable rust problem, this was an expensive restore!
David Teitelbaum

[Rich W]

That would explain the extent of the mouse problem. If the barn has no floor (most don't) I would expect a lot of frame rust too. So besides having to "wake" a sleeping Delorean (rebuilding the brakes, clutch, fuel system, cooling system) dealing with the extensive rodent infestation, and the probable rust problem, this was an expensive restore!
David Teitelbaum

Agreed. Besides all these factors, there are a few more to add to the list. There was a dirt floor in this barn, and the barn was located mid-way
on a slowly sloping hill, which in this case meant there was rain water and snow melt that ran under the doors, into the barn, regularly, over time.
This meant the dirt floor changed to mud often and allowed the car to "sink" slightly from the rest of the surrounding floor level around the car.

To compound this problem even further (IIRC) at least 3 out of the 4 tires were flat (with a mis-match set of makes of older tires, at the time),
which, of course, lowered parts of the car and the suspension to nearly make contact with the dirt floor, in several areas under the car.
I do recall seeing some frost on parts of the car during the inspection, so there was plenty of opportunities for moisture contact in this barn.

Later,
Rich W.

[Don Camillo]

@John: The front foam under the front bumper isn’t installed on the photos. I would say it is the same as on later cars.

@Rich W.: It would be great if you have some pictures of VIN 573 inside the barn for me. I know a little bit of the barn time of VIN 573, but until now I don’t have any pictures.
As you describe the situation for the car in the barn, it is really a wonder it survived that well.
Aside from the mice damage inside the car the frame is rust free. I think the treatment to protect the frame was done a little differently on early cars. Chris from PJ Grady mentioned this once on his website. I don’t know if this is true.

Don

[Don Camillo]

Hi again,

As the pontoons of the very early cars are slightly different than on the typical production DeLoreans, it was great to see the structured surface on the pontoons on VIN 573. Unfortunately somehow the pontoons were covered with paint in the past, which peeled off on several locations.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/dryice1.jpg
VIN 573 special pontoon structure like on all early VIN DeLoreans and the peeling of the cover-up-paint.

Sanding down the pontoons wasn’t an option, as it would have destroyed the vintage texture. After considering several optioned I decided to go for dry-ice blasting.
I couldn’t find somebody reliable to come with the dry-ice blasting equipment to my garage so I had to bring VIN 573 in its unrestored and mostly dissembled state to the blasting shop.

Luckily I tried to keep the car in running condition. That helped me to transfer the car easily.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y27WeVgbd6A&list
This is VIN 573 running in Summer 2010 after most parts of the interior and exterior were disassembled. It is somehow funny to drive a car without a seat.

As VIN 573 was running well it was possible to drive it on a transporter in early 2012 when I finally found a suitable blasting shop.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/dryice.jpg
VIN 573 before I took it on a very short spin around the neighborhood outside on the street and into the transporter.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/dryice8.jpg
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/dryice9.jpg
Well secured inside the transporter and on a trip of approximately 50 miles to the blasting shop.

Inside the blasting shop we did some final preparation work.
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/dryice2.jpg
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/dryice3.jpg
Engine covered to prevent old paint particles to fly onto the engine.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/dryice4.jpg
Dry-ice was ready to do its magic. Little dry-ice blasting info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry-ice_blasting


http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/dryice6.jpg
The process is really loud…
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/dryice5.jpg
For me the method was quite impressive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiUk523k6Xw&list
I made a short video...

As you have to book the service per hour and the pontoons needed around 40 Minutes, I had 20 minutes of dry ice blasting time left. I decided to give the engine a treatment as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylBm9LdgyBo&list
If you look close and watch the video in HD quality you might see how the dry-ice eliminates debris and dirt on the surface without harming the actual material itself. As there aren’t any remainings of the blasting after the job it is no problem to use it in the engine compartment. The only thing which suffered was the isolation tape on some of the harnesses. But that is later an easy fix.

In my case I paid around 250 US$ for an hour of blasting. It was worth every penny. It was a clean job and the bonus of doing the engine block was great, as I saved myself a lot of time.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/dryice7.jpg
The result on the pontoons looked like this.

Actually some areas had fixes in the texture made with epoxy-glass resin. It seemed to me as a factory fix. Obviously the factory workers had problems to get the pontoons with its texture out of the mold. I am quite sure that the workers back in March 1981 fixed the optical problem by adding a thick layer of black paint over the texture to cover the epoxy-glass resin fixes up. Maybe that was the reason why they changed the method of producing the pontoons with a texture quite soon as there were to many rejects. But I am not an expert on this so it is just my speculation.

Anyhow the pontoons were clean again and now I was able to continue to black out several spots on the car, like the engine compartment and the trunk.

I started with the trunk.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/trunk1.jpg
The trunk area had seen better times...

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/trunk2.jpg
After I cleaned everything properly I masked the surroundings of the trunk area…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/trunk3.jpg
A layer of primer was applied.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/trunk4.jpg
After the primer I added semi black paint.

As I don’t have a lot of time I was always depending on the weather condition. On warm and sunny days I tried to do things on-site at the car like the painting, on rainy days I refurbished items like the dashboard.

The dashboard was still original and had no cracks. So I cleaned it very thoroughly. After cleaning it I noticed some letter under the black paint of the VIN Tag.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/dashboard1.jpg
Note the letters below the surface of the black paint.

I never noticed this on other DeLoreans or on VIN 573 before. As I was curious I cleaned the Tag for about 2 hours without harming the dashboard. After that I had the original VIN Tag like the workers put it on the car back in February/March 1981. I am not sure why it was later blacked out. Has anybody an idea? Has any other DeLorean VIN Tags with the production origin print under the black paint?

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/dashboard2.jpg
Evidence of the production origins.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/dashboard3.jpg
Close-up…

Back to the car itself. Sorry for jumping on the topics. When I started the restoration of VIN 573 the engine bay was not on the laundry list. But as I was going down the restoration road I decided to do a little more work on the engine bay.

After the first year of restoration work on VIN 573 the old water pump stated to leak and made a puddle of water under the car. So it was time to change the pump. Luckily Wolfgang shipped the new pump in one day.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/enginebay3.jpg
The engine after removing the old water pump and before the dry-ice blasting.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/enginebay4.jpg
Of course one bolt broke, so a friend and me had to drill it out and cut a new screw thread. Everything went well. This was performed before the dry-ice blasting.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/enginebay1.jpg
The engine bay before the painting, but after the dry-ice blasting and with the new water pump.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing1/enginebay2.jpg
I disassembled several metal items, sand-blasted them and later did a repaint on them with black epoxy paint.

The following HD video shows the progress during my restoration effort on the engine bay.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9S1EMBrgfU&list
Still several things to do inside the engine bay, but it already looks and smells much better now than it did when I received the car two years ago.

Remark on the videos: It was only possible to embed one video in a post, so the others are only added as links.

That’s it for now. More will follow.

Best wishes
Don

[Shep]

Great update! The VIN plate being painted black was factory. 559 has it too, and from what Rich W said, quite a few of the 500 series D's had it. He pointed me out to lettering underneath the black plate, which I could tell read "DeLorean Motor Company" in all capital letters, but couldn't see anything else. Windshield glare got in the way, but it's good to see that everything's legible before paint removal if you have the windshield off. Mine was identical to yours except, of course, the VIN itself. I personally like the look of the black, but it all comes down to personal tastes. Matches the other VIN plate now! :thumbup:

Speaking of which, I see another VIN plate on the driver's door jamb. Do you know if this is original? Rich W also mentioned that "several" 500 series D's didn't have them due to not being in stock soon enough, but some did. As yours is much later in the 500 series than mine, I do wonder if they got them in by the time they made 573.

This is the first time I've seen that "pressure relief" hole in the fiberglass above and in front of the rear wheel well. That's there to relieve pressure when you close the doors. The air goes through the rear speaker vent and out that hole. When the doors open up, this works in reverse. Whether or not this made a difference is debatable, but later D's didn't have this. Fascinating to look at!

[Domi]

Thanks for all of these pictures, very cool.
Amazing job done so far!

[dvonk]

looks great! :thumbup:

i love the textured pontoons. im glad you restored them!

[john 05141]

Dry ice is indeed a great tool. At firsy I tought he would simply blast the texture away but that turned out very good. We have been discussing the transition from textured pontoons to smooth pontoons in its production before, and as no one could say for sure, it was assumed that too many rejects becasue of poor texture resulted into the smooth pontoons. Makes perfect sense.

I've looked at those restoration threads like Noroads and project Vixen so many times (Don in case you did not see them yet, google those. No roads however has been stuck for a few years now) I encourage your detailed "reports" with video, awesome material, I love those threads!! You're pushing it to a great attention to detail, greatly admire that, I'm becomming seriously jeamlous by now.....


John

[andyd]

Don,

Great thread on an early car. Love it!

My 2p worth (from east side of the atlantic!)


Hi again,

As the pontoons of the very early cars are slightly different than on the typical production DeLoreans, it was great to see the structured surface on the pontoons on VIN 573. Unfortunately somehow the pontoons were covered with paint in the past, which peeled off on several locations.

...

Actually some areas had fixes in the texture made with epoxy-glass resin. It seemed to me as a factory fix. Obviously the factory workers had problems to get the pontoons with its texture out of the mold. I am quite sure that the workers back in March 1981 fixed the optical problem by adding a thick layer of black paint over the texture to cover the epoxy-glass resin fixes up. Maybe that was the reason why they changed the method of producing the pontoons with a texture quite soon as there were to many rejects. But I am not an expert on this so it is just my speculation.


I've become strangely interested in the textured pontoons... My car has them, it must be quite a late one to have them (April 81). I chatted about them with Stephen Wynne this summer at the Eurotec event in the UK.

He said that they were textured only for cosmetics, as this area of underbody was seen, and that the idea was ditched early on as an invisible repair (ie following an accident) would be practically impossible.

As far as I am aware, mine are not painted (but they are not very clean either! I will toothbrush, cheaper the Co2 blasting!!)

Keep up the good work!

best wishes,

andy

[Rich W]

Hi Don,

The rear pontoon sections turned out great.

Sorry I did not get a chance to pull out the "barn photos of 573" this past weekend, since I was prepping the D Rex for its first trip to Woodward Ave
this Friday, to debut in the Woodward Dream Cruise 2012 on Saturday, then moving my oldest nephew to college on Sunday (a very busy weekend).

I will try to check my photo archive at home this evening, once I get the Digital Cable TV boxes "re-synched" and working again.
I will also try tyo get a few photos posted before I head out to Woodward later this week.

Keep up the great work.

Later,
Rich W.

[Dangermouse]

FANTASTIC thread! :rock_on:

You're doing a great job! I hope you kept the candy wrapper in your scrap book! I love those kind of details when buying a car!

Ah, the memories...

Every Saturday morning I would cycle down to Chambers' with my pocket money (aka allowance) and buy my sweets (aka candy) - innocence of youth.

I think it is now called "Thompsons" if you are ever in Dunmurry, Don.


How did you get the paint off the dashboard vin plate without disturbing the writing underneath?

[Don Camillo]

Hi there,

First of all thank you again for all the positive feedback.

@EMDF:
Do you know if this is original? Rich W also mentioned that "several" 500 series D's didn't have them due to not being in stock soon enough, but some did. As yours is much later in the 500 series than mine, I do wonder if they got them in by the time they made 573.

Much later? I don’t see it. :smile: Our vehicles are only 14 cars apart. In my opinion that is pretty close together, probably there were built in the same week or even on the same day. :cheers: As far as I know the 500-series cars were used for training purpose to help the assembly team in the factory to learn how to do certain assembly steps. If we consider this to be true these cars were actually built more than one time. VIN 573 has several indicators that it was reassembled several times, at least some sections of it (e.g. there are several slightly different drilling holes on the backside of the pontoons). Anyhow, VIN 573 has the original VIN Tag on the door jam.

@John:
I've looked at those restoration threads like Noroads and project Vixen so many times
Thank you for the info about project Noroads and project Vixen. I looked them up and they are pretty amazing and a great inspiration as well.

@ Rich W.:
Sorry I did not get a chance to pull out the "barn photos of 573" this past weekend,...
Take your time about the photos. As the car was that long in the barn, it doesn’t matter whether I see some pictures now ore in one month.

@Dangermouse:
How did you get the paint off the dashboard vin plate without disturbing the writing underneath?
Regarding the paint on the VIN plate - I used masking tape around the plate to protect the dashboard and took a Q-Tip with acetone to remove the old paint. As mentioned it took me around 2 hours to do the job. I just saw another VIN Plate close-up picture on ebay.com on a later Delorean the other day and this one didn’t have the additional information under the black paint. Seems to be an early car thing.

Catch up with all of you in a few days with new pictures.

Best wishes
Don

[Shep]

Much later? I don’t see it. :smile: Our vehicles are only 14 cars apart. In my opinion that is pretty close together, probably there were built in the same week or even on the same day. :cheers:Good point. I guess I wasn't thinking fourth-dimensionally!

Sorry, couldn't resist that one. :tongue:

Interesting theory about reassembly. I've read there were several hundred "black" (i.e. no stainless steel, just black fiberglass) cars made for this purpose, presumably cannibalized for later cars. I wonder if some of these were converted to D's in the 500 series... That would explain the reassembly on 573 if they re-used these "black" cars more than once.

[Don Camillo]

Hi again,

a short question upfront:
Has anybody an idea where I can get the correct new and flawless headliner fabric for my black interior car?
I already tried several sources like Wolfgang and Ed but until now I wasn’t successful. :headscratch:


The next post just holds several pictures of the ongoing refurbishing process. Enjoy :smile:

First of all, just another picture of the pontoons after the dry-ice cleaning.
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/pontoon_closeup.jpg
I love the texture….

As the mice used the rear section as a urinal all the fluid was soaked up inside the isolation-foam.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/isolation_bad1.jpg
There was no way to save the noise cancelling isolation and get the bad smell out at the same time.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/isolation_bad.jpg
This foam soaked urine for more than a decade in VIN 573…

Here you see a NOS isolation foam (YES this is NOS, new old stock!), which is still available.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/isolation_nos.jpg
I bought this section new (was only a few bucks anyway); more than 30 years did its work to age the piece badly. -> No way to go NOS and make it nice at the same time. Anyway there are only a few sections of the foam still available as NOS, not all of them.

As NOS wasn’t an option I had to become a little creative.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/isolation1.jpg
I found a sound cancelling matt and the proper foam with the correct height. After combining them I got myself a suitable replica. Left old and right new one…


http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/isolation.jpg
Obviously left old and right new one.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/isolation2.jpg
Here you can see that it is exactly the same style of foam. I searched several weeks to find a color matching the old one, but it seems right now this color combination isn’t available any more.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/isolation3.jpg
Top old and button new replica.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/isolation4.jpg
This is the new replica part inside VIN 573.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/isolation5.jpg
A smaller part of the isolation foam. This one fits under the passenger side under the pontoon.

For several sections of the foam I generated myself a template.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/isolation_template.jpg
I transferred the shape and the details to the carton. This carton was later used as my template to the actual foam sandwich.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/isolation7.jpg
Big rear part….

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/isolation6.jpg
Big rear section of the foam in the car…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/rearsection_old.jpg
This was the rear section after I removed the old stinky wood parts.

As mentioned earlier I went for new wood parts and made exact replicas of the old ones.
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/Wood_glueing.jpg
As the strong glue needed several hours of bonding time, I made some jigs to hold the panels in place. For that task the mounting holes for the seat rails are very useful.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/rearsection_new.jpg
This is the rear section of VIN 573 with my newly built wood replicas glued in place.

Does anyone remember the relays-compartment of VIN 573?

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/relays_compartment.jpg
To fresh up the memory: This was the “mice-mansion” inside VIN 573. Ahhhhrrrr…..

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/relays_compartment1.jpg
But with plenty of cleaning….

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/relays_compartment2.jpg
…and refurbishing….

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/relays_compartment3.jpg
…we are back on track. In the picture, the grey foam with the decal is still not attached. But luckily it was available as a NOS item and is meanwhile in place :smile:

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/relays_compartment4.jpg
Here we go with the NOS decal. Still some little details are missing, but much better now than 2 years ago.

Even the door lock module was cleaned as much as possible and is now again in working condition.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/lockup_modul.jpg
“Stone-Age” electronics… :wink: But it does the job.

Other completely mice-infected items were bought as NOS pieces down the road of the restoration.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/brackets_old_and_new jpg
See the mice-urinal spot of the old bracket? The NOS version is actually in great condition.

As mentioned before on the carpet, at the end of the day I went the NOS road. Luckily I got my hands on one of the last available complete NOS carpet sets in dark grey. :smile:

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/nos_carpet1.jpg
A part of the NOS carpet set for VIN 573. After a little cleaning, the NOS carpet came out really nice.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/nos_carpet3.jpg
Here you see the protection foil over the glue-sticker on the backside of one carpet piece before I pulled it off. The glue on the stickers worked fine after all those years.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/carpet_old_vs_new.jpg
This is another carpet piece old vs. new incl. a new wood piece.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/carpet_rear_section.jpg
Some tools like those clamps are getting really handy when glueing stuff like this NOS carpet in place.

After more than two years I was able to get the interior rear section back to life with an April fresh smell. All evidence of the mice population is gone.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/interior_rear_finished.jpg
This picture was taken last week directly after I finished this section of the car. The net is a NOS item from Huston. The original one was missing inside VIN 573 when I got it in 2010.

On the outside of the car there was plenty of work as well. I bought myself a BOSCH Multitool for several jobs.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/front.jpg
This bolt was stuck in the front. Only way to get it out was to remove it with the multitool.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/front1.jpg
The bolt after it was cut into pieces…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/front2.jpg
New aluminum-anchors in place.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/front3.jpg
The old front bracket that holds the grill in the center. Left the mice infected one, right side the NOS version in its final position.

I refurbished other parts as they weren’t available as a NOS item anymore.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/exhaust_bracket.jpg
Rear shield behind the muffle after my refurbishment.

Sometimes it was only necessary to clean the stuff with soap to give it a better look.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/underbody_protection_shields.jpg
The underbody shields before and after the cleaning with soap.

As I was talking a lot about mice debris and cleaning it up, my smaller daughter suddenly got suspicious. She has a small DeLorean for her dolls and the big question was, were there mice inside as well. ;)

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/Amelie_restoring_here_D.jpg
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/Amelie_restoring_here_D2.jpg
We ended up doing a frame-off restoration of her DeLorean and she did a pretty good job helping wherever she could. Now the dolls can drive relaxed now in their properly restored Toy-DeLorean. :cool:

VIN 573 still needs a little more attention. -> More will follow.

Best wishes
Don

[vwdmc16]

OMG:eek5: your fuse panel came out so nice, My car's fuse box is so depressing, I just have to get off my ass and rip into it to properly repair it all properly.

Great job on the foam! Probably will be quieter than before too.

[Domi]

I'm truly amazed by the job you've done so far!
The relay compartment is better than new and those carpet area is so nice :thumbup2:
Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing all these great pictures :thankyou:

[john 05141]

This is just fantastic. Indeed fusebox area came out very good. Did you dry-ice those cables to to get them clean? Houston sells those new build Deloreans.... I this yours will match with them. Great how inventive you are and how you are working in such detail. European style Project Vixen!!
The cargo area looks superb. I did more or less the same as you did (for the interiour anyway) I put the old foam into a garbage bag immediatemy as it is a huge bacteria nest. I added the John Hervey insulation pack. It looks and feels like a divers suit type of material. And then the new carpet, I found this very satisfying work. I did this 3 years ago, the typical old Delorean smell was gone, but the smell of new carpet only lasted a few weeks.

The foam you used is a great solution and probably cheaper then what I did. I am just sorry I never measured the DB before the make-over on the same pieces of road at the same speed to measure the difference, Will not be that much I think.

Thank you for keeping us updated with your tremendous work. I hope you will consider to make a website like Vixen and Noraods did, it is a great document.

John

[john 05141]

This is just fantastic. Indeed fusebox area came out very good. Did you dry-ice those cables to to get them clean? Houston sells those new build Deloreans.... I this yours will match with them. Great how inventive you are and how you are working in such detail. European style Project Vixen!!
The cargo area looks superb. I did more or less the same as you did (for the interiour anyway) I put the old foam into a garbage bag immediatemy as it is a huge bacteria nest. I added the John Hervey insulation pack. It looks and feels like a divers suit type of material. And then the new carpet, I found this very satisfying work. I did this 3 years ago, the typical old Delorean smell was gone, but the smell of new carpet only lasted a few weeks.

The foam you used is a great solution and probably cheaper then what I did. I am just sorry I never measured the DB before the make-over on the same pieces of road at the same speed to measure the difference, Will not be that much I think.

Thank you for keeping us updated with your tremendous work. I hope you will consider to make a website like Vixen and Noraods did, it is a great document.

John

[Don Camillo]

@Wolff, Domi, John: Thank you for the motivating feedback. :thumbup:

Regarding the cables: I didn't use dry ice. First I opened the old tape around the harness, then I cleaned every single cable (disinfecting fluid + acetone), than I used the exact same tape to close the harness again. This takes hours for each harness section.

Anyone any info on the headliner fabric for me? I am really in a deadlock right now. Were can I get the right headliner fabric in a good quality for a dark car?
:confused0:

Best wishes
Don

[Domi]

Anyone any info on the headliner fabric for me? I am really in a deadlock right now. Were can I get the right headliner fabric in a good quality for a dark car?
:confused0:


A French guy bough his one here:
http://www.comptoir-carrosserie.fr/pavillons-ciels-toit-pavillons-ciels-toit-tissus-xsl-189_190.html
Unfortunately the web site is in French and I don't know if they send abroad.

Maybe Wolfang will be able to help you with a good address in Germany?

[Morpheus]

Amazing pictures so far, Don! You are inspiring me to get going on my restoration again...

[djscoto]

Yeah this is a great thread! Now I really cannot wait until I get a D of my own. :)

[Dangermouse]

Nominee for Restoration of the Year, right here !

[john 05141]

Bought my fabric headliners at Ed's in Holland. But it was light gray.

John

[Elvis]

Hey Christian,

you still forgot the udpates for the fuse box area.
It's nice and shiny, but your door lock solenoids will burn ( if they aren't already)
and your fans will stop working at 30°C when stuck in traffic because that
circuit breaker can't handle both fans.

Give each fan ist own relay and a fuse. OK, that's not original - but reliable !


Elvis & 6548 (CB overheated on the way uphill to San Marino...)

[Don Camillo]

Domi: A French guy bough his one here:
http://www.comptoir-carrosserie.fr/p...l-189_190.html
Unfortunately the web site is in French and I don't know if they send abroad.

@Domi: I call this Plan B in case I didn’t find anything in the German or English speaking areas. As I do not speak French I have to go via my brother in law who is living in Dijon. Anyway thanks for the link.

Regarding the headliner fabric search I am still on the hunt.

Below you see a picture of my current status:
1 Original fabric material out of VIN 573
2 Original NOS sun visor (this is my current color reference)
3 Material from Ed 2 years old (best match, but wrinkles in the fabric)
4 Current fabric from Ed, wrong color for a dark car.
5 Internet Vendor, wrong color
6 Alternative Internet Vendor, all samples have the wrong color or surface structure

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/headliner_status.jpg

I learned today, that we have in Munich two big vendors for car headliner fabrics. I will visit them in the next couple of days and will figure out what they have in stock. Wish me luck!


Elvis:
you still forgot the udpates for the fuse box area.
It's nice and shiny, but your door lock solenoids will burn ( if they aren't already)
and your fans will stop working at 30°C when stuck in traffic because that
circuit breaker can't handle both fans.

Give each fan ist own relay and a fuse. OK, that's not original - but reliable !

@Elvis: If you look closely on the last picture of the fuse box area in one of my previous posts you will see additional Relays for the solenoids (picture of the fuse section with the correct decal). I upgraded the complete system and will write more about it in on of my next posts. Regarding the cooling uprates, right now I went all the way down with the silicon hoses from Wolfgang and I updated to the stainless coolant tank. In addition I added the float gauge for the coolant level, which was based on your Idea (I guess there is one picture/video in on of my previous posts were you can spot it). You see I am a maniac for originality but when it comes to reliability I am totally on your side of the game. :thumbup2:
Do you have by chance a schematic/sketch for your Dual-Relays FAN proposal?

Best wishes
Don

[Shep]

3 Material from Ed 2 years old (best match, but wrinkles in the fabric)Have you bought a washer or dryer in the past few years? If you have, one may come with a steam cycle. I've got a washer and a dryer with steam cycles, and whenever there's a heavily wrinkled item of clothing that needs the wrinkles removed, I put it in the steam-only cycle for 10-15 minutes. I've had shirts and pants stacked and wrinkled for years, heavily set-in, and I have yet to come across one that has noticeable wrinkles when I'm done. Any wrinkles that are somewhat noticeable after the first run comes out after running it through a second time. Looking at the fabric in the picture, that's a very light wrinkle that'll easily come out in a steam cycle.

If you don't have a washer or dryer with a steam cycle, and you live in a good neighborhood, ask your neighbors! I'm sure you know someone that'll has one they're willing to let you use. :thumbup2:

[Elvis]

Why all those extra relays if all you need for a reliable system is 2 new internal relays in the ECU from Conrad or Reichelt and a 10A fuse ?
Looks clean, original and is reliable. 10 years of testing and 30-50 updated units ...

Schematic for the 2 fan relays is simple. As you have two sockets for relays (original and the blue one) the rest is
straight forward for you - I guess. Don't rely on one CB for two fans. Use one for each fan or get rid of them and just use fuses.

Elvis & 6548







@Elvis: If you look closely on the last picture of the fuse box area in one of my previous posts you will see additional Relays for the solenoids (picture of the fuse section with the correct decal). I upgraded the complete system and will write more about it in on of my next posts. Regarding the cooling uprates, right now I went all the way down with the silicon hoses from Wolfgang and I updated to the stainless coolant tank. In addition I added the float gauge for the coolant level, which was based on your Idea (I guess there is one picture/video in on of my previous posts were you can spot it). You see I am a maniac for originality but when it comes to reliability I am totally on your side of the game. :thumbup2:
Do you have by chance a schematic/sketch for your Dual-Relays FAN proposal?

Best wishes
Don

[Don Camillo]

Hi everyone,

First of all, I wish all of you a happy new year. I didn’t have much time during the last few months; here at last a short update of this thread.
Regarding the headliner fabric I made a great discovery. I found out that one of the largest car fabric supplier in Germany is actually located in Munich and that he had the exact fabric (right structure and right color). I will post detailed pictures in the near future.

Meanwhile I will give a little update on the seats. As mentioned before, VIN 573 had the original seat covers still on and they where actually in a bad shape.


To recall the condition here are some pictures from the past:

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/DeLorean _ eBay Motors (item 330425422433 end time Apr-20-10 00_59_38 PDT)-21.jpg
This was the seat as it showed in the ebay sales add. On the first glimpse it seemed not that bad.

As I was willing to refurbish the 30 years old seats anyway I started to look around for NOS seat covers.

Over the German DeLorean Forum I got in contact with somebody who just bought a set of NOS covers in the US. So this was a great opportunity to act and buy them. They arrived at my house even before VIN 573 actually arrived.


http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_1605.jpg
This is how the seats looked on the day VIN 573 arrived at my door.

After seeing this I decided to search in addition to the NOS seat covers for the rear covers as well. It took me more than a year to locate a perfect NOS pair in the UK.

http://geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Disassembly/strip_down/strip_down17.JPG
Maybe you remember the picture in one of my previous posts when Alina gave me the parcel with the covers in it.


To recall, this was the passenger seat before and during the disassembling:
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/ DSCF1867.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/ DSCF1870.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/DSCF1875.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_2277.jpg
Factory writings on the hidden vinyl section of the rear segment…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_2349.jpg
This is the lower leather/vinyl cover after I removed the foam. Noteworthy is the logo-pattern on the backside of the vinyl. I found this on all the original vinyl parts.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/seat2.jpg
The foam before cleaning…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/seat4.jpg
The foam after cleaning…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/seat3.jpg
This was the color of the water from the wet-vacuum-cleaner after I cleaned the foam…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_2296.jpg
As mentioned already, the foams were dated quite early. Probably one of the first sets during the production run.


http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/DSCF1882.jpg
Amelie helped me during the disassembly process…


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W6Uee2UAns
Even small kids can do more than you first expect and it makes them so proud to be a part of the project :-)

As the foam isn’t available in NOS anymore, I tried as hard as I could to clean the original foam and get any bacteria and bad smell out of them. This took me about 6 months altogether. Of course most of the time it was just waiting for the form to cure in fresh air by itself.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/DSCF2562.jpg
I took every opportunity to let the foams get fresh air and sun in our garden.

I also washed the foam completely in the bathtub. After that you have to dry it for several weeks.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/DSCF8465.jpg
I cut a little of the foam to see what was going on “under the skin”. It seems to me that on the lower foam the rubber mat made it’s way through the foam. It turned out impossible for me to remove; but as it does not have a bad smell, I glued the cut and made my peace with the foams.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/DSCF8007.jpg
Here you see the back-cover of the driver seat. 100.000 bacteria inside, ahhhhh….

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/DSCF8009.jpg
Somebody removed it with brute force…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/DSCF8010.jpg
That was a cheap, but not so effective fix from a PO…

Here are some impressions of the NOS seat covers…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/NOS_seat.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/NOS_seat1.jpg
Remember the markings on the original covers. They are, of course, also on the NOS version.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/NOS_seat2.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/NOS_seat3.jpg
The covers looked and smelled like new. All was perfect. The seller took really good care and stored them properly for decades.

On the rear section of the seat foam I decided to remove the mousefied protection fabric from the foam…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/DSCF1943.jpg
Old fabric on the backside…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/rear_seat.jpg
New fabric on the backside just before I glued it on…

Inside I reused a lot of the original parts after having them cleaned carefully…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/DSCF8484.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_2293.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/seat1.jpg
Amelie helped with the hog ring pliers


http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_2294.jpg


http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing2/seat.jpg
She was so proud of the result…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4139.jpg
I changed some of the used seat fasteners with their NOS counterparts…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4164.jpg
Refurbished back-cover with the NOS Vinyl…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4162.jpg
I cut the wood-thingy new, matching the original, out of the same material. It should hold for another 30 years.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4163.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4167.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4165.jpg

And the final result…
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4144.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4149.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4141.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4142.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4143.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4146.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4147.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/IMG_4148.jpg

During the upholstering this -> manual (http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing3/Upholstery-Article.pdf) <-, which I found on dmctalk.org, was very helpful.

I admit that I sat a while in our living room just to look at the finished seat. For me it looks like a piece of art. The designers did a great job back in the late 70ties.

It will still take some time until the seats go back in the car.

Best wishes
Don

P.S. by Isabell: My husband tried to convince me to install two DeLorean seats instead of our couch in the living room. Unfortunately, I had to deny the proposal.... ;)

[Domi]

Happy new year to you and your family ;)
You did a really nice job on those seats!

[Morpheus]

Those seats are beautiful, Don... Great work!

[Don Camillo]

Hi,

Thank you for the feedback, always a good motivation. :)

Right now I want give you an update on the lower engine cover. After I took the cover off from VIN 573 I thought just cleaning it would be OK. But after I refurbished a lot of other rear engine compartment components I got the feeling to do a little more work on the engine cover.

Following are some pictures of the cover, after I removed it…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/2.jpg
A lot of the small attached hardware had surface rust.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/1.jpg
Here you see the engine stay part, which was attached to VIN 573 and on top of it the NOS counterpart. I don’t know at what time the updated part was added to the car. Maybe it was a test from the Quality Center in Irvine back in 1981 or it was just an update another PO did to the car. I decided to keep it, as the newer version is more stable and belongs now to the car in my opinion.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/3.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/4.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/5.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/6.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/7.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/8.jpg
I disassembled everything on the cover and I completely underestimated the amount of individual parts it is made of. I took a lot of photos to remember the exact position of the label later.

First I tried to paint the cover by myself. But it didn't look very good. So the team Deloman from Augsburg helped me on that task.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/9.jpg
The cover after I got it back just from the surface treatment.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/10.jpg
Those are all the parts needed to bring the cover back together. It is a mixture of refurbished and NOS parts.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/11.jpg
With those clip you can lose a lot of blood as well; they are freaking sharp. If you look closely you can see that I added a foam exactly like the original one. I thought this makes sense to keep the grill better in place.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/12.jpg
All the grills are in place.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/13.jpg
All the NOS labels are in place; and YES the glue is still working even if they are 32 years old now.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/14.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/15.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/16.jpg
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/17.jpg
This gives you a good impression of the surface quality.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/18.jpg
The cover back on the car.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/19.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing4/20.jpg
As I was putting the cover back on the car, Alina was joining me. She did her homework in the DeLorean; obviously with some style :cool1:

Best wishes
Don

[Domi]

That's awesome!
The paint quality is very good :thumbup2:

[john 05141]

nice work, well done. My 8 year old daughter helps me too. Last time I was checking the stoplights, she immediately voluteered to sit in the car and push the brade pedal every now and then. It's nice to have some company while working on the car.

Jan

[pezzonovante88]

I admit that I sat a while in our living room just to look at the finished seat. For me it looks like a piece of art. The designers did a great job back in the late 70ties.

Best wishes
Don




Beautiful job on the seats. I must also agree that they have great styling (oddly, one of the things that draws me to the DeLorean) and I would sit and stare at them too!

[Don Camillo]

Hi,

With this post I just want to share a bunch of restoration pictures in a more or less random order. Those pictures where taken during the last year.

As mentioned in a previous post I actually took off all the vinyl covers from all of the interior parts. If you do this, you have to be careful not to stress the material too much.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/0.jpg
I cleaned all the foam very carefully and took every piece out in the sun for several days until they had gotten back an April smell again. 100% original, with the logo on the backside of the vinyl.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/1.jpg
This is the larger knee pad after I disassembled all of the parts.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/2.jpg
I took all those foams into the bathtub and washed them.

After washing and drying, I reskinned all the vinyl back into place. At some areas I had little cuts in the vinyl surface.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/3.jpg
Small rip

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/4.jpg
After some vinyl repair it looked like this.

With this method I was able to keep VIN 573 as original as possible and still optimize the look of the interior. Of course it takes a lot of time.

On the middle tunnel I had a problem with the carton board. It separated on one side due to a mishandle of a previous owner.
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/5.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/6.jpg
This needs to be fixed…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/8.jpg
I used a very good two component adhesive. After glueing the parts together, they were rock solid.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/7.jpg
Interesting, how the factory covered up the little gap between two carton boards.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/9.jpg
The separated vinyl skin of the middle tunnel after I cleaned it well.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/10.jpg
The proper re-skinning procedure took quite a while. Final result picture will follow.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/11.jpg
Some of the interior parts were beyond repair status, so I went for the NOS alternative.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/12.jpg
I treated other little items like those vent parts with the polishing paste to refurbish the shine of the surface.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/13.jpg
NOS original isolation foam in place.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/14.jpg
Every little piece needed some cleaning to regain its original style.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/15.jpg
This is the backside of the original working center console clock.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/16.jpg
Front sides after some TLC.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/17.jpg
NOS Part # 106292 needed still some TLC to have a nice look.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/18.jpg
Glass channel after professional repainting and detailing.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/19.jpg
Glass channel detail…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/20.jpg
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/21.jpg
The glass channels back in the car with the weather protection additive in place. The masking tape was used to protect the surrounded area from being damaged by the sticky body sealing material.


http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/21a.jpg
Every nice summer day I tried to work outside on the car.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/22a.jpg
Amelie was helping again.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diUYHU5CNTg
Sometimes she still gets confused with the direction of the fasteners…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/23.jpg
To remove the rivets out of the door roof seal, I used a small cutting wheel. That was a scary part of the restoration process.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/24.jpg
All the door surroundings were filled with tons of silicon. It took me several days for each side to remove all the old junk.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/25a.jpg
Before I painted the roof box parts, proper masking was necessary.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/25.jpg
Epoxy paint from the US was used for the roof box elements.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/26.jpg
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/27.jpg
Now the drip rails. First step was to apply primer.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/28.jpg
Next step the semi gloss black for the drip rails.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/29.jpg
Other plastic parts were refurbished as well. On this picture you see the primer applied after several hours of sanding off the old paint.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/30.jpg
Black again…

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/31.jpg
…and back on the car.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/32.jpg
While working with black paint I refurbished the NOS engine cover hinge.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/34.jpg
On a warm day, I decided to repair the fuel-sending unit. After two hours of work it operated again like it should. Wondering how long this will last.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/38.jpg
There were days during the last year where I only changed small parts.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/39.jpg
This is a wiring harness from the engine compartment after I spent several hours on it.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/35.jpg
I gave several original items to a few shops for surface treatment; plating and powder coating.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/36.jpg
The NOS Engine stay metal part after a plating session.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/37.jpg
Looks better now and should last for the years to come.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/22.jpg
Still a lot of work on VIN 573 - but we enjoy the project on its way :smile:

Best wishes
Don

[Domi]

Thanks for sharing all your pictures ;)

[john 05141]

I was wondering when there was going to be more progress on your restoration project.
Looks very very nice, you're doing a great job. Looks like this restoration will give you years of future enjoyment of this car.
Toll gemacht!!

Can't wait to see more.

Jan

[m81dmc]

Great thread!

Very useful pics, details and motivation too.

[jawn101]

Looking really good. One question, I can't tell - did you paint the torsion bars too? It looked like they might have still been installed when you sprayed the roof channels. I don't know if that paint will hold up to all the twisting going on, I hope it doesn't end up flaking off and ruining such an awesome job!

[Don Camillo]

Thanks for sharing all your pictures ;)


I was wondering when there was going to be more progress on your restoration project.
Looks very very nice, you're doing a great job. Looks like this restoration will give you years of future enjoyment of this car.
Toll gemacht!!
Can't wait to see more.



Great thread!

Very useful pics, details and motivation too.

Thank for the feedback :wave:


Looking really good. One question, I can't tell - did you paint the torsion bars too? It looked like they might have still been installed when you sprayed the roof channels. I don't know if that paint will hold up to all the twisting going on, I hope it doesn't end up flaking off and ruining such an awesome job!

I didn't paint the torsion bars, I just masked them during the painting procedure.

Here the masking tape... :smile:
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing5/25a.JPG


Currently I am going over some facia details.

What I have learned so far:

The early cars had a darker silver with a more glossy appearance.

Question: Up from which VIN did the original DMC change the paint to the later style?

Referring to the early style paint code -> Is it correct, that the code can be found in the service bulletin ST-04-2/82?

Question: Why is the paint code mentioned in a service bulletin from 1982 when all the cars produced in 1982 used already the newer, brighter silver version?

If the paint code mentioned in the service bulletin ST-04-2/82 (Code: DAU33584, Color: Silver Poly) is the correct one for VIN 573, what would be a modern European paint code version for my local paint shop?

I need help on this one :confused:

Best wishes
Don

[Kenny_Z]

I've followed this thread for awhile. This Delorean is going to be amazing when completed. Excellent work.

[Ron]

Question: Why is the paint code mentioned in a service bulletin from 1982 when all the cars produced in 1982 used already the newer, brighter silver version?

If the paint code mentioned in the service bulletin ST-04-2/82 (Code: DAU33584, Color: Silver Poly) is the correct one for VIN 573, what would be a modern European paint code version for my local paint shop?

I need help on this one :confused:

Maybe this will help http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?349-Paint-Codes&highlight=paint+codes

[Don Camillo]

Maybe this will help http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?349-Paint-Codes&highlight=paint+codes

Thanx Ron, I read this thread already. After reading it again I come to these conclusions and questions:

Paint Code for early cars from VIN 500 to XXXX(?) as written in the service bulletin ST-04-2/82 is:
Code: DAU33584
Color: Silver Poly

Ron, your alternative PPG formula to the Silver Poly is this:

649 Clear 83.4
1690 Crs. Alum. 303.6
1687 Med. Alum. 400.4
1683 Black 483.8
DX 685 flat 497.2
1607 Blue 502.8

I read in several threads, that for early cars the finishing was glossy.

The paint code mentioned in Service Bulletin ST-13-9/81 is for later cars starting with vin VIN XXXX+1(?) up to the last VIN is:
Apply Alpha-Cryl Lacquer color coat.
RM (RINSHED MASON) FORMULA
PNT - 90 - 100
AT - 141 - 253
AT - 114 - 348
AT - 116 - 428
AT - 184 - 434
AT - 122 - 440
AT - 100 - 1000


Sorry for the questions, I am not a paint guy. I just want to make sure VIN 573 gets the correct color back on its facia.

Best wishes
Don

[Don Camillo]

Hi,

first of all a Happy New Year!

I am just collection a bunch of pictures to update my thread. In the meantime can anyone tell me how I can move my thread to this location -> Johnny Z's DeLorean Restoration Shop

Best wishes
Don

[Rich W]

Hi,

first of all a Happy New Year!

I am just collection a bunch of pictures to update my thread. In the meantime can anyone tell me how I can move my thread to this location -> Johnny Z's DeLorean Restoration Shop

Best wishes
Don

Hi Don,

Happy New Year ... and with the new year, I actually located the Barn Photos of VIN...573 that I took just over 5 years ago, on January 1, 2009.

I will try to email you all the genuine barn car photos (25MB total) in several emails and hopefully you will have time to review them this weekend.

Attaching one photo below (for the forum) and feel free to include any of the others after your review.

Thanks,
Rich W.

24324

[Don Camillo]

Hello,

Rich W. inspired me to tell a little about the History of VIN 573 before I continue to post more about its restoration.

-> So, here's what I figured out so far.

VIN 573 was one of the first 100 cars produced in March 1981. The 500 series cars originally were only produced for initiating the production line and they were not meant to be sold to regular customers.

According to Robert Patrick, the first owner of VIN 573, and some other sources, VIN 573 actually was assembled in the production line like all the other DMC-12 later.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag3zPTsGNB0
Domi shared this video on youtube, which shows the training procedure very well.

It seems that not all the parts were already available, so the 500 series cars were put aside and got some parts after they went through the line like seen on this picture:
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/History/delorean5.jpg

Nick Sutton wrote in his book “The DeLorean story” that it took around 500 hours to build each of the early cars.

Some of the 500 series car passed the quality inspection in Dunmurry and went on the very first shipment via boat in April 1981. Loading was done on April 19th and the ship started it journey on April 20th.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/History/Car%20Crash%20-%20The%20DeLorean%20Story%28%20BBC%20Production%29 %20-%20YouTube.jpg
This is a picture of the loading procedure in April 2012 and one of those cars might actually be VIN 573.


The ship arrived in May/June 1981 in the DMC QAC in California.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/History/Group%20Picture.jpg
Somewhere in this picture there must be VIN 573 and Robert Patrick, the first owner of VIN 573.

Robert told me that in June 1981 VIN 573 was somehow cannibalized for other customer cars and put aside. A few months later it was decided that some of the early cars could be used as a company car for the managers at DMC. So Robert took care that VIN 573 was reassembled with the missing parts. For example the front fascia was reassembled back in the summer of 1981. The QAC Team also modified VIN 573 according to the latest service bulletins. Robert used his DeLorean for around 6 months before it went back to the company. It was sold in 1982 to a unknown collector. If anyone has more information about this time period it would be great for me to hear about it.

A father and son bought the car around 1992-1993. They put it in their classic car collection and drove it to a car show in Jacksonville. Later in 1993 there was a family tragedy and the car was forgotten in a shed. It had 13530 original miles on the odometer. Then the car slept in that spot until 2009 for 16 years.
Luckily Rich W. visited the car on January 1st 2009 as it was offered for sale and he took a bunch of pictures. He was so kind to share the pictures with me. Thanx again Rich!

Here comes a selection of the barn-pictures. This is VIN 573 directly after sitting for 16 years.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/History/Driver-front-fender-wheel-NCT-low-view.JPG

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/History/Driver-rear-wheel-newer-tire.JPG

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/History/Driver-Seat-Back-falling-off.JPG

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/History/Engine-compartment-view1.JPG

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/History/Front-fascia-from-driver-side.JPG

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/History/Metal-washer-fluid-cap.JPG

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/History/Rear-fascia-and-plate.JPG

(I must say I was lucky that I got those pictures not earlier than 3 years after I bought the car. They are really scary. Cannot imagine myself that I started on this car my DeLorean project. But it was worth every minute :) )

2009 Bob bought the car, made it drivable again and sold it in April 2010 via ebay.com. Pictures from this time can be found at the beginning of this thread just as the rest of the story.

Next time, I will post new restoration pictures, no more mouse- or barn-pictures - I promise :D

Best wishes
Don

[ALEXAKOS]

Servus Don!
you may have seen my restoration of 5992. What you don't know is how many similarities connect us.
First off let me say that your resto is almost parallel to mine. I see your moves and I feel like I am reading my thread. I just feel like you are making a cleaner job.. May be your better photos.
Well. First of.. Before owning my Delorean, I owned a 71 Stingray
http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz135/alex-akos/My%20vette/dsc02264a_786.jpg
Bough it in Munich in 2006 and released my "zoll" plates in "FFB" ;) (BTW did you know that John Z. "helped" design the stingray? It was named Pontiac Banshee and got grounded not to hurt the Corvette. Later it was adapted by the C3 Corvette)
I have both my kids help me with tiny screws. Just don't like releasing them on the net for my personal reasons. I find it so cue how I see yours growing up from day one to recent posts.
Then, yes, I am half German :thumbup2: but live in Greece.:blackeye:
he only difference between your Resto and mine is that YOU GOT TO "MEET" the mouse! And I think your frame is in way better condition than mine... I hope!:thumbup2:
Toi toi toi, then wiht your forthcoming work.
Race ya to the finish line of completion.

And of course...LOVE YOUR DETAILED POSTS!

[Domi]

Thanks for sharing your barn pictures, I like it.
It's good to know the full history of your car :)

[Dangermouse]

This is a picture of the loading procedure in April 2012 and one of those cars might actually be VIN 573

Don,

surely the car on the ramp is actually 573, as noted on the polystyrene on the front bumper along with an 'M' for "manual'


http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/History/Car%20Crash%20-%20The%20DeLorean%20Story%28%20BBC%20Production%29 %20-%20YouTube.jpg

Was Robert Patrick a DMC or QAC employee? What role did he fill?

[Don Camillo]

Hi,

@Alexakos: Yes, I followed your thread, still waiting what is inside your big box from Houston :D. Yes, there must be some connection between the Stingray and the DeLorean, I know two other DeLorean fellows who owned a chrome bumper C3.

Regarding the loading picture, I think I generated some confusion. I got this picture out of a youtube video that showed the first DeLorean loading made April 1981. The still picture out of it is tweaked to show how it may have looked like; the car in the picture isn’t actually VIN 573!

Rob (Robert A. Patrick) confirmed via Email that VIN 573 was on the first shipment in April 1981. He was a factory representative who met JZD and drove the car between September 1981 and April 1982 in North and South Carolina.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Owner%20Cetificate%20VIN%20573%20small.jpeg
I also got this certificate from the DeLorean museum as an official document.

Now back to the restoration progress. I just add some pictures about the antenna as I have limited time right now.

VIN 573 had all three different antenna versions on it. First there was the antenna in the windshield, after that it got the antenna in the front right fender. Finally the first owner at DMC decided to add the left rear fender antenna version for testing purpose as well.
As the car had all three variations from DMC in the early 80ties I chose to close the front antenna hole and went for the rear antenna instead.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Antenna_1.jpg
The antenna bracket and the antenna assembly came from Deloman. I repainted the bracket with rust-proofing black epoxy paint as this part is accessible to the elements if you catch a rain shower.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Antenna_2.jpg
To fit the BOSCH antenna in the lower section of the bracket modification work was needed.


http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Antenna_3.jpg
The screws you see here on the picture actually are also used to hold the antenna bracket from the inside.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Antenna_4.jpg
It took me several hours to shim the bracket correctly as the antenna mast only has little clearance on its way out.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8wbj6t7YqY
This little video shows the first antenna tests after the shimming. This can be done by everybody with a little patience.
I will post more pictures next time.

Best wishes
Don

[ALEXAKOS]

Just love the 80's electrical extending antenna! Many cars now have a hidden antenna when it actually ads to the car's look.
Mine fortunately works perfectly. Tested it the other day. Just need to align is as soon as I have the rear fender back on.

BTW Great work:thumbup2:

[Don Camillo]

Hi,

Here comes my next update on this thread. Note that the pictures are not sorted in the correct order of my work - I just want to give you a rough feeling what happened to VIN 573 on the way down the restoration road.

Last time I posted a little about the antenna. I forgot to mention that I changed the plastic air insert thingy on the driver side as well. The old one had some scratches on it, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to replace it with a NOS plastic part as long as the fender is off the car.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Plastic_part_1.jpg
The old plastic part glued in the fender back in 1981 at the factory.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Plastic_part_2.jpg
The NOS part vs. the old original part.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Plastic_part_3.jpg
It is possible to cut out the old part without removing the glass, but it will take some time.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Plastic_part_4.jpg
Amelie helped on the new part while the sealing compound was drying. Notice the quality information written on the fender backside in 1981.

As I went for the latest antenna version I had to find a solution for the antenna hole on the right hand side front fender.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Antenna_hole_ugly.jpg
First I tried an antenna plug, but I didn't like the look of it.

It was time for team DeLoman in Augsburg.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Fender_antenna_hole_1.jpg
The old hole in the fender….

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Fender_antenna_hole_2.jpg
….and the result after the guys in Augsburg did their magic on it.

After that I roughly arranged all stainless parts to get a first impression.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Outside_2.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Big_Gap.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/First_mounting_unfitted.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Outside_1.jpg
The caps looked terrible, so I adjusted the parts, which took me approximately one day per fender panel.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Rear_fender.jpg
The gaps of the rear fender after I mounted and unmouted it for at least 5 times.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Rear_fender_1.jpg
Notice the holes where a previous owner mounted the luggage rack kit. Maybe it was tested on VIN 573 from the QAC on the car. We'll probably never find out.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Rear_fender_2.jpg
I removed the old rubber and glue and added NOS rubber bands to hold the engine louvre.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/t-roof_issue.jpg
I noticed that the T-roof section had the typical issue. The force of the torsion bar lifted it up.

I had great support from Wolfgang on that issue.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/ Refurbishing6/fixed_t-roof_section_2.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/ Refurbishing6/fixed_t-roof_section_1.jpg
This will last for a hundred years and is sealed up properly for a potential rainstorm.

As Wolfgang saw VIN 573 at that point he challenged me to get the car ready to drive within the next 6 weeks. At that point I saw the chances at 10%, but I accepted the challenge as there was nothing to lose.

For the next 6 weeks I worked on the car every day after work and every weekend from dusk till dawn. Most of the upcoming pictures are from those 6 weeks but some are from the beginning of 2013.

There is a component under every DeLorean skin which rots away no matter how good the car was stored. I talk about the shock absorber forms.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Shock_Absorber_1.jpg
The shock absorber forms of VIN 573 looked quite sad so they got a refurbishing treatment.
http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Shock_Absorber_2.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Shock_Absorber_3.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Shock_Absorber_4.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Shock_Absorber_5.jpg
After the removal of the old paint I used several cleaning methods to get rid of dust and smell.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Shock_Absorber_6.jpg
Now was the time to apply a special paint, which stays flexible after drying. If you just use regular paint it will peal off quickly. So search for the special flexible paint in your hardware shop.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/flex_paint.jpg
This was the flexible paint I used, bought in a German hardware store.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Shock_Absorber_7.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Shock_Absorber_8.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Shock_Absorber_9.jpg

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Shock_Absorber_10.jpg
Even if it is in not visible anymore once the front fascia is on, it's good to know it looks good under the skin. :D

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Grill_washing.jpg
To clean the front grill properly it took a bath for several weeks in a special cleaning mixture.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Front_Grill_with_logo.jpg
With a NOS DMC emblem on it it looked almost new again.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Replated_muffler_bracket.jpg
This heat shield from VIN 573 got a proper galvanic job.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Replated_muffler_bracket_1.jpg
View behind the curtain; the assembled heat shield.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Heat_shilding.jpg
The other heat shield came from Team Deloman. It waited for more than 2 years in my garage before I added it.

http://www.geschwendtner.de/Chriss/Delorean/Refurbishing6/Engine_view.jpg
Here's what I got out of the engine bay with my limited resources. Of course, a professional will get it better; but I am very happy with the results - especially since I didn't even plan to work on it at all in the beginning.

I will continue from this point in a few days with more pictures of the final spurt.

Best wishes
Don

[Domi]

Wolfgang did a great job on that hole, I'm impressed :thumbup2:

[ALEXAKOS]

OBI...wan Kenobi!:lockdance:
The force in Great in this one!:yoda:
And I was wondering what I can do with that poorly peeling absorber.
So good to have pioneers lead the way.
Danke!;)

[Delorean02378]

Great job on the restoration. Amelie has assisted a lot, I think it's only fair that she be the next owner. Whoops, just noticed you had two assistants, you may have a fight on your hands. They'll cherish these picture when they get older.

[Don Camillo]

Sorry, it's been a while since I updated this thread. I still have a bunch of pictures to share.

As some of you already noticed, VIN 573 is back on the road and a couple of days ago I did a test drive with the freshly refilled air-condition. :cool:

Here is the video, if you want to share a ride :race:

It comes in 1080p, so if you like HD content, don't forget to switch it on.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbQW2-H69x0&vq=hd1080


Best wishes
Don

[Domi]

Just watched your video a few minutes ago, awesome :thumbup2:

[ALEXAKOS]

Yes! nicely made video.
But why is your battery light going on and off at those speeds. Alternator issue?

[louielouie2000]

Don,

Is there any way you can show us more of the progress on your car? This is by far my favorite restoration thread here on DMC Talk.

[88KPH]

Great resto, I had a mice nest in mine too. Complete with mummified mouse behind the grill, although they were much better behaved than your guests and stayed behind the front fascia.

I reckon the plastic sheet (DPM) saved your chassis.