VIN 2203 "barn find"

[RamblinDMC]

Another sidenote. After doing some research on early production characteristics, I came across the textured/non textured pontoons. My car has the textured pontoons. When was the cutoff for that?
Also came across this: http://support.delorean.com/kb/a49/antennas.aspx describing the December 1981 power antenna vehicles. My car is from July of '81 and it has the power antenna. I highly doubt the previous owner made the modification. They did not seem to care for the car. It also has rather low miles at 25k.

[BadCompany]

what fuel pump did you decide to go with ? Im thinking of changing mine........
Currently im replacing the brake system...the old rubber lines etc
My car was built in August '81
Keep us up to date on your restore.......

[Lwanmtr]

Congrats on the great find ( inever luck out on that sorta thing...hehe).

[RamblinDMC]

I ended up going with the fuel pump from John Hervey. We'll see how well it does. I'm home for the weekend from school. I'll probably install it today.

Thanks!
Jayce

[RamblinDMC]

Over Labor Day weekend I spend three days working on 2203. After replacing the fuel pump, fuel filter, spark plugs, ignition coil, and sheared banjo bolt along with cleaning of the fuel injectors, 2203 now starts and runs! I am however rhaving some hot start issues and I don't believe the cooling fans are working properly. Next steps are to replace the otterstat and fan relay. I also ordered a new accumulator to try to help with the hot start problems. Once all of that is sorted out, I'll attack the braking system. My car should be ready for her first drive in 20 years shortly! Then after that, the interior, fascias, and wheels will be redone.

Making great progress!

[DMC-81]

Hi Jayce,

Great progress! It's rewarding to have a running engine. Replacing the otterstat is a good idea. In the meantime you can clean the contacts on the connectors (and the otterstat). Then you can jump the connectors (as shown) to verify if your fans come on as a test in your troubleshooting. Sometimes it's just corrosion at that spot.

image.jpg

Cheers,
Dana

[RamblinDMC]

So I spend another weekend back home from school to work on my car. Here's the list of things I've repaired/replaced.
Fuel pump
Accumulator (fixed hot start problems)
Fuel filter
Various wiring problems
Cleaned out the fuel tank and hard lines
Ignition coil
Spark plugs
Fuel sending unit
Battery
Primary pressure regulator o-rings
Cleaned the injectors (not sure if they're sticking again)
Otterstat - cooling fans now are working
All faulty relays and fuses
All fluids changed
New gas lift struts

2203 now starts and runs reliably on nearly every crank. It runs rather smoothly. However it won't idle. The only way to keep the engine running is to keep the RPMs above 1250 or so. Anything lower than that, it sputters and dies. The odd thing is, when I first got it running, it would idle, although it was idle hunting. Now it won't idle at all. What should I check? I read somewhere that unplugging the O2 sensor could help. That didn't seem to do much.

Thanks!
Jayce

[Texas Twister]

One thing that made a big difference in rear tire wear after lowering my suspension was installing the adjustable lower links that allow you to change the camber to spec after you lower it. They were posted on the Delorean club site in St Louis. On the front end, I very much recommend the full sway bar bushing kit from Toby at Delorean Parts NW. This not only replaces the sway bar mounts, but the bushings in the lower control arms. The stock ones always crack. I also ground off the rivets on the upper control arm to remove the front ball joint and replaced them with grade 8 nuts and bolts. I ovaled the wholes a bit so the camber up front can be adjusted too. Spittybug, here in Houston makes some brackets to stiffen the front lower control arms that work well. Be sure to check your trailing arm bolts and bushings. Usually one is bent and the bushings are cracked. Hervey sells some hardened ones and DMC Midwest has some Inconel ones too.

Good luck with your fuel issues. I went with a Megasquirt unit and got rid of the K Jet system.

[Texas Twister]

One of the other things about this car is the electrical issues it has. Many are due to bad grounds. I made a modified ground cable that continued from the frame ground at the rear right pivot bolt to one of the starter bolts. Make sure all grounds to the frame are clean and slap some nonox or something similar on them to prevent oxidation. If you are still running the stock fuse box, make sure you use some nonox on the fuse blades and in the sockets. These tend to oxidize and cause resistance and therefore heat causing parts of the fuse box to melt. DMCH sells an upgrade kit that looks original and Special T has one that works, but has different dimensions for less. Both have stronger contacts than the stock ones do. I hope you got rid of the fan fail module if it was still there. It will also melt.



Best of luck.

[RamblinDMC]

Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it.

I spoke with John Hervey on the phone earlier today. He thinks my fuel distributor and WUR are bad. How can I check their function. Can they cause my car to not want to idle?

Thanks,
Jayce