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Thread: VIN 4728 Running Resto

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  Nov 2013

    Location:  NYS

    Posts:    2,511

    My VIN:    4519

    VIN 4728 Running Resto

    Posting my resto blog to both forums, 'cause sometimes I feel like a nut...sometimes I don't!

    VIN 4728 arrived on 3-27-15. It stayed in my driveway until 5-1-15 while waiting for VIN 10372 to be picked up and transported to it's new owner (*sniff*.)

    While parked in the driveway, I cleaned the exterior, changed the oil, and replaced the choke coil (it has a carb conversion....might keep it, go back to stock, or engine swap.) The car would start, run, and drive, but developed an awful rapping noise under the passenger side valve cover. For the rest of the time that it was parked in my driveway I avoided starting it, only cleaned & assessed it.

    P3290238.jpg P3290239.jpg

    I learned a lot about owning/restoring a DeLorean in the year that I owned 10372, and learned the approach that works for me. I make a spreadsheet to track costs, progress, and maintain a prioritized to-do list. For 4728 I have 3 lists I'll work on simultaneously to reach my goal of having it on the road for short drives before snow season this year:

    Get it safely running/driving

    Fuel System
    Carburetor adjustment/fine tune running
    Valve adjustment
    Replace Cooling System Hoses
    Rebuild Calipers
    Replace Master Brake Cylinder
    Replace Belts
    Replace Plug Wires
    Replace Oil Sender
    Check all grounding points following Bill's diagram
    Exhaust Manifold Gasket
    Oil change

    Cosmetics to stay motivated

    Repair/Paint Rear Facsia
    Paint Sunshade Louvre, Black Trim & Side Mirrors
    Clean/Shampoo Carpets, detail interior
    Front & Rear Headliners
    Convex Side Mirrors
    Restore Seats
    Door Seals
    Steering Column Bushing
    LED's
    Clean & Paint Frame and Closing Plate
    Modify pull-straps to later VIN style
    Replace Cargo Net Bungee


    While I'm in there

    Brake Booster clean & paint
    Dynamat
    Fix Tail Lights
    Run speaker wire for future use


    Since I want all items checked off before the car leaves my garage, my approach is to disassemble everything necessary and place part orders as I determine what I need. I'll have what I need on hand for multiple projects, so if I get stuck needing something for one project I can hop to a different project while waiting for additional parts/materials (or paint to dry.)

    Here's the current status:

    -Car on stands
    -All wheels off
    -Driver's side front caliper removed (frozen piston.)
    -Closing plate removed
    -Rear fascia removed & disassembled
    -Headliners removed
    -Seats removed
    -Passenger side valve cover removed
    -Interior vacuumed
    -Parts on hand, part orders pending

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  Nov 2013

    Location:  NYS

    Posts:    2,511

    My VIN:    4519

    Seat removal

    Removing the seats is one of my favorite "first" things to do. Something about it feels especially productive and "familiarizing" to me.

    The seats are in decent condition, these pics don't show it well but there are cracks and a small tear. I'll get better pics when I post before/after shots. I'm planning to restore them for now, then probably will replace them someday(a few years from now.)

    I contacted Leatherique; they have the OEM grey dye, and a repair kit for fixing cracks.

    I'm also going to re-paint the adjustment bars, any suggestions on a close paint match are very much appreciated.


    P5090435.jpg P5090437.jpg P5090438.jpg P5090439.jpg P5050407.jpg P5050408.jpg P5090443.jpg

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  Jun 2011

    Posts:    4,807

    My VIN:    3937

    Hey man, nice to see some pics and whatnot on your new car. One forum is all the nuts I can handle, lol.

    Nice angle on the pic with your driver's seat removed. Your driver's seat belt receptacle end made me realize something likely not right on my car. My seatbelt buzzer wire doesn't go through the hole and behind the carpet as it does in your pic. Mine stays on the outside of the carpet and then meets up with the harness end of the wire somewhere behind the seats and under the parcel shelf, I like the through the hole idea much better as that wire can get pinched in the seat tracks at times. Thanks for the addition to my to-do list, lol!


    Sept. 81, auto, black interior

  4. #4
    Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonathan View Post
    Hey man, nice to see some pics and whatnot on your new car. One forum is all the nuts I can handle, lol.
    Hahaha!

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  Nov 2013

    Location:  NYS

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    My VIN:    4519

    Headliners

    The headliner material is disintegrated as much as I'd expect it can be. The headliner attachment things came off with the with the headliner & visors attached. They appear to be salvageable, so I think I can rivet them back on for re-use.

    I removed the material from the boards, gave the boards a once-over with a shop-vac and put them up for now. I'll likely return to the headliners after I have the car driveable. I plan to clean them up and would like to coat them with fiberglass.

    Anybody have tips on cleaning them? They look like something that can fall apart if I use the wrong type of stuff on them.

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  6. #6
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    Rear Fascia

    The rear fascia looks like hell. The paint is peeled (I think it was parked under a tree and sap dripped on it.) and there's a poor quality repair from [what appears to be] a fender-bender. I'm going to repair the crack and repaint the fascia. The backing panel has a fiberglass repair that appears to have been done without removing it from the car; it doesn't look like it affected the cosmetics, but I might redo it anyway.

    Removing it was easy and all the studs are in very good condition; nothing is rusted or broken-off.

    P5090413.jpg P5090415.jpg P5090418.jpg P5090418a.jpg P5090430.jpg P5090432.jpg P5090433.jpg P5090440.jpg

  7. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  Nov 2013

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    Closing Plate

    The master brake cylinder appears to have been leaking badly; epoxy is peeled off the closing plate and surrounding frame area. So far, I'm only finding surface rust. I'm going to use an angle grinder with a flap wheel to prep, then POR-15 and topcoat with smoke grey.

    P5070444.jpg P5070445.jpg

  8. #8
    Senior Member Henrik's Avatar
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    Location:  Parker, TX

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    Club(s):   (SCDC) (DCUK)

    Quote Originally Posted by Rich_NYS View Post
    The master brake cylinder appears to have been leaking badly;
    Another one of those "while you're in there": Go ahead and drop the tank too. You will find that the brake fluid has done all sorts of damage to the frame below the master brake cylinder. No big deal to fix but it takes a while. Yes, POR-15 is great for this. I used the grey one; it dries hard as glass! You obviously want to replace the master brake cylinder before you do this.

  9. #9
    Senior Member
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    "Rapping" noise under valve cover.

    I've had a rapping noise under the passenger side valve cover since I got the car. Tonight I adjusted the valves, but the noise is still there. It might be somewhat improved, but definitely still there.

    Here's a video (for sound) before I did any work:

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/o3ftby3672...Noise.AVI?dl=0

    I didn't think to make another video for comparison tonight. I have the valve cover off again & plugs out to double-check the valve adjustment, so I won't get a chance for a few days to record.

    Any thoughts on that noise?

  10. #10
    DMC Midwest - 815.459.6439 DMCMW Dave's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rich_NYS View Post
    I've had a rapping noise under the passenger side valve cover since I got the car. Tonight I adjusted the valves, but the noise is still there. It might be somewhat improved, but definitely still there.

    Any thoughts on that noise?
    One valve way out of adjustment. Or a bad camshaft/rocker arm. Or both.

    When you adjusted the valves did you find anything way out?

    Inspect the cam lobes looking for anything that looks scored or excessively worn. You can also back the valve adjusters all the way out and lift the rockers off the base of the cam lobes in turn. Inspect that riding surface of the rocker arms using a dental mirror, if you find one that looks concave in the center rather than smoothly convex, you've found the culprit which typically means you need to replace the bad rocker arm(s) and the camshaft.

    Once the face hardening of the rocker arm is compromised, it will continue to wear quickly. If it's concave enough to see it, it will be noisy even if the clearances are correct.

    Not an insignificant job BTW. This job implies that you are removing the head unless you pull the engine out of the car. Even in that case you're about to discover that the rocker arm shaft is held in place by the head bolts, and if you were to pull the engine and remove the cam, you need the special tool to hold the cam gear in place or you have to remove the timing cover as well.

    Root cause on this is typically someone forgetting to change the oil for, oh, say, decades, OR running the car with a stuck wide open fuel distributor, flooding the oil sump with gasoline, turning the oil into about 0W0 weight. This in turn wipes a cam lobe or two. How did the insides of the engine look? If it looks gunked up that's the oil change issue, if it's remarkably clean then it's the fuel dilution theory.

    If you find a bad cam, since that car is carbureted, I'd bet money that's what happened before they did the carb conversion.
    Check all the rocker arms.
    Dave S
    DMC Midwest - retired but helping
    Greenville SC

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