Hi guys
So I'm a relative newcomer to this forum, but the group's been good to me. Within a few days of signing up, I found my dream car from a forum member (medicineman). Last Sunday, it arrived.
It's in tremendous condition! I don't have the number in front of me and I'm terrible at recalling numbers, but I believe 27,000 miles on the odometer and I bought it from the second owner. The first owner had put most of the miles on it, and the second owner took good care of it -- garaged and all that.
Basically, all the visible bits are in great shape. Stainless panels looked great, the interior was perfect. Original radio still in there. A lot of original bits and pieces -- exactly what I wanted. Here's a picture the previous owner took:
17848471696_12c7d5d2fb_z.jpg
Really pretty all around. The problems that I either identified or were told about right away were:
- Transmission governor needs replacement
- Some minor cracks in the dashboard
- Various minor cosmetic issues (fascias need painting, etc.)
- Rust on the underside of the front end. This was the big scary one, as judging 'how rusted' something is isn't my strong suit. However, it appears to be in 'common areas'. When I later cracked open the fuel compartment, I pulled the other panels and was relieved to see the top part of the front frame looks great at least
- Engine runs really rough -- kind of barely runs
- Breaks are bad
- radio LED doesn't work
- radio cassette player doesn't work (won't load tape)
- needs weather strip replacement
- fuse box is a crazy rats nest:
crazy-electrical.jpg
- Probably more things I'm not remembering right now!
...
So my first task here is to get the engine running, for the simple reason of the place that it currently is, isn't the place that it needs to stay long term. Plus I need to get it VIN inspect which requires taking a short ~ 1 mile journey. Right now, I'm not sure the car could make it even though it "runs".
The first problem I identified were the air hoses. The hot air hose had completely rotted, and when I pulled out the air system, the hot air hose practically disintegrated and the paper part of the cold air hose fell apart as well. I replaced this with a direct air hose from AutoZone, exactly as documented here by someone else :
http://deloreanblog.blogspot.com/201...ification.html
I'm considering what to do about the "stove" the hot air hose connects to. In the long term, I want to remove it, but I don't know if it has some linkage to the rest of the engine under there or if it's just a bolt-on. For now, maybe I just cap the hole to it and leave it. I hate having an upward-facing hole exposed in the engine compartment :P
....
So the car ran a little better after that, but still not mobile. The previous owner said he had let the car sit for maybe a 6 year stretch at one point and had the fuel system rebuilt. I knew he got the car inspected a year ago judging from the paperwork that came with the car, so it had to have been running better in the not-too-distant past. I suspected the fuel system was the next problem; the thing had a full tank of gas in it, who knows how long it had sit. At least a year.
So ... open up the gas tank, and lo and behold the gas is the color of urine. Yuck! The fuel pump and everything fuel related were in horrifying condition even though they were indeed replacement. Granted, I've seen way more horrifying than what I dealt with from other people's pictures, but it was pretty gross. The gas was bad, but still good enough for the lawnmower -- lawn mower runs great on this stuff, it's kind of funny So all the gas I siphoned out will be put to use.
Anyway, I've ordered DMCH's fuel pump replacement kit, plus a new fuel accumulator, and that's where I am right now -- waiting for parts. I've started the tank cleaning work and made good progress.
...
So that's where I'm at now! I will probably pull and clean the injectors as part of this. It sounds like the fuel distributor is a level of leaky hell to play with, so maybe see how it runs (with maybe some injector cleaner) after all that. Certainly suggestions are welcome!
And as for the "hot air intake stove", does that actually have some hole into the engine, or is that just cuddled up nice against the engine? Any suggestions on how to cap the air-tube hole into it? Or alternatively, can I remove it without pulling the engine? Pulling the engine is in the future, but I need to move it first! :P