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Thread: Carburetor Troubles... Car is Completely Useless

  1. #1
    Junior Member DeLoreanGirl's Avatar
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    Carburetor Troubles... Car is Completely Useless

    I purchased my dream car not too long ago, but now it's useless because of the carburetor. When I got it, the car ran rough. I took it to a shop and they said they rebuilt the carburetor. It runs better now, but it won't shift gears. There's a problem with the linkage. The guy I bought the car from says it's not the carburetor that was on the car when he sold it and that the shop must have switched it. The shop denies this.

    I was advised by another forum member to contact Bill Robertson and he said that it has the wrong carburetor and that he wasn't going to help me, that it's all the previous owner's fault. Bill was completely useless, telling me a bunch of things that I didn't understand before blowing me off.

    I don't know what to do. The only thing people agree on is that I have the wrong carburetor and it won't work for this car. I'm considering bringing it back to stock, but I don't have the parts. This is my first car at 18 and I just want to use it.

  2. #2
    Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by DeLoreanGirl View Post
    I purchased my dream car not too long ago, but now it's useless because of the carburetor. When I got it, the car ran rough. I took it to a shop and they said they rebuilt the carburetor. It runs better now, but it won't shift gears. There's a problem with the linkage. The guy I bought the car from says it's not the carburetor that was on the car when he sold it and that the shop must have switched it. The shop denies this.

    I was advised by another forum member to contact Bill Robertson and he said that it has the wrong carburetor and that he wasn't going to help me, that it's all the previous owner's fault. Bill was completely useless, telling me a bunch of things that I didn't understand before blowing me off.

    I don't know what to do. The only thing people agree on is that I have the wrong carburetor and it won't work for this car. I'm considering bringing it back to stock, but I don't have the parts. This is my first car at 18 and I just want to use it.
    Hey, if it runs better now, than who cares about the carb?

    Just post a pic of the throttle linkage, and maybe I can help.
    Early 81 5spd conversion- DMCH Ground Effects, Double Din, Custom Instrument Cluster, QA1 Suspension, 3.0 PRV with MS3

  3. #3
    Senior Member DMCVegas's Avatar
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    This is precisely why I demanded a how-to guide for assistance on these conversions. Because I knew this was going to start happening once Bill was out of the picture for support. Either because he died, or he'd outright refuse support people.

    You've got 3 ooptions here. The first being an an Alpine Holley Carburetor Kit from JL Engineering over in the UK. However, there are two teeny little catches:
    1. You will need to source a rare intake manifold for the kit. Contact them for further instructions.
    2. I don't even know for certain if this kit is still available.


    Second option is to return to stock. Every once in a while someone sells a K-Jet kit. I'll have one myself for sale, but not for a couple of years. Even then with all of the cores, you're looking at around $2,700 or so if you don't buy your own specialty tools for all the parts needed.

    Third is that you could convert to EFI.

    Better question yet is have you gotten in touch with any other local DeLorean owners? If not, why?

    Whatever you choose, best of luck to you.
    Robert

    People they come together, people they fall apart...

  4. #4
    Junior Member DeLoreanGirl's Avatar
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    Here ya go: Attachment 54301
    Attached Images

  5. #5
    Administrator Ron's Avatar
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    WTH!?!

    That linkage is not right (circled below) it needs a bracket that will allow the cable to remain in a straight line (from the bracket to the carb), including when the carb is wide open or closed! ... and a little adjusting, at least.

    linkage2.jpg

    Don't let whoever put it on there like that touch your car again (My humble opinion of course ;-)
    Last edited by Ron; 10-29-2017 at 02:52 PM. Reason: mirror image

  6. #6
    Owner since 2007 Farrar's Avatar
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    Bill has photos of his various carb stuff on his Facebook page. You may wish to peruse them. I think there is some useful info there.

    This for example is one of Bill's annotated setup photos for a customer.

    Attachment 54303

    I am Bill's first carburetor customer ( 2008 ) and did a lot of homework before switching over. There is plenty of information out there on carburetor theory and operation, even videos. Meanwhile, I also offered to help you, but you didn't contact me after I gave you Bill's contact info, so I assumed that you had the information you needed.

    Meanwhile, there's a "Carb" subforum here on DMCTalk. Perhaps you could post your carburetor questions there instead of in the "General" section which is more cluttered.
    Attached Images
    3.0L, automatic, carbureted

  7. #7
    Administrator Ron's Avatar
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    Now that I look at it more, I'm wondering if there is enough travel room to simply raise the bracket to get the cables horizontal, remove the spring, adjust the cables (~1/16 play each), collapse the spring and cut it as long as will fit in the space left while the pedal is floored w/o kinking...then re-install the spring. ..and hook up return spring.

    Worst case looks like you would need a bracket to allow more travel...and talk someone into measuring the distance from the bracket to where the cable with the spring attaches to the carb to make it.
    Last edited by Ron; 10-28-2017 at 10:14 PM. Reason: ot

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by DeLoreanGirl View Post
    Since Bill has said that he's not helping because it's Chad's fault, I didn't know where else to turn to. I just want to enjoy my car.
    The shift cable and the accelerator cable both need to tightened and straightened up on that carb, and the shift cable NEEDS to have no slack in it whatsoever.

    Also, if you have an iPhone, you can slightly crop the image to prevent the upside down problem


    Maybe I'll go to a DCS soon. I'm sure many would be surprised at my age...
    Early 81 5spd conversion- DMCH Ground Effects, Double Din, Custom Instrument Cluster, QA1 Suspension, 3.0 PRV with MS3

  9. #9
    Administrator Ron's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 81dmc View Post
    ... and the shift cable NEEDS to have no slack in it whatsoever.
    Actually the shift cable needs to have some slack. About 4mm measured at the trans end according to WSM G:05:02.

  10. #10
    Senior Member
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ron View Post
    Actually the shift cable needs to have some slack. About 4mm measured at the trans end according to WSM G:05:02.
    Pretty close to nothing in comparison to the provided picture.

    Mine has almost no slack and shifts real nice though...
    Early 81 5spd conversion- DMCH Ground Effects, Double Din, Custom Instrument Cluster, QA1 Suspension, 3.0 PRV with MS3

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