Living the Dream - VIN 0628

[JBaker4981]

Social Distancing Cruise
Date: 04/18/2020
Mileage: 39,047-39,124

Everyone knows how much this Social Distancing and Quarantine thing sucks so let's forego all of the complaining that I can do. Wanting to get out of the house and spend some time behind 628, I arranged to meet up with our other TNDMC member in my town for an impromptu cruise. Throughout the drive, many smiles, cameras, and thumbs up were had. Below are a few pictures that I took in addition to some that I found of us on social media.
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General Maintenance

Oil Change
Date: 04/21/2020
Mileage: 39,124
Oil Type: Castrol GTX 20W-50

A little overdue for an oil change but I have moved away from ordering oil filters from DMCH and other vendors in favor of the direct replacement part from Rock Auto ($3.05 each) thanks to a couple of guys within our group. With the Toby Peterson's EZ Valve on the oil pan, I also do not have to worry about a crush washer either.
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Part Number: Bosch 72150WS
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Reusable Performance Air Filter
Model: K&N 33-3072

At this time, I also opted for one of the new K&N Performance Air Filters that are reusable and washable. As expected, this fit like a glove and sealed well within the air box.
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Engine Cover Latch Bracket

A friend within Tri-State DeLorean Club has designed and 3D printed an engine cover latch bracket. The unit attaches to the center support on the louvres via some 3M Double-Sided Tape (30lb) that is pre-installed within a channel in the bracket. The unit is further secured with a supplied screw and lock nut that which are recessed into the bracket itself.
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This bracket will keep pressure off of your factory engine cover stay so it will not bend while the engine cover is open.

The cost is $10 + $5 shipping. If anyone is interested in this, let me know!

[JBaker4981]

Air Conditioning Reconditioning
Date: 04/24/20 - 05/05/20
Mileage: 39,157
Vendor: Vintage Planet
Cost: $761.06

At this time of this writing, I have become back logged with work during the COVID-19 pandemic and unfortunately, I have neglected to document the continuing saga of LoriAnn. Time to keep this sucker going!

April. Tennessee warms up and the skies open with thunderstorms, rain, humidity, and again... heat. Though April is still fairly mild, a fat kid in a stainless steel convection oven would enjoy driving with a working AC much more than using 'vent'. I am not prepared to work on HVAC systems just yet so I opted to reach out to a local shop here in Cookeville, TN called Vintage Planet. This place is a service center & dealership of antique, classic, and exotic vehicles and is well known. I schedule the service with one of the owners and dropped the car off with them on April 24th. The goal was to find the source of the leak and evaluate and then repair/replace whatever hose was leaking R134.

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Impatiently waiting on the service to be completed, I picked it up on May 5th with an amazing cold Air Conditioning System. I took it back to base happy until...

Leaky Evaporator Case
Date: 05/06/20
Mileage: 39,180

I noticed that the carpet on the passenger side was wet when I was checking out something unrelated. Sh*t. Last year, this was patched with JB Weld and roofing material. Lifting the carpet showed a copious amount of water under the carpet. Sh*t! I unbolted and removed the passenger seat and quickly pulled the carpet out as a hole and threw it in the gravel to drain. The wet carpet itself weighed in excess of 30lbs which was streaming water off of it when it pulled it out.

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Over the course of the next several days, I drove around to allow the condensed water to drip onto the bare fiberglass floorboard so that I could better locate the source of the leaks. Found. Patched. A crack on the backside of the evaporator casing. I need a new one. Unfortunately I did not take pictures of the process but at the time of this writing (August), it's good (Thank God). I also reconditioned the carpet and made sure to completely dry everything. In the meantime until I was 100% confident that the leak was fixed, I kept the carpet and passenger seat out.

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[JBaker4981]

Decals
Date: 05/10/20
Mileage: 39,193

I am not one to put decals and bumper stickers on vehicles. I hate it. However, the quarterpanel glass is nearly perfect to show off some sort of flare. TNDMC has officially gone 'official' and Jimmy (Powerline84/#2706) wanted to have decals made so we worked together to make it become a reality. I modified our existing logo and simplified it to be what you see below and Jimmy sourced and ordered them into Die-Cut Vinyl Decals. These look GREAT. Huge thanks to Jimmy for the decals to the club!

Justin, another TNDMC member, sent me a couple of decals of JZD's signature a while back. This was also the perfect opportunity to stick this on the rear quarterpanel glass and truly spice it up a bit. I truly think that his signature on the car is just absolutely too cool even if it is a decal. Huge thank you to Justin for these!

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Battery Light & LEDs
Date: 05/11/20
Mileage: 39,193

Around May 8th, I pulled the car out to go for a drive and no sooner did I start to pull towards the road, I noticed the Voltage gauge reading diddly squat. Ugh. Did I lose a belt? Is my Alternator bad? I turned around and put the car up. After a very brief moment of panic and confusion, I came to my senses and remembered the stupid bulb in the binnacle. I sat in the car to turned the key to the ON position to find the Battery Indicator not illuminating. Awesome. I reached out to one of our TNDMC club members (Daniel) who was home and Facetimed with him to have him do the same and verify that this is supposed to illuminate when you turn the key ON. That's it.

A car crippled by a $2 bulb. Silly.

For anyone that may by reading and wonder WTF I am referring to then here is the jist: In order for the Alternator to charge the Battery, the circuit routes through the binnacle. There is a light bulb in the binnacle used for the Battery Indicator and is required in order to complete the circuit and allow the Alt to charge the Battery. This bulb is always to remain incandescent and is never to be replaced by an LED. Failure to keep this bulb incandescent and functioning will result in a dead battery, dead car, and pain.

Knowing that my fat butt has already attempted to get under the drivers side dashboard and failed, I reached out to Rex, another of our TNDMC club members who is local to me, and asked for an assist. On the 11th, he came by and wiggled under the dash. Together, we pulled the Binnacle and replaced the Battery Bulb with a Sylvania 161 Bulb (14V). While the Binnacle was out of the car, this was the perfect time to swap all of the bulbs to LEDs which was still on hand from various SuperBrightLED and DeLoreanGo orders. During this process, we did discover that one of my Green LEDs from DeLoreanGo was dead so we opted to put that in the place of the indicator for the low beams simply because of two reasons: I know when I have my headlights on and we do not do emission or DOT testing here so I don't care. Mega Huge thanks to Rex Bennett in helping me with this project. Afterwards, the car functioned just fine and I picked up Taco Bell in the DeLorean for the hell of it that evening. I am truly digging the Cool White LEDs that illuminate the Binnacle.

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Guides Used:
Binnacle - Removal.pdf
Binnacle - Bulb Replacement.pdf
Binnacle - Circuit & Pins.pdf

[JBaker4981]

Air Conditioning Reconditioning: Part 2
Date: 05/15/20 - 05/22/20
Mileage: 39,219
Vendor: Vintage Planet

I discovered that my Freon leaked out of one of the hoses in the passenger wheel well. By May 12th, I had no more freon in the system and had to schedule another service. I discussed a discount for having issues immediately after it was just serviced and the culprit was indeed found - A broken hose. Originally it was a seal and a fitting that was replaced and leaking however I am unsure how this was missed but alas, they took care of the issue and vacuumed and refilled the system. Fantastic.

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Cooling Fan Circuit Issues: Part 1
Date: 05/23/20 - 06/12/20
Mileage: 39,227 - 39,254

While driving the car around and testing for additional condensation leaks in the passenger side (prior to putting the carpet back in), an issue started to reveal itself. While driving, Dave McKeen's Fan Fail Unit started to throw the 3 Blink Code which means that the unit is getting hotter than 85C. That's hot as hell and with the DPI Fans, I didn't think that I'd ever see that code again. Not sure where to start, I worked with Rafael Lopez-Cruz, Dave McKeen, and various members of TNDMC over text and video calls to try to understand what was happening. I purchased an infrared thermometer as well as a Clamp-Style Multimeter that could measure DC Amperage. Now keep in mind that electrical systems is a weakness of mine which I did not and still somewhat do not understand. I used the infrared thermometer to get a temperature reading of the relay as soon as it throws the High Temp alarm code which was no where near 85C (185F) - the relay was blinking at 127F (52C)

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Over various video calls, Rafael taught me how to use a multimeter to measure continuity, voltage, amperage, etc and was an amazingly massive help.

Since this saga is fairly lengthy, I am going to try to summarize as best as I can. I started by checking the front ground bolt and found it was a little bit dirty from general road grime which cleaned up fairly nicely since this was using stainless hardware like everything else throughout the car (Thank You Tom). I verified that all of the pins in the sockets were fully seated and making a connection to the Fan Fail Unit and Fan Relay. Voltage and Amperage at the fans were also measured to ensure that neither one of the fans were pulling too much current and potentially dying and as expected, the DPI fans are fine.

Driver Fan: 8.74a @ 12.90V
Passenger Fan: 8.68a @ 12.87V

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[JBaker4981]

TNDMC Meet: June 2020
Date: 06/13/20
Mileage: 39,254 - 39,435

On Saturday, June 13th 2020, we had another TNDMC Meet at the Stardust Drive-In in Watertown, TN. Movies of the evening: ET & Back to the Future.

Against my better judgement, I decided to put the carpet and seat back in the passenger side and take the car to the Drive-In which was an hour away. I figured what I would do is simply just drive with the electrical bay panel off so that air would get to the relays in the same manner I did last fall when going to Memphis. Over the course of the drive, I noticed that my engine temp was warm but not alarming and stayed around 195F during interstate speeds in the dead heat of Summer. This was somewhat concerning since I have the DPI radiator and fans and had been used to seeing the temperature much lower at 75mph. I arrived to the Drive-In and was directed by one of the workers to go in the back entrance and get parked where Barry had taped off our spots. During this conversation with the Drive-In employee, I took extreme notice to the sound of my fans turning off and on repeatedly while I had the AC on. Uh-Oh.

We got parked and situated and I was still concerned about the fans but alas, we made it. I knew by the time that we were to leave that night, it'd be in the mid 60s and the car would be fine even if I lost my fans due to the cool night air rushing through the radiator.

Total, we had 7 DeLorean Owners and club members in attendance: Myself, Barry (Drive-In Owner), Daniel, Nathan, Mike, Rex, and David. Barry, Daniel, David, and I brought our DeLoreans so there were a total for four in attendance though David arrived later in the evening. All in all, it was a very fun and enjoyable evening even though I was the last asshole to order food when they were closing the concession building (sorry Barry but damn good Chicken Sammich).

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As expected, the car had no issues heading home over the hour drive back to Cookeville at 1am.

[JBaker4981]

Cooling System Electrical Issues: Part 2
Date: 06/14/20 - 07/05/20
Mileage: 39,435

After I discovered that my fans were intermittently cycling off and on when they should be running full time, I knew that there was a much larger issue here than Dave McKeen's Fan Fail Unit throwing the 3 Blink Code (High Temp Warning). Something was going on. This is a very lengthy chapter and I am going to heavily summarize what was going on.

Issue: Fans intermittently turning off and back on when they should be running.

Troubleshooting Steps Taken in order:

• Replaced AC Diodes with new from DeLoreanGo
• Jumpered the Otterstat to remove the possibility of an issue with the AC Circuit or Air in the Cooling System
• Moved Front Relay Ground Buss ground wire to ground post behind parcel shelf wall (Hoped the OG Ground Wire was messed up)
• Installed larger gauge connector between FFU and Fan Relay to bypass the Circuit Breaker
• Tested with New Revisions of Dave McKeen's Fan Fail Unit and Fan Relay
• Measured voltage with multimeter on each pin during a fan event and followed it back to Fan Relay Pin 87 (incoming power)
• Performed above Test with Stock Fan Relay and a Fused Fan Link from DeLoreanGo

Discoveries:

• Original Fan Fail Unit from Dave McKeen was sensitive to voltage drops as well as had an issue with the High Temp Code being thrown too early
• Mechanical Relay and Fused Link not as sensitive to voltage drops and completed circuit for longer. Fans Cycling Reduced but not resolved.
• New Revision of McKeen Relays are more accurate with voltage and temp changes

Root Cause: On the Yellow Bulkhead Connector, Pin 2 and 4 specifically connect the otterstat to the rest of the car. These pins were slightly corroded with the pins no longer looking shiny and an ever so slight white dust had formed on the pins. I cleaned this off with QD Electrode Cleaner and a brush as well as used a tooth pick to scrape away anything I could on the female pin on the connector. After thoroughly cleaning this off, the fans no longer intermittently cycle and stay on as intended. I am now back to using the new Solid State Relays and the car is an absolute pleasure to drive.

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A massively huge thank you goes out to Rafael Lopez Cruz, Dave McKeen, Jimmy Houston, and TNDMC for all of the help, advice, and talking me through this lengthy issue.

[JBaker4981]

Preparation for Heritage Day 2020
Date: 07/06/20 - 07/10/20
Mileage: 39,435 - 39,467

There has been a bucket list item that I have wanted to do with my DeLorean for many many years. That bucket list item is to have my very first car show be Heritage Day in Granville, TN and potentially win something at it. The Heritage Day car show is a very large car show hosted by AACA and generally brings hundreds of cars and thousands of people from all around the state and surrounding states. This event had been postponed until July 11th due to COVID-19 so the week prior to that and the day after I resolved my fan issues, I got to work detailing the car for my first car show. I did run some errands in the car as a decent test for the fan circuit and also gave her a fairly through bath which is well needed.

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Over the course of the week, I put around 14 hours into thoroughly detailing the interior, exterior, engine bay, etc. AutoGlym Trim and Bumper Gel is officially my new best friend.

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Heritage Day 2020 in Granville, TN
Date: 07/11/20
Mileage: 39,467 - 39,517

The day arrived. I was both excited and nervous simply because I had never entered any type of car show before and I had no idea what I was doing. Barry Floyd recommended a specific class for me to enter into so that's what my plan was. That was my only plan that I had other than to wing the entire day. Registration was to start at 9am along with drive-thru judging so I figured I'd arrive about an hour early, wipe down the car, and get in line at 9am. Granville is approximately 35 minutes away from me so I pulled the car out at 7:30 and headed out. Upon arrival, I noticed that there were already a couple of cars that were pulling into registration and around 60-70 cars already out and parked for the day. Alright, let's do this.

I pulled in, registered with the 'Designated Sports Cars up to 93' class, paid my entry fee, and drove around to the judging area which took about 15 minutes total. Granville is a very small town here in Tennessee and this is a fairly large car show that takes place in a large field behind some peoples houses (they are somehow part of the car show) which the car show also extends to these houses side yards and front yards. To paint the picture, classic cars in every nook and cranny. After judging finished, they pointed me down the line to a gentleman who was directing traffic out of the judging lanes so that they can point people to where to park. They told me to drive around to the front of the house and there will be a guy to meet me up there because AACA wanted my car to put up front at the road where all of the foot traffic enters the car show. Awesome!!

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I got parked and set up my chair, umbrella, cooler, and my little base off to the side of the car and then did a once over wipe down of the car. Over the course of the day, hundreds of people flocked to the car while I kept my distance due to COVID-19 concerns.

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Disclaimer: Social Distancing practices were followed and masks worn when associating with people. This is why I set up my spot off to the side away from the car and people.

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At the time of judging, they offered 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place trophies for each class which there were 60-something different classes this year. Hopeful but not expecting to, I ended up winning Second Place in my class marking this as my first trophy as well as this bucket list item complete. What a Day!

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[JBaker4981]

Update: While this thread has been quiet for the last several months, life with #628 has continued to be fun and eventful (in a good way). Unfortunately, the back half of 2020 has not been very kind to me due to some physical issues manifesting within my back and spine. In mid-July, I blew out my back and focused more on recovering and getting back up to speed. In late September, I herniated a disc between my L4 & L5 which eventually led to full on Neurosurgery on December 1st. As I continue to recover, I figured that this would be as good of a time as any to get this thread caught up on the documentation of #628.

Stainless Steel Vent Plugs
Date: 08/06/20
Mileage: 39,583

Through Facebook, an owner in Australia posted a couple of pairs of Stainless Steel Vent Plugs for the vents leading to the doors. I ordered these in mid-late July and upon receiving them, I was very surprised at how incredibly heavy each one was. The reason why I spent the extra money on these and not the $30 plugs from DMC, was because these hadn't been produced since the original run from a few years ago and are very, very rare. Also it gives a bit of stainless bling to an otherwise unnoticeable spot in the car.

There is nothing to installing these. Simply place into the vent and click it into place. The back-pressure created by blocking off the door vents feed through the center console AC vents and create an impressive amount of air flow into the cabin which is MUCH more efficient!

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Bulkhead Connector Cleanup
Date: 08/30/20 - 8/31/20
Mileage: 39,622

With my back feeling much better, I wanted to prepare for an upcoming trip to the other end of the state. In order to do that, I wanted to ensure that my Alternator was properly charging and that my electrical system was as ready as it could be. This was brought up by a voltage drop in Mid-July as I was sitting at idle and losing voltage with the Volt gauge and another gauge that I had reading 10.6V. I took my GM Alternator off and took it to Autozone where they confirmed that it was in good working condition and though I have a spare alternator, I wanted to fix this voltage issue prior to this upcoming trip.

After verifying my grounds, I pulled off my bulkhead connectors and found (some) pins were corroded in all of the connectors. The corrosion varied between a very light dusting to hard, thick green/white build up on some pins. I made two cleaning solutions as noted below and got to work.

Cleaning Solution: Vinegar & Salt within a Mason Jar. This solution will eat away at corrosion very quickly.
Rinse Solution: Distilled Water & Baking Soda. This is used as a rinse and neutralizes oxidation from the cleaning solution.

Each Bulkhead connector was soaked in my cleaning solution for approximately 20 minutes when it is then removed and shaken off into a towel. Each Bulkhead connector is then put into the mason jar containing the rinse solution where I shook the connector in the rinse solution for about 20-30 seconds. The connector is then dried in a fresh towel and sprayed with Quick Dry Electronic Cleaner.

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As you can see in the below picture, the treatment provides substantial cleaning to the highly corroded pins.

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Once all of the Bulkhead Connectors had been cleaned, I focused on the the pins on the bulkhead itself. Using a wire brush and QD Electronic Cleaner, I cleaned all of the pins as good as possible. When I was ready to plug everything in, I lightly coated each male pin with Di-Electric Grease and inserted the connectors.

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Voltage drop eliminated. Happy car = Happy owner.

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Ballast Connector Cleanup
Date: 08/31/20
Mileage: 39,622

While I was there... Same song and dance. Before and After below!

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[Michael]

I like those plugs. My flow from the D/S door vent is acceptable, but on the P/S, it's non existent. I pulled the piping and still could not figure out why zero air is going to the passenger side. I will dive in a bit deeper once this cold weather breaks but I may go the plug route in the future.

PS, be sure to check the blower/evap box where the evaporator lines enter. That rubber piece and the sealant might be loose or missing and can cause a ton of airflow to escape. If it is, it will freeze your poor passenger to death in the winter.

[JBaker4981]

I like those plugs. My flow from the D/S door vent is acceptable, but on the P/S, it's non existent. I pulled the piping and still could not figure out why zero air is going to the passenger side. I will dive in a bit deeper once this cold weather breaks but I may go the plug route in the future.

PS, be sure to check the blower/evap box where the evaporator lines enter. That rubber piece and the sealant might be loose or missing and can cause a ton of airflow to escape. If it is, it will freeze your poor passenger to death in the winter.

I hadn't heard that regarding the sealant on the evap box. Thanks, I'll keep that in mind!

Are you losing air into your door itself or do you just not have any air coming through that duct behind the passenger knee pad?