What have you done to your DeLorean today?

[CyberBill]

Awesome! Sure does look good!

I'll chime in about you mentioning the transmission slips a lot when cool. Assuming you're talking about an automatic here, you don't want to drive it much at all with it doing that. Certainly not aggressively. If your trans starts slipping, you might consider limping it home, but definitely don't go out bombing around until you sort out why it is doing that. You can end up damaging the internal plates and components and whatnot driving a slipping trans.

Now, why might it be slipping? I recall hearing the advice that if it is low on fluid, it slips. If it's got too much fluid, it'll leak. So check the ATF and add some if it's low.

Could also be the ATF filter is clogged and it's acting like the fluid level is low because the fluid can't get to where it needs to go.

And it definitely could also be the auto trans shift computer governor that's got problems. Those are susceptible to failing on the inside from capacitors blowing to solder joints coming apart but also failing externally because one or more of the electrical connection cables finds itself laying on top of a hot exhaust pipe. That shouldn't be hard to spot if you get the car in the air and have yourself a look.

Congrats and good luck!

Thanks for all the suggestions, I appreciate it! I do not plan on driving more than a few miles (to the service shop and back, basically) until the transmission is fixed.

Yes, it's an automatic trans - the seller knew that the trans was bad and bought a replacement before selling the car, so I have a 'new' replacement that is in transit (it is RamblinDMC's transmission, 26k miles, complete with GC). The seller had replaced the fluid and filter, but that didn't stop the slipping - my plan is to swap the transmission with the replacement, then rebuild the transmission on the bench and replace all the clutch discs, bearings, and seals. Then swap back in the newly rebuilt original and if all goes well, sell the replacement.

For now I'm going to be working on diagnosing the brakes. I'm a complete noob when it comes to cars, so I have a lot of learning ahead of me on this one!!

[mr_maxime]

Maybe mine were also bad, but brakes are definitely harder than any other car i've hard. This was with new pads and with the rebuilt rear calipers.

[CyberBill]

A few days before the car shipped, the seller had the hood release cable snap. He ordered a new cable but didn't have time to replace it, so that was my first task yesterday. He was able to rig up a backup line and put some vice grips on the broken release handle, so I was able to get into the hood. Took about 30 minutes or so to install, which I did record because I couldn't find a video of anyone doing the procedure. I may post that at some point in the future if the footage is good enough. Hardest part was getting the cable to snake over top of all the stuff under the dash, the rest is just a cotter pin and a couple of retaining nuts.

Now back to the brakes... My brake pedal feels soft until it goes a little down, and then is very hard to push. Whether the car is running or not, the pedal doesn't feel different at all. After watching a few hours of YouTube videos and some threads here on the brake system, I felt that the brake booster/servo was likely not functioning. I pulled the vacuum line off of the booster and it has no vacuum. So, effectively I'm running with manual non-assisted brakes, which explains why I need to use both feet to stop.

On the engine I found the vacuum line that splits into a T, and I took that apart and verified that when the car is running there is a very nice suction pressure there (and when it is not connected the car runs terribly). I hooked up the T, connected the end that goes to the vacuum tank, and verified that I still had good suction. This pretty much tells me that there is something wrong on the vacuum line that runs from the engine to the booster. I hooked up my air compressor to the line at the booster, used vice grips to close the line near the engine, and pumped some air into it - which did not hold. I set the air compressor to like 20-30 psi, and then started trying to hear and feel for air leaking. A quick walk around pointed me to the rear right - I took off the rear right wheel, jacked up the car, and crawled under. Unfortunately, it isn't good news. The line seems to be leaking all of the air from the hard line, somewhere above the frame on the passenger side, just above the transmission, near where the trailing arms attach. I don't think there is any way I can get to it without dropping the frame.

I'm not in a position to do that at the moment - though it's on my TODO list - so I'm considering using a 20' 3/8" copper line, and running it under the car, zip tying it along the way. That way I can at least drive the car to the shop for an inspection. Would love to hear if anyone else has any ideas!

[CyberBill]

I'm considering using a 20' 3/8" copper line, and running it under the car, zip tying it along the way. That way I can at least drive the car to the shop for an inspection.

It worked!! It actually worked really really well. I had to cut the hoses off the ends of the hardline, since they were so corroded that they wouldn't move. But the whole process probably took me 1 1/2 - 2 hours. 3/8" line was roughly $25 at Lowes, and I used hose clamps on each end. The vacuum is holding perfectly, and the brakes actually work now!! I don't have to sue both feet to stop from 10 miles per hour!!

[Col Bennett]

Part A1000020 - still in its original shipping box from 1981. After three years of searching, I finally tracked down one of my most wanted NOS parts - a gorgeous set of original mats.

The seller shipped them to me in the original box. He snapped a blurry photo of the original UPS labels featuring the old UPS C.O.D. tag for $90.24. They’ve been in the box for 39 years - totally unused and totally perfect.

It’s amazing to see the glue on the Velcro adhesive strips totally crystallized and brittle. Just love the little details like this. A total time capsule.

Just had to share my excitement.

PS. Sorry they’re covered in fluff. I haven’t had the time to meticulously vacuum them yet.

[Col Bennett]

A few shots of my messy garage and toilet paper collection - oh, and a few quick snaps of the underside of my pride and joy after detailing her today. There’s a couple of minor things to perfect under there, but very proud of the old girl.

[Bitsyncmaster]

A few shots of my messy garage and toilet paper collection - oh, and a few quick snaps of the underside of my pride and joy after detailing her today. There’s a couple of minor things to perfect under there, but very proud of the old girl.

Nice job.

It looks like that speedo cable hangs a little low. Would not want it to hit road bumps.

[Jonathan]

A few shots of my messy garage and toilet paper collection - oh, and a few quick snaps of the underside of my pride and joy after detailing her today. There’s a couple of minor things to perfect under there, but very proud of the old girl.

Yea, wow, that looks really nice. Perfect is quite the lofty goal, on these cars, or just in general.

I noticed how your passenger side parking brake cable runs under the trans and does not have the same clip I have on my own. I wasn't sure if this was something only on the automatics or if you were missing it. No intention to nit-pick (of course), just thinking of what else remains for that pursuit of perfection.

I'll try and show you what I mean. It's technically attached to the final drive and includes a small L-shaped bracket that has one end going through one of those lower bolts, with the other end just an open edge of metal. You then slide on one of those edge clips (SP10728 ) and allow the open, round portion of the edge clip to be in position to hold the parking brake cable.

I cannot seem to find it on the drawings at the moment, so wasn't sure if it was legit and on all cars, or just something made-up on my car only.

auto trans incl dipstick tube.jpgIMG_0983.jpgsp10728.jpg

[dmcnc]

Here's what it looks like on Manuals.
IMG_0758.jpg

[Col Bennett]

Nice job. It looks like that speedo cable hangs a little low. Would not want it to hit road bumps.

Thanks Dave. Good catch. Yeah it hangs a little low. Rob Grady adjusted it for me a while ago, but it's possibly slipped down over the years. Gonna dig into it again.

No intention to nit-pick (of course), just thinking of what else remains for that pursuit of perfection.

Not at all. My car has always looked like this as far as I'm aware. Danny Botkin and Rob Grady have both worked on the car and have never mentioned it. It's a good observation though and I'll dig into it as I want to make sure it's accurate. Thanks!

Here's what it looks like on Manuals.

Cool. Nice reference. Rob Grady adjusted my handbrake cable a while ago so I'm not sure if mine was removed from the clip for a reason. Maybe it never had a clip. Either way, it's a good catch and I'll see if I can route it differently to make sure it's accurate.

Thanks guys!