The Restoration of #1768

[DeLorean00]

Holy cow you have done a lot of work! This is a great thread. That car is lucky to have you as an owner. Keep up the good work!

[DeLorean00]

Any updates??

[vwdmc16]

Dec 5 2009


Letting loose on a Racetrack


Im an avid amateur auto road racer, frequently competing in the 24hrs of Lemons racing series. After doing it so long ive gotten to know the organizers well so I knew if I were to bring my project Delorean to the race they would love to check it out and maybe let me take it around the track some. My planned worked flawlessly and I adorned the car with some " Official Pace car" stickers, imagine if some racing series actually used a Delorean as their official pace car. The car was in just good enough shape to do the job but not to get 100miles north to Thunder Hill raceway so again it was trailered up.

So with shiny stickers and new set or rear tires ( BFG radials) I was able to lead the 80+ pack of cars around the 3 mile course to begin the race. I was able to do 3 laps and by then the the cars were set to go. Those three laps were quite an experience. Technically it was the farthest and fastest i had ever driven the car and I wont lie, it was a bit scary in some of the corners. The brakes were a bit squishy as I still hadnt rebuilt the fronts and the rear was lowered which made the raised front feel worse. oh and dried up 15year old Pirelli P4s on the sketchy front end, traction was not high but still it was another dream come true.





A horrible video



Dec 17 2009


Nose Job

I began ripping the front apart lately for cleaning and to better understand how its put together, in the process I managed to break off EVERY stud that secures front spoiler to the bumper and fenders. im going to have to drill them all out to be replaced, just about every piece of hardware ive removed has been severly rusted so I replaced everything with stainless screws and bolts.








I found that the car may have been in a minor accident a while ago, the left front corner of the bumper foam is broken off.




Now would have been a great time to change out the A/C system in the front but I had other priorities first. happily the rest of the underbody looked great and cleaned up fantastically with some Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner.




Still Rocking my Pacecar stickers

[jawn101]

I'd love to do the track with you one of these days. You should see if we can get your track contacts to let us bring a whole bunch of D's out for a track day - I bet we could get a LOT of the local guys interested in that!

Oh yeah, and scrubbing bubbles for the win

[vwdmc16]

To organize a track day at Thunder Hill it would take about 20+ people to commit and pay over $200 a pop for it to happen. plus it would have to be planned about 6 months in advance. I doubt even 1/2 a dozen D owners would be comfortable going around a race track in their car at speed.

I know Charley Hall would, that speed demon

[jawn101]

To organize a track day at Thunder Hill it would take about 20+ people to commit and pay over $200 a pop for it to happen. plus it would have to be planned about 6 months in advance. I doubt even 1/2 a dozen D owners would be comfortable going around a race track in their car at speed.

I know Charley Hall would, that speed demon

I'd come up with 200 somehow but you're right, I doubt many would. We could keep the speeds in check if we had it to ourselves

And yeah, Charley is fast... I couldn't keep up with him in EDH!

[vwdmc16]

Jan 22 2010


After a holiday break I returned geared up to finish the front end. You can see the front crumple extensions had began cracking badly, nasty.






I stripped and painted the front end brackets and it went back together now with stainless hardware. Also cleaned the water tubes and horns.






The radiator looks near new and it needed no attention but the rusty Lucas fans did, when the wiring connector cooperated they work quite well but looked as if they had been underwater for years, another through stripping, primiing and POR 15 paint job made them look nearly new. the shroud and blades cleaned up wonderfully again with Scrubbing bubbles, again new Stainless M6 bolts and nuts throughout.




I also coated the urethane bumper with rubber coating Pasti-Dip, made for rubber coating the handles of tools, someone else on the DMC forum did it, at least it looks better and is harder to crumble apart.

Also spent a good 6 hrs on the headlight buckets and adjustments, these were probably the second most rusty part on the car ( after the frame) a few drill mounted wire wheels went to their death to get these suitable for paint.






Brake master isnt looking that healthy on the outside either, its time will come, you can see the fresh steering shaft here, its not an easy thing to get to. getting this access panel off took one night itself, nearly all the riv-nuts were seized.

After the weekend at the track I also went out and bought a new set of front tires : Republic Invader sports in 195r6014. these were quite cheap tires around $60 new, They arent bad in regards to traction but they are not very quiet at highway speed.




I also stripped the windshield header panel as it had some peeling paint, this game me a change to experiment with electric drill driven sandpaper flap wheels, not quite the same grain.








Jan 27 2010


With a new camera the front fascia is finally back together! I was getting quite close to being about to take her out on the open road as the Insurance was being processed.




To repair the front air dam where every stud had sheared clean off I started by drilling a 1/16th piolt hole down the middle of the broken stump, then larger until a stainless M10 bolt could snugly fit inside, I used bolts with a large Philips head which was easier to fit and hold while tightening the nuts on the others side.

[vwdmc16]

Feb 7 2010



I took the car outside to get some more good pics, as I realized I didnt have any good ones, I also played with the fuel mix abit, she was running rich and got the timing and idle a bit better ( small steps, small steps),I was still finding more electrical faults with the fuse box even after some more repairs.

I ran the louverless look for a while as they are being repaired by a canoe builder friend, this turned out to be a mistake. It was the first time I had someone else do a repair on part of the car. But more on that later.




My first test drives were kept to a short distance as I had little confidence in the electrics still, I always kept a fire extinguisher handy.




All of the trunk access panel screw were now repaired with stainless cap head allen bolts, much cleaner.

[vwdmc16]

Feb 15 2010


Real World Testing


Finally started to put some real miles on the car and the car did great for its first real world performance test with me. Noticed a few minor things:

Steering wheel still pointed at 4o' clock, makes reading the non functional speedo hard, Also the steering had more slop than I wished for.

Oil pressure always good

Water temp was just below the first notch, seems lower than actual temp.

fans never kick in under normal driving and turn on at a higher temp than i'd like.

Oil level and handbrake light always glow (very low feedback to the LEDS I suspect)

Front end is squeaking alot, but not horridly

Pulls to the left a bit

Strange front end whurr, sounds like a dry speedo cable spining or rough wheel bearings

Shifter works quite nicely but getting over to the left for 1&2 requires more effot than I like

Brakes are strong but a bit numb untill you get on them which they become touchy

A few rattles from the left door on left hand turns and a near constant rattle of the exhuast u pipe heat shield

The visibility is that of an 80's exotic, even with the louvers off the rear view in minimal




March 2 2010


Ive put about 100 more miles on the car, still havent gotten the new angle drive in, im having trouble getting the old one out.

Also I thought the the fuel pump check valve had died, as I lose high fuel pressure after about 30 seconds after it shuts off. Then after the engine gets the least bit warm it will not restart unless you get out and depress the metering plate for about 3 seconds to dump some fuel at the cylinders.
I have a remote start switch in the engine bay to perform the start back there. If the engine were to stop/stall when warm and I immediatley crank it again it will start normally, still a pain. I later found this was my PPR o ring not the fuel pump.


Electrical Problems aplenty

Also ive been doing the diagnostics of getting the ISC system working again, The Idle system would be one of the biggest and longest lasting challenges I ever faced on this car. I bypassed the ISC valve over a month earlier as I couldnt get it to respond, this was making my erratic idle issue worse. The problem was electrical and power was not getting to the idle ECU. So first off I took the computer out and cleaned the pins and and grounds, next I checked the idle microswitch ( which switches on the ECU) for continuity. The switch was good but the connections looked poor, after replacing the spade terminals and cleaning the harness connections I still had no signal at the ECU, it appeared the diode was fried as well. Yet another part to order. The strangest fault was that an incorrect relay was installed to power the idle ECU. the case didnt match the other relays and it turned out that it was turning the ecu off when the ignition key was turned on, and turning the on when the key was turned off. One new relay please!


Other elctrical problems had arisen, the high beams would glow when the low beams are on, and the right turn signal blinks alternately of the right headlights, I was thinking a ground wire had broken between the lights and the frame, this was not the case, as i found later. The Tachometer ground was failing too, the more electrical load that is on the car's system the higher the tach would read, sometimes 3k rpms too high! but that is only when the lights, wipers, radio, and heater fan is on, wiggling the ground next to the radio helped but still I needed a stronger wire.

Other than those issues and alot of squeaks and a rattling center console but its driving pretty nicely, i just love how well she cruises, I could drive her all day!

Shes getting dirty out there, ive been driving in the rain too, shes not going to be a show queen!






I got the louvers back from the canoe builder friend for the crack repairs, im less than impressed with the quality so im going to have to fix it myself too. So it has been BANISHED TO SIT NEXT TO THE DRYER!



It may be ugly but this spring was the only way I could get the throttle arm to seat fully and allow me to have near WOT, the throttle spool needs a stronger spring, it turns out i was missing the one that wraps around the throttle spool ( I found out later that only made the throttle pedal heavier)
I would be running this ugly but functional band-aid for months







March 4 2010




finally had a new angle drive in and the speedo moved for the first time in years!
Found rather badly corroded wiring up front, this was the issue with the headlights I found earlier, a temporary wiring butt connector would get the lights working until I replace the old harness.

I picked up a keyless entry system to attach to the digital lock module last time I was in houston, so I installed that too, works great! and was simple as just plugging it into the digital module

[Chris Burns]

Feb 15 2010


Real World Testing


Finally started to put some real miles on the car and the car did great for its first real world performance test with me. Noticed a few minor things:

Steering wheel still pointed at 4o' clock, makes reading the non functional speedo hard, Also the steering had more slop than I wished for.

Oil pressure always good

Water temp was just below the first notch, seems lower than actual temp.

fans never kick in under normal driving and turn on at a higher temp than i'd like.

Oil level and handbrake light always glow (very low feedback to the LEDS I suspect)

Front end is squeaking alot, but not horridly

Pulls to the left a bit

Strange front end whurr, sounds like a dry speedo cable spining or rough wheel bearings

Shifter works quite nicely but getting over to the left for 1&2 requires more effot than I like

Brakes are strong but a bit numb untill you get on them which they become touchy

A few rattles from the left door on left hand turns and a near constant rattle of the exhuast u pipe heat shield

The visibility is that of an 80's exotic, even with the louvers off the rear view in minimal




March 2 2010


Ive put about 100 more miles on the car, still havent gotten the new angle drive in, im having trouble getting the old one out.

Also I thought the the fuel pump check valve had died, as I lose high fuel pressure after about 30 seconds after it shuts off. Then after the engine gets the least bit warm it will not restart unless you get out and depress the metering plate for about 3 seconds to dump some fuel at the cylinders.
I have a remote start switch in the engine bay to perform the start back there. If the engine were to stop/stall when warm and I immediatley crank it again it will start normally, still a pain. I later found this was my PPR o ring not the fuel pump.


Electrical Problems aplenty

Also ive been doing the diagnostics of getting the ISC system working again, The Idle system would be one of the biggest and longest lasting challenges I ever faced on this car. I bypassed the ISC valve over a month earlier as I couldnt get it to respond, this was making my erratic idle issue worse. The problem was electrical and power was not getting to the idle ECU. So first off I took the computer out and cleaned the pins and and grounds, next I checked the idle microswitch ( which switches on the ECU) for continuity. The switch was good but the connections looked poor, after replacing the spade terminals and cleaning the harness connections I still had no signal at the ECU, it appeared the diode was fried as well. Yet another part to order. The strangest fault was that an incorrect relay was installed to power the idle ECU. the case didnt match the other relays and it turned out that it was turning the ecu off when the ignition key was turned on, and turning the on when the key was turned off. One new relay please!


Other elctrical problems had arisen, the high beams would glow when the low beams are on, and the right turn signal blinks alternately of the right headlights, I was thinking a ground wire had broken between the lights and the frame, this was not the case, as i found later. The Tachometer ground was failing too, the more electrical load that is on the car's system the higher the tach would read, sometimes 3k rpms too high! but that is only when the lights, wipers, radio, and heater fan is on, wiggling the ground next to the radio helped but still I needed a stronger wire.

Other than those issues and alot of squeaks and a rattling center console but its driving pretty nicely, i just love how well she cruises, I could drive her all day!

Shes getting dirty out there, ive been driving in the rain too, shes not going to be a show queen!






I got the louvers back from the canoe builder friend for the crack repairs, im less than impressed with the quality so im going to have to fix it myself too. So it has been BANISHED TO SIT NEXT TO THE DRYER!



It may be ugly but this spring was the only way I could get the throttle arm to seat fully and allow me to have near WOT, the throttle spool needs a stronger spring, it turns out i was missing the one that wraps around the throttle spool ( I found out later that only made the throttle pedal heavier)
I would be running this ugly but functional band-aid for months







March 4 2010




finally had a new angle drive in and the speedo moved for the first time in years!
Found rather badly corroded wiring up front, this was the issue with the headlights I found earlier, a temporary wiring butt connector would get the lights working until I replace the old harness.

I picked up a keyless entry system to attach to the digital lock module last time I was in houston, so I installed that too, works great! and was simple as just plugging it into the digital module

Good thread man. Don't stop there!