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Thread: The Restoration of VIN 4363

  1. #1
    Senior Member Morpheus's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  Orlando, FL

    Posts:    1,181

    My VIN:    Former owner of 1098

    Club(s):   (DCF)

    Talking The Restoration of VIN 4363

    After 4 long years I have once again succumbed to the DMC ownership virus.

    As some of you are aware, I have been "sort of" looking for another D for a few months now. After seeing a bit of a resurgence in Ebay cars lately, I started putting feelers out.

    Tony @ DMCFL knew about my search, and one day called me about this car he just took in trade... a 16K mile, grey interior 5-speed that needed a total restoration.






    After seeing the pics he sent, I was of course intrigued. For being such a low mileage car, it had to be sitting for a good long while. No matter, I told myself. After all, I was looking for another project car and this one looked like a good candidate.

    A couple of weeks later, we headed down to Bonita Springs to pick up my new obsession. Always up for an adventure, and not wanting to miss out on such a momentous occasion, Derek and Mike joined Laura and I for the big day. Little did they know at the time, it would literally be an all day affair. You see, instead of doing the smart thing and trailering this car from the get go, we decided to roll the dice and drive this project car home. Yes, you read that right. Attempt to drive a car that I know nothing about 200 miles and arrive home in one piece.



    Mike, Derek, and I each took turns driving the car around Tony's shop. It didn't run well, but we attributed that to the possible bad gas in the tank. We figured if we could put in a fresh tank of good gas it would be fine. Irony of all ironies - the AC was blowing ICE cold.





    After a stop @ Taco Bell for some lunch, we hit the road. The car actually started running a bit better with the new gas, so things were looking up.



    Continued below....
    Last edited by Morpheus; 04-20-2012 at 10:41 AM. Reason: Changed thread title, fixed broken links
    Brandon S.

    2014 Honda Civic EX
    2007 Volvo S60R


  2. #2
    Certified Stainless!! Chris Burns's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  Fernandina Beach Fl

    Posts:    1,928

    My VIN:    Getting closer and closer...

    Club(s):   (DCF)

    Congrats!

    Great looking Delorean Morpheus! Good luck with it.

  3. #3
    Vin3299's Doc DeLorean03's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  Eglin AFB, FL

    Posts:    1,603

    My VIN:    3299

    AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Welcome back Brandon to Hell (: ....

    You know you're glad you got another one!
    DMCTalk.org Moderator

    Actual snippet of a conversation from Sept 2013:

    Me: Eddie, I can't wait to get the car back when you're done with it.

    Eddie: Yeah, you'll be able to give the car gas, and it won't be - like - embarrassing....

  4. #4
    Senior Member vwdmc16's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  sacramento

    Posts:    1,415

    My VIN:    1768

    Club(s):   (NCDMC) (DCUK)

    that needs a full resto? looks like it needs a bit of cleaning is all


    spectacular oil pressure too!

    keep us updated when you start tearing her down yeah?

  5. #5
    Senior Member Morpheus's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  Orlando, FL

    Posts:    1,181

    My VIN:    Former owner of 1098

    Club(s):   (DCF)

    Things were going surprisingly well, which means fate was just waiting for the right moment to make things interesting... and it was all captured in glorious HD for your viewing pleasure.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMVMF1-91N4

    We pulled over, a mere 100 feet from the end of the on ramp to I-75, to find out why I suddenly lost power. We looked at the fuel pump, and it was submerged in all that new gas we just pumped into the tank. Sigh. About this time, a Road Ranger pulls up to help. By help, I mean stand there with a dumbfounded look on his face and ask if this car is the 1989 model. We asked if he had any zip ties or pipe clamps so we could tighten the boot, but he was pretty much useless.

    We soaked up the excess gas with some towels, and started on again. This cycle happened about 3 more times before we reached the next exit. Luckily enough, we found a bank drive-thru (shady spot) to park the car in whilst we attempted repair. At this point, our good friend Robert was getting off work (in Sarasota, a good hour or more away), and was checking in to see how we were doing. At that moment I decided that trailering the car home was the only way to go at this point. Luckily, Robert was kind enough to get a trailer @ U-Haul and drive down to get us. All we could do is sit and wait...



    FINALLY, we were making forward progress. At this point it was getting quite late, and we needed to stop for dinner. We found a great little BBQ joint in the lovely town of Arcadia, FL.



    We got home around 11:00pm, exhausted after our all-day adventure.

    I learned a lot on this trip, but most of all I learned that you should never attempt to drive a car in unknown condition 200 miles no matter how large your testicles are or how low they hang.

    Thanks:
    To Derek, for accompanying me and attempting to fix the fuel issue.
    To Mike, for the mushroom stamp, and turning around after getting on Alligator Alley to assist and wait with us for a while.
    To Tony, for coming in on a Saturday to show us around the new shop and get this done.
    To Robert, for rescuing us and driving out of your way to get my car home.
    and most of all,
    To Laura, for making the trip down to get our new baby after working a 12 hour shift the night before. Luv U!

    I almost forgot the most poignant observation about this whole experience:

    I purchased this car EXACTLY 4 years to the day after I sold my first D. How's that for a coincidence?
    Last edited by Morpheus; 04-20-2012 at 11:09 AM. Reason: Fixed broken links
    Brandon S.

    2014 Honda Civic EX
    2007 Volvo S60R


  6. #6
    Senior Member Morpheus's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  Orlando, FL

    Posts:    1,181

    My VIN:    Former owner of 1098

    Club(s):   (DCF)

    ...and now you will see some reasons why this is going to be a full restore. I removed the cover panels in the trunk, and suddenly I saw one of many reasons that I now hate the previous owner of this car.




    This appears to be some sort of custom fan control relay. The larger controller appears to be a temp sensor, since there is a lead running into the coolant pipe from it.

    There is some ridiculous custom wiring throughout this entire car, some of it in the engine bay, some of it in the relay compartment, and some of it even under the dash.






    These pictures don't really do it all justice. Suffice it to say, i am going to replace pretty much the entire wiring harness throughout the car.

    The first thing I decided to tackle was the fuel system. Derek was nice enough to come over last weekend and we tore into the fuel tank. First, we tested the injectors and found that all 3 on the driver's side weren't shooting at all... which explains why I had no power on the road. The other 3 weren't much better.




    Here's a gratuitous ass shot:




    In addition to cleaning out the tank, we also adjusted the torsion bars since they were wound up pretty tight.

    All in all, a productive day.
    Last edited by Morpheus; 04-20-2012 at 10:50 AM. Reason: Fixed broken links
    Brandon S.

    2014 Honda Civic EX
    2007 Volvo S60R


  7. #7
    Not a DeLorean Guru
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  Rochester, NY

    Posts:    2,405

    My VIN:    01049

    Wow, that is one hacked up wiring system! It will be, um, 'interesting' to see what other DPO f-ups you find.

  8. #8
    Senior Member Morpheus's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  Orlando, FL

    Posts:    1,181

    My VIN:    Former owner of 1098

    Club(s):   (DCF)

    The pics don't even do it justice. There are wires in the engine bay that are just hanging there, not going to anything. Some of which created some nice sparks when I went digging around in there.

    You can see a big bundle of red wires on top of the air horns in one of the pics above.
    Brandon S.

    2014 Honda Civic EX
    2007 Volvo S60R


  9. #9
    Let's see if you bastards can do 90. dvonk's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  Omaha, NE

    Posts:    1,755

    My VIN:    loading, please wait...

    good god. damn you, PO!

    congrats on owning a D again though, im totally jealous! and now you have an interesting story to go with it, too. keep us updated on the progress!

  10. #10
    Formerly LS1GTO
    Join Date:  Jun 2011

    Location:  Orlando. FL

    Posts:    3

    My VIN:    16964

    Club(s):   (DCF) (DOA) (DCUK)

    Good for you man... I've been thinking the same thing lately... guess you just beat me to it. Let me know if you need any help with anything.

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