3937 Winter Work

[Jonathan]

My car is stored now for the winter and with a handful of different jobs I am planning on completing, I figured I'd document it all in one place.

Some of the jobs I've already found how-to threads for, and others I haven't. I'll post links to what I'm using as references and what questions I still have.

My garage is not quite big enough for the DeLorean and my DD, so that means I clean snow off the Pontiac when I need to, but have loads of room to work around the DMC.

First thing up is removing the rear fascia.

I found this thread helpful, especially Nick's post #7 listing out the major steps:

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?71...ve-rear-fascia

My fascia has almost all of those studs that are epoxy'ed right into the plastic rusted and broken off. I have had one of the replacement lower metal edging strips for a while. It is held in place well with the top five bolts and nut, but not very well on the lower seven. I have those replacement SS studs to put in as replacements.

These pics are from a couple winters ago.

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Once the rear fascia is out, I'll replace any fasteners or hardware that I can. And generally just clean it up from any leftover grime or spider's webs that were lingering inside. Depends on what I find as to what else gets done.

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It all came out pretty well with nothing new breaking. I took it out as one piece and then separated it afterwards. The nine screws along the top were easy, but the three nuts along each side that are kind of in behind were a bit of a pain to get a grip on. They came out eventually though and new nuts will go on to replace the rusty ones that came off. I hadn't realized there are two more studs, one on each end that hold those corner trim pieces in place. One of mine that pulled out is still attached to the bracket, the other is no where in sight.

My engine bay light works ok, but every so often doesn't come on unless you whack it lightly with your hand. I cleaned up the contacts and tightened the clasp that holds the bulb in there so we'll see if that helps. It doesn't cast a lot of light IMO, so more decoration than anything else.

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As Dana said in another thread where I mentioned this, the shock absorber piece could stand to come off and get recoated to help it from getting water logged.

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I have been needing to replace the bearing in at least one of the idler pulleys and will do this now. What it was doing was getting off centre just enough to catch the belt edge on the sharp edge of the metal bracket and this shred quite a lot of very fine rubbery bits all over the engine area around it. I noticed the cir-clip ring on the side you can see was not clipped all the way in and I'm wondering if that was causing any of the wobbling?

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http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?12...C-idler-pulley

I have replacements for both license plate lights. The lenses, brackets, screws, all of it. I could have done those with the fascia still attached but figured this would be a better time to do it.

I also have a replacement upper right hand muffler bracket to put in. The original isn't broken, but looks fatigued and I was going to change it proactively. I have a starter heatshield to put on as well as my car never had one when I first got it. I also have a couple last pieces of my throttle spool safety recall kit to put on that I hadn't realized where they went until seeing a post from Dana showing where they go (thanks!).

That's about it for the moment. Cleaning is first up on the agenda.

[Domi]

Thanks for sharing your work, and good luck for the next steps

[Jonathan]

Nothing half-assed, right?

Lacking good access to the spark plug wires, distributor cap and rotor with most everything still in place, I went gung-ho and removed the intake manifold.

I really appreciated having the how-to from Mike (opethmike) as the steps were great to follow. Not easy, but straight forward for sure. Much of this had never been removed since I have owned the car, or longer. I paused with some penetrant spray on a couple screws (specifically the ones on top of the intake holding the air mixture unit in place) but eventually got everything apart and nothing snapped or broke (yippey!).

It's really filthy in a lot of places. Mostly the air mixture unit is really dirty and so is the top surface of the intake (the surface you can't normally see very well when the mixture unit is above it). What kind of advice do you have on cleaning these things? Some sort of engine degreaser? Any areas to avoid getting it into or onto (assuming I mask off the fuel distributor to keep it from getting dirty)?

The valley actually didn't look all that bad. It was dirty, but dry. And loose dirt mostly, like bits of all kinds of things and likely some left over from mice at some point over the years. I haven't started cleaning yet, vacuum cleaner is first up. But I did poke around with a screw driver and what I got to didn't have much moisture in it (other than where some fuel spilled from the lines dangling above).

No shortage of things to do over the holidays, that's for sure.

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[Rich_NYS]

NICE!

Great to see you tearing into things, man....you ain't playin' round this year!

How about that impact absorber thing? "While you're in there....!"

-I'm going to remove mine & post pics, so there's a little more peer pressure for ya -haha!

[Jonathan]

Happy New Year!

Here's the link I mentioned with the how-to for removing the intake:

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?42...ntake-manifold

The remaining spark plugs have been changed and the plug wires have been replaced.

The suggested order of plug wires used, from shortest to longest, to give the best arrangement for routing, was: 4, 1, 5, 2, 6, 3

Original plug wires and distributor cap in place:

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Original rotor (or might already be the new one, they both looked very similar and in good shape):

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New cap, rotor, plug and coil wires installed:

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Original cylinder O-rings from under intake manifold:

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An idea of how much filth was on the top of the intake manifold before I got started:

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And the intake manifold after I went at for the first round with some engine cleaner:

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[DMC-81]

Looks good Jonathan!

I found that spray carburetor cleaner really worked good on the inside and outside of the intake manifold. Be careful though because it will remove the paint marks ( I see a blue one in your pic)... if you're trying to keep them.

[Jonathan]

Looks good Jonathan!

I found that spray carburetor cleaner really worked good on the inside and outside of the intake manifold. Be careful though because it will remove the paint marks ( I see a blue one in your pic)... if you're trying to keep them.

Thanks!

I saw in one of your comments actually where you mentioned using Gunk Engine Cleaner/Degreaser. I happened to have some of that from a few seasons ago. Worked really well. Efficiently anyway... wish my shower cleaned that easy!

I hadn't thought to try and keep the blue paint marks. I hadn't given them any historical significance. Would those blue paint marks be part of the safety related recall somehow, like the red paint marks on the firewall? I recall (man, I gotta stop with the puns) there was a blue paint one in addition to the red paint one, but don't know all the details. I swear the intake looked as dirty as the bottom of a BBQ when I started, so cleaner is better for me!

[DMC-81]

Thanks!

I saw in one of your comments actually where you mentioned using Gunk Engine Cleaner/Degreaser. I happened to have some of that from a few seasons ago. Worked really well. Efficiently anyway... wish my shower cleaned that easy!

I hadn't thought to try and keep the blue paint marks. I hadn't given them any historical significance. Would those blue paint marks be part of the safety related recall somehow, like the red paint marks on the firewall? I recall (man, I gotta stop with the puns) there was a blue paint one in addition to the red paint one, but don't know all the details. I swear the intake looked as dirty as the bottom of a BBQ when I started, so cleaner is better for me!

You're welcome, and good to hear. The Gunk engine cleaner worked well on the outside of the engine, but I also used the carb cleaner for the internal portions of the VOD job and to remove any remaining filth/carbon where it needed it.

I had a green paint mark where your blue one is. Perhaps someone else can comment on their significance. I just tried to keep any that I could.

Hey, I use puns with my kids. They always groan when I do, but I find it helps develop their language skills, and then they come up with their own.

[Jonathan]

You're welcome, and good to hear. The Gunk engine cleaner worked well on the outside of the engine, but I also used the carb cleaner for the internal portions of the VOD job and to remove any remaining filth/carbon where it needed it.

I had a green paint mark where your blue one is. Perhaps someone else can comment on their significance. I just tried to keep any that I could.

Hey, I use puns with my kids. They always groan when I do, but I find it helps develop their language skills, and then they come up with their own.

I didn't have much fear going pretty liberally on the intake for cleaning, but not so sure the same approach would work with the air fuel mixture unit. It is pretty filthy too, but I don't want to get any of that cleaner, or the grime it is removing, down inside the fuel distributor. What's the preferred method for cleaning the mixture unit as one complete assembly?

Good call on the kids vocabulary. I remember that kind of thing when I was a kid with Aunts or Uncles and the kids groaning. And real nice to see you've got the first few miles under your belt with driving your own car. That there was a ton of effort and dedication you put into it. Great job.

[DMC-81]

I didn't have much fear going pretty liberally on the intake for cleaning, but not so sure the same approach would work with the air fuel mixture unit. It is pretty filthy too, but I don't want to get any of that cleaner, or the grime it is removing, down inside the fuel distributor. What's the preferred method for cleaning the mixture unit as one complete assembly?

Good call on the kids vocabulary. I remember that kind of thing when I was a kid with Aunts or Uncles and the kids groaning. And real nice to see you've got the first few miles under your belt with driving your own car. That there was a ton of effort and dedication you put into it. Great job.

Thanks for the compliment!

For the mixture unit, I put saran wrap on the air plate and secured it with a rubber band (and left it on until I put the air cleaner housing back on the car). Also I put small pieces of blue shop towels in the fuel injector line holes. After that, I gently cleaned the unit with carb cleaner and a toothbrush (trying to avoid the NLA rubber gasket 102772). Then, I removed the shop towel pieces and gently cleaned the injection holes with carb cleaner and Q-Tips. I painted the fuel distributor with flat black paint. If you do this, avoid getting the paint where the copper sealing washers go, otherwise fuel will leak. Here's a before and after pic:

Before:
Mar 15 156.jpg

After:
July 15 331.jpg


Cheers!