DMC6960 Year in Review

[dmc6960]

As of Saturday afternoon, the salt has flown. Driving season is officially over and DMC #06960 had a pretty good year. Basic summary...

Driving season start - Saturday, April 2nd.
Driving season end - Friday, November 18th.

Miles driven - Exact unknown, est. ~7500mi.
Oil Changes - 2
Car washes - Every time it rained while driving
Notable events - Daily driver for most of the year, appeared at Porkey's closing weekend (notable and popular 50's drive-in), was at Minnesota's fall gathering.
Total vehicle miles - Unknown, est ~120,000.

Maintenance not requiring downtime...

Fuel leak in fitting for return hardline - This is where the fuel return line attaches to the hardline on the frame for returning to the tank. Low pressure, but it was leaking enough to smell when over the rear of the car. Fixed it same day I discovered it.

Erratic speedometer noises and behavior - This one I suspected to be due to the lambda counter. So I disconnected everything and ordered a single-piece cable from PJ Grady. Unfortunately when I got the cable, I didn't check its operation. After installing it the speedometer worked for about 26 miles then quit again. At this point I needed another dustcap. I also removed the new cable to find it very stiff to turn. I cleaned out what was a lot of grease on it and made it easy to turn, but I also couldn't get it reinstalled in the angle drive. Thinking it might have been too long (this is where I was wrong and stupid about it) I tried cutting off the end of it. Well, this time it worked for about 160 miles. Then the end unraveled as I had cut off the end of the square crimp. My bad, but I am now DONE with mechanical speedos. By next spring I fully intend to have a working prototype of my electronic instrument cluster installed in my car.

Maintenence requiring downtime...

Intermittent electrical fault with Megasquirt computer - This was about a 2-week downtime until I had time to remove and go through the electronics board. What would happen is occasionally the system would completely shut down, and not power back on for a timerange between a few seconds and over 10 minutes. I lived with it for a few weeks until it shut down on me on a busy freeway with nearly no shoulder space for about 10 minutes. I couldn't find a specific fault, but I did touch up every solder joint on the board. That exact problem never returned.

Broken front shock cup washer - This is with the SPAX Shocks. The one first happened on my way home from work, about 2 miles out. I hit a bump and heard a metallic rattle for a second. After that every bump had lots of extra noises associated with it. While the car didn't handle or feel any different, I knew something was wrong. 1 week downtime until I had time to remove the wheel and find the shock loose. Temporary replacement with a large, thick, flat washer. I should have reinforced the other one at this time, because not even a month later, the other one gave out. This time on the way into work. Finished the day driving and knew what had happened. Actually had time to take care of this right away the same day with no downtime. Unfortunately the rubber bushing was lost on this one and I had to dig out the old ones from the Girlings. I understand this issue is being fixed for DMC's next batch. (I had gotten mine direct from England in late 2009) Those with older Spax, watchout! Reinforce your cup washers with extra retention washers.

Broken transmission mount - This one was this year's biggie. 4 weeks downtime. Heading off to work in the morning, accelerating on the nearest main street, and the car had a very violent lurch. It could have been a computer reset of Megasquirt or possibly just a miss as I still dont have my fuel tuning completely done. Didn't think much off it though, I've had a few other lurches like that this year. I come to a stop at the next light, then I couldn't put it in 1st gear. I pump the clutch thinking that is the issue, still no luck. I try second gear, DAMN, still not working. Finally I try 3rd and it works. Slowly I get going again, then loop around to go back home, never taking it out of 3rd or coming to a complete stop. After getting home, I realize I can get 1st and 2nd gear if I lift up through the reverse lockout, but I cannot reach reverse. So I have a sudden crossgate issue, and due to the lurch I suspect a transmission mount. Once I finally get a chance to get under the car my suspicions were confirmed. I remove the mount, and mail it off to another DeLorean owner to graciously offered to repair it for me. Thanks Dennis! Finally last Friday night, the night before snow was expected in my area, I get a chance to put it back together again. To my dismay though replacing the mount alone did not fix the crossgate adjustment. Since it was already getting late, and I wanted to get ONE LAST DRIVE in before the end of driving season, I took it out as-is. No reverse, and lifting up for 1st and 2nd gears. ~200 miles of mostly freeway driving. It was a pretty good end to the season.

Other work done...

Only one other notable thing was done to the car this year. It was the installation of an LED inverter-driver circuit designed by Bitsyncmaster (thanks Dave!). This would replace the LED status light of my Innovate LC-1 wideband O2 sensor and display it inversed with the LAMBDA light in the dash. This way the LAMBDA light would flash whenever there was a problem. Allowed me to watch helplessly this time as my 3rd O2 sensor slowly died. Ugh. I'm getting a heatsink for #4.

Winter worklist...

Remove front suspension - repair rust in front frame, replace lower ball joints with DeLoreanEurotec versions, replace tie rod ends.
Replace seat covers - Add heating/cooling
Create custom center console - 7 switches, cupholders, lift-up storage
Shampoo carpets.
Replace stock soundproofing with modern equivalent.
Add soundproofing to engine lid.
Fix engine lid latch.
Fix louver latch.
Replace 4 tires.
Replace flexible brake lines.
Repaint front and rear fascias and select other black parts of body.
Replace right rear taillight.
Replace passenger side window regulator and drop-glass.
Replace windshield with Low-E version.
Make basic repairs to binnacle and redye interior grey parts.
Redo door headliners.

This list is MUCH more extensive than last year's where I didn't actually do anything. So we'll see about this year. Time and $ are pretty limited.

Nevertheless, here's to the great season this year, as great of a season next year, and DCS 2012!
:rock_on::mechbull::nana2::drunk::gun::wiggle::rol lin::Headspin::woot::cheers::driving1:

[DavidProehl]

Impressive list! Any one of those issues would have had me down for months rather than days like you. Shows I have a lot to learn about these cars.

I'm interested in your custom center console project. I assume 2 of the extra switches will control the heated/cooled seats, what will the other 2 do? Also, for the "lift up storage", where will that go? Are you building up above the console or cutting into the fiberglass tub to go down?

[john 05141]

" what will the other 2 do? "

Time circuits on?

john

[dmc6960]

The other two switches will not do anything at the time of installation. Eventually one will control a cruise control system, and the other has yet to be decided (that one will be an on-off instead of momentary rocker).

The seat control switches will be basic "narrow" window switches. Illuminated with red on one arrow and blue on the other arrow. They will control a logic box which handles the on/off switching.

[dmc6960]

Well its been a little over a week now since my D has its last outing for the year. So here is the recap...

Driving season start - Friday, June 1st. (Late start due to the excessive spring maintenance)
Driving season end - Saturday, November 17th.

Miles driven - Exact unknown, est. ~8000mi.
Oil Changes - 3
Car washes - One, at a two-manned drive-up single wash in Orlando
Notable events - Drove to Orlando in June for DCS-2012, won furthest traveled award. Daily driver for much of the year after spring maintenance and one downtime.
Warmest/Coldest temperature driven in - 100ºF/25ºF
Total vehicle miles - Unknown, est ~128,000.

Spring Maintenance...

This year was notable for having an extended downtime in spring working on several projects and maintenance issues before starting driving it for the year. This always seems to happen during DCS years, and I always barely get it done in time. This years list was almost all ballooned and derived from one major part replacement, the windshield. I have had a rock-chip on my windshield since 2002, when it was struck in MO traveling to DCS-2002. The chip was your average ~1" chip, placed almost directly in my line of sight. Unable to repair/replace it during the trip, I manage to tune it out enough to just look through it for the next 9 years. Last fall I took another hit which caused larger damage, certainly enough to get an insurance-covered replacement. But as of last fall there were no more windshields. Well, there might have been since DMCH did take I think 10 in on an early shipment. But I wanted to wait for the good stuff. I made it a point that if DMC was having windshields remade, they should also be done so with modern UV and IR filtering. After enough support was behind it, DMC did decide to have 10 of the batch of 100 made with the extra filtering, although at double the cost. Once available, I filed the claim with my insurance company, and got paid the cost of the standard windshield plus shipping, plus an extra "standard installation" cost since I stated in my claim I did not want it replaced by a regular glass company. After all that, the new UV/IR windshield cost me relatively little out of my own pocket, and I installed it myself. Ballooning out of that was two major things, re-dye the interior, and fix the passenger side drop glass. The original plan was just to re-dye the dash, since it would be very easy with the windshield out. But of course I might have well done as many other parts as I could, so I did. The passenger drop glass was indirectly prompted by the new UV/IR windshield. Since my windshield was now tinted, I wanted the side glass to be tinted too. Since the passenger drop glass was all scratched on the outside, I'd want to replace that as well before doing so. So the OEM regulator had to go, and I might as well do the drivers side as well. Oops, the whole passenger side fixed glass and divider channel came out, gotta fix that. Well, as long as I'm in the doors anyways I should add some soundproofing. Hmm, more weight on the doors with soundproofing means I should lighten them up. Replace the solenoids with actuators. I'm not going to want to go back into these doors for a while, I better remove the latches, de-wedge them and adjust all the linkages. Oh yeah, I still have that Wings-A-Loft kit I bought in 2004, better install that too. Since these door panels are off, I better replace that passenger side door vent which is gutted. While I'm doing that, I better seal up all the air gaps around these vents in both door panels. Lets get these re-dyed too as long as their out. Hmm, that old falling-apart window felt better get fixed too. Am I done yet? Well, for now. I wanted to also recover the door headliners, but was unable to find a fabric that matched the stuff I used in 2001. In the end the door glass never got tinted (yet), and the new passenger side drop glass has a few new scratches on it as of the end of the year. Argh!

The other thing I did finished the modification/recovering of the passenger seat into a heated and cooled seat. Ran out of time to do both seats before DCS, and since installing them in their swapped out positions was so difficult, I decided to wait until this winter to do the other seat.

Maintenance not requiring downtime...

Front Turn Signal Bulb - Once the car was up and running for the year, very little had to be done to it. I had one turn signal go out on the first day of driving down to Orlando. Then that was it for minor maintenance. ABSOLUTELY nothing else (minor) all year.

Maintenance requiring downtime...

Intermittent electrical short in EFI wiring harness - This was the only major problem I had this year. It first struck on the second day driving to DCS. Engine suddenly had a massive loss of power. After pulling off and checking I discovered a blown fuse for one bank for fuel injectors. This problem would continue to occasionally hit me during the remainder of the trip. When it would happen, I would pull off the road and replace the fuse. I drove the car daily for 2 weeks after returning from DCS, and had the problem occur almost every day. So I made the decision to stop driving it until I found the short. Most of July went by with my not doing anything on it. House work kept me busy since I didn't do any during the spring. Finally in late July, I have some time and eventually trace it down to a splice I had made inside one of the bundles. The splice had heat-shrink over it, but also had one small protrusion that seems to break through the heat shrink. This also broke through the outer wrapping I had on the harness and then would occasionally contact the engine block, shorting it out. I re-wrapped it several times over and the problem never returned. Car was then again a DAILY driver for all of August, September, October, and the first half of November.

Other work done...

Outside of the spring maintenance and the two problems listed, no other work was done to the car at all. It was just driven.

Winter worklist...

Remove front suspension - repair rust in front frame, replace lower ball joints with DeLoreanEurotec versions, replace tie rod ends. (Carryover from last year)
Replace seat covers - Add heating/cooling (Carryover from last year, still need to do driver's seat)
Create custom center console arm rest pad - 7 switches, cupholders, lift-up storage (carryover from last year)
Shampoo carpets. (carryover from last year)
Replace stock soundproofing with modern equivalent. (carryover from last year, partially done)
Add soundproofing to engine lid. (carryover from last year)
Fix engine lid latch. (carryover from last year)
Fix louver latch. (carryover from last year)
Replace 4 tires. (carryover from last year - yes, the tires are REALLY done this time)
Replace flexible brake lines. (carryover from last year)
Make basic repairs to binnacle and redye interior grey parts. (carryover from last year, binnacle was never done and the center console remains to be redyed)
Redo door headliners. (carryover from last year)
Get alignment
Basic engine Tuneup - Plugs, cap, rotor, perhaps valve adjustment. Yes, its already been ~30,000 miles since my engine rebuild of '09.
Finish prototype electronic instrument cluster and install into car.

Hopefully I'll actually do some of this work over the winter instead of the spring. I have a heated garage (and heated it just for this purpose) so I really should take advantage of it. Plus I'll have less time available in the spring to do everything. I plan to go to the DMCMW open house in the spring which will be happening much sooner than DCS does.