What have you done to your DeLorean today?

[Helirich]

After 30 years I found a rubber care product I LOVE. Recently acquired a bottle of this and it is great. Holds up better than any other rubber/vinyl protectant I have used before. I never use tire specific shine products for the mess they cause, dirty wheels, etc...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CRNKGQB?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

This is 2 weeks of driving:
72090

I ordered some of this. It seems to work pretty good. My results are not as good as yours because I live on a dirt road.

[mike123]

72120

My Rydeen Tombo 360 aftermarket backup camera draws something like 25mA with occasional spikes to 100mA while the car is off and it is in "power off" mode. I think this is from the g-force sensor and maybe the proximity sensor, both of which use constant 12V to trigger the 360 camera to record for 30 seconds when the car gets bumped or it detects someone nearby. While I love this feature when parked in public, there's really no need for it in my garage. And after a week without driving, the battery is noticeably drained and I feel like there is a difference in cold starting speed between 12.4V and 12.6V.

A simple cutoff switch would look out of place in the car, and I probably wouldn't remember it. But I have the 8-channel Wings-a-Loft kit and I'm only using 4 right now (Lock, Unlock, Driver Door popper, Passenger Door popper), and when you have a hammer everything looks like a nail.

I found a HELLA 933364027 "bistable relay". The relay has magnets in it and essentially only requires current when it is switching open or closed. Once in a position, the magnets keep it there with no current needed. So the plan is to wire it up so that I can control it with Channels 5 and 6 on the Wings-A-Loft key fob. This doesn't require any additional current other than a half-second of around 100mA to flip the relay on (when I lock the car in public) or off (when I get out of the car in my garage). There is a way to do this a bit more robustly with two additional standard auto relays, but space is at a premium in the relay compartment and this is a one-micro-relay solution that seems to get the job done in bench testing.

Essentially the Wings-a-Loft gives a one-second-duration ground connection when the key fob is pressed. That is enough to make the current from the 12V yellow wire pass through the resistor and pull current through the relay coil to that pin. Grounding the other wire does it for the other pin. So essentially by triggering the ground connection, it momentarily allows a rush of current to energize the relay coil and toggle it to the magnet on the other side. At least that's my understanding!

[Useight]

I gave my DeLorean its first bath. It's been under a car cover 100% of the time that I'm not driving it, so it never gets much of a chance to get dirty. But I wanted to clean it before a photoshoot.

I was looking for a high-quality and very soft sponge to use, but every sponge says, "Do not use on stainless steel". So I didn't go that route. Instead, I used microfiber towels to carefully and slowly wipe with the grain. Took awhile, but the car looks good and now I own a handful of microfiber towels.

[Bitsyncmaster]

13 years on a battery is truly insane

Installed the new battery today. Same WalMart low cost battery ($79). I like the WalMart batteries not only for the low cost but they are sealed (no caps). It's an effort to pull the battery and check acid level. I have it charging so I can get 100 % charge into it. I always find new batteries are not 100% charged. My same 14.50 volt power supply ran over one amp for an hour. Now it's 477 ma. after 4 hours charging. It may take another 12 to 24 hours to see when the charge current stops falling. Most of the time that is around 100 ma.

I could speed that up by charging at 15 volts but car is just sitting there anyway.

[Timeless]

Anyone utilizing a AGM battery? Work well?

[Helirich]

Anyone utilizing a AGM battery? Work well?

Have been for along time.

[dn010]

Anyone utilizing a AGM battery? Work well?

I have been using one as well for a long time, got mine at Sam?s for a good price.

[mike123]

I bought a Legend AGM in the fall from NAPA. During the winter, the car was garaged and I tried to run it every couple of weeks. I probably had a little too much standby draw but by springtime the battery would rest at around 12.45V when pulled out of the car. I got it replaced under warranty (3 yrs) and the new one sits at 12.65V after being disconnected for 36 hours.

I have no idea what is normal or expected for these, but I have noticed that my car seems to start much better at 12.6V than 12.3V. At 12.3, it takes another second or two for the engine to start.

I will plan to use the cutoff switch all the time this winter and see if I can have a healthier battery next spring.

[Timeless]

I bought a Legend AGM in the fall from NAPA. During the winter, the car was garaged and I tried to run it every couple of weeks. I probably had a little too much standby draw but by springtime the battery would rest at around 12.45V when pulled out of the car. I got it replaced under warranty (3 yrs) and the new one sits at 12.65V after being disconnected for 36 hours.

I have no idea what is normal or expected for these, but I have noticed that my car seems to start much better at 12.6V than 12.3V. At 12.3, it takes another second or two for the engine to start.

I will plan to use the cutoff switch all the time this winter and see if I can have a healthier battery next spring.
You ever use a tender? My vehicles all sit on Deltran battery tenders when not in use.

[mike123]

You ever use a tender? My vehicles all sit on Deltran battery tenders when not in use.

Never looked into it until your mention here. It does seem like there's some benefit to it, maybe even moreso with an AGM battery. Thanks for the recommendation!

[JohnZ]

Greased the CV joints and replaced the boots, and also replaced one time too many the windshield washer pump! But this time we drilled the infamous holes under the black cover, so it should last longer! And of course the rivnuts were totally seized, but we incredibly managed to replace them all!

As for the joints, we disassembled them completely and made a hell of a job by cleaning and greasing them! It was a fun time and it all really went very well, which is very rare! :)


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20260502/e77cfaf16fd3510a25b614680e437e58.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20260502/c4f0d60f614c486a387b58f9729bbd96.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20260502/31ed49cc3bc4087a20e7af18ed539415.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20260502/0597da93b152253714a0539c07c827f3.jpg

[Bitsyncmaster]

Well my new battery bottomed out at 30 ma. charging at 14.50 volts. I've never seen a car battery go to charge current this low. Now is that good or bad, I don't know. But I'm happy I decided to replace my 13 year old battery.

[EngineerGuY]

New Break Pads, Rotors and Calipers from DMC installed this week! Plus, a new headliner going in this coming weekend.

[Timeless]

New Break Pads, Rotors and Calipers from DMC installed this week! Plus, a new headliner going in this coming weekend.
I'm going for the Miata brake setup in front once I need brakes.

[Emit]

I Installed air conditioning, from scratch... when I did my full rebuild AC was low on my list, so I've only gotten around to it a year after the rebuild.

Hardest part was running the return/suction/big line down the passenger side between the frame and the body, had a split hose from DGo. Needed to put the body on stands, undo the body bolts and even then I only got it a mm at a time, took about five hours, dreadful work. I suspect a lot of my issue was that the heater lines were pressing down on the AC line because I wasn't paying attention to positioning when I reconnected the body to the frame originally.

Radiator has to come out to get the condenser on, which was a bit of a faff, and the dryer was fiddley to align with the new evaporator.

One interesting thing is that I spent ages researching compressor oil and added the "correct" amount, but when I brought it to the AC guy (all he does is AC systems) and told him he was a bit exasperated, told me he'd need to vacuum it all out again - seems that his machine measures the exact amount of oil given the capacity of the system, therefore no PAG was needed from my end.

I have to say I was delighted to see the clutch engage and then for the first time cool air coming out the centre vents; I had rebuilt my HVAC box so its quite a strong flow, I also deleted the door vents exiting the HVAC box, which helps a lot.

Any questions ask away while it's still fresh in my head :)

[DMC-Ron]

I'm going for the Miata brake setup in front once I need brakes.

Can you stick with stock wheels with this conversion?

[dn010]

Can you stick with stock wheels with this conversion?

Yes: https://lsdeloreanstore.com/products/miata-front-brake-upgrade?variant=51960089248028

[Helirich]

Yes: https://lsdeloreanstore.com/products/miata-front-brake-upgrade?variant=51960089248028

So I upgraded to vented rotors using the stock brakes. Are the Miata brakes an upgrade compared to them?

[Timeless]

So I upgraded to vented rotors using the stock brakes. Are the Miata brakes an upgrade compared to them?
Oh yes.

[dn010]

So I upgraded to vented rotors using the stock brakes. Are the Miata brakes an upgrade compared to them?

In my opinion:
I wouldn't say the Miata kit is necessarily a "major" upgrade. I'd say the base kit is more intended to replace the stock calipers and rotors for Miata components that are readily available and cheaper: a pair of Miata drilled and slotted rotors are 72 bucks. The selection of rotors are more vast than the "DeLorean" selection. If you go with larger rotors and calipers, then it is a better upgrade but it depends on what you want to do with the wheel size.

For an even better upgrade, there is the Wilwood kit and it still uses the Miata rotors. I am going the Wilwood route very soon.

Ultimately yes, they are an upgrade whichever kit you go with.

[FABombjoy]

For an even better upgrade, there is the Wilwood kit and it still uses the Miata rotors. I am going the Wilwood route very soon.

I went from vented OEM brakes to a Wilwood / Miata big brake kit and dropped 10lbs per side.
6.8lbs of that was the calipers. Even if you don't have wheels that support a larger rotor with aluminum tophat there is a LOT of weight loss potential.

[82DMC12]

Here's something you don't see every day. Hoppy B4A headlight adjusting set from the late 70's. Each unit attaches to a sealed beam headlamp using a special bracket and suction cup, and then, after a floor slope reading for re-calibration, you can now adjust the headlights for vertical, horizontal, and parallel. The funny is the Hella glass I have lacks the alignment "nubs" that traditional halogen sealed beam lenses have so I actually have to buy a set of old headlights to install in the buckets. Then I can align them and then reinstall the Hella lenses and LED lamps. I went through the instruction book and got them calibrated to each other so I'm just waiting on the old headlights to arrive.

I have messed around with the headlights many times and I don't think they are set up very well. Looking forward to seeing the results after setting them with this kit.

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[Timeless]

That is great Andy! I would love to have that to adjust headlights on my D and other classics. I'm have the Holley Retrobright headlights and they are fantastic! Got a set for Rodolfo.
Sorry I missed you when you were in my town a couple weeks ago.

[82DMC12]

Today I received a set of basic Wagner 4656 low beam bulbs. I removed the Hella glass and tried to install the halogen bulbs only to find my buckets were reversed. The high beam buckets were in the low beam position and vice versa. I didn't know there was a difference because the Hella glass is not keyed but the old school bulbs are. Oops. Swapped them around and installed the bulbs, then proceeded with the aiming.

Actually before I did any of the above, I backed out of the garage and made a note on my garage door of the beam centers. The passenger side was probably pointing outward a bit and the driver side was certainly low. Then I pulled back in and did the aim process which was pretty easy to do by following the instructions. I went back and forth between horizontal and vertical until the aimers were holding the adjustment perfectly, then removed them and swapped the Hella glass back in.

When I backed out and compared to the old marks on the garage door it was clear the issues were corrected. I went for a short drive around the block and I was pretty happy with the result, even if the best it can do is still poor compared to modern headlights lol.

Unfortunately the low beams don't fit in the high beam buckets due to the key fitment so I ordered a set of high beam bulbs now!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20260510/a7e8f9807375a7a83ec3edb10a5f2bf3.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20260510/cb67f301a44135c6ae2f7be8b2e19254.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20260510/8fbf2102b563d99e8864557b00a8da1e.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20260510/19730716863ba352658cd1fe0de90fcf.jpg

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