My kingdom for a tie rod end...

[Kenny_Z]

I'm beginning to think that the entire universe is against getting Red back on the road. I had to cut the passenger side tie rod off because it was seized and wanted to change the boot on the steering rack. The driver's tie rod was in poor shape so I was going to change them both anyway.

I purposely didn't order tie rod ends from Hervey when I ordered the angle drive because as much as I like his stuff his shipping is too slow. I ordered them from Houston (cheapest), where all of my other orders shipped inside of a week. Well, going on two weeks and no movement on the order and no response to my email inquiry (couldn't get anyone on the phone). Today I figured I'd order just one from DPI since it couldn't hurt to have a spare. I can't get my order to complete, something about a shipping quote error. I think I broke their server. I'm going to call them again in a little while to see if it can be manually put through.

I was hoping to get Red to a car show less than a mile from my house on March 24th and the old tie rod is perfectly fine to go that far. I've been looking forward to it since I bought the car. It seems like everything is working against me at this point. I'm glad I was able to get so many other little things done but this project is stalling and bumming me out. Plus I'm going through Delorean withdrawal over here:\

[Delorean Industries]

Hi Kenny- You wouldn't happen to be running the latest version of internet explorer would you? We are having massive glitches on that browser.

[Kenny_Z]

I started with Firefox and moved to IE9, same error in both. I haven't tried Chrome since I don't have it on my work machine because it royally screws with our voice system.

Thanks again for setting that up for me manually.

[Kenny_Z]

Shortly after I posted this I got an invoice from Houston and a tracking number. I also got a call from Cameron while I was driving home apologizing for the delay. I don't want anyone to think I was vendor bashing or anything. I was more or less amused by the amount of roadblocks getting thrown up over something as simple as tie rod ends. Not by anyone in particular, just by life. I thought maybe Houston was behind because it's coming up on car show season and they'd be busier than usual. And they are busier, it is understandable.

I think every D vendor I know about messaged me over these parts. I've never had a response like this by vendors of any other make or model I've owned. The Delorean community is truly blessed to have as many vendors as we do that take an interest in our cars and our issues.

I'll be keeping DPI's tie rod as a spare and the Houstons will get installed when they arrive. Yeah, tie rod ends don't go bad a lot but spares never hurt anything.

[BigBenb84]

What show are you going to?

[Kenny_Z]

It's a small show, usually only about 20 to 30 cars. The Lillian Methodist Church puts it on every year. I like it because the quality of cars in the show is just right and the environment is friendly. Being really close to my house is also nice, I could walk home if I wanted a break.

[WelmoedJ]

Sorrow shared is half sorrow we say over here.

I had a small coolant leak near the waterpump.
Makes one have to open up the VoD.
And of course, yes it was a small leak (seeping along a hose/waterpump connection).
A leak that you can stop by turning the clamp a bit more tight.
End of the problem? No!
To clean out the VoD and inspect the enitre pump, I unbolted the pump.
Guess?.. two out of three very smooth, number 3 (the lower bolt) broke.
Now the car has no rear facia and I have to remove the muffler to get to the bolt.

Kenny, hope this helps lessen your pain :)

[Kenny_Z]

It definitely helps WelmoedJ. Sometimes you just sit back and ask "did that really just happen to me?"

[Farrar]

These cars have a way of making projects multiply. I went under the car to replace the rusty seat nuts with stainless ones only to discover that one stud was "missing." I took the seat out and discovered that the stud had come un-welded and was lying sideways! Having put the seat down, I then discovered rust all over the carpet. Picking up the carpet, it stuck to a rusty washer and tore. Having removed the carpet, I saw the wood behind the seat had come loose from the fiberglass. Having removed the wood panel I see it too was damaged by water.

As Charlie Brown would say: AAAAAAUGH!

So I can sympathize a bit. Sit back, relax, and tackle it one little piece at a time. (Especially if that piece breaks.)

[Kenny_Z]

The tie rod ends from Houston just got here. They'll get installed tonight and then I can finally drive my D after 3 weeks of tinkering :D