VOD Clean-up and the Things I Learned
So, I finally brought the DeLorean home from Ken's tonight. It had been at Ken's since Dec 20th - so about 3 months hibernating from the winter while my truck took the garage. While it was there, I re-did my central locking system, added and tweaked the WingsALoft Door Launchers, and completed a Valley of Death job (waterpump replacement). Here are a couple things I learned from my own experience.
1. Really, this job was not anywhere near as difficult as I thought it was going to be. It is all about taking your time, being methodical, and going slow. I think most people fear this job because it seems very overwhelming and there's so many little mechanical things that can act up. More on that in a minute...
2. Have lots of ZipLoc bags, labeled with the number of bolts/washers/nuts/whatever labeled on the bag as well as a good overall description (Ex: I would write: 5 mm allen wrench bolts for idle speed motor, total of 2, all washers go outside of the clamp). It's amazing how quickly you might wonder "Now, were there 2 or 3 bolts for this....?"
3. Try to envision things before they're put back together. It will help rebuilding the engine quite a bit. For example, when I placed the intake back in place along with the fuel distributor/mixture unit - my fuel lines were totally in the wrong place. I ended up having to disconnect the vacuum lines on the back of the intake to re-route the fuel lines to where I wanted them so that the installation would look clean. It was all about "thinking 4th dimensionally" so to speak ;).
4. Have a wealth of knowledge with you - don't try to remember everything. There's no shame using cameras, how-to-guides, and diagrams for this job. I used the "How to remove the intake manifold" guide, pictures I took, and the vacuum hose routing diagram all to complete this job. The resources are there - use them to your heart's content!
5. Another friend can be a life-saver. They can hand you tools, get things ready, be a fresh pair of eyes, and keep your perspective clear. My friend Jason was shining spotlights left and right for me, looking over every step I took, saw how to do things differently and efficiently, made putting the idle speed motor pipe back into the fuel mixture unit a LOT easier, and sometimes had tools I needed that only he had brought along. Definitely worth having a friend with you as you do this job.
6. Don't panic. You removed the intake manifold; you can get it back together. Go slow. Double check everything as you go.
7. Lastly, something I learned doing this job. So as I put the intake and everything back together, I noticed that the idle microswitch didn't just go perfectly back together. I noticed that when testing the "hammer" that comes down onto the microswitch when the throttle spool is at rest, I didn't hear the "click" of the microswitch being engaged. No problem, just loosen and locknut and adjust the screw. Did that, put everything back together, and then noticed that the longer my car idled - the higher the idle got - up to 1500 at one point.
That's when I called Casey, and we started walking through things. When I mentioned that I had to re-adjust the screw that engages the idle microswitch, he asked me if I had adjusted the bottom screw as well. I had not, and that was the problem. We verified that by disconnecting the "ball and socket linkage" that connects the throttle spool to the "hammer" of the idle microswitch. With the spool disconnected, I was able to rev the engine much more freely, and when I set the hammer on the microswitch, I had to forcefully push the hammer into the microswitch to hear the idle drop. The top screw was activating the idle microswitch just as it should, but the bottom screw was hitting the metal plate too early. That bottom screw had to be brought back out just a tiny bit (about 1 full revolution - same as the initial re-adjusting of the top screw to the idle microswitch); it was hitting the metal plate too early, and the throttle plates were not 100% closed. I say it like that, because I took my elbow pipes off and visually verified that they were closed, but apparently, the deceleration springs that help close those plates were not entirely relaxed, and that caused the idle to run up to 1200-1250. I share that experience with you all because I know how the idle issues on the DeLorean can drive us nuts, and that's just one more "thing to check."
Anyways, those are my thoughts and experiences. Hope they help someone - especially the idle point I described! The VOD/intake removal is NOT that bad - just take your time, go slow, and ASK QUESTIONS to us if you need help.
Take care!
