1982 Frame Off Restoration

We worked on the car from 5:30-9:30 tonight after work. The first thing I was to mark the timing scale where Mike from Delorean Midwest said the timing should be set for a stage 2 engine which he said is 16 degrees.
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We noticed some engine oil on this part of the engine. Not sure what that's all about. I'm wondering if we got fuel in the oil when we were inadvertently feeding fuel through the injectors so it is thinned out now.
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I rerouted some lines and cables on the right side.

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Next we put the rest of the exhaust system on...well minus the tailpipes that is.
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The galvanized bolts for the exhaust flanges didn't have any lock washers. Maybe they are not needed but I'd prefer to have them on there so I search my hardware bins. I found some galvanized lock washers. [emoji108]
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I was told by Steve Bano that a good starting point for rich/lean adjustment is to remove one of the injector hoses, jump out the RPM relay so the fuel pump is running continuously, adjust until fuel just starts to slowly eek out of the FD port. So we did that. It was pretty much where we already had it set
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I dug out the ole timing light to check the timing.
Man the nut that needs to be loosened on the distributor is nearly impossible to get to. I know I keep repeating myself but that is a horrible layout in the left front corner.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8c52cd9c83.jpg

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We decided to fire up the engine again, let it run longer, try to make adjustments, etc.
Things started out good. Engine started right up. The idle started out pretty low so I adjusted the timing from 13 deg to 16 deg. Shortly thereafter the engine started to accelerate. I had the cap off the coolant tank. I had put three gallons of 50/50 in the car the other day and there was about 1/3 showing in the tank. Tam kept an eye on the temp gauge for me. I revved up the engine several times to see how it would handle it. It sounded good.
I started noticing how hot the engine was getting and smoke seemed to be coming off some areas of the engine but the temp gauge in the car was below 200. I looked in the coolant tank and it was almost empty, I felt the coolant hose near the thermostat...it wasn't hot...I thought "Aww crap I don't have any coolant circulating through the engine!!" I yelled "Shut it off shut it off!!" My heart sank and thoughts raced. What if the engine doesn't even have any coolant in it yet!! What if we just ruined our new heads!!! What a damn moron I am!!!
Tam said "Whats wrong" I said I'm a f-ing moron!! We probably just ruined the damn engine!!
I told her the situation and she said "Let's just go get some more coolant" I said "We can but that's not the point!!" "What if we ruined the engine?" "I probably had you watching the temp gage on a engine with no coolant....which means that probably wasn't even the actual temp!"
I was fit to be tied and doubting everything on this project. We went and bought three gallons of premix green coolant.
I decided I'd cut to the chase when I got back and see if the engine was dry or not. I backed out the coolant plugs in the heads...coolant leaked out. Thank God! This is a good sign.
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I added coolant to the tank while squeezing the hoses and opened the vent on the thermostat housing to let air out. I had Tam start the car again. We ran it for a while and the hose near the thermostat wasn't hot still. Temp on the dash was still low. This time I had another temp gage on the piping. I waited what seemed like an hour and finally the thermostat opened enough that coolant started moving. I added more coolant to the tank. All said and done I had added less than a gallon of coolant. So I think we were okay before. Engine not ruined...I panicked and overreacted.

While running the engine my timing light wires fell on the exhaust, melted, then shorted to ground...that was exciting. [emoji849]
So now I need a new timing light...or new leads on this one.
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One thing I can say is the cams in the heads seem stock to me or really mild. Also I thought the exhaust was going to sound more aggressive.
It sounds good and runs good though so I'm not complaining.

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We need to get the car closer to the garage door before we run the engine too much more. We have a CO detector in the boiler room in the shop and it kept going off even with the garage door open and a big fan running.

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We worked on the car yesterday (Sunday) from 10A till 10P. It was a long day. My goal was to get the suspension height set, torque all of the suspension bolts, finish hooking up the brakes, and bleed the brakes.

Tam started with checking tire pressures because we noticed the left front tire was looking low.
I grabbed my special wrenches for adjusting the coilovers.
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On my way under the car I noticed some wheel weights on the floor near the left rear tire. Hmm...
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We have the car up on 9" blocks. Andy L. said he set his car up for 6" from the ground to the bottom of the frame in both the rear and front. So I cut a 2x8 to 15" long as a guide.
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The car needed to come down quite a bit.
I like that the wrench i bought fit the coil asjuster nuts in a wrap around three point of contact fashion but it does make it quite a pain to get on the nut over and over again. It has to be just right to go on. When i got one side so it seemed pretty close i took a measurement to use on the other side.
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Both side set to the correct height and locked down.
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Another annoying thing with these wrenches...when the nuts are close together you can't get the larger wrench off or on. So i ended up just using the end tooth of the wrench for the final snug down.

The rear stance now-
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Tam was putting the driver's seat together while I was working on the suspension. Sorry no pictures since I was under the car.
I moved to the front of the car next.
The front was too low to start with.
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After wrestling with the adjustment for way too long I decided to try something. I jacked the car up on the frame. Then I tried twisting the adjustment nut by hand. It wasn't easy but was doable and a lot quicker than using the wrenches. I went a ways, lowered the car, tried my measurement, jacked it back up, went some more......
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I ended up somehow going way too far on the front (7"-8" off ground to frame). Super annoying. I then went a bit too far the other way so I was at 5.5" space. I checked the manual and it has the front as being a bit lower than the rear.
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I liked how it looked so I locked it down here.
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Final stance up front. I like it.
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