For a second Farrar I thought you had an arc reactor for an engine ;)
Printable View
For a second Farrar I thought you had an arc reactor for an engine ;)
It stopped raining, so I went out to the garage and fired up the engine. Fuel poured out of the carburetor and down into the intake valley. I stopped the engine.
I decided to cut off the fuel pump and run the engine for a minute to drain the fuel from the carburetor bowl. The starter motor hesitated, like it didn't want to turn. Instead of going "trr, trr, trr, trr," it went "trrt."
I checked the battery -- 11.35 volts. It should start. I kept turning the key and eventually it caught. That was weird.
I couldn't run the engine for very long, because the garage was filling up with exhaust. (I backed the car into the garage last summer. I AM SMRT!)
When I shut the engine off, thick white smoke was coming out of the left tailpipe. It was sinking down slowly, like dry ice subliming. That was also weird.
I took the top off of the carburetor. I suppose the float setting got messed up when I un-stuck the float from the bottom of the bowl.
I adjusted the float to what I think is a ridiculously low level, put the top of the carburetor back on, and ran the fuel pump. Fuel failed to flow out of the carburetor and onto its surroundings.
I decided to turn the car around so I could work on it with the rear end facing out of the garage. This was not very easy with the car not running and no one to help me.
By myself, I got the car out of the garage (hitting the driver door on the garage's door frame in the process -- I had checked vertical, but not horizontal, clearance -- fortunately, the wood is soft and the edge of the door is hard). I was very near to a parking space when someone walked by and offered to help. I graciously accepted, or as graciously as one can be when covered in sweat and gasoline and heaving for breath while one's sides, back, and arms scream "stop whatever it is you think you're doing, because we're not having a good time right now at all and we want you to be very aware of this."
I am now sore outside and inside.
The car is safely (?) in a parking space near my apartment. Currently, it is not raining outside.
The question is: can I run the engine with a quarter-inch of fuel in the intake valley, or should I wait until tomorrow when it has likely evaporated? Or should I go out, dry it out with papertowels, and try again before it starts raining again?
Geez -- all of this just so I can turn the car around and start re-charging the air conditioning! What an ordeal!
Sounds like your carb needs a rebuild. Can you tell where the fuel is coming from? I have one like that and it is one of the reasons I hate Motorcraft 2100s. I could never get the thing to run right. I wanted a 4 barrel in the Mustang anyway so I didn't try very hard to fix it.
I don't know the risk but I never run engines around puddles of fuel. I've had a car backfire and shoot flames out the carb. If the engine had been a big puddle it would have been a big inferno.
I personally would sop up what I could with paper towels and then run it. the intake valley shouldn't reach the ignition point. But keep a fire extinguisher within arms reach anyways, just in case. But that's just me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Farrar
I rebuilt it two years ago and haven't used it much since...Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenny_Z
Last week when I put the new fuel pump in, I checked out the carburetor. The needle valve and float looked fine. But the float was stuck to the bottom of the bowl. I un-stuck it, and must have messed up the height setting in the process. When I took the top off the carb, I saw the float was all the way at the top and the needle valve wasn't doing squat. I set the float down some, just eyeballing it, and it works fine now with no leaks. So that one was definitely my fault. I don't think well when I'm hot and tired.
My solution to the gasoline spill was to pour a couple of gallons of water down into the intake valley. (No, the engine was not hot.) Once the water coming out the bottom of the engine compartment was rainbow-free, I knew I was good to try again. That was when I fired the engine back up and idled it for about ten minutes, checking everything along the way. The fuel gauge now reads 1/8 of a tank, so I'm going to go get some fresh fuel.
Now I have to see about re-charging the air conditioning out in the parking lot ... or remember to pull the car forwards into the garage this time...
I took mine on an errand today and got caught in a localized rain shower. YIKES! Water on the frame AND the car was dirtier than its ever been. So, I performed a water and rag wash today for the first time. Looks pretty good. Maybe next time I'll even use soap...
After putting 2 gallons of fresh fuel in the tank, I did pull the car into the garage forwards. I allowed it to warm up fully, so that I could check the radiator fan function. The fans came on and turned off again.
Once the engine is warmed up, it has an idle which is mostly smooth with an occasional burble. It's a familiar sound. Now I remember how annoyed I always was when the engine was idling. I hate that burble. It's completely at random and impossible to pin down. Other people listen to it and say "What sound are you talking about? It sounds fine to me." I know I have good ears, but come on, everybody else's can't be bad.
With idle problems I always assume vacuum leak. Nope. I adjusted the idle air screws. Nope. In fact, although it's not a good idea, I can idle the engine at 500RPM -- that tells me my air/fuel mixture is OK and I don't have a vacuum leak. Maybe my engine needs a valve adjustment? Or I'll just get used to the burble. Or I'll go EFI to get rid of it.
Anyway, with the engine running, I decided it was time to finish the a/c charge. But I was unable to get the second can of R-134a into the system, because when I pulled the can tap off of the first can, the O-ring fell out of the tap into, I presume, Narnia. I have this awesome can tap which will screw onto an R-134a can on one side and onto an R-12 charging hose on the other side. I can't remember where I got it. I'm hanging on to it for dear life, because you can't just buy the middle hose for R-134a. My gauge hoses are the same backwards and forwards. The high and low side hoses have adapters, but the charging hose doesn't.
Go to an auto parts store and tell them you need an O-ring for R-12 gauges. It's like an episode of "Candid Camera," except you're not pranking anyone.
Oh, the engine occasionally makes a sort of grinding sound. That's another reason I was twiddling with the air-fuel screws. It didn't seem to do anything about the sound, though.
I'm calling it a night. My garage is right next to an apartment where some nice, old, disabled folks live. I'm not going to run the engine any later than 9pm. Inside the garage, that sucker's loud. In the morning, I'll take the can tap to the hardware store and see if they can come up with an appropriate O-ring for the can tap. Unless Narnia decides to give up the original, that is...
Install Mark Sutton's prototype LED clock - man does it look sweet!
Attachment 20607
Attachment 20608
Attachment 20609
Pictures of the old clock which stopped keeping time sometime last year.
Attachment 20611
Attachment 20610
Pictures comparing the front and backs of the new and old clock.
Attachment 20612
New clock installed! The wiring on the new clock is plentiful. The gauge of it, I would guess, is about 22 gauge. I knew there was no way I'd be able to get a butt connector on it, so Jessica stripped the wires, tied them together, and we soldered them together using resin-free solder. Then we wrapped them in electrical tape. As Overland Man suggested, I utilized the green wire off the old clock to have the new clock's display light up when the ignition switch is engaged, and the black wire obviously for ground. The other two wires were wrapped in electrical tape separately, and then together to keep things "neat and clean."
Attachment 20613
Jessica suggesting to me "You kinda need to re-install this, buddy...."
Attachment 20614
New clock installed!
Attachment 20615
Jessica and I sharing the honor of removing the protective filament on the clock's face.
Attachment 20616
Attachment 20617
Attachment 20618
Pictures of the new clock :D!!!
Attachment 20619
Picture of nearly everything needed to do this job. Was not too bad at all!
Attachment 20604
Happy Jeremiah (:
We also got one of my tail lights to behave again (bad connection at the LED bulb to tail light board), diagnosed a bad interior dome light switch, and re-installed the sliding plastic piece that moves with the gear shifter of the auto trans. All in all, not a bad night working with my wifey :stp:.
I did once build a carbon arc light for a school science project using two rods from D-cell batteries...Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenny_Z
I got the t-panel off using a 1in x 1/8in x 48in aluminium bar with one end sharpened to a chisel point. I found about 1lb of what looks like kitchen & bath clear caulk. I knew that the t-panel had been off before and someone had been messing with torsion bars.
??? Why did no one mention about there being a hard foam spacer under the t-panel ???
The electrical connections all look good, no corrosion, but there's plenty of rust around the walls. I scraped and vacuumed out what I could and exposed the rest to toxic levels of rust converter.
I found the end of the yellow-white wires, other end of which is used inside the doors. The yellow-white wires get to a connector in the roof-box but don't have a corresponding wire out the other side of the connector. I had previously routed the yellow-white wires in the doors into the mirror housings (when I was doing the heated mirrors project). I added connectors and brought the yellow-white wires down to the fuse area. The plan is to add indicators to the mirror housings - just haven't decided how yet (although I did rule out an arrow behind the mirror itself - the D's mirrors are already too small and making what's behind you even less visible due to indicators didn't make sense to me). The existing port (fixed sized opening) out the back of the roof box into the cabin roof is very full with wires!
Attachment 20629Attachment 20630Attachment 20631Attachment 20632Attachment 20633Attachment 20634Attachment 20635Attachment 20636Attachment 20637
Next up... roof separation fix and re-torquing the bars (mine are over torqued by a good measure).
Today, I went out to the garage to find a coolant leak here.
Attachment 20639
I fixed that, then started the engine to charge the air conditioning.
Oddly, the compressor would only run if I stuck jumpers in BOTH the high and low pressure switches. Anyone know how that works?
After two cans of R-134a had been sucked into the system, my vent temps weren't moving. I shut the engine off and heard a hissing sound.
I traced it to here.
Attachment 20640
Tightened it until the hissing stopped. Coincidentally, the nut wouldn't move anymore, either.
Pulled a vacuum again.
After pulling a vacuum for five minutes:
Attachment 20638
After sitting for 45 minutes:
Attachment 20641
Rage.
Removed the old crappy foglights and alarm system installed by a previous owner today. The door ajar light in the instrument cluster started working again! It hasn't worked since I got the car and I could never figure out why.
During my never ending interior work I really wanted to replace the carpeting, but with help needed in other places on my D I decided to pull every thing out and scrub the hell out of it. Some turned out nice others ehh, but it looks better then it did for sure. These are in order before and after .. My interior really does looke light blue.. Weird
Attachment 20642Attachment 20643Attachment 20644Attachment 20645Attachment 20646Attachment 20647Attachment 20648Attachment 20649Attachment 20650Attachment 20651Attachment 20652Attachment 20653Attachment 20654Attachment 20655Attachment 20656Attachment 20657
welcome to the forum... loving the handle & avatar. :headbang:Quote:
Originally Posted by TheSmokingMan
I posted my DeLorean up for sale...
http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?76...8Orlando-FL%29
:(Quote:
Originally Posted by Morpheus
Oh no! A dream deferred?Quote:
Originally Posted by Morpheus
I don't have enough free time or resources to put into this car what it needs. I need to reclaim some garage space and start looking for a D that I can drive.
I know exactly how you feel. I've been fooling with non-running D's for too long. It looks like I'm going to do a bodytub swap on 1045 so once 10077 is done and gone I'll get started on that. I need to get my wife's Challenger on the road first though, and possibly my Mini as well.
I changed her fuel pump on the side of the road. I guess my 30 year old unit finally bit the dust. Zero warning too. Unfortunately during the work I moved the pump from my trunk to my garage and forgot to put it back. I had to go back to the house to get it. Thankfully dad was just getting off work and was 5 minutes down the road when the pump failed. He was impressed at how easy it was to change the pump. By the way, if any of you do not own this I suggest getting it. http://www.amazon.com/Power-Probe-Ul...=power+probe+2 It saved me so much time testing and I was able to easily test the "new" pump before installing it.
I saw tons of people filming so Chris, be on the lookout for "idiot and DeLorean broke down in Foley" videos. ;)
Same thing happened when I had to change my pump on the side of the road. Girl stopped and asked if she could take a photo. I was dripping in sweat and not in a good mood but managed to say "sure".Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenny_Z
You are the man... And she thanks you... Never let them see you sweat... lol Ok we all do.... but they have no clue... Nice...Quote:
Originally Posted by Bitsyncmaster
Took it to work again. Spent my lunch planning a route home that avoided any road wider than one lane each way - I normally spend 20 miles on 10 traffic clogged lanes of gravel more commonly known as I-80. Discovered I can get from door to door on nothing but farmland twisties, though it takes twice as long. But it's way more fun :)
Built shelves for all my spare parts
Did a soap bubble test on the a/c fittings. Found a leak at, naturally, the evaporator/accumulator join. Turned on the fitting until I felt something give. The wrong size O-ring had been installed and had split, allowing the fitting to bottom out without making a good seal.
Oil in the compressor looked dirty. I drained it. There was barely any in there! Looks like I lost a lot of oil two years ago when the high pressure hose burst. Put in 6 oz. of fresh ester oil and re-installed it.
Trivia: a previous owner had installed the compressor with 7mm bolts. They're supposed to be 8mm. Also, use washers. Washers are nice.
Stripped out the right-hand upper idler pulley hole. Damn. Removed upper idler pulley. Bought a shorter belt (52"). Problem solved.
Sourced new O-rings at AutoZone, put everything back together again. While the vacuum pump sucked on the a/c system, worked on the cooling system: installed a coolant bleeder behind the radiator. Now there's one at the front and the back. I figured I might as well, since I was re-filling the antifreeze, anyway.
Back to the a/c system. Checked vacuum gauges. Looked good. Started charging the system. It acted like the orifice tube was blocked: insanely high pressures on the high side - 400-450 PSI. And no cold air from the vents. Well, shit. Here we go again.
The orifice tube had been installed backwards. Actually, it was a Variable Orifice Valve. I had broken the replacement orifice tube which came with the evaporator kit from DMCMW and found the VOV on sale online for $8 each so I figured I'd go whole hog. This one, installed backwards, broke when I removed it -- the filter screen portion was stuck in the evaporator tube. A piece of wire coat hanger bent into a J-shape was enough to yank on the plastic to get the filter screen out. Destroyed the filter in the process, but who cares?
Did I mention I had bought three VOVs?
Yanked a spare VOV off the shelf. It was difficult to get the new VOV up into the evaporator tube without pinching the filter screen (for grip) to where it, the filter screen, would be in danger of de-forming. I could get it to click once, but not twice.
Enter a cheap ballpoint pen - yank the guts out and the plastic tube is just the right size to push the black plastic of the VOV without disturbing the brass part that moves. Use that to push the VOV in until the second click, then put the filter screen in the adjoining pipe, put them together when you install the pipe on the evaporator tube and you're done: the tiny green O-ring will make the seal between the two parts of the VOV, as long as you didn't push the filter screen too far down the pipe. So, you know, don't do that.
Trimming some excess plastic from the very end of the filter screen element made it just flexible enough to go down the pipe. But not too far...
After 9pm. Didn't bother with a soap bubble test this time. Just put the vacuum pump on it and went to supper.
After supper, dumped a can of R-134a into the system and fired up the engine. The compressor came on. Dumped two more cans in. 65°F temps at the vents standing still.
Smiled, because of the car, for the first time in a long time.
Went for a quick drive. At 45 MPH, 54°F. Ambient temperature was 81°F with 85% humidity. The evaporator was draining onto the pavement. Fantastic!
One weird glitch: the compressor shut off, the cooling fans shut off, AND the blower motor shut off, all at the same time... then came on all at the same time. Will look into that tomorrow. Right now, I'm just happy that I have air conditioning.
2012 was an air-conditoning-free year. 2012 sucked. 2013 is looking better so far.
My guess is a bad connection or weak Circuit Breaker on the AC Fans, behind passenger seat....Quote:
Originally Posted by Farrar
Craig
Attachment 20735Attachment 20736
Engine/gearbox and body removed. I also made a rack for my body panels.
Circuit breaker does not power the compressor.Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverbullet
Looks like you have everything well organized and tidy, looks good.:wrenchin:Quote:
Originally Posted by Shuttleman
Guessing he did not REALLY know it the compressor shut off... You have to get out, lift louvers, lift engine cover... and look at clutch... I guess it was just no cold air...Quote:
Originally Posted by DMCMW Dave
Craig
My torsion bars had been tempered with and you could see that a hex bit that was too short was used before because it was difficult to drive my hex bit all the way in.
When I tried to back off the splined bracket I realized it was stuck on the bar. I then had to make a puller that fit on the hex bit and extension because it had to be pulled while someone was holding the torsion bar tension.
Looking at the splines you can see that they are twisted and tapered.The twist is due to the splined being engaged half way and the taper seems to come from torquing with hex bit not all the way in and probably not the right size too.
Now is there a way to improve the splines on my torsion bars, the bracket will go in only with hydraulic press.
Attachment 20738Attachment 20739
That is exactly my problem! Got the welded nut too and also a big hole in the roof beam to weld that nut that cut a bit of the fiberglass underneath!!Quote:
Originally Posted by DMCMW Dave
Bravo!
That spline twist does not look bad. Think I saw about the same on my car. Maybe just cleaning any burs off the bar and bracket will let it slide back on. I did buy new brackets for my car but I think the old ones would have worked fine.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shuttleman
That's because it's hard to see from the picture, I tried to press the bracket in and out a few times but I'mis still far from being able to slide it by hand.
Attachment 20754Attachment 20755
Went to a little meet-and-greet with some local owners.
Well, 66% local.
Attachment 20756
Attachment 20757
Attachment 20758
I would use a small jewlers diamond file, clean it up as best as you can, untill it slides on...Quote:
Originally Posted by Shuttleman
Craig
Installed some Infinity 32.9cf speakers I bought off eBay to replace the Craig speakers in the front. The 32.9cf speakers are no longer being made, but are fantastic. Huge improvement! The original Craig radio has no problem powering them.
I'll need to replace the rears as well, but those are harder to get to, is there a good "How To" on that? I've seen one off posts about using a heat gun or exacto knife to remove the rear panels, but no specific directions. Ideally I'd like to use a heat gun since I don't like the idea of cutting into the panels, but I've heard they don't reattach very well after being heated. Not sure if that is true or not.
Heat them. Whatever you do, don't cut them, they cannot be repaired. I don't know who is giving out the exacto knife info but they should be slapped.Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidProehl
They reattach just fine after heating, and the original glue will actually still adhere (and the weather-strip holds it together).
Thanks Dave! I figured as much. The thought of cutting into an unavailable part seemed like blasphemy. Is it just a matter of careful heating once the parcel shelf, seats, weather stripping, and anything else in the way is removed?Quote:
Originally Posted by DMCMW Dave
You only need remove the weather stripping, around four screws (one top and three-ish at bottom), and the seatbelt bolt cover.Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidProehl