VIN 11596 Frame Swap - a rolling frame-off restoration

[82DMC12]

OK, turns out the DPI battery tie-down is actually nylon straps going through a spring-loaded tensioner. I said it was velcro in the last post but once I got it out of the bag I see I was incorrect!

Super easy install - four M6 nyloc nuts on the outside of the car to remove, withdraw the old strap brackets (mine had no buckles anymore), vacuum out the compartment, and install the new ones. They are stainless so will last forever. I'm thinking I will actually put a bit of RTV under each exterior washer to make sure it is waterproof. It's a very high quality set and the price reflects it.

I also updated my other front turn signal and installed a weather pack connector for it and then replaced the lighting harness cable clips and stainless hardware that goes into the body.

I don't really have anything else to work on at the moment until Monday when my A/C adapters arrive!

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Old battery-acid damaged straps









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New strap kit installed. The other wires you see to the right of the battery are for the stereo system. I'd love to replace that section of carpet however it doesn't seem to be available anymore.

[82DMC12]

Back at it with the air conditioning last night!

I received my pad-to-female o-ring 90 degree adapters yesterday and test fit everything, cutting the main lines to the proper length and then installing the EZ Clip ends to them. What a breeze!

I then installed a new #12 o-ring on the Accumulator-to-compressor connection and a new #10 o-ring on the top condenser connection. Lubed with Nylog and tightened up. Same with the connections on the back of the compressor and the o-rings on the main lines. Finally, once again, able to do a pressure test!

I filled the system up to 200 PSI, let it sit for about 30 minutes to make sure it appears my high pressure gauge was holding steady, then closed all connections and removed my gauges. I put them back on this morning before work and found no change in pressure. I will leave it alone until tonight and if it's still OK I'm going to call it a day and press on.

With that good news, I then went about installing the radiator duct back to the car. This is such a finicky piece of junk made worse by using a non-OEM parallel flow condenser with connections a bit closer together than OEM. Last time I just jammed the duct up in there but I want to be better this time around. So, I made a couple measurements and used a coping saw to cut longer notches out on the driver side of the duct so the new A/C lines can come out without contacting the duct. I smoothed it all out with a sanding wheel on a dremel and then finally got it installed which also involved loosening up each radiator bracket one at a time to get the duct on top of them. I hope I don't have to remove this duct again for a very long time.

I have also scheduled an alignment with a good shop about 5 miles from my house. I've gone for a few test drives but didn't feel comfortable hitting highway speed or getting too far from home without the duct installed or a proper alignment. This will be a big step to finishing up this frame-off project!

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Test fitting the EZ Clip hoses and the orientation of the 90 degree adapters so I can clear the oil fill cap and not interfere with the dipstick. And make it look good cosmetically, of course.








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Hoses clamped and in final position. I don't like the OEM plate that holds the adapters to the compressor, it seems like the pressure is a bit uneven on the inner (pressure) fitting. The adapters came with a new plate but it needs to use an allen cap screw to fit to the compressor. I need to get a different screw to thread into my head so I might be replacing this.









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Another view of the final routing. I will be tucking the hoses up to the sway bar using two-sided velcro tape.











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Radiator duct re-installed and notched for my condenser lines.











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Passenger side duct fits fine








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Will be replacing the five nuts and washers that go on the grill with stainless hardware









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Gauges hooked up once again with nitrogen in the system








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So far so good, holding 200 PSI










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I will be using some leak detection dye when I recharge the system later this week.

[82DMC12]

Nitrogen is looking good so I'm hoping to recharge either Friday or this weekend. I disconnected the hoses from the back of the compressor one more time this morning so I could try to install the retaining bracket that came with my adapters. It would provide a bit more even pressure on the back of the adapters compared to the OEM bracket. Unfortunately, the intended way the bracket should be installed doesn't work in my situation because in order to clear the oil filler spout, I need the high side adapter turned in a way that interferes with the bracket design. For some reason there is a square part in the center of the bracket which prevents you from turning the adapters 360 degrees. Pretty stupid. I flipped the bracket around and tried to use a longer bolt but that didn't work either - the other side of the backet is not planed flat enough. Oh well, back to the original bracket. I filled up nitrogen one more time to make sure it's still sealed up. Unless there is a problem, I shouldn't have to remove these hoses again.

I also installed some brighter reverse lamps. I switched to LED's for all of my lights except the turn signals but I found the superbrightLED 1156's to be too dim for any actual night time back up illumination. I had bookmarked these LED's as a brighter option and finally ordered and installed them today. BIG difference!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H54SP6O

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This is the 90 swivel adapter I'm using for the SD7H15 compressor. As you can see, the retaining bracket has a square section in the middle that prevents you from spinning the adapters 360 degrees. The back side of the bracket is counter-sunk so the allen screw would be fully set into the other side. Unfortunately it's not perfectly flat on the back side so it can't be flipped over and reliably used to retain the adapters. I could have a machine shop plane it and rough up the back though.... hmm.






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New 1,700 lumen 1156 bulb in my hand, Superbright LED mounted on the board. Big difference. The superbright looks cheap.










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The new bulb also has a lens facing outward to help focus the light.










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New bulb on the left, old superbright bulb on the right. The phone camera doesn't really do it justice. The old bulbs were worthless for actual illumination of your surroundings!

[82DMC12]

Not just a big day today, but a HUGE day! Today was Alignment Day!

I've been on a handful of progressively longer test drives until I was confident that all systems are working properly (except A/C which needed a charge but does appear leak-free), no overheating, fans are working, clutch and brakes are good, and no surprises. The chassis has felt darty and a bit goofy but I figured an alignment would take care of that since everything was mostly just "slapped together" in the sense that I tried to keep the suspension settings the same as they were on my old frame so it's at least "close". Sometimes I just had to eye-ball it. I put three shims per side on the trailing arms.

I made an appointment with a family-owned shop that I had brought the D to before when I needed the A/C recharged after changing all the hoses out a few years back. They have a good reputation and they remembered the car, also saying "no problem" when I asked if it would be all right for me to hang out on the shop floor so I can show the tech working on the alignment a few things regarding the additional caster and camber control.

Once they had the car pulled in and on the rack, they let me come out and talk about the alignment settings (I brought the service bulletin with all the details in it) and I went over the Toby Tabs and how it all works. The tech had not seen a DeLorean before but understood perfectly what needed to be done. They had a Hunter unit which of course already has all the stock specs loaded into it.

All went well, we ended up putting 6 shims on the driver side and 4 on the passenger side. Lots of camber adjustment in the rear due to the lowered coilovers but we got back to -0.75 degrees. The SAI was virtually zero which the tech said is almost unheard of, suggesting that the frame must be very square and free of twists or damage.

On leaving the shop, it was a fantastic sunny Friday morning so I went for a cruise, enjoying a car that once again FEELS RIGHT. An alignment made a big difference in making the car feel like a car and not just a janky project!

I made sure to take a few under chassis photos while we were under there.

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[glockworks21]

Looks great Andy. Nice work.

[82DMC12]

The punch list is getting smaller and of course I have now started to work on other little projects.

Since the last update, I managed to get the A/C vacuumed and then charged up enough to operate however the ambient temperature remains pretty low in Kansas City. I know it is a bit under charged at the moment so I will be checking it again on the first "hot" day we have this spring. However, the compressor is kicking on and functioning, blowing very cold air out of the dash at idle. I added about a tablespoon of UV dye so I can monitor any leakage but the system does appear to be tight now.

After the alignment, the car is driving very well and I will continue to experiment with different dampening settings on the coilovers.

I met up with David Hudgins at the Plaza in Kansas City last weekend which was the longest drive I've been on since the body went back on the frame!

The next morning, I was going to check something in the frunk when I tried to pull hood release and found it to be loose with no tension - however the release cable was still attached on both sides. The trunk would not open! It seemed like something had come apart at the latch but of course I could not see what was happening because the hood was still closed. I do have a backup cable installed but that did not seem to be working either. I tried both rattling the hood up and down while pulling on either cable, pushing down on the center of the hood, etc. but no luck. Rob Grady showed me a photo of a bent wire he uses to sneak in under the hood and manually pull the release. I tried to make one similar but working blind with the experience of The Master was a frustrating experience.

Finally I decided to remove the headlights and disconnect the hinges from the front of the car, and then lift the hood up from the front. This also required disconnecting the hood courtesy lamp, the quarter panel ground braid, and the hood struts (from inside). Once I had the hood lifted up a bit I could see that the clevis rod had fallen out of the latch lever. I was able to use a broom stick to manually move the lever and free my hood. Note that this is a very risky and dangerous method and I don't recommend it. Very easy to damage the hood or the fascia via the hinges. Personally I was not too opposed to doing this because I was actually going to be restoring my headlight buckets, frames, and hardware later this year anyway. How the clevis rod came out, I'm not sure, but I was not able to find the cotter pin! I must admit it's possible I did not put the cotter pin back in place when I installed my backup cable. Maybe? I'm not sure. My backup cable was still attached to the lever however I underestimated how much effort was needed to pull it. It's possible the backup cable would have worked if I had pulled even harder but I was worried about breaking it. I am going to look at the backup cable routing and how to use it better in the future.

I installed a new cotter pin and all is well again.

The hood is still off the car as I have now removed all of the head light brackets and adjustment hardware, the hinges, my grill logo, and both wiper arms and dropped them off with Hudgins to get them cleaned up and powder coated. All new hardware for everything is also ordered from Belmetric.

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Hood after disconnecting the hinges from behind the headlights.









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This is what I found once I got the hood up. The U-shaped puller was not connected to the lever anymore and the clevis rod was laying on my carpet. No clevis pin or cotter pin found, though!





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Only shot I have of the old rusty headlight brackets and buckets. Getting powder coated now!








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The release wire should look something like this but it was really tough to judge how deep to make the downward bend. Once I got the hood off, I did confirm that the wire *WORKS* if only I had the right angle and bends to it. I am going to re-bend it now that the hood has been freed and practice using it!

[Helirich]

Your car certainly looks good underneath! That business with the hood is scary. I need to look into a backup cable.

Thanks for posting.

[82DMC12]

Your car certainly looks good underneath! That business with the hood is scary. I need to look into a backup cable.

Thanks for posting.

Yes, that damn hood latch can be a show-stopper especially if I had been out of town. No way easy way to get gas into the car if you don't have the gas flap.

Regarding the backup release cable, I know I had tested it when I first installed it and I was satisfied it worked. However this time the loop quickly came uncrimped while I was tugging on it and then I was afraid I would break the cable on the latch side, and I didn't know if I would need it to get the hood open at some point. By the time I got the hood off the car, I could see the backup was still connected and it probably would have worked if I had wrapped it around a wrench or something and tugged hard. Part of the problem is the backup was routed into the driver foot well. This means the cable has to go behind the steering column and poke around around the inertia switch. It's an awkward place to pull and it gets friction from other things in the firewall.

I am considering drilling a hole and adding a grommet in the clutch access cover, then feeding a backup cable through there which would be accessed by the wheel well. This would be a more direct pull and possibly easier to use. There is also a method where you can loop the backup cable around the driver side hood bump stop so you can pull on it from outside the car. That would also work.

Anyway, I am going to make sure this is bulletproof and never happens again!!

[82DMC12]

A couple weeks now since my last update - but life is good!

What have I been working on? Well I am now at the point where I am working on many small projects/issues in the pursuit of perfection.

• The headlight buckets, brackets, grill logo, hood hinges, and wiper arms have all been re-finished and reinstalled
• Toby's Wings-A-Light LED quad headlight set installed
• Dorman headlight adjusters installed and new springs
• hood aligned and bump stops re-installed with black RTV
• New hood release backup cable installed, this one is longer and has a couple other changes I prefer. Confirmed working!
• New Bosch beam wipers installed

All of those items wrapped up my hood release debacle and headlamp refurbishment that resulted from it.

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[82DMC12]

Back to back updates because I wanted to close out the last chapter....

I believe I can finally say that my frame-off / frame-swap is complete. I am no longer working on any projects or outstanding issues related to the frame replacement project, or any of the other rabbit holes it took me down!

If I had to say there is anything at all remaining, it is that I have an intermittent cross gate cable issue where sometimes the shifter is butter-smooth, other times it feels like the shifting is a bit notchy or "off" but I am still able to get all gears at all times. I am not going to make any further adjustments unless it gets worse because I do plan to replace the crossgate cable as soon as DPI has a new one back in stock. However that's not stopping me from driving the car.

Other issues addressed lately:

• Accidentally installed the passenger side fender stay upside down so my passenger side front tire was rubbing it at full-lock, only noticed when reversing out of my garage and into the street. Rooking mistake (as per Rob Grady). Flipped it over today and of course everything is good now.
• Low pressure switch on the accumulator is new but the plug was flakey. I cut the plug off and installed insulated flag terminals directly to the spades. No issue now.
• Finished charging the A/C
• Zip tied various hoses, fuel lines, etc out of danger's way particularly in the fuel accumulator area so they don't hit the shift levers or bell crank.
• Re-fastened all three knee pads better than before, this was a source of squeaking during driving
• Cleaned up connectors on the blower motor for the HVAC
• Hooked up +12 cable for my stereo system and adjusted settings back to how I like them, set up bluetooth, applied silicone spray to the retracting antenna
• Replaced A/C idler pulleys / bearings with new DPI set
• Replaced shift boot and frame with DPI stainless boot frame and a new leather boot from redlinegoods
• Added a short hose extension to the A/C drain tube, this allows the water drip to the ground rather than dripping onto the frame and fuel tank plate first
• Replaced header bottle boil-out hose with a longer hose zip tied to the passenger side rear quarter stay, this will allow coolant to blow out under the car instead of onto the frame/ rear fascia / exhaust
• Checked dwell and made a slight mixture adjustment
• Replaced a couple of electrical spade connections at the ignition resistors

And of course as any DeLorean owner knows, the punch list is never ending. However, I am now at a point where the car is totally drivable (even took it to work the other day), looks phenomenal, and is absolutely more reliable both mechanically and electrically than ever in my ownership. The remaining items on my punch list are either cosmetic or tiny details.

After all this work, it's very strange standing in the garage looking at the car on a Saturday afternoon and feeling like there's nothing else for me to work on right now!

I'm really looking forward to enjoying the car this driving season and, of course, showing it off at both DeLorean events and local events!