The Restoration of #1768

[jawn101]

Wow, that old engine pic shows how far your car has come! I'd love to take a long trip like that one of these days. We should see if David wants to caravan with us somewhere.

[vwdmc16]

Aug 19 2010


Little Improvements



I hadn't driven the car in weeks which was unsual but after a full weekend I was bit tired of being in the car. I placed another $300 order from DMC Houston, new LED window switches to replace the dying original window switches. My console looks a bit blue in this picture huh? I bet it could use a re dye.







Also have new door seals, screw set, pedal pads, and other goodies.
Now where to put that "Delorean" script?

worn out pedal covers:





I found some liquid form of BFK, and found it easier to apply but it still likes to go down in the door seams and make a mess. but still it is the business when it comes to cleaning stainlesss.





September 4 2010


Air-conditioning at Last


Finally all my AC parts had arrived, one of the main reasons I hadnt driven the car is so long it that I kinda vowed not to until I made the AC work, I was that put off after the Arizona trip.

I ordered the parts From Hearvy and over all it was a nice kit, the AC pressure switch was the wrong thread pitch so I was out another $5 for a generic one with coarse threads from a local auto store. Installing the hose was a bit of a pain, It would have been harder without a lift too. The hardest part was getting the Drier tightened with the huge fittings and small spaces but with diligence and determination I was able to get it air tight. I now had a complete and possibly working AC system but it would be and other week or so until I could fill it at a friends place who had the compressor and filling equipment.

[vwdmc16]

October 10 2010

Ive been doing some more work here and there but mostly driving it, enjoying the summer weather, Finally had the AC charged and working! Oh what a great thing It blows real nice an cold, all the way to freezing, man I love it, it totally changed the way the car feels to drive with cold air in the face while the windows are up.




New compressor: You can see that Im still running the Ghetto throttle return spring, soon that would change







Hit 40k miles. Another great feeling



louvers have undergone a great many hours of sanding and now the painting is nealy done







Now for the first time in a year now, I can start the car up and it will idle at 700-900rpm all day at any temp, I had a few other threads out to help diagnosis the faulty idle air system, and the problem was the least likey of all the suggestions, the ecu was dead, well amongst others like an incorrect relay. I bought a good used Leerlaufregler ( idle ECU) off Turbobricks.com the volvo forum for just $50 instead of the $190 that vendors ask, the new unit has part #008 (vs dmc 009) and has 6 pins on the right plug ( #7 and 10 that the dmc unit doesnt) for and AC clutch input to raise the idle up some.




Next I removed the rear fenders for painting of the rear pontoon and repairing of the louver strut bracket.
Ive posted pics of the issue before and finally I could correct it:

The strut mount was nearly an inch off to the rear which caused the louvers to open at a horribly crooked angle. The fender was off in record time and was off to my shop.





and bit of drilling and a sharp chisel and the bracket is off





Realigning and a quick Tig weld later




Back home begin sanding the pontoon and painting with SEM Trim Black, I used about a full can for this section

[Chris Burns]

October 10 2010

Ive been doing some more work here and there but mostly driving it, enjoying the summer weather, Finally had the AC charged and working! Oh what a great thing It blows real nice an cold, all the way to freezing, man I love it, it totally changed the way the car feels to drive with cold air in the face while the windows are up.




New compressor: You can see that Im still running the Ghetto throttle return spring, soon that would change









Hit 40k miles. Another great feeling



louvers have undergone a great many hours of sanding and now the painting is nealy done







Now for the first time in a year now, I can start the car up and it will idle at 700-900rpm all day at any temp, I had a few other threads out to help diagnosis the faulty idle air system, and the problem was the least likey of all the suggestions, the ecu was dead, well amongst others like an incorrect relay. I bought a good used Leerlaufregler ( idle ECU) off Turbobricks.com the volvo forum for just $50 instead of the $190 that vendors ask, the new unit has part #008 (vs dmc 009) and has 6 pins on the right plug ( #7 and 10 that the dmc unit doesnt) for and AC clutch input to raise the idle up some.




Next I removed the rear fenders for painting of the rear pontoon and repairing of the louver strut bracket.
Ive posted pics of the issue before and finally I could correct it:

The strut mount was nearly an inch off to the rear which caused the louvers to open at a horribly crooked angle. The fender was off in record time and was off to my shop.





and bit of drilling and a sharp chisel and the bracket is off





Realigning and a quick Tig weld later




Back home begin sanding the pontoon and painting with SEM Trim Black, I used about a full can for this section

Great work!

Did the new ECU plug in or did you have to modify it any?

[vwdmc16]

I believe there were some plastic pins in the connector, used to block dust i suppose from getting in the normally empty wire slots. Those were easily removed with pliers, then it was a plug in situation, same rpm values too.

[vwdmc16]

Nov 22 2010

Changed the oil with some valvoline VR1 20w 50 which has more ZZDP in it to help engine life. Its also a bit thicker than what I was using before, as I had noticed after a long or hot drive the engine oil light would flicker a bit at idle. The exhasut was also leaking again, ive been driving it in the rain alot and im impressed at how well it grips in the wet considering the tires are nothing impressive. I have been noticing more and more interior noise and road noise latley, maybe im just paying attention.I found that if i drive real smoothly and at or under 65mph i can net over 27mpg which is far better that the 19-22mpg my lead foot usually earns, however im too impatient for that.


Here's a bomb shell, the D had now become the only car that I own that I can drive now. My '89 Corrolla has a intermittent fuel cut out if you give it much throttle, im thinking its the map sensor now, My Isuzu trooper was having problems with the EGR valve thus I couldnt smog it, I sold my Ghia a while ago, and my Honda z600 project is years off from driving. Oh the joys of having too many cars.







Jan 6 2011


Spent the holidays in Houston which ment the obligitory trip to DMCH for another $400 batch of parts, some gaskets, seals, updated headlight switch, new defrost switch to match the window switches, and a bunch of other bits.


Nothing wrong when I came back, expect for a slow leak from the RR tire, so I took it to my friend Loren's Goodyear shop, loving the free service.





EFI the Beginning



I found a '88 Volvo 760 with a PRV v6 at the local junkyard, this has a better fuel injection system. the car had 290k miles! and the interior was incredible, it must have been well loved right up to the point it was crashed.

so I Finally found the EFI I was looking for, a Bosch LH jetronic 2.2, I took the whole harness, ecu, throttle body ( which is bigger than the Eagle premier TB and it bolts on) and air intake with MAF. all for a bit over $100

Now I still have to fabricated a few things before i can attach it to my 2.8 engine such as fuel rail attachments, a better TB system since im quite sick of the stock dual throttles, then mount the MAF to that system along with a EFi fuel pump. After that it should be very simple to install and require a bit of tuning with injector sizes to get it running nicely

Better volvo TB




So I began stripping the harness of the unessesaries, headlights and park light circuits, etc this slimmed up that harness quite a bit:

before


after

[vwdmc16]

Jan 26 2011




Installed a new radio deck in the dash, car now has BLuetooth speakerphone, a 3" video display and a bunch of neat features, no more CD player though. but I could now watch BTTF in my car








Also finally found a good windshield washer bottle container on Ebay, just $20 instead of the $99 ones from a vendor.




Trying out some ideas for facilitating the bosch EFI, Chief of which is the need for a better throttle body system as the stock twin throttles are too sensitive mid throttle, can not quite reach WOT, and require a fast blip of the pedal to full set back to idle, even the heavier springs ive installed have not helped.

This is a volvo 740 16v TB, its very simple to mount and is a great size, and the proper TPS will screw on directly, I just need to make an adaptor plate, a rod to connect the two and modify the throttle spool linkage. I would like to retain the stock air filter system to really help keep the engine appear semi stock ( as to fool a smog tech un familiar with DMCs that it is stock) so I will have to build another W pipe to connect the two throttles together, into a MAF then the air filter.




Did some firewall cleaning too, ive never liked the bracket on the far side fire wall that holds the ignition ballast and the engine light switch ( which doesnt fit in the bracket properly) so untill I design and create a better looking one ive, clamped the ballast under the lid prop bracket ( which I made from scratch as well if you can tell)




Also took a trip to Plesanton,ca and picked up a RR quarter panel from a CL ad. just $100 as it had been from a fire victim car, I will use for stainless body work practice or patch panels, in the mean time ill clean it up and display it in my house, Yeah I was single...

[jawn101]

Wow, that spare panel looks a LOT better now. Amazing how nicely this stainless cleans up.

[vwdmc16]

Oh yeah, scrubbing and regraining can do huge wonders





Jan 30 2011


I began installing the windshield washer bottle and container, however all but 2 of the rivnuts have spun so I had to rip them out.







The new container with the remains of the original.





Bottle back in with new washer pump.





I had to use self tapping screws for now until I can get new rivnuts and epoxy them in.





Fir the first time in a decade the windshield has a working sprayer, now with new hose and nozzle.






Feb 9 2011

Bought some more SEM black and painted the windshield header.




Next I worked on one of the last remaining sections of the car I havent cleaned, the top door jams. to do the job properly the doors should come off, but honestly removing the doors scares me, not for fear of breaking the torsion bars or damaging the heavy door but fear of losing my incredible door alignment, ive never opened the door of any other delorean that had opened or closed as well as 1768's do. So I just cleaned the best I could.

This is how bad they were, the driver side is next.







After 2 hours of scrubbing, brushing and cutting out the old silicone sealant I resealed the steel roof panel with new sealant then painted with some SEM.







While the paint was out, I freshened up the airbox and installed the NOS sticker

[vwdmc16]

April 9 2011


I responded to a Craigslist ad requesting a delorean for a photoshoot for Comstocks Magazine. I was payed $50 to have it in the background of a shot about a local business man opening a new construction site. I was also give a neat hi res pic of my car, very cool.





It was a fun experience, they were trying out a few styles and using a fog machine.






One of my axle boots failed and began throwing grease around but changing a boot out is simple.







While the rear was up I changed the trans oil even though the oil only had about 4k miles on it. I was eagar to try a new synthetic lube called MTL. Ive heard that it helps older syncros tremendously. at $13 a quart I was sure hoping it would. The only issue was that this oil was NOT to be used in transaxles with high offset hypoid gears or rear differentials as it cant handle that shear stress. After a call to Redline they confirmed that the oil was ok to use in the DMC's UN1 tranaxle as is was a low offset hypoid gearset.

Afterwards I found this oil to do the trick and live up to its hype, the 1-2 shift was improved considerably and 2-3 no longer buzzed. I highly recommend this oil if you own a wearing transmission.






lots of brass coming out the oil drain, syncros dying