The Restoration of #1768

[jawn101]

I had no idea how much you had done, honestly. It all looks great! Did you end up hi-temp painting your exhaust manifolds? I don't remember what they looked like from underneath, but I hate that red-rusty look. I definitely want to try and paint mine when the motor's out, as long as the studs cooperate that is...

[vwdmc16]

I dont remember painting them but in some pictures they are black. I do know I wire wheeled them. I have since bought some proper high temp paint and Ive done a test section that's lasted of for a few weeks so far. We can definitely paint yours with it but I'd really rather not pull your headers if they aren't leaking. We will have plenty to do when your engine comes out.

[jawn101]

I dont remember painting them but in some pictures they are black. I do know I wire wheeled them. I have since bought some proper high temp paint and Ive done a test section that's lasted of for a few weeks so far. We can definitely paint yours with it but I'd really rather not pull your headers if they aren't leaking. We will have plenty to do when your engine comes out.

Yeah, no question. I could be convinced to skip the headers. But since the muffler has to come off anyway I might try to get that painted.

[vwdmc16]

Aug 29 2009



I reinstalled the rear fascia which fits a bit better in some areas than last time but worse in others, I drove it around more probably 2 miles around the block, still runs ok and it doesnt overheat, the engine that is, but I sure do with no a/c or even a vent fan in the closed up black interior( The HVAC fan is rusted solid too. Still I enjoyed all of the stares and thumbs up from the few people around the block.





However im still having lots of trouble with the throttle linkage, even after messing with it the best I can I only yield about 90% when the pedal is all the way down and its still idling around 1800. Also while driving it cut out a few times and the tachometer turned off too at the same time. The tach needle starts to jitter and bounce in the lower rpm range so I think I have more bad electrical connections, sure enough if you pinch the distributor signal wire just right the engine will turn off. 30 year old bosch connectors starting to fail...


This is the where there are throttle adjustments, ive been spending alot of time here trying to get the idle down and keep as much throttle travel as posssible





some videos, show how she still is a bit rough

http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...t=CIMG2636.mp4

http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...t=CIMG2639.mp4


Primered and rebuild rear caliper, sadly Im missing one of the 4 parking brake pads which renders the whole system useless




Sept 2 2009


More hours of fiddling and removing the throttles for more cleaning and adjusting, I replaced the ball and socket throttle link that connects the throttle spool and the arm on the throttle shaft. The old one was steel but had way to much play and was replaced with a newer tighter plastic one from a early 90's volvo 240 which uses the same kind of linkage. This significantly improved the throttle feel and travel.

Also the ball on the throttle arm was getting loose, a hammer tightened that up since its attached like a conventional rivet.

[jawn101]

Is your whole throttle assembly off a Volvo or just the quadrant assembly? I didn't know that.

[vwdmc16]

Its the original dmc TB which is the same as the k jet volvos. later volvo 240s had the plastic ball sockets that fit better, ill get you one to try out

[vwdmc16]

Sept 5 2009


Dyno Time

A few months earlier the shop I worked at bought and installed a Mustang 2wd chassis dynometer, with most of the dyno's glitches out I could finally try out the delorean. The day was mildly successful. I found a few hoses and wire were in dangerous spots in high heat areas but the car wasnt making the power it should.





The biggest thing out of place was all the heat from the engine bay, I had fans going and was letting the car cool down between the short runs and then I saw the manifolds were glowing, I was looking all around for a culprit:

super rich idle fuel mixture? No
excessive fuel pressure? No
super retarded timing? No
Valve timing off? No it was running much too smooth for that
Stuck injector? No they all looked even when sprayed into a bottle

Finally I noticed the wire to the WUR was tighter than I remember it fitting and the cold start plug wasnt blue. It seemed in the last few days I had swapped these plugs, Now the cold start injector was on all the time and the WUR was never heating up which meant tons of excess fuel was being dumped in the intake.

a simple swap of the wires made a huge difference as you could imagine.





Finally I could get a proper baseline.

98hp and 110 ft tq



after some more leaning out of the fuel mixture with the CO adjustment using a 3mm allen and raising the timing up 2' from stock I got 104hp and 125 tq






We also had a set of scales so I was able to weigh the car too, now there were a few parts left off such as the passenger seat, and lower engine lid, so about 65 more lbs is the realistic weight, I also had just a few gallons in the fuel tank.






2666lbs with 36.9/63.1% F/R

[jawn101]

Sept 5 2009


Dyno Time

A few months earlier the shop I worked at bought and installed a Mustang 2wd chassis dynometer, with most of the dyno's glitches out I could finally try out the delorean. The day was mildly successful. I found a few hoses and wire were in dangerous spots in high heat areas but the car wasnt making the power it should.

I'd love to put 2100 on the dyno one of these days. I have no idea if it feels like it's supposed to or makes much power. The only other person who'd ever let me drive their car is you, and yours isn't exactly a stock config

[vwdmc16]

LED Install

Oct 3 2009


After returning from Houston visiting family brought back some $500 of parts from DMC houston. Sadly all $500 fit in one plastic shopping bag but they are all important parts, I now had proper working electric door locks, the digital door module works great as the original was long dead. I also pruchased all the LEDs I needed to replace every bulb in the dash cluster and HVAC panel, ive bee removing more parts than replacing lately, getting to know the inner workings of the interior better.

New dash circuit board as mine was torn and delaminating. lots of little nuts and hard to see screws to remove the binnacle and cluster.





also pulled the T panel for cleaning, dent repair and regraining, luckily mine wasnt glued down well and was easy to remove.




A new trip reset button for the odometer as mine had snapped off years ago. Red tape to mark the needle after I take it off and reinstall it.





Interior is a mess now.





I removed the left rear quarter to clean up inside it and repair a dent in the lower corner which you may have noticed in earlier pics. Also found some neat cave drawings in there too.




Deno L.? who ever he was he sure liked writing his name 3 times on my fender.





What I want most of all is to just to go drive my baby!




Oct 4 2009


Left Rear Suspension Overhaul


I decided to remove the left rear suspension for restoration, it was the same work as performed on the passenger side.







Found a bit more rust, only surface rust this time, some sanding and POR15l fixed it.

[vwdmc16]

Nov 8 2009

left rear suspension done I returned to do more interior work. Heres the result of the suspension.






Faffing with the Interior


The headliners were all saggy but not ripped, however the rear support panel was not fit to be re used, I made a new backing for it out of plastic cardboard, this will not absorb mositure and begin to rot and sag like the facotry one did, I was able to reuse the headliner material after I cleaned it off, had some strange white stains on it, I wont ask, but it came out well.

My carmera had finally died so I dug out my 8 yr old digital camera to use untill i could get a new one, sorry about the poor quality pics.
floor jack and 2x4 really help ensure the head liner will bond to the roof. clothes pins are my friends!






Also re glued the door jam vinyl





Center console is together after I installed a new seal on the A/C mode switch and the new LEDs




Nov 10 2009


While I dont drive the car yet, I still would tweak the engine a bit but somehow the exhaust heat shields have come loose from their welds on the cross over pipe. This caused a horrible rattle when running so until I can remove it to re weld them i installed some stainless hoseclamps around the tube to stop the noise


Dent Repair


I also got around to repairing the worst dent on the car in the right rear quarter, now for any of you who have done body work, you probably used fillers but here I cant with no paint to cover it, so 6hrs with a hammer and sanding it almost impossible to see. I had a old timer body guy give me a hand, He had doubts that it could be perfectly smooth again but we were both happy with the result. Also as you can see he did a big No-no when repairing stainless, he filed some diagonal reference marks in the the metal, that is alright when you are going to repaint the car and or use a skim coat of filler but looks horrible on stainless as it doesnt follow the fore-aft grain. This just took another 20 minutes of graining to remove though.








Repainted the sweet licence frame and the bezel