Farrar's car blog

[Farrar]

It appears someone has a heater core for sale:

Honestly, I think I can just do without one.

Farrar

[sean]

Honestly, I think I can just do without one.

Farrar

I'd think so. So is a bypass I your future?

[stevedmc]

Hervey is alive and well. I just spoke with him on the phone and he is busy trying to get orders out today before 5pm.

[Farrar]

I got my H4 conversion kit today and am super excited -- they are GLASS on the front, ladies and gentlemen! For $22.11 a pop, that's pretty impressive. I also got 4 60/55W bulbs for $2.50 each.

The fixtures have small blue lights which have separate leads which I presume are meant to be running lights. But blue lights are only for law enforcement, right? So I guess I will leave them alone.

Farrar

I did some math and calculated that the 55-watt low-beam filaments will draw less than ten amps when engaged, but the 60-watt high-beam filaments will draw 20 amps when engaged. Therefore, I will be changing Fuse #15 to 30 amps after I install the new H4 headlamp units.

Farrar

I went about installing these today:



All went well to a certain point: swapping the two positive leads in the low-beam sockets was the easiest part, thanks to a small flathead screwdriver I had lying about. I recall reading on the old DMCTalk that someone else's housings required the holes in the rear of the headlight buckets to be enlarged; this is not required with the units I bought; they fit perfectly with no modifications. I did, however, remove the small blue running light in each housing and cover the resultant hole with white electrical tape.

As luck would have it, one of the screws holding the passenger-side high-beam lamp is rusted to where I can't get a screwdriver or pliers to grip it and turn it -- and as I was trying to turn it from the other side with pliers, a frog-strangling rainstorm started hurling itself down upon me at vicious speed. So I have three of four bulbs installed at the moment, and it appears a long time to think about how to remove that rusty screw in the interim.

I did, however, make sure that the bulbs worked correctly. They do, and even in daylight and with my fingerprints all over the glass it looks very nice!

Farrar

Since a normal screw extractor won't work, I bought one of those "grab-it" things tonight at The Home Depot. I will try again tomorrow.

Farrar

[Farrar]

The Grabit Pro thing I bought at Home Depot -- actually a set of three tools for $20 -- worked like a charm. In ten seconds the screw was out! I am keeping that thing with my power driver at all times.

I took some photos of the new H4 headlight setup, but the Internet at my house went down yesterday which is why I haven't posted them yet. Unfortunately while I was doing the work I noticed that Sparky is beginning to get some serious eyebrows. It looks like some aluminum bar stock is in my future... I only hope there's a way of installing the reinforcement without removing the fascia, which is something I don't trust myself to do without royally screwing up.

I forgot to change the high-beam fuse from 20 amps to 30 amps, but during a quick test of the setup, the fuse did not blow anyway. However, the engine was not running so I doubt the lights were pulling their maximum of 60 watts per bulb.

When I was applying RTV to the leak at the timing cover in an attempt to cure the oil leak for the Nth time (remind me to post a photo of my air cleaner -- you'll be amazed at what high humidity and an oil leak will get you), I noticed that the wire running to the oil sender had two different kinds of black electrical tape on it. Curious, and bearing in mind that I had some wire loom leftover from my earlier project, I decided to unwrap it and see what was up. It looks like at a certain point the insulation on that wire was melted away -- when I removed the tape, I could see a breach in the original insulation where copper could be seen. So just to be safe, I wrapped the entire length of wire, from where it split off to the light sender to where it goes down over the front of the timing cover, in silicone tape in lieu of the original (rubber?) heat insulation. Then I put the wire loom on it. With the extra little bit I had left over from that length, I covered the compressor wire. Why not -- it might as well match.

I also put wire loom on the otterstat leads before thinking last night while trying to sleep that the 25-amp door lock module circuit breaker, which only routes power to the engine compartment lights (136 milliamps x2), would be a good place to draw a constant source for Welmoed's otterstat mod -- that way if the otterstat fails "closed," I can quickly disconnect its power lead to prevent the battery from draining and use a jumper wire to re-connect it to its stock circuit so that it will run with the key on only. When it comes to fixing stuff, access is key.

After that work was done, which was about 40 minutes into what I assumed would be a nice long morning working on the car, I started feeling sick. I was already soaked with sweat and wetting everything I touched, so I figured it was the beginning of heat exhaustion and went inside. I started feeling better after a few hours, but by then it was even hotter outside and threatening rain. So I didn't get to do anything else.

There are competing theories as to my foggy glass situation: some folks think it's a leaky heater core, while others think it's out-gassing of an Armor-All-esque vinyl shiner. When I was at O'Reilly's yesterday afternoon I picked up some Meguiar's vinyl cleaner. The bottle says nothing about "shine" but it does say "deep cleaning," "protection," and "restores original appearance." I am hoping the "deep cleaning" part might be able to undo some of the harm that Armor-All (or whatever) has done to the interior of the car -- but, as I said, I didn't have a chance to try that yesterday.

I did take some photos of the H4 housings on the car which I will post later. In the photos, you can see that Sparky is developing eyebrows. I guess I will look for a "how to" on eyebrow repair and hope that I don't have to pull the fascia for that procedure.

Thanks for reading.

Farrar

Forgot to mention that as I was unpacking stuff from the move I located yesterday the weatherstripping with which I intend to replace the stock trunk seal. Looking forward to getting that done, and having fewer drips of water in the footwells after a hard rain.

Farrar

Pics as promised.

SANY0846.jpg

SANY0847.jpg

Farrar

[Farrar]

Last evening I received a package from Atolumination. It had been so long since I ordered anything from them I had forgotten what it was, but I realised that it had been sent to the wrong address, so I am lucky it found me eventually.

I ordered the brightest bulbs I could find for the door lights, plus two of the brightest 1156 LED modules they sell for my reverse lights. If I can manage it, I will put up some comparison photos in the next few days.

Farrar

I didn't get much done tonight, but here's what I managed:

Here are the new door lights from Autolumination.

SANY0848.jpg

Here are photos for comparison; the new units are on the driver's door; the old units are on the passenger's door.

SANY0850.jpgSANY0851.jpg

And here are the old units I removed. Considering the amount of rust on two of them, I'm surprised those were functioning at all.

SANY0852.jpg

Farrar

[Renee_1632]

Do you have any pics of the headlights at night? I'm hoping to replace mine soon, and I'd like to see how yours look.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Here are photos for comparison; the new units are on the driver's door; the old units are on the passenger's door.

SANY0850.jpgSANY0851.jpg
Farrar

Nice find on those door lights. I never liked the spot made by the old LEDs

[Farrar]

Nice find on those door lights. I never liked the spot made by the old LEDs

Thanks; neither did I. I can understand why people went to them in the first place (saving electricity), but the amount of light thrown by that first batch Houston came up with was pretty weak -- a curse of being an "early adopter," I suppose.

Do you have any pics of the headlights at night? I'm hoping to replace mine soon, and I'd like to see how yours look.

I've been busy every night this week so far, but I plan on aiming the headlights tonight when I get home from work. I should be able to get some photos then.

Farrar

My girlfriend insisted that we take the DeLorean to supper, despite my hesitation.

I think that's the last time she'll make that demand!

Sparky has now been towed home for the second time since I bought it. The first tow was, of course, after the infamous fire in the engine compartment which led to the car's nickname. Tonight, though, I have a mystery on my hands...

After running for five minutes or so, the engine will simply die. For the first couple of minutes, everything is great -- punch the gas, the engine revs. Oil gauge is jumpy but good. Voltmeter shows good. Everything works. Then the idle gets rough, and if you hit the gas the engine stops.

I tested this again after the engine had cooled down -- even if you don't punch the gas, the engine will die. It just takes longer for it to idle to a stop.

The fuel pump works, the carburetor bowl is full of fuel. Spark is fine. The only thing I can think of is that the engine isn't breathing properly. Since I took the air cleaner off and it did the same thing, then it must be the "exhale" which is causing the engine to bog down and give up, rather than the "inhale."

As much as I would love to troubleshoot this in the middle of the night, work tomorrow beckons. Good night.

Edit: I gave some incredibly-stressed-out-looking dude in a Chevy pickup some gas money while I was waiting for the tow truck. Maybe my Carma will improve...

Farrar

[sdg3205]

Hmm.

There's been a lot of trouble with carbed cars recently. Maybe its time to revisit K-Jet, Farrar! Look, there it is, waving to you from a box in the corner of your garage!


mmmmm k-licious.