What have you done to your DeLorean today?

[PJ Grady Inc.]

Rob, in your experience, how many miles can a properly maintained PRV accrue before it requires a rebuild/replacement. Also considering no major overheating problems.

Well Iris' car for instance got the new engine at 90K when it developed a coolant leak at the liner base from corrosion which could not be easily fixed and new complete engines where a bargain at that point in time. It also had a history of overheating with the original dealer so this could have caused the failure which I think was premature. I think the PVR crank, rods, pistons and liners are bulletproof and can go hundreds of thousands of miles (with a few head gasket changes perhaps) and no history of overheating. Most people just don't drive them long enough to find out.
Rob

[DMC-81]

Today was a busy day of finishing the work on my quarter panels so I can permanently install them.

Masked and painted the quarter panel louvers with 2 coats of SEM Trim Black paint...
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While the quarter panels were off, I cleaned off the old glue from the outer door seals as I will replace them. I used carburetor cleaner, a razor blade, and a blue (non scratch) scotch brite pad.
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3 new captive spire nuts..
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All completed and installed except reattaching the rocker panel...
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Next up is installing the rear fascia.

[Jason]

My engine made it to 178k miles before it developed a small head gasket leak (exhaust into the coolant) which I used as an excuse to do a rebuild using DPI Spec 2 parts. I probably could have gotten away with just replacing the head gaskets and resurfacing the heads.

Well Iris' car for instance got the new engine at 90K when it developed a coolant leak at the liner base from corrosion which could not be easily fixed and new complete engines where a bargain at that point in time. It also had a history of overheating with the original dealer so this could have caused the failure which I think was premature. I think the PVR crank, rods, pistons and liners are bulletproof and can go hundreds of thousands of miles (with a few head gasket changes perhaps) and no history of overheating. Most people just don't drive them long enough to find out.
Rob

[Farrar]

"The easy way" is very risky Farrar as whatever varnish dissolves will reappear elsewhere when the car sits for any length of time unless you're lucky enough to completely burn it off. If it's too late and you've driven the car you may damage some very expensive components. At least drive the car until the engine light comes on and then fill it again and run another whole tank down till the light comes on again and repeat another time. Do not let the car sit long until this is done or you may be in for an unpleasant and very expensive surprise.
Rob

Rob, apologies for the late reply.

My engine does not run. The fuel pump still works, so I plan to cycle the gas out every week or so. Some time next year, #2613 will get a replacement engine -- May or June, probably.

Edit: Misread what you said earlier -- now I see we were talking about two different cars. Oops, I guess I am up past my bedtime! LOL

[Jonathan]

Great stories Rob, thanks for sharing.

Out of those 100k mile cars, any idea how many were automatics as opposed to manuals? Thomas, is that part of your records? Just curious more so than wanting to know specifics about one car versus another.

Many people don't speak highly of automatics for one reason or another, maintenance issues being one of them. Would be ironic if a disproportionate amount of high mileage cars were autos though. Or if that meant more higher mileage cars were owned by women. Not because women are only driving autos, but because maybe they don't come with as much male machoness and might actually go easy on their cars a little more, helping them last longer.

[mr_maxime]

Changed my taillight boards to new DMC ones and the bulbs to LEDs except blinkers until I install the new relay. Tip for checking the lights alone, lift the louvres, take off the taillights and prop them on the engine cover facing the interior. The reverse did not work when I checked with one board swapped, but worked when both were. Do both sides stop working if one isnt?

[Citizen]

Out of those 100k mile cars, any idea how many were automatics as opposed to manuals? Thomas, is that part of your records? Just curious more so than wanting to know specifics about one car versus another.

Actually, yes. There are now 16 cars, and of them, 12 are manual transmissions, 3 are automatics, and 1 is unknown.

Thomas

...

[Jonathan]

Thanks Thomas. If that unknown car is an auto, that's 25% of the high mileage cars that are automatics. Less than 25% if it is a manual trans. That's a fair bit lower than the overall average for cars produced, with about one third being autos (IIRC).

.....

I removed my rear fascia this afternoon. Used some good instructions from a few of the guys that wrote it up in the "how to remove rear fascia" thread. Specifically Nick's list of steps from the times he's done his with the Vette engine. I thankfully didn't have any of those extra nuts and bolts into the pontoon and accessed from the charcoal canister or air inlet areas. And thankfully nothing broke off while disassembling things.

The main project I have to do is to epoxy those replacement SS studs into the plastic. I got a replacement edging strip (heatshield) ages ago, but out of the 7 studs that match up with the holes in the heatshield, only one is in place (I have 7 replacement studs from Midwest). I wondered though if there are actually supposed to be nine across that lower edge of the plastic bumper? The seven for the heatshield and then an additional one on each side to secure those corner trim pieces to? Anyone have a photo of a fascia removed from the car and showing the backside with those studs? My car doesn't have anything there and it looks again like another part of my car that was being held together with only the Force.

Great access to the backside of the engine though with that off. Will be tidying up some and inspecting areas I couldn't see well before. I think I can almost see the electrical connection for that thermistor in the valley. Mine isn't plugged on all the way and I may be able to get at it enough to wiggle it back on. Way easier to work on the idler puller bearings with the fascia off too so maybe do that job finally as well.

My foam shock absorber part stayed attached to the frame and did not come off with the fascia. Assume this is meant to be? I don't have any reason to remove it, so figured I'd just leave it as is for now.

Rear fascia removed 2015-12-09.jpg

[Rich_NYS]

I removed my rear fascia this afternoon.

~~~

My foam shock absorber part stayed attached to the frame and did not come off with the fascia. Assume this is meant to be? I don't have any reason to remove it, so figured I'd just leave it as is for now.

Rear fascia removed 2015-12-09.jpg

Looks like mine!

The black stuff on mine is peeled much worse than yours. I've seen others that had the black stuff cleaned off, looks much better than what I have so I might go that route.

Are you going to do anything to the foam, or leave it as is?

[Jonathan]

Looks like mine!

The black stuff on mine is peeled much worse than yours. I've seen others that had the black stuff cleaned off, looks much better than what I have so I might go that route.

Are you going to do anything to the foam, or leave it as is?

I'll get some better pictures in the near future, as when I was out looking at it again just now, I realized the underside of the foam has more of that peeling black coating you mention than the top does.

I am tempted to just leave it alone as I have a bad habit of making new problems when I get thinking "oh, that's easy, I'll do that too" when in there on some project.

I'll do some cleaning first thing and then reassess. I have quite the layer of filth on a lot of that back area due to my A/C belt shredding from that warped idler pulley. Like rubbery and greasy bits over most every surface. I didn't spot any new rodent nests from years ago which is good and no surprises on frame condition either.

I saw better those two far end spots where the missing studs would be. One is still attached to the corner trim piece still on the car, rusty base and all. And the other side is just gone all together. They look similar to those middle seven studs but not identical.

This will be another area getting tightened up by the time it goes back together. I gave the mechanic I had in 2007 when I first got the car the chance to drive it a month or so ago and he commented on how much firmer and tighter it all feels. I think having the entire interior out and then cleaned up and put back in properly helped as did a bunch of other things when you find random fasteners not in place or loose. It's not completely rattle free but it's getting close.