How to maintain your Delorean for less than $500 a year and put 10,000 miles on it

[stevedmc]

Realistically, everything else Dave said is right. Replacing tires all depends on the age of the tires. My front tires (before getting new Primewells) actually looked good but upon checking the numbers on the tire, the shop was able to determine they were about 10 years old. The tires still looked good but my imediate response was, replace the tire. I may be cheap but there is no way I am going to drive on 10 year old tires.

Because of our cars having different size tires there really is no need to replace all of them at once, unless you have a neglected car with really old tires. On a normal car, with normal use, it would make sense to replace all tires when the tread is low. With a Delorean it is not possible to rotate tires from front to back.

This means that your rear tires will naturally wear out faster than the front tires. It would be foolish to replace all four tires at once unless somehow the fronts managed to magically have the same amount of wear as the rear tires.

[Farrar]

In the case of my DeLorean, the tires will warrant replacement due to age before mileage. I bought new tires in 2008. Four years later, they have fewer than 20,000 miles on them. At this rate, by the time they reach their (80,000-mile) theoretical tread life, they will be 16 years old. I don't take a lot of very long trips in either of my cars, so I have decided that although I like the toughness of high-mileage-rated tires, there's no need for me to buy anything more than a 40,000-mile tire. I just did that on my daily driver and am very satisfied with how quiet and smooth the new tires are. (It probably also helps that they are made in the USA, not China. A few bucks more per tire but worth it.)

Edit: I should point out that when I bought the 80,000-mile tires for Sparky, I intended to drive the car a lot, splitting the time more or less equally with my daily driver of the time. But the a/c failure, dying transmission computer, and leaky output shafts kicked that plan in its nuts.

[stevedmc]

Total expenses to date: $302.2816
Expense #1 (Radiator Leak) - January 7, 2012 - 44,079 Miles - Total Cost: $117.83 (including tax)
Expense #2 (Radiator Leak) - January 15, 2012 - 44,386 Miles - Total Cost: $7.40 (including tax)
Expense #3 (Replaced windshield wipers) - January 15, 2012 - 44,386 Miles - Total Cost: $17.54 (including tax)
Expense #4 (Oil Change) - January 21, 2012 - 44,643 Miles - Total Cost: $24.4616 (including tax)
Expense #4 (Reinstalled steering column bushing) - January 22, 2012 - 44,693 - Total Cost: $1.35 (including tax)
Expense #5 (bought coolant and water) - February 20, 2012 - 45,000 - Total Cost: $11.88 (including tax)
Expense #6 (replaced rear interior light) - February 23, 2012 - 45,500 - Total Cost: $31 (no tax and free shipping courtesy of Farrar)
Expense #7 (replaced heater control valve) - March 4, 2012 - 45,766 - Total Cost: $10.39 (including tax)
Expense #8 (bought more coolant/water) - March 7, 2012 - 45,766 - Total Cost: 23.65 (including tax)
Expense #9 (glued rear view mirror to windshield) - March 16, 2012 - 45,772 - Total Cost: $1.57
Expense #10 (604 Manifold and Shipping to Captain Carburetor) - March 22, 2012 - 45,840 - Total Cost: $179.65
Expense #11 (7mm Helicoil Kit) - March 23, 2012 - 45,840 - Total Cost: $49.25 (including tax)
Expense #12 (throttle cable) - March 23, 2012 - 45,840 - Total Cost: $4.20ish (I lost my receipt)
Expense #13 (new wire connector) - April 14, 2012 - 46,123 - Total Cost: $0.25ish (part was laying around)
Expense/Deduction #14 (removed 604 manifold/carb) - 46,200 - Total Cost: -$179.65 (selling it)
Expense #15 (installed new crimp on throttle cable) - 46,220 - Total Cost : $1.51 (including tax)

(Expense #13) Last Saturday we had a tech day at my house. I removed my dome light to test it on someone else's car who was having problems with his dome light. One of my wire connectors broke off so I replaced it with one I had laying around. I have no clue what it costs since I bought it in a big pack of connectors a few years ago but it couldn't have been any more than a dime. For the sake of this thread however, I am going to say it cost me a quarter.

(Expense #14 and #15) As mentioned on expense #10 I installed a new manifold and carburetor on my car. After driving around with it for a while I decided it wasn't for me. While it did look pretty, I prefer the effiiency of Bill's dual plane manifold and how much easier it is to access the distributor with Bill's manifold. I removed the Peugeot 604 manifold, reinstalled Bill's manifold and I am selling the Peugot Manifold for my cost ($179.65) plus whatever Bill has tied up in his adapter and the carb. I am deducting this from my total. I had to disconnect the throttle cable when swapping manifolds and this resulted in me breaking the screw that holds the cable tight. I replaced the screw with an aluminum crimp I purchased in a set at Lowes.

[Farrar]

Can you post a picture of the crimp and tool that you bought at Lowe's? I need to do something similar with my cruise control cable.

Thanks!

[stevedmc]

Can you post a picture of the crimp and tool that you bought at Lowe's? I need to do something similar with my cruise control cable.

Thanks!

I'll bring you the rest of the bag tomorrow, free of charge.

[sean]

Expense/Deduction #14 (removed 604 manifold/carb) - 46,200 - Total Cost: -$179.65 (selling it)

curious as to why you are deducting this since it was never apart of your costs on the year.

[stevedmc]

curious as to why you are deducting this since it was never apart of your costs on the year.

Did you look at expense #10?

Expense #10 (604 Manifold and Shipping to Captain Carburetor) - March 22, 2012 - 45,840 - Total Cost: $179.65
Expense/Deduction #14 (removed 604 manifold/carb) - 46,200 - Total Cost: -$179.65 (selling it)

These pictures are for Farrar. I got the whole bag for $1.51 after tax. For a cable with a clean end you should use a 1/16 crimp. I used a 3/32 crimp because the end of my cable is frayed and it would have been too difficult to have threaded it through the smaller hole. I just used a set of vice grips to crimp the end onto the cable.


ImageUploadedByTapatalk1334937564.255252.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1334937597.116377.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1334937645.751279.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1334937679.402080.jpg

[David T]

Your goal of spending $500 a year is a lot more 'doable" if you amortize your expenses over more years. Tires are a good example of why. This way your average yearly cost of $500 per year could work. If you figure tires cost $400 and they are good for 10 years they are only costing you $40 for each year. By using standard accounting techniques you will easily reach your goal depending on how much driving (how fast you wear things out) you do. Unless you get unlucky and have an unforseen incident (like overheating the motor).
David Teitelbaum

[stevedmc]

Let it be known that last night I made another purchase as well. I bit the bullet and decided to buy the parts to make a new altenator tightening bracket thingie. It cost about $50 for the parts plus shipping. My total will be updated once I receive the parts and install them.

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?31...rnator-tension

[Farrar]

Be careful not to overtighten the tension on the alternator belt. It's easy to do with that new linkage. But nonetheless, I think you'll like it. Just make sure you have two 5/16" wrenches handy.