Ask Bill about carbing a DeLorean and other K-Jet/Carb tangets

[DMCMW Dave]

I'd really like to know how.
Farrar

What problem did you have? We put magnets on the inner CV joint, mounted the controller on the kneepad, the brain box inside the car behind the carpeted panel, etc. When it's done you see the controller and a cable in the back, everything else is hidden.

It's a long install for what it is, but I don't recall much in the way of problems.

Of course I wasn't trying to get it to pull on a carburetor, so your linkage may be a bit different.

[Farrar]

I wasn't trying to get it to pull on a carburetor, so your linkage may be a bit different.

Mine pulled on the linkage ... and pulled and pulled and pulled ... until I disconnected the power. I assume it's an electrical problem, so I was curious what you hooked up to where.

Farrar

[content22207]

That hard plastic line is easy to tap or fix. Cut it with a hacksaw fine tooth blade and stick vacuum hoses over the ends. Then find a plastic T for vacuum lines to tap into those hoses you just installed.

Good grief -- wouldn't a proper brass hose barb in a vacuum port specifically intended for such be much cleaner, neater, and professional?

How long does it take to unscrew a pipe plug and screw in a hose barb anyway? 2 or 3 minutes perhaps?

Even if Bob were to tap into his HVAC line in the ECU compartment, he'd still have to run the cruise line back out to the engine compartment. Why not pull its vacuum in the engine compartment to begin with?

I put those vacuum ports in the adapter plate for a reason. Aversion to using them for their intended purpose, especially in favor of arguably convoluted alternatives, does perplex me.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[Ashyukun]

Mine pulled on the linkage ... and pulled and pulled and pulled ... until I disconnected the power. I assume it's an electrical problem, so I was curious what you hooked up to where.

Farrar

Interesting... I didn't know someone had tried putting one on a carbed D before. I do have to admit to being a bit worried about the servo being strong enough to overcome the fairly hefty return spring I have.

Like Dave said, I put the magnets (two of them- our cars are closest to FWD in the 'driveshaft' setup, so I followed the FWD instructions) on the inboard CV joint with the bracket bolted to a nearby bolt. I've currently got the servo mounted next to my fuel filter, which is located on the cover Bill made to replace the vacuum canister cover at the back of the driver's side of the bay.

I don't know if I'm going to be able to finish hooking it up in time though... but it IS a high priority- having cruise on a 650 mile drive would make it a LOT easier on me than not having it- I'll readily pass on putting in the new sunshades to finish the cruise install. Frankly, it's looking like it'll be a small miracle if I'm going to be able to take the D- and if I do, there's a high chance it will be sans muffler with just a straight pipe from the cat out past the back of the fascia. -_-

However- unless someone has another suggestion as to where to find 1/8 NPT hose barbs, I'll at least temporarily have to tap into another line. Neither Lowes, Home Depot, or Autozone had 1/8 NPT hose barbs.

[DMCMW Dave]

Mine pulled on the linkage ... and pulled and pulled and pulled ... until I disconnected the power. I assume it's an electrical problem, so I was curious what you hooked up to where.

Farrar

It's been quite a while since we put one in but it's safe to assume I followed the wiring instructions that came with it. It sounds like it wasn't seeing the magnets or the engine RPM Signal and tried to speed things up. There are also a series of DIP switches on the unit that you have to set correctly.

PS to answer Bill's rant, since I install the unit inside the car it made sense to me to use a vacuum line already inside the car instead of running another one all the way back to the engine. That way I added about 8 inches of hose to the car, which to me was much neater.

[content22207]

Not a rant -- just genuine dumbfoundedness that people have the audacity to criticize my car as a FrankenDeLoren, then advise Bob not to use a vacuum barb that is expressly designed and provided for such purpose.

#5939 may not be much, but it does at least have vacuum barbs in all the right places.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[Farrar]

It sounds like it wasn't seeing the magnets or the engine RPM Signal and tried to speed things up.

Yes, I thought that was odd, since I had just started the engine and hadn't turned the unit on yet (or so I thought).

Oh, well -- I'm probably going to try a different unit eventually using the magnets and sensor that came with the Audiovox unit.

Thanks anyway.

Back to more Bill stuff...

Farrar

[Ashyukun]

Yes, I thought that was odd, since I had just started the engine and hadn't turned the unit on yet (or so I thought).

Oh, well -- I'm probably going to try a different unit eventually using the magnets and sensor that came with the Audiovox unit.

That does sound odd... especially if you hadn't turned on the control for it yet... I would think it wouldn't even try and do anything until you hit 'On' and then pressed 'Set'... I wonder if the control unit was wired in incorrectly? (seems kind of hard since the connectors are color-keyed as to which wires go in which spot...) Or perhaps the 'normally open' and 'normally closed' (or something to that effect...) DIP switch was set backwards- that's the one switch that the instructions really say nothing useful about.

For us carb-runners, the RPM signal should be a piece of cake- the wire for it comes with a spade connector that I just plugged right into the otherwise unused connector with the white/slate wire on from the removed ECU box. The power-on-when-key-is-on line is going to the tap off the aux relay that runs my electric choke, though I could put a spade on it and plug it into the power at the unused ECU connector instead. The two paired wires go to the magnetic pickup. There's the wires for the brake connection, which look like they'll be the only ones I have to extend out. The control box connection uses a standard (pre-SATA) computer power connector, so even though I likely need more wire there I have extension cables from my vast supply of computer cables that I'll use for that purpose. The wiring actually surprised me with how simple it is... my main concern is that I have the magnetic pickup close enough to the magnets to generate the pulses it needs and that the servo is powerful enough to pull on the throttle...

With luck, I'll be testing it out on Saturday... if not, it'll be a few weeks (though if I don't finish it but drive the D, I may try and get it working while there...)

[stevedmc]

One of my injector clips has been broken for a while now and my cheap/forgetful self hasn't gotten around to replacing it yet.

Today I was doing some creative driving on the way to work and decided i would coast a little with the engine off, and only start the engine as needed. I was going to play a game and see what sort of gas mileage I could get doing the coast and drive method. I have done this on my Geo Metro before and have gotten as high as 67 mpg.

Well, upon starting the engine back up, the engine back-fired, and my poortly clipped injector plug flew out and is now somewhere on the highway. I couldn't find thing on the road or in the intake valley so I put a penny over the injector hole and was able to limp to work.

Upon getting to work I discovered a nickel is a perfect fit for the hole. I am thinking about plugging the hole with a nickel and some JB weld for a semi permanent plug. Has anyone done this before? If I can make it look good I might go ahead and do the rest of the plugs as well.

[Farrar]

I have a whole cup full of silicone plugs at my apartment. Just stop by and I will give you six of them.

Farrar