Welp. I "rescued" my 2nd Delorean today.....help me formulate a game plan?

[rjd2]

So I spent 4(?) years or so slowly restoring/updating my running and driving Delorean, and as of 2 months ago, I consider the car "done". A joy to drive, and gets smiles everywhere, as you all know. About 1.5 years ago or so, someone I know said "my friend has a Delorean. Been sitting in his garage for years. Might sell it." So I made the connection, and we had periodically talked about it over that time. He finally got serious about selling it, and so I made a plan to go down to the outskirts of Cincinnati-a 2 hour drive from Columbus-with the intention of buying the car, assuming it was what he said it was. I took my car trailer. Frankly, I was stunned. I've rarely seen an interior this original on any classic car. The leather, body panels, dash, fascias, carpet-all perfect. It has the original cassette player, the original antenna. 6500 miles on the odometer. Wheels? no curb rash whatsoever. Turns out, the fuel pump apparently failed in 1993, and the car got parked indoors, and has sat since. Crank turns freely by hand. undercarriage looks good; a bit of rust on the bolts themselves, and some minor rust in one small spot where the coating has chipped, but otherwise very solid looking. All the documentation ws with the car, the original user manual and everything.

The down side: the clutch cable does not function, and appears to either be snapped or seized. no resistance at the pedal. the transmission(manual 5 speed) feels very gummy. and it has sat with the fluids in it for 30 years.

So, I bought the car. Loaded it up, and now have it back here. I need to come up with a game plan, or think I probably SHOULD. The good news is that most if not all of the work needed to be done, I have already done on my driver car. I made a spreadsheet earlier this week for all the parts I think I'll need(I basically would intend to update the suspension, brakes steering rack, top end of engine, rebuild alternator, rebuild cooling system). The total came to around 6k in parts. This is fine, as I am confident I can stay well below "underwater" on the car, considering what I paid for it(I think a fair price for such a well preserved car). But I feel like it's smart for me to try to come up with a holistic game plan. I would love your advice!

I made a point to not depress the brake pedal, or hand brake, to not risk caliper seizing. I know I will need to pull the wheels, calipers, and have the rotors turned. I have not decided on whether doing suspension bushings is necessary; I have the parts in the parts list for now. Obviously I need to pull the entire top end of the engine, replace all fuel and coolant hoses and associated fuel delivery pieces, and get the clutch working properly. Plan on pulling the fuel tank and having it cleaned, when I do fuel pump/filter. But in terms of order of operations, and things I'm possibly overlooking that could bear on these parts of the project, is there anything I'm missing? Thanks for the help. I didn't make it a mission to buy a 2nd Delorean, but I really do love these cars, and want to see this one back on the road, even if it doesnt stay with me forever.

[NJP548]

The down side: the clutch cable does not function, and appears to either be snapped or seized. no resistance at the pedal.

Just wanted to clarify that the clutch system is hydraulic and it most likely has the original plastic line. The current recommendation is to replace this line with the stainless version.

-Nick

[Rich]

Nice to know another sleeping DeLorean will wake up soon.

Your plan may be solid already on renewing the fuel system. Just some comments on that topic here for you and the community since it's a common issue with Ds that were put away wet.

- Here is a link to a How-To about cleaning a sleeping D's gummy K-Jet fuel system starting with the fuel tank but covering everything from there to the injectors.

- The fuel distributor will probably need a rebuild, as you probably know. You can job that out to Fuel Injection Corp. They also handle WUR/CPR rebuilds. (They don't test or clean D injectors - I asked them about that 3 months ago.)

- With the rest of the fuel system cleaned or renewed you can connect the 6 old injectors to run fuel through them in a flow rate and spray pattern test. If they pass the test you won't need to replace them. Or you could opt to send all the injectors for a spray/flow test any time at a place like Injector Repair. Jim has a decent test rig and offers good service, including a written report you get when he returns the injectors to you.

[David T]

Figure on rebuilding the brakes and clutch hydraulics, tires, fluids and filters, hoses and belts, flushing out the fuel system, battery, wiper blades, struts, water pump and fuel pump. This is just to get the car to move and drive. Once you can get it going you will see what else it needs. If it still has the plastic clutch hose, replace it. If it has the original radiator with the plastic tanks, replace it. If it still has the plastic header bottle, replace it. Check and see if it had all of the recalls done. Figure on replacing the hoses on the A/C at a minimum. Check for the relay upgrade. It takes a lot to wake up an old Delorean and parts cost a lot more than they used to. If you don't figure your labor, you can make a lot of money if you bought it right. At least you say it doesn't have a rusted out frame!

[rjd2]

Thanks folks! Little egg on my face there; I never had any clutch issues on my driver car, and never pulled the diagrams or whatnot, so I just assumed it was a mechanical clutch! I put in an order from DMC Texas today as a "first wave"-materials to rebuild the clutch and braking system, and replace all the door struts. I think I'm gonna move in phases on this project.

Nick-would you suggest me replacing the clutch MC and SC while I'm at it? Or just do the hose, and see where that puts me?

Rich-thanks a TON. those links are going to be massively helpful! I'll send the fuel distributor and injectors out; any place I can sensibly outsource stuff like that, I will. I would like to send out the tank for cleaning too.

One of my big "what if's" is this: when I did my suspension, I did all the bushings at the front and rear. But this car has 6500 miles on it. Should I do the bushings and the steering rack, while it's all apart? I plan on putting in the DMC Eibach suspension kit, I like how it rides and looks in my current car. Obviously the job would be easier while it's apart, but with that little wear, I wonder if it's necessary? Thoughts?

[Rich]

Thanks folks! ...I never had any clutch issues on my driver car, and never pulled the diagrams or whatnot, so I just assumed it was a mechanical clutch!

Side note based on this new info:

And now you also know you'll want to flush/bleed the clutch on your driver car soon if you haven't done so within the past 2 yrs. (As with the brakes. And the coolant.)

[rjd2]

Side note based on this new info:

And now you also know you'll want to flush/bleed the clutch on your driver car soon if you haven't done so within the past 2 yrs. (As with the brakes. And the coolant.)

Thanks. I did a full rebuild on both in my driver car-new radiator, new hoses, calipers, MC, SS hoses, rebled. The clutch always behaved properly, so I never had a need to address it. At some point, I'll swap the plastic hose.

[NJP548]

Nick-would you suggest me replacing the clutch MC and SC while I'm at it? Or just do the hose, and see where that puts me?

I would definitely recommend replacing the master and the slave cylinder while you're at it.

Good luck!

-Nick

[rjd2]

Thanks Nick. They were part of my order, so I'll do the whole kit and kaboodle.

Is there a way to test the suspension bushings, and the steering rack, or should I just shotgun it all when I do brakes/springs/shocks?

[David T]

I would not worry about that stuff until you can drive the car, you may find that it is all OK. I would inspect it all and spray the bushings with silicone and grease the rod ends and ball joints and see how it drives.