Door struts

I just finished installing my new door struts. A very simple 5 minute job. My driver's door now opens fully on it's own, even when it's cold outside, but the passenger side still sags just as bad as before. :( Guess I'm going to have to adjust the torsion bar, which I had really hoped I wouldn't have to do. I will have to get someone who knows what they're doing to help me with that, or send it somewhere. I don't trust myself enough to mess with that.

One step forward, half step back

Today I finally got my electric trunk release mounted, but I didn't have time to wire it. That will have to wait until my next days off. I did get my door handles changed out to the new metal ones, so I will never have to worry about them breaking off! Once we found the right size socket it only took about 10 minutes! Way easier than I thought it was going to be. I also figured out my brake light issue. My passenger brake light has always had one light that only worked some of the time. I was worried that it was the wiring, since the tail light boards are newer PJ Grady boards. So I took the light out and looked at the board. I followed the traces and found out that the two brake lights are on the same trace, so if one worked the other should, too. I looked at the socket and it looked fine. I tried switching out the bulbs, and it was doing the same thing, but on the other side. I looked at the bulb and found that it...wasn't right. The filament wasn't attached at both ends, and one end was just dangling. If you bumped it, it would connect, but if you moved it a little bit it would come loose and turn off. I've never seen anything like that before. So I replaced the bulb, cleaned the contacts just to be safe, and now all of my lights work! I am so relieved that it wasn't the wiring.

I actually drove it 50 miles today! I had forgotten just how much attention these cars get! Just on my little trip I had four different people come up to me and start talking about the car, I got three thumbs up, one kid asking to take some pictures of it, one guy taking a video of me driving, and countless stares.

I stopped by a car wash to wash the three years of dirt and leaves off and out of the car. It looks a lot better. I took a few pictures while we were there. :)







 

I need to replace the pass. side tail light lens, because it's faded and doesn't match the fairly new driver side lens.


While we were washing the car, the little grilles in the louvers popped out. I bought some double sided tape to reattach them, but decided I will wait until I have installed the third brake light, and paint it and the louvers. I will re-install them once everything is painted.

So being the first real driving experience I've had with it since working on it, I noticed some things. For one, I'm not totally convinced the hot start problem is completely taken care of. It could be, but I did have a couple of times when it didn't want to start. One time, after letting it sit for less than five minutes it wouldn't start at all no matter how much I cranked. I went to do the plug swap, and the wires on the control pressure regulator plug (gray plug) just pulled out of the plug with no effort! I replaced them as best I could, and it started up again, but I need to figure out how to permanently reattach them. So I'm not sure if that has anything to do with a starting problem, but it's all I've got to go on right now. A couple of times it started right back up, other times it took a few cranks, so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with those plug wires or not. It certainly couldn't have helped it any. Also, the stalling problem is fixed! But now the car doesn't idle smoothly. It surges a bit and sounds like it has a miss. Grr. Oh well, at least it's drivable now. I'll figure this stuff out another day.

I FINALLY got my new door struts from PJ Grady today. I ordered them on the 7th, so it took quite a while to get them here. But they are here now, and I am planning to install them in the morning. I am planning to drive it to work tomorrow, so I definitely want to try to have as much fixed as possible.

So on my list of things to do over the next few days:


Install third brake light

Wire electric trunk release

Paint louvers and black trim

Install new door struts

Re-brush some more


And speaking of re-brushing, here is an after picture of how the rear quarter panel looks after some re-brushing.




Compare to this picture from an earlier post showing the scratches! I'm pretty happy with the results so far!

Progress

So I finally made some progress today! I started out by re-brushing the worst parts of the stainless. It looked like one of the previous owners had used sand paper against the grain in a few places on the car. It looked really bad, but now it almost looks like it's supposed to. You have to look really hard in the right light to see the few remaining scratches! It looks SOOO much better! You can kind of see how bad it was in the pictures below, and I'll try to post some pictures of how it looks after re-brushing tomorrow. I didn't do the whole car yet, but I'll get to that eventually. Now I just need to install the new metal door handles, and paint all the black trim and the bumpers and it'll look almost perfect!



 
It actually looks better in the pictures than it did in real life. It really looked bad.

Thanks to the DMCTalk forum, I found out that I should check the o-ring on the fuel pressure regulator again because the replacements are known to fail. I took it out today, and I was shocked. The o-ring that we installed one year ago had flattened, hardened, and cracked into three separate pieces. One of the pieces was even missing! No wonder I was having hot start problems! I bought the part from a DeLorean vendor, so it should have been the right part. I don't know what happened. So I bought a new fuel resistant o-ring, installed it and now I don't have the hot start problem anymore! I also adjusted the idle microswitch screw, and I think that solved the stalling issue! I'll need to do some more test driving to know for sure. I'm also probably going to change the spark plugs and wires since I don't know the last time they were changed, but I know it hasn't been done in over four years.

Since I bought this car, I have wanted to install a third brake light. These cars are so low to the ground that I'm afraid someone won't be able to see my brake lights and rear end me. I've always had a specific look in my mind of what I wanted, but I haven't been able to find one. I don't really like the LED ones, because in my opinion they look like an aftermarket add-on. I wanted one that looked like it could have been a factory part. I found another owner's blog, and he had installed one that was a perfect match to what I wanted. It wasn't LED, and it followed the lines of the DeLorean perfectly! You can see it here. He said it was from a mid 80's Corvette. I went on eBay, and found one just like his for $24, so I bought it. So next week I should be installing it!

So today ended up being a very productive day! I still have quite a lot to do on the car, but I am MUCH closer to where I want it to be! A few more items to check off my to do list!


~Lyndsey

Projects and ideas

Projects I hope to get done (or at least started) these next few days:

Install electric trunk release
Replace pressure regulator O-ring (again)
Adjust to fix stalling issue
Re-brush stainless
Paint black trim/louvers
Replace plastic door handles with my new metal ones from DMCH
Replace nasty old cigarette lighter with my new (NOS) one from DMCH



When I was still in the dreaming stage of pre-DeLorean ownership, my perfect D was a 5 speed, black interior, dark gray wheels and black side stripe. The only one of those I ended up with was the 5 speed. I have recently been thinking about some changes I am considering. The side stripe would be easy, so I will probably do that. I am back and forth on the interior. I am going to have to replace a great majority of it anyway, so I was considering getting it in black. The only problem with that is that there are some parts that don't need replacing, such as the center console, door panels, rear panels, etc., and those would really drive the cost up. I guess it will come down to how much having my dream DeLorean is worth to me. I am also considering painting the wheels to match the early style dark gray wheel color. I know it isn't correct for my late '81 VIN, but I have always liked the look of that style better. It wouldn't be hard, since I will probably end up refinishing the wheels anyway. So really, I'm kind of torn on most of these things. Like I said, that would make my perfect D, but it would be more expensive and more trouble. I don't know, I guess we'll see where I go with these ideas, if anywhere...

Finally running again!

Well, I got my new parts drom DMCH today, and my DeLorean is now running! It still has the hot start problem, and it stalls every time I come to a stop, but we can start trying to figure those problems out now that it runs again. I also HAVE to get the A/C fixed before I start driving it too much. I just went around the block a few times and was dripping sweat when I got back.

Closer

So we finally got to work on the DeLorean today. It still isn't running, but after a bit of diagnostic work, we figured out that it is either the pick up hose or the pick up screen. I also discovered that the fuel pump boot is deteriorating. I decided I didn't want to mess with it, and just ordered all new parts. The fuel pump is new, so I ordered a new fuel pump boot, new stainless return line, new return hose, new stainless support bracket, new pick up hose and a new pick-up screen. We found some new fuel hose in a box of parts that came with the car, so we can replace the hoses coming off the fuel pump. I am considering replacing the metal lines as well, since they are starting to look pretty rusty. I'm not sure how big a job it is to replace those, but they're pretty cheap, so I'll probably just replace those too so I don't have to worry about them in the future. I'm also probably going to replace the wires and connector to the fuel pump, since they're almost 30 years old, a bit brittle, and I don't really trust them. So everything except the tank itself will be brand new all the way to the fuel distributor. It'll be nice to not have to worry about it anymore. Hopefully the parts get here before my next days off. (And yes, the tank will be completely cleaned before everything is put back in.)



Everything here is going to be replaced except the fuel pump.


Today I got my new LED lights from DMCH installed in the doors, dome lights and engine compartment. I also found some brand new LEDs that the previous owner had bought. Apparently, he had planned to change out all of the dash lights with LEDs, but never got around to it. I was planning the same thing, so that saves me some money whenever I get around to taking the dash apart! I found out today that my front dome light is broken, so I'll have to buy a new one. Oh well, not a big deal. When I was testing the light in the engine compartment, I realized that it's pretty worthless in terms of lighting. Luckily, I also found an extra engine compartment light in the box of parts from the PO, so I decided I want to add it to the driver side of the compartment. I may even buy a third and mount it towards the back of the compartment, so that there will actually be adequate lighting in there when I need it.

Today in the mail I received my remote trunk release kit! Since I bought the car it has been a fear of mine that the trunk release cable would break. Since I have a non gas flap hood, it would be a huge pain to have to open it if that happened. I've heard of it happening to others, and it certainly doesn't sound like much fun. When I found out about the remote release last week, I immediately bought one. I haven't installed it yet, but it looks pretty simple to hook up. Mount it in two existing holes, hook up the mechanism, run some wire to the relay compartment and release button and that's it! No more fear of getting locked out of the trunk! I may try to install that in the morning.

So that's about all at this point. Hopefully in a few days I'll have a video of it actually starting up!

Pictures

This is the starting point for this restoration.



























I know I have a long way to go, but a lot of the problems are cosmetic and a quite a few of the mechanical problems have been done already. I'll post about what we've already done in a later post.

Video

Does anybody know what the clicking sound is after I turn the key off? It's coming from the relay compartment. Is that normal?

To do list

To do list:

Fix fuel system/hot start problem
Fix or replace A/C system
Replace heater core
Paint valve covers
Paint louvers
Paint bumpers/trim
Fix eyebrows
Re-brush stainless
Replace dash/binnacle
Replace seat covers
Fix E-brake
Install new door struts
Install Toby TABs (already purchased)
Refurbish rear suspension
Buy and install remote trunk release
Replace door lights/dome lights with LEDs
Fix passenger rear tail light wiring
Fix front driver turn signal
Fix driver side door ajar switch
Replace speakers
And probably lots more I haven't yet discovered...

Already done:
New fuel pump
New fuel accumulator
New idle speed motor
Pulled and cleaned fuel injectors
Replaced O-ring in pressure regulator
New ignition coil
New PJ Grady tail light boards
Newer spark plug wires
New coil wire
Refurbished front suspension
New stainless lower control arms
Lockzilla
Fanzilla
Tankzilla
New alternator
Stainless brake lines
Newer shift boot

Restoration Blog

Welcome to my new DeLorean restoration blog! I bought VIN 6080 in January of 2006. I have already done some work, but there is A LOT left to do. I haven't driven it for almost three years, because it developed a hot start problem that I couldn't figure out (still haven't, actually). Sometime over the last 6 months something else happened and now it won't start at all. I am sick of not being able to drive my dream car, so I have decided to fix up 6080, and plan to document it here. Enjoy!