Another week of DeLorean work. Sorry for the delayed updates, but I’ve been putting in so many hours on this thing that by the time I’m done in the evening it’s just time for bed. Anyway, here’s the new updates:
– Started working on the window rattles when they’re down. Most of the issue comes from the fact that the inner felt wipes had completely decayed and dropped inside the door, and the outer wipe seals had gotten so hard with age that they were cracking and breaking. I fixed the inner wipes as the material was still fully usable, and ordered replacement outer wipes. I also need to install some sort of stop to keep the passenger side window from going so far down, as it goes about 1/4″ too far in the track which is causing more noise.
– Replaced the engine bay light switch, so now I have a nice bright lamp when I open the engine cover
– Replace the otterstat in the coolant pipe that activates the radiator cooling fans. The old otterstat was corroded so badly that it just ran the fans all the time, an unnecessary draw on the electrical system. Now they come on and off as needed. But, pulling the otterstat introduced air into the coolant lines so….
– I bled and refilled the coolant. There was a *ton* of air in the system. Also, after bleeding the air and draining about a quart of coolant, I was about a gallon low. Yikes. Topped that off as well.
– Replaced all the relays in the electrical compartment with brand spanking new tyco models
– Fixed the mystery bolts behind the drivers’ side taillight. they simply held the fascia to the pontoon and were being interfered with by the bracket for the power antenna. I removed the fuel system charcoal canister and put new nuts on them.
– Disconnected the power antenna as i don’t like how it looks when up, and i never listen to the radio anyway
– Removed the old steering rack and tie rod ends and installed a brand new rack and ends. Clint did a huge amount of the work on this one, and I owe him one…
– Front end alignment on the new rack
– After the new rack went in, my steering wheel was upside down (1/2 turn off) – so we pulled it and realigned it. While it was off, we fixed the turn signal cancel function
– Installed new trailing arm bolts. Well, one of them – after fighting with it for over an hour, we got it out and realized it was already an upgraded bolt. So we put the new one in since it was already out, and didn’t touch the other side. Maybe I will at some point just for fun?
– Fixed the low tone horn. Only my high tone worked, and Clint had a spare original low-note one on his shelf. Installed it and everything is back to normal.
So those are the successes. but, every DeLorean repair leads to the discovery of new issues, and here they are:
– Output shaft seals on the transmission are weeping a bit. Enough that the side of the tranny is all gunked up, but not enough that there is active dripping. In fact, the seals may have been replaced already and the gunk just never cleaned up. A distinct lack of records from the previous owners does not help me figure this out, so I will probably just do the replacement anyway
– The new cv joint that mike and i rebuilt and installed did not seal properly on one end and is throwing grease all over the underside of the car. I will need to cut that clamp off, re-pack it, and re-clamp it.