Eds Delorean – Page 4

DCS 2016

Posted on July 30, 2016October 21, 2023 by Eddie

I attended the 2016 Delorean Convention and Show. The location was around 175 miles away in Springfield, IL, which made driving very manageable. I also did some volunteer work for the convention.

Driving to and from Springfield, I discovered a few problems with my car:

I definitely have a “hot-start” problem with the K-Jet. Restarting the car after driving over two hours in the heat was very difficult. I plan to replace the accumulator since it’s original to the car.
My evaporator box drain is clogged, and soaked my passenger side carpet. More on that later.
The fuel pump boot cover popped off, and was letting fumes into the cabin.
The fuel pump still hums loudly after a long drive, with hot gas in the tank. Someone measured an increase in gas temperature from the gas return line. The hot air dam probably helps keep hot air away from the fuel tank, but doesn’t keep the gas tank cooler when returning gas is hotter than when it left.

Anyway, my car still made the trip safely. Here’s some pictures:

My car, lit up:

My car, in the lower left, lit up:

Chris N working his magic on stainless:

An amazing Digital Dash, in “Corvette Mode”

An amazing Digital Dash in “Delorean Mode”

Me with the limo and D-Rex:

Time Machines:

Glossy:
DCS2016 65

DPI Stainless Frame with lots of fingerprints:

Packing up. My car with the D-Rex:

The DMC Midwest Connection:

White LED Door Lights

Posted on July 20, 2016October 21, 2023 by Eddie

I previously had installed Red and Amber LEDS. One of my door light lenses was cracked, which needed to be replaced. I’ve seen some custom door light colors, and decided to switch them all to white to match my undercarriage LED lighting, and my interior LED lighting.

My current door LED Lights:

New Cool White LED bulbs. I like the shallow depth, and how they won’t be up against the lens:

I had some scrap plastic that was thick enough for the lenses:

Cutting a lens out:

I painted the inside of the lights white, so the lights won’t look black or gray inside, and to reflect more light.

I then sanded the lens to give it a translucent finish. My prototype looks good:

Cutting more lenses:

Almost done:

Done:

I found some of the stock incandescent bulbs, and they were drawing .24 amps. The LED door lights I was using were drawing .03 amps. My new Cool White LEDS draw .01 amps. I’m happy with my amperage savings.

Supplies/Tools:
Plastic for Lenses
Masking Tape
Marker
Rotary Tool with cutting disk and sander
LEDs
200 Grit Sandpaper
White paint
Small paint brush

Costs:

Item	Vendor	Quantity	Unit Cost	Cost	Shipping	Tax	Total
(8) COOL WHITE 4SMD LED WEDGE LIGHT BULBS T10	eBay	1	$ 8.99	$ 8.99	$ –	$ –	$ 8.99

Undercarriage Lighting

Posted on July 18, 2016October 21, 2023 by Eddie

I’ve seen several Deloreans with underside lighting, and liked the look. The LED strips that are available make this pretty easy.

Supplies:

LED Strip (Water Resistant)
LED solderless connectors.
Wiring shrink wrap
Automotive, or similar stranded wires
Soldering Iron
Aluminum tape
Clear Mailing Tape
Zip ties
Cleaning Supplies
Rags

I previously added a fused circuit to my car from the positive connection, to one of my On/Off switches on the center console. The other On/Off switch was added for the power outlets on my car:

https://16908.info/?p=2573

Then I ran a wire from the On/Off switch, through the console, down through the storage compartment. I drilled a very small hole near the handbrake cables, and brought the wire down under the car.
The underbody needs to be cleaned thoroughly where you want to mount the LED strip. Once mounted, I put clear mailing tape over the strip to help support it. The aluminum tape meant for ductwork is very tacky, and creates a strong bond molding and taking shape. I use it cover the ends of the strip connections.

I have three separate sections of LED Strip mounted: one around the inside of the front fascia, and two on the sides of the car. The side strips ground to the fuel tank plate. The front strip power runs along the frame, and is grounded to the passenger side horn bracket. The solderless connectors that I purchased turned out to be the wrong type, however I was able to make them work by cutting and modifying them.

Colored strips, or color-changing strips are available. I chose a simple white color. I think they look great at night.

Costs:

Item	Vendor	Quantity	Unit Cost	Cost	Shipping	Tax	Total
10PCS 10mm 2Pin Free Solder Connector Cable for LED Strip	eBay	1	$ 3.99	$ 3.99	$ –	$ –	$ 3.99
12 Volt White 5M 3528 SMD 600 Waterproof LED Flexible Strip Light	eBay	1	$ 8.99	$ 8.99	$ –	$ –	$ 8.99
All other supplies used	On Hand						$ –
						Total	$ 12.98

Glass Polish

Posted on July 7, 2016October 21, 2023 by Eddie

The car has had water spots on the glass ever since I purchased it.

At some point in its life, it spent time in the state of Georgia, and apparently acid rain is a big problem there. The water spots are so bad in some areas, that you can catch your fingernail on them. In addition to the water spots, my glass seemed to have a haze on it. I’ve tried several options so far:

Newsprint
Vinegar
“Invisible Glass” cleaner
RainX Foaming glass cleaner
0000 Steel Wool

All have had little to no effect on removing these water spots. Now I’ve finally purchased a felt polishing wheel, and some cerium oxide.

The felt polishing wheel is very dense and strong. I opted to use an electric corded drill, since any battery powered drill would probably be drained after several minutes of polishing. I cleaned the windows, and mixed some cerium oxide with distilled water in a plastic container. I taped off the window trim, and brushed on some water and cerium oxide mixture. I soaked the felt polishing wheel in my mixture, and started polishing.

I made sure to apply even pressure, and keep moving the pad around the glass. The goal was to polish all the area of the glass evenly for the same amount of time. I was thrilled to see the water spots being removed!
I later taped off the DMC SEKURIT labels on the glass, and used a rotary tool with a small felt pad to polish the small areas around the labels. I’m not going to attempt polishing inside the labels, so unfortunately it will never look 100% polished.

The left side window seal was looking ratty, so I replaced it:

I’m happy to finally have the spots and haze gone, and my glass now has a great shine to it!

The cerium oxide packet that comes with the kit is 8 ounces, and I probably only used two ounces total.

Tools:

Plastic food container to mix the polish
Electric Drill (corded preferred)
Cerium Oxide
Felt polishing wheel
Tape
Rotary tool
Polishing bits for rotary tool
water (distilled preferred)
foam brush
vinegar
microfiber cloth

Costs:

Item	Vendor	Quantity	Unit Cost	Cost	Shipping	Tax	Total
Gordon Glass Cerium Oxide – 8 Oz with 3″ Felt Polishing Wheel	Amazon.com	1	$ 29.95	$ 29.95	$ 5.15	$ –	$ 35.10
Left Window Wipe Seal	DMC Midwest	1	$ 36.11	$ 36.11	$ 13.72	$ 2.80	$ 52.63
						Total	$ 87.73

Seat Repair

Posted on July 5, 2016October 21, 2023 by Eddie

My driver’s seat was needing repair. I previously had the bottoms repaired

https://16908.info/?p=1221

and had built new seatbacks:

https://16908.info/?p=2330

At some point in the car’s life, the cabin was exposed to elements, and most of the metal on the seat rusted.

The thin wires on the seatback rusted through, and the burlap had deteriorated. The seat back kept popping off, and the foam was pushing through because the foam didn’t have any support. All this was leaving crud all over my interior carpet:

Finally, the neck area of the seat cover wasn’t secured properly.

I decided to tackle these jobs myself this time, with a complete disassemble and refurbish.

Seat covers came off. I found the seat cover ribs weren’t even in their slots, rather clipped onto the seat cover with hog rings. Even worse, it looks like some of the car’s original, deteriorated seat covers were still attached:

The foam came out. I washed the foam, and after several rinses, the wash water finally came clean. This will help remove any “old” smell that the seat was holding.

I painted the seat frames with rustoleum gloss black paint. (Sorry, no pictures)

I rebuilt the seatback with coat hanger wires (hah!) and new burlap. Very strong.

I felt the driver seat bottom needed more support, and the leather was still bunching up after the seat’s previous rebuilt. I decided to add some seat foam. The picture shows two pieces, but I only used one.

I put the seat cover back on with new hog rings, and was able to properly secure the “neck” area with many zip ties. Zip ties also were used to attach the ribs to the frame.

New screws replaced the rusted ones on the trim. A broken screw was stuck in the frame, which I forgot to remove before I recovered the seat. Luckily I was able to get it out without taking the cover off again. I even sanded stone scuff marks off the reclining lever. I then coated it with some spare SEM Landau Black Color Coat I had leftover from my previous interior work.

It still isn’t perfect, but it looks, feels, and works a lot better.

Costs:

Item	Vendor	Quantity	Unit Cost	Cost	Tax	Total
14″ Zip Ties 10 Pack	Home Depot	1	$ 1.99	$ 1.99	$ 0.15	$ 2.14
8″ Zip Ties 100 Pack	Harbor Freight	1	$ 3.99	$ 3.99	$ 0.33	$ 4.32
Washers	Ace Hardware	6	$ 0.39	$ 2.34	$ –	$ 2.34
1 Yard Burlap	JoAnn Fabrics	1	$ 1.99	$ 1.99	$ 0.16	$ 2.15
2″ X 15″ X 17″ High Density Foam	JoAnn Fabrics	1	$ 7.99	$ 7.99	$ 0.67	$ 8.66
Hog Ring Pliers with 200 Hog Rings	eBay	1	$ 15.98	$ 15.98	$ –	$ 15.98
Trim Screws	Ace Hardware	4	$ 0.31	$ 1.24	$ 0.10	$ 1.34
					Total	$ 36.94

Footwell Lighting

Posted on July 3, 2016October 21, 2023 by Eddie

I’ve seen footwell lighting in several cars, and decided it was something I wanted. I bought some LED strip lights, and made a wiring harness. I used purple wire to match the car’s lighting wire color, and black for the grounds.

My harness gets power from the glove box light. I also made the harness fit in between the stock wiring, and the glove box light switch, so I didn’t have to cut the car’s harness. My harness can be removed without any issues. The LED strip lights draw less than 1 amp, and the reduced amperage from my interior LED lights insure that I’m in no danger of blowing a fuse, or melting wire.

I needed a new drivers light switch since one was missing. It came with a 3-pronged piece that makes it easy to connect the car’s door lights, and the female connection on my driver’s side footwell lights.

The LED strips are simply glued with contact adhesive to the backs of the kneepads. There are two sections of strip lights on the harness, one for each footwell, and they are grounded separately at each door light switch. They work independently, depending on which door is open.
I was able to install the lighting while I had the interior torn apart a few years ago:

I think they look great at night.

Costs:

Item	Vendor	Quantity	Unit Cost	Cost	Tax	Total
5Meter 300LEDs 3528 SMD Pure White LED Strip	eBay	1	$ 5.57	$ 5.57	$ –	$ 5.57
Door Switch (too many parts to list)	DMC Midwest	1	$ 15.14	$ 15.14	$ 1.17	$ 15.14
Purple Primary Wire	on Hand
Black Primary Wire	On Hand
Female wiring connector	On Hand
Contact Adhesive	On Hand
					Total	$ 20.71

New Trunk Board

Posted on June 26, 2016October 21, 2023 by Eddie

My original carpet was looking ratty, and my car was also missing the board below the carpet. I decided to make a new board that would replace the carpet. It also needs cutouts for the strut bar that I use in the trunk. I traced a friend’s trunk board:

Then, I cut it out with a jigsaw. I cleaned up the cuts with a rotary tool, and roughed up the surface with some sandpaper:

Next I coated it with Duplicolor Undercoating. The undercoating didn’t spray evenly, and I got some globs in random places. I ended up purposely making more globs, trying to even it out and complete the look:

Not bad for the cost.

Item	Vendor	Quantity	Unit Cost	Cost	Shipping	Tax	Total
Duplicolor Undercoating	Meijer	1	$ 4.99	$ 4.99	0	$ 0.42	$ 5.41
Fiber Board	Menards						On Hand

2016 Brake Fluid Flush

Posted on June 4, 2016October 21, 2023 by Eddie

It’s been a few years since my last brake fluid flush. It’s time. Castrol GT LMA fluid is now known as Castrol Dot 4. This fluid is one of only a few that are compatible with the seals in the Delorean’s Girling brakes.

Cost: Castrol 32oz Dot 4 Synthetic Brake Fluid Brake Fluid (1) $16.99 plus tax