VIN 4267 comes to England

[Matt Clark]

Big thanks to Chris P, Andy W and Rich H who came down the other night (in a much nicer car) to have a look over 4267. General consensus is that it's pretty good! I feel much happier about the car after having 3 owners look over it. We got it up on the jacks and had a look underneath - the belly plate isn't corroded - nor are the nuts on it sized - and apart from some general wear and tear (it's a 90k car) it seems solid. 



The fuel tank was, as feared, full of nasty petrol, and also, conveniently, missing a fuel pump.



Chris P sorted me out with a new tank and I've ordered a new pump + hoses + fittings etc, so getting the old one out and the new bits in will be my task next week.

I also started removing what was left of the headliners. An easy job but the amount of nasty crumbly foam you get in your eyes + mouth kind of sucks.





The car didn't come with any door headliners so I need to replace all of it - trying to work out out if there's a more cost effective way of doing the new ones than $550 for the DMCH set, but that can wait a while. At least them being out makes the car feel a bit cleaner and less of a grotbag project.

In cleaning out the car, I found some interesting previous owner items:




My t-panel area is a bit of a nightmare and I'd appreciate suggestions on it... You can see that it's off-centered, pushed too far to the right (camera left)





But the holes/fittings suggest that it's not far *enough* to the right... The panel wasn't screwed in or attached anywhere - I did wonder why this was, I guess this explains it? Not really sure what to do about it.



The roofbox shows no sign of corroding or separating, so it's not that... the panel was also binding on the doors, at the strut area and at the windscreen area. The struts were rubbing on the panel causing it to warp and lift, and Rich and Andy pointed out that this was because the strut mounts are the wrong way around - the long ones are on the door and the short ones are on the body.



That at least solves that issue (or at least it will when I get around to fixing it). The doors appear to catch the panel due to a number of things - one door's hinge is loose so the roof part of the door sits higher than it should, nipping the corner of the panel, and the other door seems to be pressed down - where the panel is closer than it should be - also causing it to rub/nip. The door/hinge issue sorts another issue, but I still can't work out why the T panel is off-centre (and why the mounting holes are even more off centre)


The tail lamps on the car have the indicators painted red (or a deep orange, hard to tell). I'm going to strip it off to see if the original orange is still there or if they've faded white. If they have, I've got an older set of lamps that are totally melted at the rear, but the lenses are fine.



How do you get the lamps apart to remove the lenses? Is it under the gasket or is it pressure clips?

[Stuart Rees]

Matt,
The most cost effective way to sort the headliner is to find some S/H fibre boards and reinforce them with some resin and recover with a foam backed material of your choice. Ed in Holland might have some kicking about if he has replaced some with the fibreglass versions...

The mounting holes for the T panel can move as they are only U clips. So, take the panel off and move the clips over to line everything up.


Also as far as I can tell the lenses in the tail lights are bonded in, not sure if 35+ year old plastic will like being 'persuaded' out of the black frame...
good luck on the resto

[Matt Clark]

Excellent, thanks re: T panel!

Looks like the PO really liked painting lights blue...

[Chris Williams]

Looks a good car to me, there will be issues along the way but nothing that cant be sorted with a bit of time.
Chris

[SpudMurphy]

You can get kits to recover the headlining panels easy enough in the UK.

I'm going to resin my fibre board ones and recover them rather than pay BIG bucks for a replacement.

[Matt Clark]

I'm handy with fibreglass so I would happily have done that if mine hadn't been in about 17 pieces

Managed to get under the car this weekend - for a bit, anyway, before the rain came down. This amount of work on a car is a first for me, and so far, I'm really enjoying it. Got the closing plate off and that looks a bit crusty...








The RH chassis under the plate looks ok, but the LH is a lot more corroded.







I'll be able to see how bad it is when I get the tank out tomorrow.

There's a piece of metal punctured through the RH wheelwell - assuming from the crash.



I also noticed the front frame extension on the LH looks like this:



It looks a bit more worn/cracked than the other side. Is this something to worry about?

[Chris Williams]

Quote: It looks a bit more worn/cracked than the other side. Is this something to worry about

I don't think so.... BUT it would not harm to have it plated, to be fair it needs the epoxy taking off to stop any moisture getting behind it anyway (and treating) so why not do it properly?
Chris

[SpudMurphy]

Nice one Matt.
Regarding the fuel tank closure plate - it looks like that there has been a brake fluid/clutch fluid leak at some time in it's life?

i'm guessing you will rub the old one down and repaint it? - or will you treat it to a new (stainless) panel?

The pictures in your posts are blocked by my firewall in work so I look forward to seeing them later tonight.

[Matt Clark]

Predictable "not much of an update" update



Been busy with work so have only had about 3 days with the car in the last month or so.

I fitted the steering lock I got off of eBay. It's listed as a Rover one, but I'm not 100% sure it's the exact one as the brace part of it that bolts to the main body doesn't match the one I found in the spares with the car, and it's not a perfect fit, but, it *does* fit, it locks, and it accepted the starter switch, so that's good enough for me!



Power in the car for the first time in a few years I think...




The driver's side door is dead and one of the switches work in the centre console, but I can get the beams to come on, and, more importantly, the starter turns, so, I really need to get the fuel system back in.

I started fitting the metal replacement door handles to the car. The passenger side was snapped off when I got the car, so replacing them both was a priority.





Those nuts are a PITA. Up until the last nut on the last handle I'd managed to not lose any in the door, and then I lost two. Sigh.

I also started stripping off all the old seals as they were completely dessicated, and having the car look slightly cleaner is always a bit of a boost.



Screwfix do a pot of sealant remover for a fiver and it really helps, but it does require several passes.




I'll be with the car over the new year - will try to get a few quick jobs done on it then, otherwise it'll probably March until I can put any real time on it again.

[Chris P]

Your a braver man than me Matt....I only once had a play inside the doors...never again! Good news on getting it to turn over.

[SpudMurphy]

Nice one Matt - every step forward brings a sense of achievement eh?
Especially to us newbies that have never worked on a Delorean before.

Roll on my retirement on Dec 24th - it'll be full steam ahead on the car then :-)

[Matt Clark]

The car often reminds me a *lot* of working with prop builds - aesthetically lovely, clever engineered under the circumstances, but you really don't want to go back inside parts of it to fix it...

[Guinney1971]

amazing work so far Matt, you've got a proper full on project there, but nothing that can't be sorted.

[TheScAtMaN]

Great work so far Matt, looking forward to the next update.
Also knowing you worked on Doctor Who and Red Dwarf I cant wait to meet you at a future gathering so I can quiz you!

[Matt Clark]

(14 Jan 2019, 19:53)TheScAtMaN Wrote: Great work so far Matt, looking forward to the next update.
Also knowing you worked on Doctor Who and Red Dwarf I cant wait to meet you at a future gathering so I can quiz you!

My other half's parents aren't too far from you - need to swing by at some point (probably not in the car at this rate)

More tiny updates....



Got a proper airbox on eBay for not too many pennies, replacing the horrible Volvo one. Bit pointless at this stage, but it looks like a DeLorean on the inside now.



I took the seats out brought them home. They were pretty filthy, and the leather was rock hard.




I gave them several passes with leather shampoo and a soft scrubbing brush. This was followed by about 2 weeks of conditioning! I followed Chris P's advice about slathering conditioner on, putting a bin bag over them and letting them cook in heat and absorb the conditioner - several passes of this has softened the leather up significantly. One seat has a strange tide mark on the leather where I guess some kind of chemical has seeped into it, so eventually I'll re-cover these, but I'm happy with how much better they look now.



As I'm not with the car much, I've been stripping off bits to bring home and clean. I've started taking the water pipes off. 



They were pretty grotty, and quite pitted.





I started with oven cleaner:

---

And onto the wire brush to clean off the worst of the limescale.



They cleaned up ok!



I also started taking off some of the various rusty brackets and fittings. I soak these in vinegar and salt overnight, rub down with tin foil / wire wool, and then prime and repaint. It's a minor thing but it's something I can do when I'm away from the car.




Shiny parts that no-one will ever see:





I allowed myself a very premature finishing touch:



Next time I see the car (May bank hol) I hope to finally sort the chassis rust, and get the rest of the water pipes off.