VIN 4494 - UK Legal and on the road!

[Guinney1971]

glad things are progressing, I know how frustrating it can be sometimes, you do a job and make a job as they say.

Good luck with it though, you'll get there !

[jwrayth]

Axle seals and o-rings replaced. Technically I did the tear down and assembly twice as the first time I found clean oil leaking out the roll-pins. Not an issue noted on DeLorean forums, but mentioned a plenty on Lotus and Renault forms. So after all that I took the car out for a spin to be sure the new oil was finally staying put!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7mKYXKZous&vq=hd720[/youtube]

[jwrayth]

Recently took 4494 out for a spin around Knockhill. Spin being the appropriate word, as folks who have me on Facebook will know. Had a blast, and was fortunate enough to have been captured in some gorgeous pictures.

This one is my favourite, so thought I'd share it in it's High Resolution glory;

http://imgur.com/WtFA9Mj

[Domi]

Amazing pictures
Do you have another one like this?

[jwrayth]

Here are a few more;






With the album at http://imgur.com/a/7wgbA

[Domi]

Thanks

[DMCTodayMichael]

I remember that car! I actually looked at and drove that car several years ago right before I bought mine. It was owned by a guy here in Knoxville, TN. His name was Brian ######. He pretty much restored that car and had a blog dedicated to it which detailed everything he did, and it was extensive. Unfortunately he took the blog down after selling. It showed nice, but it was a little edgy up close for what he was asking. We didn't come together on a price and he sold it to someone a few months later in California I think, then I lost track of it.

[jwrayth]

Hey Michael!

Yeah, that fits with the history that came with the car Some information is still available online of the work Brian did;

http://home.comcast.net/~bk-pollard/DeLorean.htm

I bought it off the California owner after a long time searching for the right car at the right price The owner after Brian hadn't been quite as focused on his upkeep, but I'm doing my best to make up for that now (not to mention the Scottish climate isn't exactly kind to the undercarriage!)

Hoping to update this thread with my progress on the winter projects once I take a breather from working in the garage to sort through the photos

[jwrayth]

Winter update; refurbishing a number of things including the handbrake. Thought these two pictures were very telling of why my handbrake has felt very uneven.

Drivers side was not only lacking grease, but also the pawl was on incorrectly;


Passenger side was packed full of dried-up grease with the consistency of play-dough left in the sun;


I replaced the damaged cables last winter, so this winter I thought I'd give the full system an overhaul and I'm glad I did I'll post after pictures once I'm a bit further ahead on my task list...

[jwrayth]

Inspired by all these new owners thought I'd update on my winter work!

Suspension now entirely pulled.




Old shocks are done for, as are the lower ball-joints, tie-rod ends and several of the control arm bushings as you can see



And since they are out, time to box and refurbish the LCAs!



The drivers side is on the left and all that rust was underneath the paint I was stripping from it, so despite the passenger side looking cleaner I think it's going to be just as messy.

Though it's not all bad news, with the rear trailing arm off the passenger side I can re-route my battery cables finally. Not to mention I finished with refurbishing one of my rear brake calipers and hand-brake today, along with cleaning the hub!



Also I made Donuts. Because hard-work on car needs some proper fuel!

[88mph]

Well done mate, lots of hard work there.
I'm going to have to look at my front suspension sometime too, its got some strange creaks and groans.

[Chris Williams]

Well done, you making a very nice job of it. Just done all my front suspension over the last few weeks (in between work) most of the hard stuff I did a few years ago but just put on new lowering springs and Protech shocks as I re-used all the old ones before. Read all about it in the next magazine
Chris

[jwrayth]

Thanks chaps!

The Protech shocks were a bit too rich for my blood so I'm putting SPAX on the car instead Should be a nice replacement to the Eibach ones I've taken off as they are well past their best. Springs are still good though, if in need of a tidy up! I look forward to reading your write-up Chris, especially on how the Protechs ride!

88mph; Be sure to enjoy some driving before you start tearing things apart

[Chris Williams]

Quote:I'm putting SPAX on the car instead

That's what I thought but, it no longer seems there is that much difference in price. Although I developed SPAX shocks with them and my car was the guinea pig for them I don't recommend them any more due to the number of failures with the top mounting bush and amount of cars where the gas has leaked out after 3-4 years. Though I'm still looking into if this is a 'hot state' US problem. Although with NOS Girlings available very cheaply I also think there a good option, after all the OE ones lasted 30 yrs!
Chris

[jwrayth]

I had heard some of the issues with SPAX in the US, but I didn't realize the Protech shocks had dropped in price closer to the SPAX pricing... and unfortunately I have already bought the SPAX Oh well, I can act as a case-study for their UK longevity I guess!

I have the DPI polybush replacement for the top mounting bush though, so hopefully that won't be an issue Interestingly enough though, the front Eibachs I took off the car had upper polybushes as well very similar to the DPI ones, but thinner...