Red Letter Date: April 9, 2010 - Plaza Theater Screening of BTTF

During the trip to Alabama to meet the stars of "Back to the Future," 6239 met a guy named Ben Ruder, the organizer for the Plaza Theatre in downtown Atlanta. Ben was gearing up for a showing of "Back to the Future" the next month and needed a DeLorean outside the theater under the marquee. Without hesistation, I told him I'd do it as long as I had a place to sit with the car and "a Diet Coke for my girlfriend."

Ben said he didn't want to take up the entire weekend for me, but if I could be there Friday night, that would be great. I was thrilled to be a part of it, so I showed up all three nights that weekend. The admiring public was mostly good natured, if sometimes too spirited. A few times I had to stop people from leaning on the car, playing with the doors or sitting in the car. This was the event that provoked a terrible and verbally abusive response from a cavorting group of drunken women. See my earlier posting for more on that...

The pollen that weekend was getting bad in Atlanta so the car slowly turned yellow as the nights wore on and I ran out of dusting rags constantly. Some more notable encounters included a request by some L.A. talent scouts to get me to audition for the reality show Big Brother. It wasn't a joke. I passed all the same. I was also told by one guy that my car would be in an auto magazine after he took some photos. Nothing ever really came of that either...The most fun was seeing the delight of the attendees at the car, and many got their photos with it, some of which I have posted below.

I met some interesting people that weekend, including a girl who got way too familiar with the whole situation. Again, see my previous post linked above...

"Who do you think?! The Libyans!!!!"

I was just thinking this morning. This year the DeLorean is 30 years old and almost as popular now as it was in 1981, 1980s pop culture nostalgia is at an all-time high...and now a lot of angry Libyans are back in the news. I guess I'll have to check the DeLorean's rear view from now on to make sure an angry Libyan isn't shooting at my DMC with a Kalishnikov.

The more things change the more they stay the same, I guess. Here's hoping Gatorade is sold in glass bottles again soon...

DeLorean Song of the Week - 2/20/2011

This 1980s classic was written for Rocky III, and nominated for an Academy Award! It doesn't hurt that the DeLorean has a brief cameo in the film's opening montage. Enjoy this 1982 classic from Survivor!

Survivor - Eye of the Tiger

Shocks and Awful - Run of Bad Luck

Well, the SPAX Shocks arrived, but Jake and I discovered all too quickly that the front pair had incorrect bushings on the bottom and were too small to accept the DeLorean mounting bolts. They will be going back to be drilled out. An unnecessary delay and very frustrating. In the meantime, Jake and I were able to mount the new Heninger Lower Control Arms, DMC UK Front Springs and DMC Europe LCA Support Brackets.

We also took the time to torque the lower ball joints and do some touch-up paint work. Additionally, we installed the new spindle and reattached the rear spindle nut and angle drive. After that, we moved on to the hard part of removing and replacing the rear shocks. It was extremely rough going, with the first one taking hours, well past 11 p.m. We had to use a combination of two external coil compressors, a jack and four cinder blocks for support, along with a pair of mallets. In mid-install at one point, I had to Dremel one of the coil compressors shorter while it was still attached to the spring to make the install work.

We had to finish the second rear shock on Sunday afternoon. I also took some time doing touch-up paint work to the rear shock towers where the coil compressors scratched the epoxy coating.

Then we checked our work on the rotor bolts from last week and added new blue threadlocker before moving on to a long overdue task: cleaning the garage. Enjoy the before and after photos...

Painting DISASTER

Apparently when Rustoleum Professional Gloss Black Enamel is applied over a dried layer of Rustoleum Stops Rust Gloss Gray, the black spray eats through the previous layers, creating a scaly awful mess. I'm not sure yet, but I think all of my work on the passenger side is ruined and I'll have to start over... Thursdays always SUCK...

Shades of Gray - Frame Refurbish Continues

Tonight Melinda and I worked on the third coat of paint in the cramped lower control arm channels of the frame. I'm hoping the area will be sufficiently coated by Saturday when the front suspension rebuild begins. The Spax Shocks from England should be arriving any day now and then I can get 6239 back on her tires.

In the meantime, the painting continued with a coat of Rustoleum Stops Rust in Gloss Gray. The area is extremely small and out of the way, making it nearly impossible to get the spray can to coat the area evenly as it cannot fit into the space. I have given up on even application and decided to err on the side of total coverage.

The result looks like it will be a good repair to the area on both sides.

I also took a few minutes hitting the rubber boots and bushings in the front suspension with rubber preservation lubricant I acquired through PJ Grady. A few minutes maintaining those parts might save me a lot of headaches later, and it was a simple spray, soak and walk away process.

In some final news, I snagged another Back to the Future camera! Yep, a second JVC GR-C1U. Thankfully this one had the carrying handle with the proper knob on the top. This will take a place in the DeLorean during displays for sure!

Rust Blacked Out!

The primer had dried, so I went in with a first coat of Rustoleum Professional Enamel Gloss Black into the LCA channels of the frame. It's a hard area to paint evenly. These photos are of both sides immediately after the paint was laid down, so it's still wet. Notice that the driver's side was in far better condition than the passenger side and only needed some minor touch up work by comparison.

 

DeLorean Song of the Week - 2/15/2011

The song might be from '79, but the band Foreigner's sound was pure 1980s! As if they predicted the next decade's audio identity!

Enjoy one of their greatest hits - Head Games

Frame primed...

Primed the frame this evening. Will begin coating with Stops Rust Rustoleum coats tomorrow night.

DeLorean gets ACID BATH!

So the time had finally come to deal with the rusting frame up underneath the passenger side front shock tower. Darrin and I went to Home Depot and picked up a phosphoric acid solution and the necessary ancillary equipment (gloves, funnel, spray bottle). The access to the area is very cramped and limited. We had to adjust the car on the jack stands to free up the drain hole in the frame box. As a reminder, this is what the area looked like originally.

The area was sprayed liberally with the phosphoric acid, but it wanted to pool in the back corners, which would have been bad for the steel overnight. Darrin devised a solution that involved attaching a cut section of sponge to a wire clothes hanger. It worked like a charm and we were able to soak up and drain out the excess solution.

 

 The results were striking and immediate. It looks worlds better in there now.

Darrin and I also took the time to reassemble the brake pads after lubricating the pins and pistons. We then turned our attention to the driver's side tie rod, which needed re-greasing.

The boot was in good shape, but the grease was dirty. A short minute with the grease gun solved that problem.

 

The final task of the day was reattaching the rotors to the front hubs. We used Blue Threadlocker on the eight hub bolts and torqued them to 20 ft/lbs as per the DeLorean Service Manual. Then I gave the new rotors a good wipe down with brake cleaner.

Slowly but surely the DeLorean is coming back together. The next step will be painting the formerly rusty areas of the frame this week as prep for suspension reassembly next week. I still need to do that coolant flush as well...

Hub Bearings Pressed In! Brake Calipers Cleaned and Loaded!!!

Big steps completed today thanks to help from Jake and Darrin! The morning started with Darrin and I putting the new 20-ton press to work pushing out the hub bearings from the wheel hubs. The press made some noise at first but we determined it was the springs and pushed forward.

 Using a large socket as a press fitting, we pushed the hub bearings out with relative ease.

On the second pressing, Darrin made a two-point shot, landing the falling hub bearing right into the waiting bucket. Nice move.

The hubs were clear and we then subjected them, along with their spacers, to a good douse of degreaser.

The result was a long-overdue cleaning before we prepared to put in the new hub bearings. Darrin and I prepped the hubs with 90W marine-grade gear oil while Jake created a plywood jig for the hub bolts to pass through so the press did not damage them. That would allow even, flat pressure on the bearing as it was pressed in, so it would not go into the hub crooked. Using a power drill, we put four generous holes in the plywood sheet.

A shop towel was placed on top of the bearing, then the plywood and then the press was brought down on the whole setup.

We checked and re-checked it to make sure that the bearing was centered and that no pressure or damage was being inflicted on the hub bolts. Then we put the snap rings back into place with the pliers and a little help from a rubber mallet and a punch.

Once completed, we had two nice and clean, reconditioned hubs!

The next task was removing the old brake pads, then cleaning and loading new pads in their places. The calipers, when originally removed were dirty and the pads had uneven wear, likely from warped rotors.

The first step was removing the pins and springs and pulling the old pads and shims. Then, using a C-clamp with the old pad as a buffer, we pressed the brake pistons back in, while opening the bleeder valves to allow the old fluid to escape without contaminating the hard lines.

Then we cleaned the calipers, careful to avoid getting brake component cleaner on any of the rubber piston seals.

The new pads and pins came with adhesive shims and went together fairly easily.