While getting the DeLorean ready to work on the lower ball joints, I noticed some rust on the headlight buckets and screws. I decided to remove one of the passenger side headlights to get a better look as to what is going on there. After I took out the headlight, this is what I found:
The rust is just surface rust, so it can be cleaned up very easily. As I began trying to clean up this headlight bucket with a wire wheel, I decided that I might try using POR15 instead of just a rustoleum spray paint. I want the restoration to last for the life of the car, and sometimes rustoleum doesn't last. In order to get the other lights out easily, I may end up removing the front fascia. I haven't decided the best way to make these look nice again, but I'm in no hurry as it is now winter and I don't plan on driving the DeLorean until the salt is off the roads.
I went to go have an alignment done this past weekend and the shop discovered that the lower ball joint on the driver side is shot. I found this odd since the previous owner had replaced these just a few thousand miles ago. I discovered that the batch of lower ball joints that the previous owner had installed were faulty and a poor design. This caused many to fail prematurely, as noted by many owners on the DeLorean forum at www.dmctalk.org.
In order to never have another lower ball joint failure, I purchased upgraded ones from the DMCUK club for $130 for the pair. I might as well replace both of them now. Below is a video that I took that shows how much play the ball joint has and why it needs to be replaced:
While looking through the list of past repairs on my DeLorean, I also discovered that the previous owner had replaced the original lower control arms with aluminum ones, which is great because I will not have worry about them rusting out like so many that I have seen.
Below is a picture of the front driver side suspension that I will be disassembling to replace the ball joint:
Since it's Christmas time and I just barely ordered the parts, the DeLorean may be out of commission for a while until the parts arrive. All I can do for now is wait. I'll post an update once I have these installed.
One of the first repairs that I did on the DeLorean after I first bought it was replacing the brake master cylinder. When I bought the DeLorean, I knew that it was in need of replacement. I had to pump the brake pedal to build up enough pressure to stop. This job was very straightforward and I didn't take any pictures. I just had to have something to catch the brake fluid that came out when I removed the two brake lines from the master cylinder. I then unbolted the master cylinder from the power/servo unit.
I then removed the original fluid reservoir and cleaned it out with brake cleaner before installing it on the new master cylinder. I then bench bled the new master cylinder before installing it into the car. I then hooked up the brake lines into the new master cylinder before bleeding the brakes at all four wheels. I prefer to bleed the brakes with someone else helping me by pushing on the brake pedal.
The brakes immediately felt better after going out for a test drive. Here is a picture from underneath the car of the new brake master cylinder:
