Engine bay restoration progress

A couple of months ago, I decided that I would tackle a cosmetic restoration of the engine bay, but try not to go overboard. I asked my family to point out things that they noticed looked old or worn out, and they pointed out the many rusty bolts, faded black, old and yellowed stickers, and other things that I decided to tackle.

In an earlier post, I shared how I had modified the air intake and removed the unnecessary components from that system. I am still in the process of improving the look of the plastic air filter assembly. More to come on that in a later post.

Below is the engine bay before I started doing any work:

 This is how the engine bay looks as of recently:

I started the project by first removing the lower engine cover and the metal stay that holds it open. I plan on refinishing both. See below for some progress of other items in the engine bay that I have been working on.

This metal light switch bracket was rusting quite badly and the paint was flaking away. It was one of the biggest eye sores of the engine bay. Even the bolts that hold the resistor to the bracket were rusting badly:

Another couple of pictures after I removed it from the engine bay:

 

I cleaned up the rust using a wire wheel and a flapper grinder wheel. I plan on using black POR 15 and then giving it a nice finish using SEM Trim Black spray paint. Below is a picture of it next to the lower engine cover grills and the metal retaining stripcs. 

Here is the lower engine cover before I began restoring it. The original stickers are faded and have wrinkled. The grills have changed over time from their original black to almost a purple look, which is more noticeable in the picture above. My lower engine cover was also missing some of the metal retaining strips that hold the grills to the cover, and many of those that are in place are rusting. 

 The original black paint has also worn off in some places where it has apparently been rubbing other pieces:

The original stickers on the lower engine cover were not all created equal. The "negative earth" and the vacuum routing stickers that were wrinkled from heat and time easily peeled off, but the 30+ year old glue that stayed behind was a beast. I didn't use a special adhesive remover like I probably should have, but I used Goo Gone. It worked to get off some of it, but not all of it. I eventually ended up wet sanding where those two stickers were using 600 grit wet sand paper and it eventually worked in getting off the rest of the glue.

The emissions sticker didn't look too bad, but I decided that if I'm going to paint the whole cover, I should replace that sticker too. I ended up basically having to chisel it off one tiny piece at a time. Luckily my wife assisted with that, but her arm was very tired at the end. Goo Gone cleaned that up nicely.

After the retaining strips and the grills were removed, this is how it currently sits. I am going to clean up the rust on all of the metal clips that hold the retaining strips on, but I will not remove them and they will just get painted black since they are covered by the retaining strips.

I have decided to do something a little bit different for the grills on the lower engine cover. I am going to paint them with a stainless steel paint that another owner recommended. It is the Seymour brand of paint. I bought it from Summit Racing as it was cheaper than buying directly from Seymour.

I used cleaners and brushes to remove any dirt and grease off of the grills, which is kind of hard to do because they are so flimsy. I then attempted to straighten any of the fins that had bent or been misshapen over the years. A good tool to do this with is a Popsicle stick. I then put on two coats of primer on each side with plenty of drying time in between. Below is how one of them currently looks, prior to the stainless steel paint. More to come on the grills. 

As you can see in the "before" picture of my engine bay, you'll notice the plastic ignition cover looks terrible. It was broken by a previous owner and they attempted to fix it with what appears to be RTV sealant on the top and what appears to be hot glue on the bottom. In addition to it being broken, the original sticker that shows how to jump start the car was a nasty yellow color.

I contacted someone at DMC Talk that was parting out a DeLorean and purchased an ignition cover and a new engine bay light switch. Below is the new cover after I had removed the old and yellow sticker. It needs to be cleaned up some more and refinished with SEM Trim Black. 

On the left is my original cover and on the right is the one I purchased:

Ready to replace DeLorean headliners

The headliner in the doors has seen better days. They look like they were replaced by a previous owner at some point in time and that they didn't do a very good job of making sure the new headliner was tight. There are also some spots that are faded or appear bleached.

Here they are prior to removal:

 Some DeLorean owners have found cool writing or "cave drawings" on the back side of the stainless steel body panels or under the headliner. My car didn't have anything noteworthy:

Upon another owner's recommendation, I went to Joann's Fabric to see if I could find a replacement headliner that I could use. I took one of my headliners with me to see how closely the color matched up. The two stores I went to had only three colors to choose from: black, gray, and tan. I wasn't pleased with how the gray compared to the one currently in my car. It seemed to be too different of a shade of gray for my liking, so I passed.

The pics below show the new roll of headliner at Joann's that I didn't buy on the left with the current liner on the right, comparing the back and front side of the headliner panel in case the front side had faded:

Since I have the headliners removed, I am motivated to find and install a color that I like. Stay tuned for future updates.

Rusty DeLorean oil pan bolts

In the goodies of extra parts that the previous owner gave me when I bought the car, there was a bag full of new oil pan bolts and washers. The original oil pan bolts are looking mighty poor, so I decided that this would be a quick and easy way to clean up that part of the engine.

Before new bolts & washers:

 After the new bolts & washers. Also cleaned up the timing cover chain bolts with a wire wheel:

 I was surprised at how the condition of the oil pan bolts varied so much. Some were covered in old grease or oil and others had what appeared to be aluminum oxidation and had no grease or oil:

I wasn't able to access all of the bolts, and likely won't be able to without lifting the engine. Since I don't see those bolts on the back of the pan, I won't worry about it for now. I will see what I can do about cleaning the oil off of the pan at a future date.

DeLorean Door Sill Seal Replacement

One of the many eye sores on my car includes the original and deteriorating door sill seals. After 30+ years, the rubber is hard and is falling apart in many sections:

These are very easy to remove and are held on by 5 or 6 phillips screws. The original rubber is held on to the metal bracket that you must reuse. The metal bracket has a rivet on each end to hold the rubber on, as well as an adhesive that makes removing the old rubber a pain. Here is the seal after I removed one from the door that shows the rivet on the end:

  

The rubber tore to pieces during the removal. I had to grind the rivets off on the ends as you will need them gone in order to make a flat surface for the new rubber. After I completed the first one, I decided to use a wire wheel to get any remaining glue off of the metal bracket. It cleaned up very nicely, but nobody will ever see it since it is covered up by the rubber.

The new rubber does not come cut for the holes for the screws nor for the notch to go around the amber door light. I inserted the metal bracket into the new rubber and held them in place together using some clamps and vice grips. I then used a drill to make holes for the screws, and then screwed the screws into the holes to hold the rubber in place. I then used tin snips to cut a notch out for the amber door light, then reinstalled them on the door. They look much better than before and will help give the car a cleaner look than before.

DeLorean Air Intake Modification

In an effort to clean up and restore my engine bay, I decided to start by getting rid of some of the unnecessary piping on the air intake. As you can see in the image below, under the coolant tank and to the left, there is a silver stove piping and quite ugly intake piping.

The way the intake is designed to work on the DeLorean depends on the outside temperature. When the engine is warming up, warmer air near the exhaust manifold on the passenger side is fed into the intake via the silver stove piping. Once the engine warms up, there is a valve that the silver piping connects to that is supposed to increase the ratio of colder/fresh air from the inlet pipe on the rear passenger side pontoon.

I don't know of any way to test to make sure that the mixture valve is working correctly, and I just assume that after 30+ years that it is not working. If it's not working, that means that air is being drawn at all times from the stove piping, which is not only limiting the amount of air, but it also means that the air is always hot.

Upon another DeLorean owner's recommendation, I decided to remove all of these unnecessary components and create a more free-flowing air intake. I purchased a fresh air intake pipe from AutoZone for around $20 and was able to remove all other components. This is the pipe I purchased: AutoZone air intake piping.

This is after I removed the intake filter/assembly and the stove piping:

I then removed the rest of the remaining parts of the old intake. Here they are sitting on the ground. I later removed the metal part that surrounded the exhaust manifold where the stove piping hooked up, but failed to take a picture of it:

I then hooked up the new intake piping to the air filter box and the pontoon inlet. It is going to look much cleaner once it's all put back together.

I also decided to restore the air filter assembly to its original glory. I haven't quite decided on how to make the plastic look dark black and as good as new, but I started by removing the old and original sticker. Yuck.

 More to come.