VIN 04708, KJD 320W, Grey interior, 5 speed - October 1981

Describe these cars here or do a restoration blog of your DeLorean

VIN 04708, KJD 320W, Grey interior, 5 speed - October 1981

Postby MikeWard » Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:52 am

This was a one owner car, purchased new from dealer 05135 Almaden Toyota, San Jose California. The car spent it's life in CA, and from the look of the interior, it was always garage kept.

The previous owner, Les Theurich decided to part with the car last year after 29 years of ownership. I don't know the complete in's and out's but I do know that he was quite ill, which I believe was his only reason for selling.

I purchased the car from Les in November and then set about the task of figuring out how to get the thing over here. A big thank you to Gez at this point for putting up with my constant questions! I shipped the car over using Transglobal, Tony Lester from the US side, and Will Pocock on the UK side to handle clearing the car through customs.

To tide me over until the car arrived, a box containing all the documents relating to the car was sent over to me. It took some time to sort through this as it wasn't in any particular order, but there is literally a folder full of receipts relating to work carried out on the car, along with copies of Gullwing magazine, and literally years worth of DeLorean World Magazine. At the risk of slightly annoying my other half, I left her watching her soaps one evening, commandeered the bedroom and set about organising all of the documents, quite some task considering the quantity of stuff that had been sent.

Back to the car, although the car was running when sold, the car had some electrical challanges and would not start, and as such I missed the original vessel it was planned to go on, and had the additional hit of VAT going up to 20% on January 4th. It took three attempts for the haulage company to deliver the car to the port in Long Beach as the port authority would not accept it as a non-runner. Finally though, on the third delivery attempt, it did start and was accepted. The car was loaded onto the Tirranna which left Long Beach on the 6th December with an estimated arrival date into the UK of January 19th.

The car arrived ahead of schedule and I was able to pick up the car from the port on the 19th January. The battery on the car was well flat and even with a jumper pack attached to it the car did not show any signs of life (the reason for which would become known later), in the end we towed it onto Huxtables trailer and set off to Canvey Island. I gave a courtesy call to Les the next day to let him know that the car had arrived safely, he seemed extremely happy that the car had made it over ok, and asked if I would mind sending him some pictures of me with the car so that he could see the car with it's new owner. Sadly Les passed away during the early part of February so it was a request I was not able to complete.

Chris did a lot of work on the car, which was mostly fuel system related, along with removing a few dents and a re-grain. Our friends at the DVLA took their sweet time in registering the car, but I finally got the plate authorisation certificate and tax disk through on the 9th March. I quickly got some plates made up and arranged with Chris to pick the car up on Friday evening.


Below is a brief list of what was done on the car while with Chris:
-Obviously UK requirements, full set of new front lights from Dave H, along with new tyres all round (didnt' fancy crusing down the M25 or M1 on 30 year old rubber :P ).
-Fuel system - new tank, pump, boot, seal, pickup hose, filters, stainless braided fuel lines
-Stainless braided brake lines - the brakes themselves were supprisingly ok
-Oil pressure sender
-Otterstat + seal
-Ed's front springs
-Door mirror glass (the old glass was well knackered!)
-Upgraded relays
-Trip reset shaft replaced
-John Hervey's soft-lift door strut's
-All fluids flushed and changed along with new belts.
-Centre headliner re-trimmed
-2 dents removed on drivers door, 1 dent removed on t-panel and full re-grain

As they say 'this topic is useless without pics' so here are some I took over the weekend:

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
Last edited by MikeWard on Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
DeLorean Club

The Future's Bright....
The Future's
DeLorean Club
User avatar
MikeWard
 
Posts: 1781
Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:49 pm
Location: Egham, Surrey
VIN #: 04708

Re: VIN 04708, KJD 320W, Grey interior, 5 speed - October 19

Postby MikeWard » Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:13 pm

Some work done/on the todo list since getting the car back from Chris.

-Starter motor (done), something Chris had advised me of so I knew it was coming. Changed out with a refurbished motor from Dave H. When everything was connected back up, we then had no power, after trouble shooting we found that the cables from the battery to the starter motor were corroded, on both ends! This was cleaned up and the car sprang back to life, touch wood there have been no issues since.

-The speedometer (done-ish), it decided to die on me about two minutes before I got home after the drive back from Essex, new dust shield fitted just this weekend and the speedo now seems to be working again, however it is a little erratic (jumps from certain speeds e.g. from 25/30mph up to 45/50mph).

-Fuel sender (done), I attempted repair of the OEM sender, which was successful, a new piece of thin gauge wire was soldered to each end, the float was able to move nice and freely, and checked out perfectly with a mutimeter. Upon reassembly I made the monumental fail of putting thread lock on the thread at the bottom of the sender, would seem a logical thing to do since it had thread lock on there originally. The bar inside started turning, snapped off the newly soldered wire, and made a pig's ear of the float's spring, so I accepted defeat and went ahead and purchased a new sender from Ed.

-LED upgrade kit (done), doors and interior lights now upgraded so I can leave the doors up without fear of not being able to start the car when I get back in it.

-Reversing issue (still a todo), the car crunches when putting it into reverse when the transmission is hot. Apparently this is most likely due to bad clutch installation and/or one of the springs on the clutch disc has come adrift.

-HVAC (still a todo), mode switch need's rebuilding.

-Door locks (still a todo), barrel on the drivers door decided to come out with the key Friday evening, one of the little blades in it took the same time to pop out and ping into a nearby drain, lovely! So it looks like i'm in for a lockset, so while I've for the panel off I may as well replace the door handles as well.

Other upgrades planned:
New silicone hoses from Ed
LED's for the centre console
Stainless Exhaust
Spax (obviously ;) )
Anything else that breaks :P

A pic of yours truely shortly after fitting the new fuel sender on Sunday.

Image
Last edited by MikeWard on Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
DeLorean Club

The Future's Bright....
The Future's
DeLorean Club
User avatar
MikeWard
 
Posts: 1781
Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:49 pm
Location: Egham, Surrey
VIN #: 04708

Re: VIN 04708, KJD 320W, Grey interior, 5 speed - October 1981

Postby Chriss » Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:26 pm

Good work there Mike, lovely looking car :)

All you need now is the stainless exhaust ;)
Chris S
1983 DeLorean DMC12 VIN #16327
1998 Lotus Esprit GT3 VIN #2272
1999 Lotus Elise
2011 Lotus Evora S
2013 Lotus Exige S
2016 Lotus Evora 400
2019 Lotus Elise Cup 250

1990 Porsche 944 S2
2016 Ford Mustang 5.0 GT

"I gonna sing you a song" :mrgreen:

Lotus Liaison / junior J&D inspector
DeLorean Club
User avatar
Chriss
 
Posts: 1005
Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2009 11:12 am
VIN #: Ex 16327

Re: VIN 04708, KJD 320W, Grey interior, 5 speed - October 1981

Postby Admin-bloke » Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:50 pm

Nice one Mike the car is looking great. Keep up the good work :D
Admin-bloke, "The D Whisperer"
Pie n Pint Northerner....
Vin #4068 - y'official "Mighty Auto" test car for Admin-bloke tuning.

https://www.justgiving.com/campnibble

Forum Founder [means I just installed it........] and Tech Help
DeLorean Club

The Future's Bright....
The Future's
DeLorean Club
User avatar
Admin-bloke
 
Posts: 5300
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 6:45 pm
VIN #: 4068
Spaxed

Re: VIN 04708, KJD 320W, Grey interior, 5 speed - October 1981

Postby bozzzydmc » Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:30 pm

Super !

Well done Mike !
Bozzzy | DCUK 003 | Yorkshire, UK

DeLorean Club
bozzzydmc
 
Posts: 4402
Joined: Fri May 29, 2009 8:30 am

Re: VIN 04708, KJD 320W, Grey interior, 5 speed - October 1981

Postby jerzybondov » Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:02 pm

Great write up Mike! The brilliant thing about these cars is that no matter how many jobs on the car you do, there's always more to be done. I've had mine for 2 years now and I'm still getting through them...

What have you done stereo-wise? Still rocking the Craig?
VIN 7176
Official Club Reaper Extraordinaire.
User avatar
jerzybondov
 
Posts: 2603
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:24 pm
Location: London NW2
VIN #: 7176
Spaxed

Re: VIN 04708, KJD 320W, Grey interior, 5 speed - October 1981

Postby MikeWard » Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:38 pm

Thanks guys, it's been a long time coming. :)

I forgot to put a thank you in my first post to Al, someone else who happily put up with me constantly emailing him with questions!

Thanks Gez, that is actually the short version, it was a lot longer than that but looked like too much of an essay when I previewed it. :P Replacing the perishable items will be my main focus to begin with, fuel and brake lines are done, so i'll be getting the hoses done next. Exhaust and spax are on my nice to have list. Yes, she's still got the Craig for now, I'm making do with a cassette on a wire so I can plug my iPod into it.

Another random issue, with the headlight switch it seems to not want to work when the console is warm. It takes multiple tries of pressing it to get it to stick in the II position, and this is despite the switch being rebuilt by Dave H. But yet it seems to function fine if I try it when I first get in the car. Coincidence? I've been having a look on dmctalk, but most topics on LED's are more than a few years old now so what was applicable then, might not be now and/or a better version might have come along to replace it. Has anyone here upgraded their console to LED's? If so, what did you use?
DeLorean Club

The Future's Bright....
The Future's
DeLorean Club
User avatar
MikeWard
 
Posts: 1781
Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:49 pm
Location: Egham, Surrey
VIN #: 04708

VIN 04708, KJD 320W, Grey interior, 5 speed - October 1981

Postby A Van » Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:17 pm

Your welcome Mike, is it the led in your switch that is failing to light or are your headlights not working?
Alistair V

Vin 11753 - B/Auto - Kuwait, painted black
Ex Vin 11766 - B/Auto - Dubai
Ex 11622, 6064

RIP Mike 'Bozzy' Bosworth 19/04/1969 - 31/12/2015


Official Spokesperson and Media Liaison Officer, and off road Buggy flipper
DeLorean Club

The Future's Bright....
The Future's
DeLorean Club
User avatar
A Van
 
Posts: 7813
Joined: Fri May 29, 2009 6:33 pm
VIN #: 11753
Spaxed

Re: VIN 04708, KJD 320W, Grey interior, 5 speed - October 1981

Postby MikeWard » Tue Apr 12, 2011 4:30 pm

The centre console still has the original bulbs in it, so the headlight switch is still running with an incandescent bulb. I want to upgrade to LED's, A) to keep the console a little cooler, and B) to hopefully fix the headlight switch.

Once the centre console is warm from the lights being on, the headlight switch behaves randomly and does what it wants. I can press multiple times and get sidelights only, then when it does go past that click for the main lights it doesn't stick and comes straight back out and the lights go off. Other times the switch will go all the way down and not stick and come straight back out when I release it with my finger.

But from cold you can press it as many times as you like and it will work correctly, 1st click side, 2nd click main, 3rd click off and it will work fine until it gets warm.
DeLorean Club

The Future's Bright....
The Future's
DeLorean Club
User avatar
MikeWard
 
Posts: 1781
Joined: Thu Dec 17, 2009 11:49 pm
Location: Egham, Surrey
VIN #: 04708

Re: VIN 04708, KJD 320W, Grey interior, 5 speed - October 1981

Postby jerzybondov » Tue Apr 12, 2011 5:03 pm

Brilliant. Only in a DeLorean. Hope I remembered to warn you about this kind of thing Mike!
VIN 7176
Official Club Reaper Extraordinaire.
User avatar
jerzybondov
 
Posts: 2603
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2009 10:24 pm
Location: London NW2
VIN #: 7176
Spaxed

Next

Return to Members Cars or Unique DeLoreans

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests

About us

The DeLorean Club UK forum for European DeLorean owners and enthusiasts. The largest DeLorean forum in Europe.

Registration is FREE and all registered users get full access

cron