Failing Master Cylinder....and Rust

Well, with getting everything ready for the MOT I came across one real problem with VIN 10719. The brakes had been playing up since I got the car from Southampton. After getting the car back home I'd checked the master cylinder and fluid reservoir and all seemed fine. The level was fine back then, but the brakes still seemed spongy, a problem which only seemed to get worse as time went on. Then a dreaded patch of clear oil appeared on the garage floor, right below the MC area of the car.

Sure enough the MC had been leaking oil out of the back, via the rear seals, down the front of the vacuum assist/servo unit and, worst of all, onto the frame. The DOT 4 fluid is very corrosive and had eaten away at the epoxy on both the frame and the tank cover.

Now, when had this all started. Some of the areas indeed look like they are pretty fresh. The epoxy has been damaged, but the steal below only had surface rust. But, further down the frame and on the tank cover the layer of rust was more pronounced, pointing to an older problem. Talking to the previous owner he assured me that "there had never been a leak", but the evidence does point to something that's been going on for some time. But, whatever the case this needs sorting.

Pulling the MC out revealed the problem with the rear seal. The whole area was dripping with fluid. The seal should stop any fluid finding its way back here, so that must be the point of failure. The question is what to do? The MC is original, and some searching on the net and questions on the forums revealed that to try and recondition the MC would be a false economy. The bore inside the MC was probably badly corroded and any reconditioning would be more expensive than a replacement.

So, biting the bullet, I purchased a MC through the DeLorean Eurotec club shop, which thanks to some excellent service turned up in a couple of days, and this over the New Year weekend as well!

With the MOT booked for the 3rd of January I needed to work fast. I pulled the old MC and servo unit out of the car and cleaned up and repainted the servo unit to look as good as new. The old reservoir is a part in very short supply, and was in great order, so that was transferred onto the new unit. Its held on with a couple of pins, so easy enough to do. 

All the new parts went into the car pretty easily, and the brakes were bled using an easy bleed system to pressurise the MC and fluid tanks. I've never done anything like this before, but it all seemed to go very well, and the brakes are transformed. 

The rust needs looking at, but I've already cleaned the black "tar" protection off the tank cover and affected frame area. Not a pleasant job! My car seems to have had this "protective" covering applied at some point. The previous owner had told me before purchase that it was a special "rhino" paint they use on flat bed trucks over there, but that's nonsense! This stuff is like a tar coating which can be scrapped off with a blunt tool. You'd never want it on the bed of a truck, it would get everywhere! I'll need to get it off all the frame, and that's going to be one hell of a job. But for now the brakes work, which is the main thing.

Fitting a Fog Light - Part 2

Well, following the problems last time with the two lights I installed being WELL below power I went out and purchased a new unit.

The new unit came from Halfords and is basically a fog light unit designed to be bolted to the underside of a cars bumper, so adding a fog light. Its an enclosed square unit including a single 12V bulb and reflector, plus a screwed down red lens.

My idea was to stick with the concept of installing a new, purpose fog light within the passenger side rear light unit. The open "centre" running light lens was a perfect position. It wouldn't detract from the brake light function, and would only enhance  the running lights.

The purchased fog light unit was simple to open up. The red lens wouldn't be needed, but the reflector was needed to get the most out of the bulb. However, it was a little on the large size. Kept original it would get in the way of the running light bulb. So, simple fix. Just cut it down to size with a hack saw. This cut-down unit was then wired up with a couple of wires terminating in spade connectors and fixed to the inside of the rear unit using some double-sided foam pads (the sticky types). Bingo, one (concealed) fog light.

The wire back to the switch through the left side pontoon was used, as shown in part 1. As many people have done before I cut a hole in one of the dummy switches for a 16 amp illuminated switch, which would show when the light was on (an MOT requirement). I then needed a live feed from the headlight circuit so the fog light would only work when the headlights were on.

To add this function I tapped into the dipped beam headlight relay in the fuse box. The slot on the left-hand side at you look down from above is the one you want. I simply pushed the bare wire into the slot before re-seating the relay. I'll sort a more permanent connection if all works! It also needs an in-line fuse holder and a 10 amp fuse adding, just to make things safe.

With all connections made the last thing to do was to connect an earth from the illuminated switch to the earth (which I had now found and correctly installed) on the cigarette lighter, allowing it to light when in use.

All back together and it worked! One discreet fog light, without modifying the PCB board, or having to have an ugly light of the back of the car.

Fitting a Fog Light - Part 1

Well, I need to get a fog light fitted to VIN 10719 before she can pass the UK MOT. For it to pass the car needs a rear red "fog light" which can be turned on ONLY when the headlights are on, and must have an illuminated switch or other warning light to show the driver that they are active. Phew!

This is the progress so far. It's not all done, but I'll add to the post as it evolves. 

I've decided not to go down the temporarily light route. Better to have a permanent  working fog light in this country. You never know  when you might need it. Although I have no intention of using the car in bad weather you never know.

My original option was to do the modification outlined by the "how to" section on the deloreans.co.uk club site. However, this calls for a live feed to be soldered to the PCB board next to the inner brake light, thus illuminating it constantly when the fog light switch is used. However, VIN 10719 has one of the new PJGrady PCB's which have a common positive track to both the inner and outer lights. If I supplied power to this track BOTH brake lights would illuminate at all times, which would cancel out the braking indication. A certain fail for the MOT. So it was on to plan B.

The centre light section of my rear light cluster is open and without a reflector. My plan is to place a new bulb holder into the top or bottom third of this section which can be independently controlled by the fog light switch, thus not modifying the original PCB in any way and keeping all original functionality, while satisfying the MOT requirements.

To do this I first had to route wiring to carry the live feed for the lights. From the back passenger side  rear light cluster I ran a 17 amp red cable back behind the number plate holder and round into the left hand pontoon and out through the engine bay release handle. This required removal of the catalytic converter from the left hand side of the engine bay to allow me to reach up and along the pontoon and push the wire through the gap in the firewall. I then threaded it down and along the central console (remove the ash tray and rear tray to aid this) and out through one of the dummy switches. 

I needed to fit an illuminated 16 amp switch here, which would be fitted to the dummy switch, and draw an earth for it from the cigarette lighter so it would illuminate when powered up. Then I threaded another wire back from the switch, along the centre console, and out in the fuse box section behind the passenger seat. Here I could tap into the headlight relay live feed to allow the rear fog lights to only work when the headlights were on. This connection would also be fused with an in-line fuse holder.




All seemed ok. Walking to the back of the car I picked up the wire for the rear lights which had been dangling on the floor. As I did it touched the side of the car and "bang" sparks flew as power arced to earth. WTF! how can that happen? the key wasn't even in the ignition. 

After some investigation it turns out that the out of the two wires to the cigarette lighter the outer purple wire was the live, not the inner red wire. WTF again! Surely the red should always be live. That needs some further investigation, but some swapping of wires later all was working as it should. (the live for both the cigarette light and the element were wired into the holder, so both the purple and the red wires were LIVE)

Well, I say as it should, but the actual lights I'd rigged up on the rear array were not as good as I hopped. To act as a fog light they have to glow a fair bit, and the two three-LED units I got for £5 (a bargain I thought at the time) just don't give out enough light.

The fix. Well I need a better set of lights and all should be good. I have a couple of ideas and will post an update soon on how this all turns out.

Fixing that Hand Brake or Parking Brake

The next bit on the list was the hand brake. It's been slipping since I got VIN 10719, which isn't a good thing when you have a sloping drive!

First of all I backed the car a little way out of the garage. As I've mentioned before its a single garage, and a tight fit. Not much room to open one door, let alone both. So, backing her out allows me to get at the rear wheels easier, and makes the whole job that bit simpler.

With the back of the car clearing the door frame I chocked the wheels at the front (essential as there wont be any brake at that end remember) and started to jack up the rear end. The jack point it on the cross member, between the two wheels and below the engine. Make sure to use some wood to make sure you don't damage the epoxy!   With the wheels up off the ground I used a few house bricks to support is as well (the stands I have wouldn't fit underneath at that point, but try to use stands wherever possible).

Taking the wheels off was pretty easy as well, which reveals the main and hand brake callipers. The smaller of the two on the top of the brake is the hand brake. Look for the large slot headed screw which adjusts the brake shoes. It has a cotter pin through it which needs to be released in order to tighten the screw. Remove this and tighten up to the disk, then slacken off one revolution. This should allow for a "tight" fit for the shoes, and a responsive break. Refit the cotter pin and repeat on the other side.

After refitting the wheels and using a torque wrench to tighten them 100 NIM the car was lowered down and the jack and bricks removed. I backed the car up and tried to use the handbrake to hold it on the sloping drive. Success! It held perfectly. 

It turned out to be simpler than I thought it would be.