Re: [DML] Unprotected DeLorean Ignition Circuit

["content22207" <brobertson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Farrar alerted me to your post. With all due respects, it reminds me
all over again why I have given up on the DML.

Firstly, yes -- Farrar has a proper PCV valve. Same model I've been
running trouble free for more than 4 years now.

But even more importantly, even if his PCV valve were to stop up
completely, the engine would still pull an internal vacuum. It simply
would do so backwards, via the venturi, through what is ordinarily the
breather route.

BTW: This has absolutely nothing to do with carburetion. Even fuel
injected cars run PCV. Stock DeLoreans run PVC. Every car built since
the late 1950s has PCV. Most cars, fuel injected or otherwise, use a
PCV valve. The fixed "calibrated nipple" of the stock DeLorean is
actually less accurate and less efficient. Feel free to look it up.

I'm surprised you don't remember the tell tale sign of stopped up PCV:
Oil in the air filter housing. 

Anyway, it is obvious you have already made up your mind against
carburetion. You admit as much in your post. There really is no use in
discussing the matter any further.

Oh, one last thing: You assertion that "no cars have protection on the
ignition circuit" is total nonsense. In America at least, from the
1960s through the 1980s, every single car built by Ford, GM, Chrysler,
or AMC protected the coil supply line, usually via a fusible link
wire. They had no other choice. Every time you have either a load
bearing device, or a potential short to ground, the circuit *MUST* be
protected. Doing otherwise is simply tempting fate.

BTW: On traditional metal bodied cars, every inch of wire is a
potential short to ground. That's why Ford wired every single car and
truck it built the same way. A short 4-6 inch cable ran from the
battery to a remote starter solenoid on the passenger wheel well. With
the exception of the big line to the starter motor itself, this was
the only unprotected wire in the entire vehicle. The whole remainder
of the electrical system branched off that solenoid, via fusible
links. Even the circuit panel inside the passenger compartment was fed
by a fusible link. That, my friend, is the way to wire a vehicle.

On last thought: Had Farrar had this incident with K-Jet still in
place, I humbly suggest the outcome might have been much worse. He
would have had 80 PSI fuel sitting immediately above his fire. Note
also that stock DeLorean fuel lines (which Farrar didn't run before
his conversion) are made of plastic -- hardly the stoutest material in
a fire. The internet is full of pictures of 100% burned up DeLoreans.
There's a video of destroyed DeLoreans, including fire damage, on
YouTube as well. The one thing these cars all have in common is that
the only thing left (other than sad body panels resting crazily
against the blob of plastic that used to be a body) is the steering
wheel rim and the springs in the seats.

Oh: Since all this happened, I have added protection to my own
ignition circuit. I inserted a traditional fusible link immediately
before the resistor bank. Circuit between there and the aux relay is
still unprotected, but since the body of the car is plastic rather
than metal, I don't expect any problems.

Of course Farrar didn't expect any problems either....

Which brings up a good point: He drove from North Carolina (almost
South Carolina -- 4 miles this side of the border) all the way to
Pennsylvania, tooled around Gettysburg for two days, then drove all
the way to Charlotte (again almost South Carolina) with no incident
other than a weeping water pump (a quite common problem that I defy
you to blame on carburetion). If his conversion was such a hazardous
ticking time bomb, why didn't the car burst into flames during that
interval? In fact, when his cap did melt, the car *STILL* didn't burst
into flame. Uncarbonized orange plastic slung all over the engine
compartment indicates that the cap melted first, then caught fire
later. Farrar indicates flames limited to an area the size of your
palm (the size of a distributor cap -- imagine that). This was hardly
a catastrophic event. I anticipate getting him back on the road with
nothing more than a new cap & rotor, wires, and perhaps one of my
spare distributors if necessary.

I'm also going to bring a Duraspark ignition module in there's a
problem with his Bosch unit, pre or post meltdown. Wonder how much
misinformation will get slung around if Farrar drives home with Ford
ignition?

FWIW: I have been driving since Pigeon Forge with high voltage
igntion, .044" plug gaps, low ohm wires, etc, no problem (definitely
no problem: I don't care what ambient environmental conditions are,
how cold the engine is, or what kind of gasoline ends up in my tank --
combustion *WILL* occur). Pics are posted in the DMCTalk forum,
including a pic of a beautiful light tan spark plug taken just yesterday. 

Bill Robertson
#5939
 
>--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "David Teitelbaum" <jtrealty@...> wrote:
>
> I have another possible theory. Assume this happened on a carbureated
> car. If the car did not have proper crankcase ventilation the
> crankcase *could* have built up positive pressure which could include
> oil vapors and gas fumes. They could travel through the bearings into
> the top of the distributer where the sparks between the rotor and cap
> could have ignited them. I have to consider the carbureator conversion
> could be responsible. That or again, maybe a fuel leak dripping onto
> the distributer ignited by an improperly inserted #2 spark plug wire
> which was sparking inside the well of the distibuter cap. Just
> intelligent guesses. An electrical fire IMHO would not have caused
> this all by itself. There had to also be "fuel" added to it. It DOES
> point out the weak link of not having a protected primary ignition
> circuit but that is pretty common on a lot of cars. But that is not
> what burned.
> David Teitelbaum
> vin 10757
> 



------------------------------------

To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address:
moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx

For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com

To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnewsYahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/

<*> Your email settings:
    Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/join
    (Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
    mailto:dmcnews-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
    mailto:dmcnews-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/