Re: [DML] Electric DeLorean Update: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

[Joe Angell <jangell@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>

> The BAD: On the way yo the tire store we stopped at Tom's house to  
> make  sure
> everything was still working and to check out his new 4 post lift.  
> (Yes,
> membership in the LINY-DeLorean Motor Club has its benefits!)  When  
> I  lifted up
> the gear shift lever to get into reverse, it BROKE OFF!  Has  anyone  
> ever
> experienced the lever breaking?  Mine broke right a the weakest   
> point, where the
> "reverse" pin goes through it.  Anyone know how to fit  this?  I can  
> still
> shift but it a bit more challenging.  Not problem  today, I just  
> left it in 3rd
> gear most of the time.

I have an automatic, and mine snapped in half at the same place.  In  
my case, it was due to the pivot arm (not sure what it's called) at  
about the middle of the car, above the fuel accumulator, which turns  
the action of pushing the shifter one way into pulling the  
transmission linkage the other way.

Anyway, that pivot arm had gotten rusted and seized.  Over the  
preceding few months, the shifter had been getting stiffer, and I  
could even see the shifter bending as I pulled it.  It would also be  
hard to get the shifter all the way into Park due to the bending, and  
I'd have to pull past Drive to get it into drive.  I just thought it  
something was out of alignment at the time.

Of course, it broke on me when I was 250 miles from home.  I had to  
basically hotwire the car so I could drive it (can't start an auto if  
it's not in Park or Neutral -- luckily, it was stuck in Drive).  Had I  
know it was the shifter that had broken and that the linkages were OK,  
I probably could have just taken off the shifter plate and used some  
pliers to put it into the right gear, but I didn't think that far  
ahead.  I'm not really sure how I would have handled it if I had a  
manual...

Once I arrived, I was able to hammer out the rusted pivot arm and  
clean it off with sand paper, then re-install it.  I didn't even try  
to repair the shifter, instead just buying a another assembly from  
from DeLorean Motor Center.  It was a pretty easy install.

I keep toying with replacing the shifter entirely with a  
microcontroller and a servo or stepper motor, thus allowing me to  
relocate the physical shifter to a small stick or knob and use that  
existing space the shifter occupies as a little shelf for random stuff  
like my iPod and phone.  That would also make it very easy to add  
paddle shifters or "autostick"/"shiftronic"-style shift up/down  
buttons.  Not that I'd probably ever USE those features, but hey. :)

-- Joe



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