Re: Broken Shift Linkage (plus update!)

["Robert Rooney" <dmcvegas@xxxx>]

 An interesting note about the drawings is that they show a 
slightly differant design for the pivot bolt assembly. In the process 
drawings there appears to be a set of bushing bearings to fit between 
the pivot bolt and the gearchange arm. A possibilty may have been 
that the engineers forsaw possible problems with the bolt hence the 
bushings, but they were perhaps removed later on to save money on 
tooling.
Now for the update:
Last night I went to Pep Boys to get a replacement bolt. As luck 
would have it the guy who helped me had done an alignment for a 
DeLorean about 2 weeks ago, and had seen the bolt and assembly 
himself. He came up with a solution for both a temporary bolt and a 
permanent replacement. For the temp. bolt he cut a section of large 
steel brake line as long as the unthreaded portion of the broken 
bolt, and then slid it down to the head. This will allow the high 
tensil bolt to be fit into place, but the sleeve installed will 
protect the gearchange arm from getting damaged by the sharp threads. 
Screw the bolt down, but don't tighen it against the gearchange 
plate. Instead place an additional M8 nut on the exposed bottom & 
tighten it up to the nut welded to the chassis. This will assure you 
that the bolt will not "wiggle" out while you are driving down the 
road.
An added bonus is that the top portion of the bolt is wider now so 
the gearchanged arm cannot rattle around. However, this is only 
temporary. The steel that the brake line is made from is softer than 
the bolt, so over time the threads may cut into it, though it's way 
too early to tell right now (maybe if the threads were wrapped in a 
thick layer of teflon tape first...).
For the replacement bolt, the guy suggested a high tensil M10 
bolt. Cut it at the top to measure out where the wider smooth portion 
will be. Then tap the remander of the bolt to an M8 1.25 thread. This 
would produce the exact same version of the bolt, only now it would 
be made from high tensil steel. The guy made it sound pretty easy, 
but I would like a little imput on how I would go about doing this.
When I get a chance I'll write up an addition to the technical 
library on this. Plus I'll try to include some photos & illustraions 
as well (I've been so busy I haven't even finished with the 
electrical distributor addition yet!). Any questions, you know what 
to do!

-Robert
vin 6585


--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxx, "Dave Swingle" <dswingle@xxxx> wrote:
> More Information - in the eGroups Files section at 
> http://www.egroups.com/files/dmcnews/PROCESS-A/
> 
> Somebody put the factory assembly drawings for the shift linkage 
that 
> shows this in detail. Look at the drawings labled PROCESS 1 thru 4. 
> 
> These were put there in January, no idea who did it. Thanks whoever 
> you are! 
> 
> Dave