Factory Assembly Procedure

[delgato]

Greetings All,

I was wondering if there was any historical documents or any info regarding the specific production assembly procedure of the Delorean?

I am curious for a few reasons.

First off, I love the shows like "How It's Made" and "Factory Made" and "How It's Made: Dream Cars" etc...

For some reason I am fascinated with watching production type shows or going to different factories to see how things are done.

I do production for the job I have and find it interesting to see how others do what they do.

I find myself thinking a lot about what the sequence of assembly might be.

I am also curious to know if the PRVs came 100% complete and just needed bolting on and wired up or if there where other things DMC needed to add.

I actually have a ton of questions regarding the production of a lot of the parts of this car.

For instance did DMC make the glass or tail lights or..., you name it, all of it really. How much was outsourced? Who did it?

Finally, a more selfish reason, I plan to do a complete frame off with my car and was hoping I could get as much info as possible.

It would be so helpful to have that as a guide when doing dis assembly and more so reassembly as to ensure I do not skip any steps.

I think this would be cool information to have for the community.

If this info is already out there is a book or somewhere, please point me in the direction.

Thanks

[Dangermouse]

Buy "DeLorean:Stainless Steel Illusion Dream" by John Lamm

should get you started

[Rich W]

A good place to start would be to watch the following, if you have not seen it already:


DA Pennebaker DeLorean documentary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sueqDrq9VBw


Since you are in Chicago, consider joining the DeLorean Midwest Connection club:

http://www.deloreanmidwest.com/join_club.html


Our next DMC Club event is the Winter Brunch on Sunday, December 7 (location TBA).

There are several members who can talk your ear off about the Factory Assembly Procedures (as we know it)
including Tony Swann (club president), myself and Dave Swingle (if he will be attending).

Tony and myself have a vast collection of B/W photos of Factory Assembly Procedures from "back in the day",
along with a few original sets of factory film footage that was converted to digital video. We have made a few
presentations at our club events and DCS events in the past and it may be time to re-visit these presentations.

There are a few "websites" in progress, including a DeLorean Factory website that will show the progress of the
construction of the DeLorean Factory, from cow pasture to state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in 18 months.
Maybe this Winter, Tony and I will make some progress with this website and others.

Thanks,
Rich W.

[David T]

A good place to start would be to watch the following, if you have not seen it already:


DA Pennebaker DeLorean documentary

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sueqDrq9VBw


Since you are in Chicago, consider joining the DeLorean Midwest Connection club:

http://www.deloreanmidwest.com/join_club.html


Our next DMC Club event is the Winter Brunch on Sunday, December 7 (location TBA).

There are several members who can talk your ear off about the Factory Assembly Procedures (as we know it)
including Tony Swann (club president), myself and Dave Swingle (if he will be attending).

Tony and myself have a vast collection of B/W photos of Factory Assembly Procedures from "back in the day",
along with a few original sets of factory film footage that was converted to digital video. We have made a few
presentations at our club events and DCS events in the past and it may be time to re-visit these presentations.

There are a few "websites" in progress, including a DeLorean Factory website that will show the progress of the
construction of the DeLorean Factory, from cow pasture to state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in 18 months.
Maybe this Winter, Tony and I will make some progress with this website and others.

Thanks,
Rich W.

Very few parts were actually made by DMC. The factory was just an assembly line. The powertrain was shipped in special metal racks fully assembled. One of the more interesting things was that the factory used Tellus carriers and built the car on it. No conveyor. The carriers followed wires embedded into the floor. At the time it was one of the most automated factories in the world using a computer to schedule production. Most factories of the era still used manual methods. No robots, the car was hand assembled. The factory had to hire a certain # of employees according to their deal with the UK government so it didn't make sense to get too automated. Lotus designed the production and they were well known for building what is today called a "bin" car, using parts designed and made for other cars and adapting them (or using them directly) on another car. Very useful to keep the unit price and tooling costs down, especially for a limited production car. Obviously the frame, panels, interior, and glass were all custom made for the car. About the only thing made from scratch by the factory was the fiberglass tub.

[john 05141]

to Rich,

You mention you have a bunch of production pictures. Are they published on the production pricture thread on this forum? Or is that just a fraction?

Jan

[Domi]

Even if you don't read German, you can buy this book:
http://www.deloman-shop.de/fanshop-deloman/product/view/22/40
There are plenty of interesting pictures in it.
I have posted some pictures on the French forum if you want to take a look:
http://www.stainlesswings.fr/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3890&hilit=Zu+fr%C3%BCh+f%C3%BCr+die+Zukunft

[john 05141]

I have them all from those sites.
Even tough I have a very big collection of production pictures already, I've seen lots during presentations from DMC employees I was never able to find elsewhere. I'm hunting for those :evil3:

Jan