How To: Rear Fascia adjustment Please

[norcimo]

Greetings,

I just bought a Delorean. I think its is excellent condition for an 81, serviced here Florida, all the paper work and upgrades..etc.

The only issue I saw with it is this: ( looks like its not properly aligned and separated a bit. Is this very hard to work on? I worked on porches 944, 928 914. Body stuff I leave to a body shop, but this looks like it can be done in my garage. Any thoughts are welcomed...Thanks.
39437

[DMC-81]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your purchase! Yes, I think most fascias can be aligned. It just requires patience. I just finished doing both fascias. There's 3 M6 studs on the fascia in that area that you can check. You need to take the taillights out to check/adjust them. You may need to adjust other fasteners on the fascia and or rear closing panel.

Here's a pic of the studs:
39438

By the way, there are more pics on the exterior restoration album on my profile that relate to rear fascia alignment, in case they will be helpful.

Cheers,
Dana

[norcimo]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your purchase! Yes, I think most fascias can be aligned. It just requires patience. I just finished doing both fascias. There's 3 M6 studs on the fascia in that area that you can check. You need to take the taillights out to check/adjust them. You may need to adjust other fasteners on the fascia and or rear closing panel.

Here's a pic of the studs:
39438

By the way, there are more pics on the exterior restoration album on my profile that relate to rear fascia alignment, in case they will be helpful.

Cheers,
Dana

Thank you very much.

Here are some pics of the dream come true. I now completely understand the feeling of owning a Delorean.
3943939440394413944239443

[DMC-81]

You're welcome! NICE car!! :thumbup:

P.S. There's a procedure in the DMC Workshop Manual P:02:21 on alignment as well.

[Morpheus]

Very nice car!

Welcome to the wonderful world of DMC ownership. What part of FL are you in?

[dmcnc]

Everything else seems to line up from what I can see. If your Rear Fascia is original it could just be natural warping or shrinking over time? Mine look just like that by the way.


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[norcimo]

Very nice car!

Welcome to the wonderful world of DMC ownership. What part of FL are you in?

Fort Lauderdale.

[norcimo]

Everything else seems to line up from what I can see. If your Rear Fascia is original it could just be natural warping or shrinking over time? Mine look just like that by the way.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I hope I can loosing it up and then I will see.

[DL4567]

Hi Norcimo,

Your car looks awesome, congrats on your purchase! This thread struck a chord with me, as I had the *EXACT* same issue on my car. I was told "none of them are perfect" when first buying it, and I let it go for about a year but then just HAD to do something about the gap. In my case it was totally fixable, using some bolts and giant fender washers and squeezing things together. Hopefully your cause is similar so you can follow these tips. Beware, it might affect other things though -- on my car, after squeezing in the fascia, the lower engine cover no longer fit the space. I had to grind the hinges smaller, dremel the engine cover where the hinges attach, and if I remember correctly I still had to take a belt sander to the entire back edge of the engine cover. Masked it off, painted the affected edge black, and then it all fit.

It was totally worth it, though. No more gap! Hopefully these pictures will help you out. I took them in 2005.

BEFORE:
http://i.imgur.com/BrS54e6.jpg


Passenger side for comparison, to show me how good it should look:
http://i.imgur.com/mVU4K0n.jpg


Behind the driver's side tail light (shows side-attachment fascia bolts - loosen and tighten as necessary):
http://i.imgur.com/T9KCFn3.jpg


No gap on passenger side between the side-tub fiberglass and rear bumper fiberglass (corner of engine bay):
http://i.imgur.com/JrxNZAu.jpg


1/4" + gap between fiberglass on driver's side (corner of engine bay):
http://i.imgur.com/SGMn8Al.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/daqeFMC.jpg


Behind passenger tail light - bolts and large washers were already there as they should be:
http://i.imgur.com/6cibKJq.jpg


On the driver side, these holes did not line up between the two fiberglass parts, so someone just left the bolts out completely:
http://i.imgur.com/vd30cNr.jpg


I drilled the holes through, and inserted new bolts and large fender washers:
http://i.imgur.com/oLztwQJ.jpg


Access to tighten bolts behind this panel:
http://i.imgur.com/D6fnEhV.jpg


Grinding edge of hinges to make them smaller:
http://i.imgur.com/qmMm3I1.jpg


Dremeling hinge attachment area of engine cover:
http://i.imgur.com/3hdTddT.jpg


Paint:
http://i.imgur.com/16XxifZ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ja5jfb8.jpg

(I think I had to slot out those holes a bit too)
http://i.imgur.com/dID2HM9.jpg


After --- SUCH AN IMPROVEMENT!
http://i.imgur.com/rwu0Z4z.jpg

[Rich]

That's a heckuva how-to, Derek.

Nice techniques that are clearly described.

[DL4567]

Thanks! I don't post all that often, but when I do....

Yeah when I do projects and stuff to cars, I always try to document with photos. I'm just glad these particular ones are of use to someone after all these years.

Good luck with adjusting your gap!

[norcimo]

Thank you Derek.

That's the first thing I'm going to do this weekend.

Cna't thank you enough.