If I were to rebuild an Engine???

[dmcerm]

So, People of the Forum...

Say I wanted to get an engine from a salvage yard or a junk Volvo or whatever... what year car would I look for? What engine code should I look for? What engines from Volvos or other vehicles would be good to look for?
Obviously this is an interesting question and would take a lot of detail to get it done right but it's always been something that interested me and I just thought I would ask.
I would hope the mounts and some other components would be used easily for a DeLorean application but other stuff I realize would be 'D' specific and I would have to purchase.
Anyway, thanks for any assistance on this question... it is a very long-term process so who knows when and if this will happen but I thought I'd ask the question.

Thanks,

Mark
16891

[David T]

You will not find another engine that will "drop in". Too many parts to change including engine mounts, crankcase, fuel system, etc. Unless the car has no engine to rebuild you are usually better off rebuilding what you have or getting an engine from one of the Delorean vendors.
David Teitelbaum

[content22207]

Nonsense.

One of the North Carolinian owners (Joe Palatinus IIRC) dropped a Volvo B28F into his car virtually verbatim. The lower engine casting needs to be changed if you want DeLorean style motor mounts, but as my own PRV proves, you can adapt another manufacturer's motor mounts to the DeLorean engine cradle (I've been driving since June 2004 with bosses that are centered on the lower casting rather than offset towards the rear, with motor mounts that are slightly thicker than DeLorean motor mounts, and with motor mounts that secure with a threaded stud perpendicular to the engine rather than a horizontal stud. FWIW: I rigged up my motor mount adapters in just an hour or two). K-Jet itself doesn't care what kind of car it is running in (just as the Motorcraft carburetor I am using doesn't care whether it's installed on a DeLorean PRV or a Mustang V6). The Volvo CIS ECU does have a higher idle speed spec (900 RPM), but pinouts are the same -- a DeLorean ECU will operate a Volvo ISM just fine. Same with the Lambda ECU. Pretty much anybody's ignition ECU will work with any PRV distributor (my car uses a Peugeot distributor with a stock DeLorean ECU, and I once operated Rich Acuti's DeLorean with a Ford Duraspark ECU). There are indeed some nuances you will only find on DeLoreans, such as the spark advance cutoff solenoid, but there's absolutely no reason why you couldn't throw it away and plumb spark advance directly to ported vacuum as Volvo did.

How about all the owners running Chrysler 3.0's (more or less B280's) in their DeLoreans?

Anyone who claims that only Renault sourced PRV's will work in a DeLorean is ignoring a sizable body of contrary evidence, including my own (a Peugeot spec PRV, intended for stationary mounting in a barge, that was dropped into my car and driven to DCS'04 in less than two weeks).

Bill Robertson
#5939

[DMC3165]

A local owner out here on the island has done something like this. He installed the 3.0 PRV along with megasquirt EFI and a T-4 turbo. Conservatively the car makes around 300 HP. I spoke with Rob Grady about it once and he said If you do get a chance to drive it's fast! And exceptionally fast for a DeLorean!

:rollin:

[nofear365]

A local owner out here on the island has done something like this. He installed the 3.0 PRV along with megasquirt EFI and a T-4 turbo. Conservatively the car makes around 300 HP. I spoke with Rob Grady about it once and he said If you do get a chance to drive it's fast! And exceptionally fast for a DeLorean!

:rollin:

Would that be Josh's car? Last time I was at Grady's he had it there. He still had some kinks to work out but it looked great!

300 HP in a 2700 lbs car is nuts!

[David T]

If you are going to modify things then you could theoretically put almost any engine in. If the intent is to do it with a minimum of modification then staying stock is the way to go. I was only pointing out there is no "drop-in" alternative to the stock PRV. Since the poster is in the planing stage I was trying to let him know there is no good engine swap as there could be among, say, American built cars. About the only advantage to using an alternate PRV configuration in the Delorean (as opposed to any other motor) is the ease with which you can mate it to the transmission. As far as "improving" the motor by swapping it out, the way to go is to get a Stage II crate motor from DMCH. A good idea if the original motor is totally "done" or missing. I am sure the budget will have a big say in what the poster will decide to do. The more you have to modify to make an engine fit the more it will cost. No matter how cheap you can get a junkyard motor in questionable shape.
David Teitelbaum

[DMC3165]

Would that be Josh's car? Last time I was at Grady's he had it there. He still had some kinks to work out but it looked great!

300 HP in a 2700 lbs car is nuts!

The guy's name was Greg his last name starts with a Z but I'm not sure how its spelt. I think he's a mechanic and a martial arts instructor......I think. Nice guy. I only met him once or twice. I don't think he participates in any of the clubs or anything. But I'm shocked to hear there's more then one of those setups running around out here. From what I was told it'll smoke the tires in the first three gears!!!

:burnout:

I get what your saying Dave, I only brought it up because based on the results this setup yielded it seemed like a very reasonable way to crank some serious HP out of a D without doing heavy mods or breaking the bank.

[content22207]

Ithere is no "drop-in" alternative to the stock PRV.

Nonsense. A Volvo B28F is basically identical to the Renault sourced DeLorean plant. As mentioned there are some nuanced differences in vacuum plumbing, but vacuum hoses are ancillary to the engine itself. There are a few other nuanced differences, such as bolt on water pump pulleys versus pressed on, but blocks *AND* injection themselves are interchangeable (lower casting needs to be swapped for the motor mount bosses). DeLorean main crank pulley is also different and needs to be swapped over.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[DCUK Martin]

The lower engine casting needs to be changed if you want DeLorean style motor mounts, but as my own PRV proves, you can adapt another manufacturer's motor mounts to the DeLorean engine cradle

Yes but the Volvo crank case and sump is VERY different from the Renault crank case you have... which basically offsets the mounts but is otherwise identical to the native DeLorean (also Renault) crank case.

[content22207]

Oil pans and sumps are transferrable block to block. In my case it was dump luck that the Peugeot sourced lower engine casting had the same bolt pattern as a DeLorean oil pan, but even if it hadn't I could have swapped over the lower casting from my damaged engine (which would of course be necessary to use a DeLorean pan on a Volvo sourced block). If I had swapped over the lower engine casting, I could have used the DeLorean motor mounts.

My barge engine showed up with a humongous oil pan -- about 3 times as deep as a DeLorean pan -- and the spacer on the sump was about 3 inches thick. I simply unbolted the old ones and transferred them to my new engine. Took all of 15-20 minutes.

Surely you're not arguing that a non-OEM DeLorean block can not be dropped in because it requires 15-20 minutes of additional work....

Bill Robertson
#5939

[DCUK Martin]

I'm saying you need to familiarise yourself with the Volvo setup before making sweeping statements.

[content22207]

Unless I'm mistaken, all circa early 80's PRV lower engine castings are interchangeable.

The lower casting has to come off to rebuild the engine anyway, so the OP can use any casting he wants when it comes to that point in the reassembly process.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[DCUK Martin]

ALL PRV lower crank cases are interchangeable. The oil pickup spacers aren't available though, last time I checked (both DMC and Renault).

My point was that you don't want to try fitting a Volvo engine direct to a DeLorean, which you seemed to suggest was probably easy given your experience:



as my own PRV proves, you can adapt another manufacturer's motor mounts to the DeLorean engine cradle

In fact your engine cradle was made by the same manufacturer as the native DeLorean one.

[content22207]

In fact your engine cradle was made by the same manufacturer as the native DeLorean one.

Of course my engine cradle was made by the same manufacturer -- it's an original DeLorean frame....

Motor mount bosses, and the motor mounts themselves, are of course totally different:
1640

Bill Robertson
#5939

[DCUK Martin]

Your lower crank case is Renault, so is the stock DeLorean one. :banghead:

[content22207]

My lower crankcase differs from a DeLorean casting (and I guess a Renault casting) as follows:
1) Motor mount bosses are centered, not offset towards the rear (my engine was never intended to have a transmission hanging off the back of it). That is the whole purpose of my engine cradle adapters -- to extend the cradle towards the rear of the car so my motor mounts have something to sit on.
2) My motor mount bosses have a slightly shallower angle than stock. If you look closely at my motor mounts, you will see that the engine cradle angle (which my extensions follow) is steeper than the bosses, which does put more stress on my rubber than I'd like, but those adapters were only supposed to be temporary anyway (at least that's what I told myself in 2004...).

Perhaps it would help you to remember that my engine is Peugeot spec, not Renault.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[sifu22]

It didn't break the bank to.do.this setup. And for the price and the power you will get by doing the conversion its all worth it. The stage 2 only gives you a minimal amount of hp gain and for the money that sucks. It took some time to wire everything in and map out all the parameters in the computer but when all is said and done it feels great to boost down the HWY and know the car has the horsepower and tourque it should. Anyone that has questions with megasquirt I would be more than happy to help. I helped out Josh...... thanx for listening to me ramble...lol

[content22207]

Pretty pictures for Martin:

Motor mount boss on my old Renault block -- 9.5 inches from the machined face on the front of the engine:
1655

Motor mount boss on my barge engine -- ~6.5 inches from the machined face on the front of the engine:
1656

As you can clearly see from above, the motor mount bosses on my barge engine are much further back (centered on the engine) than a stock lower casting:
1657

I engineered *AND* made those engine cradle adapters in an hour or two. Adapting nuanced differences between various PRV iterations to a stock DeLorean platform really isn't difficult.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[sifu22]

1989 eagle premiere 3.0 bolts right to the delorean lower half. No fuss. No problem. That wasn't the hard part. The megasquirt was a headache ... also 1990 dodge monaco has the same prv engine.

[Malevy]

Mark (the OP); What are you trying to accomplish with this project? Are you looking to make a non-runner run again? Do you have a car that needs an engine? Or, is the goal to improve performance?

If we know the goals of the project, it may help in getting some more useful answers.

[DCUK Martin]

Pretty pictures for Martin:

Bill, I know you like making an effort for me but there really was no need, I am very familiar with that lower crank case, it was used on the Alpine GTA and Renault 25 Turbo. I have 5 such engines sitting on my racks and have swapped out several more. I am also familiar with the mounts they use which are identical to the DeLorean's @ 45 degrees. The DeLorean mounts and crank case are common to the Renault 30.

Just for you Bill, here's the arse of a very rare Alpine GTA convertible (including a nice shot of the oil cooler setup, for anyone who was interested in that thread).

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