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Thread: The Road to 88mph (Total rebuild of #1537)

  1. #1
    Owner of #1537
    Join Date:  Jan 2020

    Location:  San Antonio TX

    Posts:    13

    My VIN:    01537

    Club(s):   (SCDC) (DCUK)

    The Road to 88mph (Total rebuild of #1537)

    Hello everyone,

    After years of searching for a DeLorean, I have found both my dream car and an immense project.

    Meet 1537, a DeLorean with a chipping black paint job, rust eaten and severely modified frame, rotting interior, no engine, no transmission, the iconic stainless panels scarred with dents and scratches, tacky and tasteless mods, and the list goes on. Neglected by the previous owner for many years just sitting in a barn, he died, and it was then moved outside under the Texas sun where it sat for several more years before I came across her.

    She is easily amongst the worst condition DeLoreans out there.
    I've don't my own repairs, maintenance, restoration and upgrading on my own since I was a teenager. Now, I get to restore and upgrade my favorite car of all time.

    These are the pictures I took the first time I saw the car on Thanksgiving day, 2019. Since then, much work has been done, and far more lies ahead.
    The car has been cleaned out, the paint has been removed, most of all the tacky mods are gone, the fascias stripped down to the polyurethane, and half of the car has been regrained.

    I have the project all planned out already, with everything that I am restoring and everything that I am upgrading. This DeLorean will go from being one of the worst out there, to one of the best someday.

    I will continue to post updates on my journey as I go along, and some pictures to go with it. I've also started an Instagram for the project, there you can see far more photos at a higher quality, and some videos too.

    If you'd like to follow or just check it out, my Instagram is the_road_to_88mph
    You're more than welcome to stop by
    Attached Images
    Best regards,
    Brent V.

    1981 DMC-12 #01537
    1992 3000GT VR-4

    Instagram: the_road_to_88mph

  2. #2
    Senior Member vwdmc16's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  sacramento

    Posts:    1,415

    My VIN:    1768

    Club(s):   (NCDMC) (DCUK)

    Subscribed! Looking forward to it!

  3. #3
    Senior Member Domi's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  France

    Posts:    2,457

    My VIN:    16951

    Club(s):   (DCO) (DOA) (DCUK)

    Congratulation on your purchase
    Good luck for the restoration

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  Oct 2012

    Location:  Niceville, FL

    Posts:    104

    My VIN:    03430

    Awesome! Congratulations! I also look forward to it!

    -Andy #3430


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  Feb 2015

    Posts:    166

    Team#1537,

    Congrats on you project.

    Curious what brand of door struts are on your car? Amazing they still hold the doors up.

    Have fun on your adventure

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  Oct 2012

    Location:  Niceville, FL

    Posts:    104

    My VIN:    03430

    When you get a chance, I’d love to hear what your plan is. Back to stock, conversion, etc.

    Good luck!

    -Andy #3430


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  7. #7
    Owner of #1537
    Join Date:  Jan 2020

    Location:  San Antonio TX

    Posts:    13

    My VIN:    01537

    Club(s):   (SCDC) (DCUK)

    Quote Originally Posted by JETS 81 DMC View Post
    Team#1537,

    Congrats on you project.

    Curious what brand of door struts are on your car? Amazing they still hold the doors up.

    Have fun on your adventure
    They are PJ Grady struts 👍🏻
    Best regards,
    Brent V.

    1981 DMC-12 #01537
    1992 3000GT VR-4

    Instagram: the_road_to_88mph

  8. #8
    Owner of #1537
    Join Date:  Jan 2020

    Location:  San Antonio TX

    Posts:    13

    My VIN:    01537

    Club(s):   (SCDC) (DCUK)

    The Plan

    Quote Originally Posted by andyo View Post
    When you get a chance, I’d love to hear what your plan is. Back to stock, conversion, etc.

    Good luck!

    -Andy #3430


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    So originally my mind was racing with so many possibilities, due to the car having no engine or transmission. My plan would be different depending on what time of the day you asked me. 😅
    There was of course the LS engine swap that's really popular, a VTEC, Buick V6, I even consulted someone I know who works on electric motors and drew up a rough draft for that idea.
    One day I even thought about putting a diesel engine in there.😐

    I went on thinking and debating with myself on which route to go for over a month. (not worrying about resale value at all, trust me I'll own this car until I die or someone gives me an unreasonable amount of money for it) I was only thinking about performance, but with respect to the original design.

    But then it hit me. In one day I saw it all clearly. I had already known the frame had some modifications in the engine bay and to the engine mounts, but I did not know that the front frame extension and fuel tank closing plate had rusted so badly that there were holes and cracks all the way through in certain parts.
    For reasons I can't explain, I decided that I was going to keep my performance requirement, but I'd stay even closer to the original design. I have decided that I am going to be using the improved/modernized parts offered by DeLorean Performance Industries.

    So I just posted on here that I was looking for a PRV, and a very generous person sold me one for a low price and had it shipped to my house.

    So in short,

    Phase I of the rebuild is:
    Stainless Frame
    New Cooling system
    SPEC suspension package
    New Brake system
    Empty and clean out gas tank
    And power steering.

    Phase II is straight forward:
    SPEC III package
    SPEC manual gearbox assembly

    And Phase III:
    Repair and repaint fascias
    New Louvres
    Led lighting
    Cosmetics
    Replace cluster and binnacle
    Replace/fix upholstery
    Modernized sound system
    Replace/fix wood panels
    Replace windshield
    Replace dashboard
    Shampoo the nasty carpets
    Replace all seals and pistons
    Detail

    Footnote:
    Thank you all for your kind and warm comments.
    In my time so far, I've been part of many groups/forums for various cars and motorcycles.
    But I can honestly say that this one has more than blown me away.
    Not because it's full of people who understand and share my love for this car or the knowledge available here, but because it's full of people who genuinely seem to want to help you.
    Best regards,
    Brent V.

    1981 DMC-12 #01537
    1992 3000GT VR-4

    Instagram: the_road_to_88mph

  9. #9
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  Oct 2012

    Location:  Niceville, FL

    Posts:    104

    My VIN:    03430

    Sounds like a great plan! Good luck


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  10. #10
    Daily Driver ssdelorean's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  NW Ohio

    Posts:    458

    My VIN:    16506

    Club(s):   (DCO) (DCUK)

    Quote Originally Posted by Team#1537 View Post
    Footnote:
    Thank you all for your kind and warm comments.
    In my time so far, I've been part of many groups/forums for various cars and motorcycles.
    But I can honestly say that this one has more than blown me away.
    Not because it's full of people who understand and share my love for this car or the knowledge available here, but because it's full of people who genuinely seem to want to help you.
    Nice to hear.
    And I've noticed over the YEARS of being here both on the .com site and this new .org site is that even though there are folks out there who fight and bicker (my self included), we (I) still want to be of help to others we (I) fight and biker with. Kind of a like a true "family" even though most of us only know each other "online".
    Shannon Y
    www.ohiodeloreans.com
    www.facebook.com/ohiodeloreans
    ---
    1st angle drive - 58,027 miles (20 years) -- original
    2nd angle drive - 48,489 miles (21 years) -- original from donor
    3rd angle drive - 26,572 miles (2 years 3 months) -- DMCH
    4th angle drive - 21,988 miles (1 year 11 months) -- DMCH
    5th angle drive - 7,137 miles (10 months 2 days) -- DMCH
    6th angle drive - OVER 113,704 miles and counting (OVER 13 yr 1 month & counting) -- new Martin Gutkowski unit
    over 245K miles

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