Hello Delorean Community!
Wanted to formally introduce my restoration project and mission with all of you. I have been a Delorean owner for 10 years (purchased on March 19th 2005, See title below), but only got to enjoy a few months with a running car. After much tinkering, I started dismantling the car and discovered that the car had been in a flood and was never issued a salvaged title. Since then I have explored multiple options for restoring the car, but every outcome yielded an unreliable solution and could potentially become a money pit project. I even considered selling the car/parts, but deep down I couldn’t part with my dream car. So today I am proud to announce that I will be doing a complete restomod of my Delorean (VIN 5210) and will be sharing all of the hard work with you!
My mission with this project is to share all of the CAD, wiring diagrams, programing and parts inventory with the community, in hopes that it could help other owners who want to modernize their car on a budget. At the heart of this project are several core principles I will follow to ensure quality, reliability and usability. The principles are as followed:
Goal – To keep more Delorean’s on the road and bring a car that was ahead of its time, to the future once again.
Target total cost of parts for the project - $12,000-$16,000 USD
Target Timeline length – One Year
- Equipping the car with a light weight performance EFI engine and drivetrain
o I have had enough of others who mock the Delorean for having an unreliable and weak engine, which we all know isn’t entirely true. I would be happy to put in a PRV engine with EFI modification (i.e. Josh’s kit from DPI), but a good condition engine and transmission is not within my budget. That is why I am looking for a suitable replacement that fits comfortably into the engine bay, that is reliable and has enough power for a spirited daily driver. (preliminary engine and transmission concepts below)
- No major alterations to the chassis or body
o All parts created will simply bolt on to the existing architecture without needing to cut into the frame or weld components to the chassis. Only small (less than ½”diameter) holes are allowed to accommodate new parts.
- All parts made can be fabricated at local machine shops
o Parts such as transmission transfer plates, engine mounts, interior modifications, etc. will be available as a Solidworks part files and drawing packages, with which you could bring to a machine or fabrication shop of your choice.
- An Original car with modern touches
o The Delorean interior is iconic, but many of the electrical and mechanical components are prone to failure. The parts I will be focusing on updating will be:
- Replacing the vacuum driven air handler unit with electromechanically driven system.
- Updating all interior electrical system with a computer driven solution, which will utilize either Raspberry pi, Intel Edison, or NVIDIA Jetson TK1.
- Updating Interior comfort with Dynamat, high quality leather and carpeting.
- Updating instrument cluster electronics
As the project progresses, I am sure that new guidelines will be added to ensure that those who follow this project can replicate the results on their own and achieve the same, if not better, success.
Please Note, I have infinite amount of respect and admiration for the Delorean Motor Company team, but that original parts for the Delorean are becoming more scares every year and I want those parts to go to preserving working vehicles. The research and development work of companies like DMC and DPI is critical and invaluable to Delorean owners in keeping our dreams on the road. My motivation is help keep more Deloreans on the road, rather than dooming other projects to become parts cars. I want to help provide an updated low cost solution for those who want to work on building or rebuilding their dream.
That being said, I am open to comments, suggestions, feedback and constructive criticism in an effort to build trust through transparency and open up to an inspiring community to gen involved in continuing the legacy of John Delorean.
I also would like to thank you in advance for your attention, support and patience as I do my best to provide updates as progress is made. Unfortunately given my current state of employment and education, there may be periods of time in which I will be unable to work on my project, but I will still try to respond to as many inquires as I can.
Current Progress as of September 13, 2015
VIN 5210 has been moved to its new home at my home north of Boston! The move was both damage control, to keep it out of the elements and a strategic move so that I could work on it during the winter. Note the car has already been dismantled down to the tub and chassis, with only a few components left on the car. All the stainless steel is in perfect shape, in a storage rack I designed to protect them for a long periods of time. Also, I held on to as many non-water damaged parts that I could and are also stored off site with the stainless.
The Tub is in very good shape with only a few cosmetic imperfections, such as a fading of the glossy clear coat and a small chip in the rear of the car, in the engine bay. I’m currently looking into local locations to do a gentle baking soda media blast and to applying a durable clear coat or Polyurea to protect the tub. The Cassis has only minor surface rust and relatively minor epoxy delamination, but I will be having the frame blasted and refinished with a powder coating either way.
First project part!
- Left and right Bulked inserts: I currently have measured the parts and will be drafting them up in Solidworks either this week or next and will share the drawing via pdf, until I can identify an external file sharing solution for the part files. I’m currently researching other materials to replace the plywood, but I’m open to martial suggestions and or input on how to replace those parts.
Engine Options
- I’m a huge fan of the VR6 swaps but, after researching other engine swaps and measuring the engine bay, I have focused the bulk of my research on Ford inline 4 engines that can be turbo charged (i.e. 2.3L ecoboost and 2L Duratec/ Zetec) that provide up to +250bhp out of the box. The reasoning behind the focus on these engines are because they are small, light weight and come with a plug in engine ECU kit (Link to Ford Performance). I am still researching options at the moment and I am still very open minded on suggestions. Let me know what you all think would make the best engine swap!
Have any other questions? Feel free to ask in the thread or PM me directly
A big thanks to everyone on the forum, DPI and DMC! And an extra special thanks to clenet and others in DMCNE.
I look forward to our discussions and sharing this project with you!
Many thanks!
- Mike