The Fastest Delorean In The World

[mr_maxime]

There is also the rotary delorean http://www.eliseusa.com/rotary.htm

[Andy]

There is also the rotary delorean http://www.eliseusa.com/rotary.htm

Anybody knows what happened with this one? The website says 'sold' (15 years ago!), but the car seems to be 'disappeared' ....

[AdamKontras]

So good news and bad news... my builder just let me know that it was a $15 and 3 hours of work to fix the transmission thanks to some cables that had been melted overtime laying on an exhaust. So every part of this project was unnecessary.

<BLINK. BLINK>



The good part of this is the, well, I will have a perfectly functioning drive train with only 21k miles on it for sale in a bit. So I will try and take that as a positive, but needless to say I'm a little stunned at this development.

Feel free to check out all 5 episodes of our little documentary if you haven't yet...

[DMCMW Dave]

Your builder might not have seen it with the trans in the car, but any DMC-experienced shop would have caught that after the first test drive. It's not all that unusual, and not at all invisible from under the car. The symptoms were typical of a bad governor and the burnt wiring would have been seen in the process of repairing the governor.

[AdamKontras]

Your builder might not have seen it with the trans in the car, but any DMC-experienced shop would have caught that after the first test drive. It's not all that unusual, and not at all invisible from under the car. The symptoms were typical of a bad governor and the burnt wiring would have been seen in the process of repairing the governor.

It was sent to him because he builds high performance racing motors for a living. Him diagnosing the issue is just icing on the cake. Happy to have more valuable parts to sell!

[Henrik]

So every part of this project was unnecessary.

I hope you are not saying that the only reason you are doing the engine swap is because the tranny didn't shift right. I personally pulled a Stage 1 engine and auto tranny that were both in as-new condition, but none of that mattered knowing what was going in instead.

[AdamKontras]

I hope you are not saying that the only reason you are doing the engine swap is because the tranny didn't shift right. I personally pulled a Stage 1 engine and auto tranny that were both in as-new condition, but none of that mattered knowing what was going in instead.

My transmission issues were absolutely the only reason I was doing this. It's a business for me and as long as the car got to my gigs, I was happy with it. Only once I thought I was staring at a massive bill did I ever consider an engine swap this expensive and toyed with the idea of making the fastest in the world. So yes, knowing it wasn't necessary and the transmission was fine was absolutely was a kick in the head. However - I'm already in! I'm excited and as of January 3rd, it was happening no matter what - so in the end that discovery just made me more money reselling parts.

[Nicholas R]

My transmission issues were absolutely the only reason I was doing this. It's a business for me and as long as the car got to my gigs, I was happy with it. Only once I thought I was staring at a massive bill did I ever consider an engine swap this expensive and toyed with the idea of making the fastest in the world. So yes, knowing it wasn't necessary and the transmission was fine was absolutely was a kick in the head. However - I'm already in! I'm excited and as of January 3rd, it was happening no matter what - so in the end that discovery just made me more money reselling parts.

Do you have a project timeline in mind? I only ask because these builds usually take quite a while and often have a lot of unexpected challenges that push the timeline. With your car being your business, how long are you okay with it being out of commission?

My own car was probably one of the shorter timelines being a little over 4 months from bare-bone engine removal to engine start, but that doesn't include any of the time spent on numerous (necessary) upgrades I've made since (exhaust, intake, cooling system, AC, performance upgrades, transmission upgrades, etc.) which has been years. I did also have about 5 months of planning ahead of time though doing research and locating parts before I ever actually started in on my car. Plus I was fortunate enough to be a full time student able to commit about 80 hours a week to the project.

I'm definitely not saying it's not possible to do on a short timeline, there's just a lot to consider and account for.

Also, to build on what Henrik said, be sure this is really what you want knowing that you could still have a reliable driving car with the standard drivetrain. Once you heavily customize it, you're pretty much stuck with the car, haha. You wont find many shops to work on a standard DeLorean, let alone one that's been heavily modified. Like Henrik, my car was beautiful before the swap. I took a car that was reliable enough for me to drive between Ohio and Florida multiple times, and pulled the engine and transmission. The swap was completely unnecessary, but I was sure it was what I wanted, and totally okay with not being able to take it to a mechanic for repairs from now on. I think Josh S was the same way. Heck, he had already performed one engine swap on his car, then decided to do another!

Either way, best of luck!

[AdamKontras]

Do you have a project timeline in mind? I only ask because these builds usually take quite a while and often have a lot of unexpected challenges that push the timeline. With your car being your business, how long are you okay with it being out of commission?

It's already booked in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Columbus, Ohio 3/17! My brother is devoting everything to it. I'm flying out in mid-February to help for a few days - we should have it running by then - and then spend several weeks testing/tweaking etc.

My own car was probably one of the shorter timelines being a little over 4 months from bare-bone engine removal to engine start, but that doesn't include any of the time spent on numerous (necessary) upgrades I've made since (exhaust, intake, cooling system, AC, performance upgrades, transmission upgrades, etc.) which has been years. I did also have about 5 months of planning ahead of time though doing research and locating parts before I ever actually started in on my car. Plus I was fortunate enough to be a full time student able to commit about 80 hours a week to the project.

Money certainly solves a lot of these delays - I've given my brother a nearly open wallet. We've bought almost every single part in a 3 week period and he has already completely gutted it and is starting to install the transmission. He should have every part by February 1st. Thankfully, this is what he does for a living. His turnaround times are pretty remarkable if you don't delay with client communications and you're not completely restricted by cost.

I'm definitely not saying it's not possible to do on a short timeline, there's just a lot to consider and account for.

My spreadsheet so far agrees with you. I am beyond stunned at the amount of odds and ends that go into doing this. My brother will send me links of parts to buy and ship to him and it's $279 here, $549 here, $749 here... You sir, know full well how ridiculous it becomes. Thankfully he is a great fabricator and has access to an incredible shop. Saves a bunch of time and inevitably (though it doesn't feel like it right now) money.

Also, to build on what Henrik said, be sure this is really what you want knowing that you could still have a reliable driving car with the standard drivetrain. Once you heavily customize it, you're pretty much stuck with the car, haha. You wont find many shops to work on a standard DeLorean, let alone one that's been heavily modified.

On January 3rd, I spent my first $10,000 and there was no looking back. The original transmission (even working) was never feasible in our minds with a 600hp engine. That's just too much. The porsche transmission we ended up using is rated for 750-800hp which will future-proof anything we might attempt to do later when someone is able to make it theirs even faster. As for working on the car, a huge priority for this project from my perspective was having a car I could work on myself with mostly GM parts that were easily accessible. I did some work on my Delorean (fuel pump, odds and ends) and enjoy it. We're setting this up so I will be able to do the maintenance and work myself. Anything past my low pay-grade I'll have him come out to LA and work on.

Like Henrik, my car was beautiful before the swap. I took a car that was reliable enough for me to drive between Ohio and Florida multiple times, and pulled the engine and transmission. The swap was completely unnecessary, but I was sure it was what I wanted, and totally okay with not being able to take it to a mechanic for repairs from now on. I think Josh S was the same way. Heck, he had already performed one engine swap on his car, then decided to do another!

Either way, best of luck!

I scoured your site SO MUCH before this and it was a great inspiration on how we decided to go forward. You have the highest recorded horsepower by far and your fabrication work is gorgeous. It's clearly a labor of love for you and I can't wait to meet some day and swap stories!

Oh and I meant to ask - have you ever considered trying to record a 1/4 mile time? I think your car is presently out of commission, but I think you'd have a pretty fair chance at eclipsing the Schmucker's 12.66 time.

[Nicholas R]

I scoured your site SO MUCH before this and it was a great inspiration on how we decided to go forward. You have the highest recorded horsepower by far and your fabrication work is gorgeous. It's clearly a labor of love for you and I can't wait to meet some day and swap stories!

Oh and I meant to ask - have you ever considered trying to record a 1/4 mile time? I think your car is presently out of commission, but I think you'd have a pretty fair chance at eclipsing the Schmucker's 12.66 time.

Glad you've enjoyed it!

I haven't run a 1/4 mile on it (on a track at least). Not for any good reason other than that I've just never made my way to a drag strip to do some runs.

Also it's not out of commission, I drive it 1-2 days a week! (though it has seen less road time the last couple months as I've gotten my Opel GT on the road.) I just recently installed a lift so I've been taking the opportunity to clean the undercarriage.
Lift.jpg